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Started by iratemonkey | | 4 answers
wierd glitch, psu or mobo at fault?
gigabyte z97 mobo and thermaltake 750W PSU
one external Seagate usb 3.0 3TB tower drive that is powered by its own adapter power supply
the power to this external seagate usb is always plugged in, and the data cord (usb 3.0) is always plugged into the same port on the motherboard...
Everything was fine but...
Recently after a nasty storm, I noticed the following CHANGES...
BEFORE storm) When the computer is completely powered off (shutdown and PSU power switch is set to OFF) and then I power it back on by first flipping the PSU switch to ON and then hitting the power-on button on the computer case, I won't actually hear the external Seagate usb drive 'spin'/'wake up' or 'power on' until after I hit the power button on the front of the computer case itself. Basically, the seagate doees not wake itself up when I power on the PSU, I must also power on the computer itself for the Seagate to start making a very distinctive initiation noise that tells me that its waking up the drive for use.
AFTER the storm) Now, just like above, but the Seagate drive will wake up IMMEDIATELY after I hit the switch to turn on the PSU, even BEFORE I press the "power on" button to turn on the computer itself!
Why is it jumping ahead of itself and doing this? Is the PSU damaged or the motherboard? it seems that either and/or the PSU or motherboard is "leaking" power and like a case of bladder control or incontinence it can't "hold on" to power and then moment it gets power it gives it away and passes it to the Seagate to turn it on even when it previously did not do so when not damaged by the storm...
How do I know whether it is the mobo or psu that is bad and even if so, what would be causing this wierd behavior? is there dual circuitry in the psu or motherboard and that one is damaged and somehow the moment it gets power it lets it pass through whereas when it was working properly it would know that even if the psu got power if the mobo through the computer was still in shutdown mode that it would not send that power to wake up devices that should not be woken up?
gigabyte z97 mobo and thermaltake 750W PSU
one external Seagate usb 3.0 3TB tower drive that is powered by its own adapter power supply
the power to this external seagate usb is always plugged in, and the data cord (usb 3.0) is always plugged into the same port on the motherboard...
Everything was fine but...
Recently after a nasty storm, I noticed the following CHANGES...
BEFORE storm) When the computer is completely powered off (shutdown and PSU power switch is set to OFF) and then I power it back on by first flipping the PSU switch to ON and then hitting the power-on button on the computer case, I won't actually hear the external Seagate usb drive 'spin'/'wake up' or 'power on' until after I hit the power button on the front of the computer case itself. Basically, the seagate doees not wake itself up when I power on the PSU, I must also power on the computer itself for the Seagate to start making a very distinctive initiation noise that tells me that its waking up the drive for use.
AFTER the storm) Now, just like above, but the Seagate drive will wake up IMMEDIATELY after I hit the switch to turn on the PSU, even BEFORE I press the "power on" button to turn on the computer itself!
Why is it jumping ahead of itself and doing this? Is the PSU damaged or the motherboard? it seems that either and/or the PSU or motherboard is "leaking" power and like a case of bladder control or incontinence it can't "hold on" to power and then moment it gets power it gives it away and passes it to the Seagate to turn it on even when it previously did not do so when not damaged by the storm...
How do I know whether it is the mobo or psu that is bad and even if so, what would be causing this wierd behavior? is there dual circuitry in the psu or motherboard and that one is damaged and somehow the moment it gets power it lets it pass through whereas when it was working properly it would know that even if the psu got power if the mobo through the computer was still in shutdown mode that it would not send that power to wake up devices that should not be woken up?
iratemonkey
October 14, 2014 2:09:06 PM
Is it usb powered external or does it need a power cord?
-> It is always External powered. Without the adapter it doesn't work.
What PSU do you have?
-> ThermalTake Gold 750W (brand new, about one month old)
Did you see anything odd happen to your computer during the storm?
-> We had power outage, I left computer on overnight, feel asleep and forgot to wake up to shut it down, and throughout the night we had storms and power flickering out and back.
Do you use a surge protector?
-> Yes but an old cheap one. It doesn't regulate the current, etc
Have you tested to see if this "glitch" works with other USB devices? usb drive as an example. Or a mouse to see if it lights up.
-> It only happens to this particular usb drive. But as you can see in the video, I have in the BIOS turned off the DVD-ROM drive, I don't have any disc in the DVD drive, yet at bootup it will try to spin the drive as if it was looking for something to boot to... yet I disabled the DVD as a boot option! It still "empty spins" the drive and makes wierd scratching noises!
-> It is always External powered. Without the adapter it doesn't work.
What PSU do you have?
-> ThermalTake Gold 750W (brand new, about one month old)
Did you see anything odd happen to your computer during the storm?
-> We had power outage, I left computer on overnight, feel asleep and forgot to wake up to shut it down, and throughout the night we had storms and power flickering out and back.
Do you use a surge protector?
-> Yes but an old cheap one. It doesn't regulate the current, etc
Have you tested to see if this "glitch" works with other USB devices? usb drive as an example. Or a mouse to see if it lights up.
-> It only happens to this particular usb drive. But as you can see in the video, I have in the BIOS turned off the DVD-ROM drive, I don't have any disc in the DVD drive, yet at bootup it will try to spin the drive as if it was looking for something to boot to... yet I disabled the DVD as a boot option! It still "empty spins" the drive and makes wierd scratching noises!
jaraldo
October 14, 2014 8:16:46 AM
Thanks! videos help a lot
I see what you mean now and understand your concern.
So a few things to ask now:
Is it usb powered external or does it need a power cord?
What PSU do you have?
Did you see anything odd happen to your computer during the storm?
Do you use a surge protector?
Have you tested to see if this "glitch" works with other USB devices? usb drive as an example. Or a mouse to see if it lights up.
I see what you mean now and understand your concern.
So a few things to ask now:
Is it usb powered external or does it need a power cord?
What PSU do you have?
Did you see anything odd happen to your computer during the storm?
Do you use a surge protector?
Have you tested to see if this "glitch" works with other USB devices? usb drive as an example. Or a mouse to see if it lights up.
iratemonkey
October 14, 2014 7:49:16 AM
jaraldo
October 13, 2014 9:41:52 PM
Everything in your "BEFORE storm" sounds normal to me, the after part is a bit odd. I'm just wondering though, is there an actual problem with your external or computer besides this "glitch"? Everything still works?
I've had far more power cord from externals go bad than I have any most other hardware. My external actually started ticking one day when I turned it on without being connected to my computer. Thought it was my hard drive inside it, ended up just no stable power to the external. Got a new power cord and that fixed it.
In the "AFTER the storm" scenario, after switching the PSU on, will it just sit constantly making sounds like it's starting up? If it does, that may be worrying. If it makes the start up noise then go to idle, I wouldn't be too worried personally.
I've had far more power cord from externals go bad than I have any most other hardware. My external actually started ticking one day when I turned it on without being connected to my computer. Thought it was my hard drive inside it, ended up just no stable power to the external. Got a new power cord and that fixed it.
In the "AFTER the storm" scenario, after switching the PSU on, will it just sit constantly making sounds like it's starting up? If it does, that may be worrying. If it makes the start up noise then go to idle, I wouldn't be too worried personally.
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