Question Will not power up with a SATA hard drive attached.

[kebabthief]

Hi everyone.

I have a problem with a PC where it will power on with no hard drives attached, but as soon as you connect a hard drive it gives you power (i.e. fans spinning) for about half a second.

The PC usually has 3 hard drives attached. 1x HHD and 2x SSDs. All the hard drives, when installed individually cause the same problem. I've tested all three hard drives in a SATA dock attached to my laptop and they're all fine.

What I've tried so far

The original problem was that my PC just kept randomly (as it seemed) powering off and restarting. Using HWI, I monitored the CPU temperature, and figured that it was doing it because the CPU was overheating. So I've replace the stock cooler for a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120. As it had been happening for a while, I also figured that the overheating could have damaged the CPU, so I replaced that too (upgrading it from a LGA1150 i5, to an i7 4790).

When those were installed, it wouldn't power on at all (no matter what I uplugged or installed), so I upgraded the PSU to a Corsair RM650 fully modular.

With that PSU, this problem happened. I tried powering it on with all 3 hard drives installed and you get about half a second or less of power. The fans just spin a little then stop. I unplugged everthing but the RAM, CPU and MB. It powers up fine (well the fans spin and keep spinning until I press the power button again.)

If I attach just one hard drive (any of them), the same problem happens (fans spin for about half a second).

I wanted to rule out that I'd been supplied with a faulty power supply (as to me, the most logical theory for that problem suggested it was a power supply problem).

I've received a replacemet power supply but the exact same problem is happening.

Does anyone on here have any idea why this problem would be happening? My next port of call would be replacing the motherboard, but when you first power it on, does the motherboard even know what is connected to the power supply? I hadn't even connected the SATA data cable, so I can't see how the motherboard would even be causing it.

Any help or input would be massively appreciated.

 

[boju]

Was your last psu also modular? When the psu was replaced with Corsair did you also replace every cable as well? Mixing cables from other power supplies can potentially cause a short since power supplies don't follow pinout standards so pin out diagrams are often different between brands. If you're lucky, the psu will detect a short and power down to prevent damage but not always. Depends how good the psu unit is, Corsair do have such protections, so are you mixing psu cables? seems like it.

 

[kebabthief]

Was your last psu also modular? When the psu was replaced with Corsair did you also replace every cable as well? Mixing cables from other power supplies can potentially cause a short since power supplies don't follow pinout standards so pin out diagrams are often different between brands. If you're lucky, the psu will detect a short and power down to prevent damage but not always. Depends how good the psu unit is, Corsair do have such protections, so are you mixing psu cables? seems like it.

Thank you for the reply.

My last PSU was semi-modular. The new Corsair one is fully modular and I'm only using the cables that came supplied with it. The SATA cable from the old PSU doesn't fit the new one as it was 8-pin, whereas the Corsair one is 6-pin.

 

[SkyNetRising]

My last PSU was semi-modular. The new Corsair one is fully modular and I'm only using the cables that came supplied with it. The SATA cable from the old PSU doesn't fit the new one as it was 8-pin, whereas the Corsair one is 6-pin.

What is model name of old PSU ?

Double check all modular cables. Make sure you have removed all old psu cables and
are using only new PSU cables.

 

[kebabthief]

What is model name of old PSU ?

The old PSU was an EVGA 650. The new one is a Corsaur RM650

 

[boju]

Ok so psu cables are correctly used. With none of the drives connected you say it powers up fine, do you get a display at all? Should see bios at least with no drives connected.

 

[SkyNetRising]

The old PSU was an EVGA 650.

That's not a full model name. There are more than 15 different EVGA 650 models.

 

[kebabthief]

Thank you for the reply.

My last PSU was semi-modular. The new Corsair one is fully modular and I'm only using the cables that came supplied with it. The SATA cable from the old PSU doesn't fit the new one as it was 8-pin, whereas the Corsair one is 6-pin.

The old PSU was an EVGA 650. The new one is a Corsaur RM650

After I received these replies, I thought that I had better double check.

I had remembered wrong. It was the 8-pin for the PCI-e cable that wouldn't fit and therefore needed to be swapped out for the new one. I was indeed trying to use the same SATA cable. I've just swapped it out for the SATA cable that came supplied, and the fans keep spinning. I'm incredibly grateful for your input. Thank you.

I wasn't testing it with a monitor and was just using the fans spinning as an indicator of whether or not it had power. I'll get it fully built back up and report back.

Again. Many thanks.

 

[boju]

Hopefully the drives are still ok. Lesson learnt i guess.

 

[kebabthief]

Ok so psu cables are correctly used. With none of the drives connected you say it powers up fine, do you get a display at all? Should see bios at least with no drives connected.

That's not a full model name. There are more than 15 different EVGA 650 models.

Thank you to both of you.

I has to go out for a while during putting it back together.

I am now replying to you both from the PC that was in question. I had no idea that different modular PSU cables were manufacturer specific. So much so, that I didn't even remember that I had used a cable from my old PSU, as I had no idea of the issue. Basically, it fit, so I just moved on.

I'm very grateful for your replies. My PC had been out of action for a week, and you've both saved me from spunking money on more components.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I'm very grateful for your replies. My PC had been out of action for a week, and you've both saved me from spunking money on more components.

If it's working, then you just got very lucky.
With wrong modular cables you could as well have fried all your drives.

 

[kebabthief]

If it's working, then you just got very lucky.
With wrong modular cables you could as well have fried all your drives.

I guess I can count myself as lucky then.