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This article in our ultimate computer troubleshooting guide will be focussing on the Hard Disk Drive. The HDD in your system may be an IDE or a SATA. IDE is the older variety, with the long, flat ribbon cable connector. SATA drives began appearing a couple of years ago. Gone is the flat ribbon cabe. In its place is a thick serial cable.

Is the Hard Drive Detected?

If this is a new installation of a hard drive, be sure to check the power and jumpers setting first. If the hard drive is not showing up, you first need to confirm that it is getting power and that the Master / Slave / or Cable Select jumpers are set properly. If you are using a Serial ATA drive, jumper setting are not necessary.

Check the BIOS. You will need to tap a certain key to enter the BIOS settings. This is normally either the ESC, F1, F2, F10 or Delete key and is usually indicated on the very first screen when booting the PC. Once in the BIOS make sure the drive shows up in the appropriate place. If this is the Primary drive, is should show up under the Primary Master position. If it does not, then it could be connected to the motherboard incorrectly or the jumpers may be wrong. Also, while in the BIOS, make sure it is set to Auto Detect the drive.

Check the IDE Cable

If you’re using an IDE drive, it can be possible to connect the ribbon cable incorrectly. The ribbon cable will usually have a red or dotted line down one side. This line indicates Pin 1 on the cable. One the hard drive end, this line needs to be closest to the Hard Drive’s power connector. On the motherboard side, this line needs to be at Pin 1 on the motherboard (you may need to look close, but it should be printed on the motherboard).

Is the Drive Making Noise?

A defective drive will often produce unusual clicking or scraping sounds. There are a lot of moving parts inside a hard drive, so if the read / write head, platters, spindle or actuator arm becomes defective it can produce noise shortly before complete failure.

Does the Hard Drive Spin Up?

If the hard drive is not spinning, then it may not be getting power. You may need to listen real close to hear it spin, or touch the side with your finger to feel any vibration. If the drive is not spinning, test the power dongle with a multimeter, or try a different power connector. A power supply will ofter have severl molex connectors not being used. If the hard drive still does not spin up, the drive may be dead.

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This article in our ultimate computer troubleshooting guide will be focussing on the power supply. The power supply is the componet at the rear of the PC that the powr cord plugs into. The inside consists on a numerous wires that plug into the motherboard and other devices, such as the hard disk drive, optical drives, floppies and even video cards. The power supply will normally either work or not work. This article will show you how to determine if the power supply is the cause of your computer problems.

To begin, is the power supply working? Just because the computer isn’t powering up, doesn’t mean the power supply isn’t doing its job. Is the fan on the back spinning?

When troubleshooting power supply issues, you first make sure you have the correct voltage set on the rear of the unit. You should see a red switch that can be set to 115V or 230V. Depending on the country you live, this switch will need to be set appropriately. For instance, the Unites States uses 115V. Secondly, make sure you are not plugging into a power strip. Power strips can fail, so be sure to try plugging the power cable directly into a working, properly grounded wall outlet.

If you’ve been working inside the case, check the thin power wires running from the front of the case to the motherboard. These generally plug into the motherboard at the lower right of the motherboard and may be labeled something like “power sw” or “pw switch.” If this wire has popped off, the PSU will not work. To test the switch, you can remove the “power sw” wire and short the pins by touching a flathead screwdrive to the two pins. If the switch is bad, the computer should power up right away. There is also the main motherboard connector, which is the long 20 pin connector. Make sure this is properly secured. Some graphics cards or motherboards also require an addition 4-pin wire connector. If you motherboard requires it, be sure this is plugged in to the appropriate socket.

Use a multi-meter or stand alone power supply tester to check the PSU. To test with a multi-meter, make sure the power supply is plugged in to a power source and that the 20-pin connector is plugged into the motherboard. It’s best if you lay the case on it’s side so you can look directly down on the motherboard. Next, you’ll jam the black lead down into any of the black (ground) wires. Then you can probe each colored wire for the appropriate voltage. If voltage is seriously out of range or does not exist, then the power supply is bad. The colored wires should have the following voltages:

An alternative to the multi-meter is the stand-alone power supply tester. This small device plugs directly into the 20-pin connector of the power supply. It will immediately tell you if the power supply is bad. These are cheap and easy to use.

If you are not getting power, or if your system randomly reboots or develops bizarre symptoms that you cannot nail down, consider swapping in a new power supply. Spending too much time trying to diagnose a flaky power supply could become expensive, as unexpected dip in power can damage other computer parts, such as the hard drive.

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