Good day

I have a Samsung SP1203N hard drive, and it has been causing me problems. Last week, when I turned on my computer, it cannot detect my hard drive. I fixed this problem by re-connecting my power source cable to my hard drive. For the past couple of days, the problem continued, and I simply just re-connected my power source cable to my hard drive. Today, I tried to do the same thing, but it would not work. Instead, I yanked out the power cable from my CD-ROM to plug into my hard drive. Problem fixed, but I am afraid to turn off my computer... I have ran out of devices to yank power cables from.

I am worried that something is wrong with my hard drive power jack, and I am wondering if there is any way I can fix it.

Thank You in advance,
-Jon-

Get yourself a new Antec Power Supply.

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I don't think there is a problem with my power supply because whenever I boot up my computer, my motherboard always detects my other ROMs. The only thing my motherboard cannot detect is my primary hard drive.

-Jon-

Hi there icu222much,
Firstly, welcome to CompuForums. I hope that you can visit our forum often in the future and post - rather than just receiving our help and advice, and then never visiting again. We provide our help for free, and all we ask in return is that you participate in our forum and refer your friends, or consider a premium membership. Not giving back to the community is like stealing - we provide our time for free and hope to have some of yours spent on the site in return.
This really does sound like a power supply problem. How old is the computer, and did you build it or buy it complete? Have you added any different internal hardware after purchasing it?
Also consider booting up with just the hard drive in place, and leave things like the CD-ROM drive unplugged. If your computer boots up fine without them plugged in, then it's very likely that you need a higher-wattage PSU.

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Ash
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Good day Ash,

I intend to re-visit the CompuForums and try to help other people, however, my computer skills arn't the greatest so I'm afraid I'll cause more damage then help.

My computer is roughly three years old, and I customized and bought it complete from a local computer store. I have not added or upgraded any internal hardware since I bought my computer. Auctually, I haven't opened up my tower until this problem started.

I tried doing as you suggested, by only booting up with my hard drive plugged in, but the problem happened again. I find that I need to wiggle my power cable from my hard drive out a little bit so it hangs loose from the Hard Drive power jack. I really don't think this is the proper way for fixing my problem.

_jOn_

Even if you don't have much technical know-how, you can still post in our off-topic forums located at:
http://www.compuforums.org/general/

As for your current problem - leave the power cable loose. Hard drives run on a low voltage, and just for temporary testing you shouldn't have any problems [but for long-term usage, you'll need a better solution].

Try booting up the computer a few times with the connector loose to see how it goes. If it works every time, then the solution should be fairly simple.

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Thanks,
Ash
CF Founder
Great Webhosting. Shared starting at $2 per month. VPSes starting at $6 per month.
www.Centicero.com
Want to get in touch? Send me a PM | Do you want to continue receiving free help? Or do you want this site to close? Become a premium member.

Good Day Ash,

I've tried booting up the computer a few times with the connector loose, but it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't work. It seems that the connector has to be at a percise angle and a certain depth into the jack before my hard drive gets power. Thank you for your advice though

_jOn_

To figure out if it's the power supply or the hard drive, try this:

Unplug ALL the power supply cables going to ALL hard drives, CD-ROM's, and floppy drive (if you have one). The only thing you should now have connected is the power cables that are connected to the motherboard (this is usually a 20-pin connector), and a 4-pin power supply (if its a P-4).

Take a small piece of tape and attach it to ONE on the Molex power connectors. You are putting the tape on for visual reference only. Now, plug it ALL THE WAY IN to the hard drive. Boot up. Shut down, and re-boot.

Then, try the next Molex power connector (and add a piece of tape to the cable for visual reference), and so on. What you are doing is elliminating the possibility of the power supply being bad. If you get the same problem with each Molex connector, then your problem is most likely with the hard drive, and not the power supply.