At the time of the switchover, "no", I had not moved anything.
Now, yes, I have fiddled with things in an attempt to troubleshoot.
When I originally installed the DVD-RW I had set it to master and not
modified the HP drive. At one point I had them both set to master, but
as of today they are both set to cable select - still not co-working.
I'm considering two resolutions. 1/ make the internal dvd-rw and
external dvd-rw with an aftermarket case.
2/ i have an antec 300w ps from a now non-functional system.
assuming i don't have any wiring issues - still tbd, i'm wondering if
trying this antec ps might be risky. you see i ruined either the cpu
or the mobo on this older system.
If the motherboard failed (CPU is unlikely unless the
heatsink wasn't on good or fell off) then the PSU would
typically be fine still. If the PSU killed the board, quite
the opposite situation. A separate test of the PSU
including voltage readings would be prudent before trying to
use it with anything of value.
i somewhat satisfactorily verified
that it was not a blown ps by trying a different known good ps and
still the system wouldn't power.
Perhaps, but finding it still won't work is not as useful as
finding combinations that do work.
my concern is that even though the
antec may not be bad, it may be damaged.
I'd sooner expect the PSU was an initial failure point
contributing to the board failure, or the board failing had
progressively stressed the PSU, rather than board failing
then damaging the PSU in one momentary event. I don't tend
to try to predict these things often though, since there are
so many variables it is better to test the PSU and go from
there. An initial test could be something like hooking up a
minor load (like an old hard drive), shorting the PS-ON
green wire to ground and seeing if it runs, if the load gets
power, if multimeter readings indicate voltage output on all
leads is within acceptible levels (though rails that are
unloaded might drift out of spec, it is easier to first take
the readings and then try to interpret them).
is there any excessive risk
that a weak ps could damage my otherwise functioning hp? if so, i'd
rather get the rom case or buy a new psu.
btw, i couldn't find a retailer of delta psu's for consumer level
application.
matt
You wouldn't find Deltas through normal channels, they do
OEM mostly and you get lucky to find some surplus diverted
to the surplus channels every now and then.
You mention the Antec 300W, does this mean you have
concluded your system does use standard motherboard - PSU
wiring? Some HP even use a different shape PSU, taller
(takes a 92mm fan) and slightly narrower.
If your system is working besides these drives, it would
tend to indicate the present PSU is still working. I don't
think the Antec 300W will make a difference but I could be
wrong, at any rate I think it a downgrade, most OEM 250W PSU
are better than a mere 300W Antec and if it's an older Antec
model, it may not have much current capability on it's 12V
rail which is fairly important on a semi-modern system using
12V power for the CPU power supply (on motherboard)
subcircuit.
If you have a multimeter it would be good to take voltage
readings at the drives' power plugs. If they (5V & 12V)
aren't far out of spec and the system otherwise works, I
don't think it worth the bother to try another PSU. Further
considering the questionable state of the Antec, it seems
best left out of the system- though at some point you might
try using it to power something of low/no value to see if it
works.
If a PSU works properly, being weak should not damage a
system in the short term. It should merely shut itself off
if it can't keep the rails at an acceptible voltage range.
On the other hand, putting it under too much stress it could
cause damage if the protection wasn't conservative enough...
which I can't predict, since in general trying to use an
underpowered PSU is best avoided entirely.
I would try each drive separately, hopefully with a known
good data cable. You might also try hooking the drive up in
place of the hard drive on the first PATA channel as a
temporary measure (If you had a PATA on first channel, I
don't recall all details of the system at this point) just
to see if the bios detects it and if it might be able to
boot to CD with that arrangement. Also recheck all bios
settings and you might try clearing cmos as well.
Ultimately it is useful to have another system available to
try suspect parts like the drives.
