J
J.Clarke
On 8 Dec 2003 22:22:26 -0800
There are several possibilities that come to mind.
One is that for whatever reason excessive voltage was applied to one or
more of the signal lines on the IDE bus. This could have been caused by
a component failure on the motherboard or by something (piece of
hardware, a screw, nut, washer, even a tiny metal chip or piece of
tinsel) shorting the wrong two traces together. It would be worthwhile
to examine the motherboard or host adapter with a magnifier under a good
light to see if you see anything of that nature--if not then be very
suspicious of that motherboard--it might be a good idea to pick up a
cheap drive at a computer show, test it in another machine to confirm
that it runs, then see if it runs in the machine with the problem before
you risk a new drive in it--if that drive dies too then you need to
either RMA or toss the motherboard or host adapter.
Another possibility is that there was a surge for whatever reason--you
don't say where you are but given the recent snow if you're in the
northeastern US it's possible that a surge was generated by a failure in
the electrical grid near your home that caused a significant surge (for
example a pole gets hit and while it's coming down a high voltage line
comes in contact with a line that is normally run at a lower voltage).
Still, it would have to be a whopping big one to get through both your
UPS and your power supply--PC power supplies can generally take a
surprisingly large overvoltage. Don't put too much confidence in that
Belkin UPS by the way--they don't provide isolation--for that you need
something like a Best Power Ferrups and they aren't cheap--so it doesn't
give you much more protection than an ordinary surge suppressor. It may
go on battery if the line voltage rises above a certain level but the
response time for that sort of event is not instantaneous--if the
voltage rise is fast enough it can let a spike through.
Another is that the power supply itself is letting excessive voltage
through--check the outputs with a good meter (if you don't have one, the
"Fluke" brand meters that are sold at Home Depot and Sears are of very
high quality--get one of those in preference to a Radio Shack cheapie if
you can afford it) and make sure that they are what they are supposed to
be--if not then toss the power supply and get an Antec or Enermax or if
you want a really quiet machine a Seasonic. This is something of a long
shot as the motherboard seems to still be functioning--that kind of
power supply failure should have killed the motherboard too, but
electricity doesn't always do what you expect it to do.
Another is a big jolt of static--are you getting a lot of it? If so
then you can put the machine on a big static mat or you can spray
antistatic fluid on the surroundings--you can use diluted fabric
softener for this but the purpose made stuff (Staticide is the best
known brand) is easier on the fabrics--if it's not rinsed out then
fabric softener tends to stay a little bit tacky and hold dirt, which
will eventually abrade the fabric in any high-traffic area. Or you can
increase the humidity above 50 percent, which will likely do good things
for your sinuses and your wooden furniture as well as your computer.
A long shot is mechanical damage--if something bumped the machine hard
enough it might have crashed all the drives, but that doesn't normally
cause the kind of problem you are describing and it shouldn't have
affected the Zip in any case.
There are several possibilities that come to mind.
One is that for whatever reason excessive voltage was applied to one or
more of the signal lines on the IDE bus. This could have been caused by
a component failure on the motherboard or by something (piece of
hardware, a screw, nut, washer, even a tiny metal chip or piece of
tinsel) shorting the wrong two traces together. It would be worthwhile
to examine the motherboard or host adapter with a magnifier under a good
light to see if you see anything of that nature--if not then be very
suspicious of that motherboard--it might be a good idea to pick up a
cheap drive at a computer show, test it in another machine to confirm
that it runs, then see if it runs in the machine with the problem before
you risk a new drive in it--if that drive dies too then you need to
either RMA or toss the motherboard or host adapter.
Another possibility is that there was a surge for whatever reason--you
don't say where you are but given the recent snow if you're in the
northeastern US it's possible that a surge was generated by a failure in
the electrical grid near your home that caused a significant surge (for
example a pole gets hit and while it's coming down a high voltage line
comes in contact with a line that is normally run at a lower voltage).
Still, it would have to be a whopping big one to get through both your
UPS and your power supply--PC power supplies can generally take a
surprisingly large overvoltage. Don't put too much confidence in that
Belkin UPS by the way--they don't provide isolation--for that you need
something like a Best Power Ferrups and they aren't cheap--so it doesn't
give you much more protection than an ordinary surge suppressor. It may
go on battery if the line voltage rises above a certain level but the
response time for that sort of event is not instantaneous--if the
voltage rise is fast enough it can let a spike through.
Another is that the power supply itself is letting excessive voltage
through--check the outputs with a good meter (if you don't have one, the
"Fluke" brand meters that are sold at Home Depot and Sears are of very
high quality--get one of those in preference to a Radio Shack cheapie if
you can afford it) and make sure that they are what they are supposed to
be--if not then toss the power supply and get an Antec or Enermax or if
you want a really quiet machine a Seasonic. This is something of a long
shot as the motherboard seems to still be functioning--that kind of
power supply failure should have killed the motherboard too, but
electricity doesn't always do what you expect it to do.
Another is a big jolt of static--are you getting a lot of it? If so
then you can put the machine on a big static mat or you can spray
antistatic fluid on the surroundings--you can use diluted fabric
softener for this but the purpose made stuff (Staticide is the best
known brand) is easier on the fabrics--if it's not rinsed out then
fabric softener tends to stay a little bit tacky and hold dirt, which
will eventually abrade the fabric in any high-traffic area. Or you can
increase the humidity above 50 percent, which will likely do good things
for your sinuses and your wooden furniture as well as your computer.
A long shot is mechanical damage--if something bumped the machine hard
enough it might have crashed all the drives, but that doesn't normally
cause the kind of problem you are describing and it shouldn't have
affected the Zip in any case.