Possible PSU + HDD issue!

[PowerPie5000]

My living room PC that i built around 7 months ago will no longer boot! It gets to the Windows starting screen and it freezes with the HDD light on solid (does the same thing if i try safe or repair mode too). I also noticed a few days ago that the +5V rail on the PSU was reading 5.208V most of the time (going off the bios and HWMonitor readings)... Does anyone else think this is a little too high? And could it cause the HDD to fail as i'm sure 3.5" SATA drives use both 12v and 5v rails.


It's a budget gaming/media PC for my living room (and partner) which consists of:


Asrock B75 Pro3-M motherboard
Intel Core i5 2500 CPU
8GB Avexir DDR3 RAM @ 1333MHz (2x4GB)
KFA2 Geforce GTX 660 Ti EX OC graphics card
1TB Toshiba/Hitachi SATA HDD
Sony DVDRW SATA optical drive
Cooler Master GX550 PSU (550W)
Windows 7 64-bit


The PSU is plenty enough for powering the above system (everything running at stock)... I'm just wondering if the 5V rail is bad as i also recently had a USB keyboard go faulty on me too (USB is 5v). Any suggestions/ideas? Cheers

[Agent]

Wack it on a multimeter and check. Either way 5.2 isn't too bad and shouldn't cause any damage to your drives. That's only 4% over what it should be, not much really.

[kalniel]

5.208V is still within official spec tolerance for ATX so all your components should be rated to cope with it fine.

[PowerPie5000]

Wack it on a multimeter and check. Either way 5.2 isn't too bad and shouldn't cause any damage to your drives. That's only 4% over what it should be, not much really.

I don't have a multimeter on hand at the moment (not used or even seen it for a couple of months actually ), but I know someone with a PSU tester which should be fine to use (digital readout).

5.208V is still within official spec tolerance for ATX so all your components should be rated to cope with it fine.

I've been running the computer for a few hours now after giving it a magical slap to get it booted! The HDD is failing as HD Tune is giving it a warning status and every so often it freezes for 5-10 seconds (with a solid HDD activity led) and it sometimes makes a click/ping noise. This is the first real HDD issue i've had for years! I don't feel comfortable with 5V devices constantly running at 5.208V... The maximum it's hit so far is 5.274V (using HWiNFO64 as a voltage monitor). I'll RMA the HDD as it's just over 7 months old and has only logged 888 hours of use (only 37 days ). I have the Hitachi version of this Toshiba drive in my main PC and it's been fine for about 2 years now.

I'm pretty sure a high 5V rail would damage a HDD, and it's probably what caused the death of the previous USB keyboard... Do you think i should RMA the PSU too? I've never had any issues with Cooler Master PSUs before (and i've had a few).

[kalniel]

Like I said, 5.208, even 5.274V, is still within ATX spec for the 5V rail. If that causes a component to fail then it's the component at fault for not being ATX compliant, not the PSU.

You cannot RMA a PSU if it is operating within specification, which yours is (in terms of voltage on the 5V rail at least).

[PowerPie5000]

Like I said, 5.208, even 5.274V, is still within ATX spec for the 5V rail. If that causes a component to fail then it's the component at fault for not being ATX compliant, not the PSU.

You cannot RMA a PSU if it is operating within specification, which yours is (in terms of voltage on the 5V rail at least).

I don't think 5.274V is within spec, i'm pretty sure the max is 5.250V and the lowest 4.750V. Anyway i'm now waiting to hear back from OCUK regarding the RMA procedure... Not sure if i should just send the faulty HDD or send both the HDD and PSU?

[kalniel]

True, but depends what the steps are on the monitoring. Get a multimeter if you're going to RMA something that close to specification. You have to think to yourself: how easily are they going to be able to reproduce my problem at the other end?

I'd just RMA the HDD.

[PowerPie5000]

True, but depends what the steps are on the monitoring. Get a multimeter if you're going to RMA something that close to specification. You have to think to yourself: how easily are they going to be able to reproduce my problem at the other end?

I'd just RMA the HDD.

Ok I've managed to get the RMA details sorted for the HDD. In the meantime i'll see if I can find my multimeter or borrow my friends PSU tester (i'm sure it doesn't matter which one I use).

[PowerPie5000]

OCUK received the faulty drive and i got an email saying they're sending me a "B Grade" replacement! I'm not too happy with this as i bought the original drive brand new 7 months ago and it still had 17 months warranty left on it! Do you guys think this is fair? Should i reject the replacement? Who would actually buy a grade B storage device anyway?

[Macadee]

Me, because B grade HDDs from OcUK are usually manufacturer return replacements, I've bought 2 previously and they came in new sealed antistatic bags in OEM boxes.

Query it with them to find out for sure.

[PowerPie5000]

Me, because B grade HDDs from OcUK are usually manufacturer return replacements, I've bought 2 previously and they came in new sealed antistatic bags in OEM boxes.

Query it with them to find out for sure.

That's good to hear! Hopefully i receive a new and unused drive. The original drive was bought as an OEM part (not listed as grade B though).

[PowerPie5000]

The drive i'll be receiving is a previously repaired unit. OCUK are sending me this one to save me waiting 28 days for my original drive to be repaired... So it seems i would have been getting a refurb either way instead of a direct replacement. Hopefully it will last longer than 7 months this time. I must be very lucky though as in all my years of computing i've never had a HDD fail on me (and i've had quite a few!).

[kalniel]

OCUK received the faulty drive and i got an email saying they're sending me a "B Grade" replacement! I'm not too happy with this as i bought the original drive brand new 7 months ago and it still had 17 months warranty left on it! Do you guys think this is fair? Should i reject the replacement? Who would actually buy a grade B storage device anyway?

A company that really valued its customers would send out a new drive as a gesture of goodwill and hope to retain your services for the future. But they're within their rights to send you a B grade item - unless new-for-old is specified in the warranty then they only have to repair or give you an item of equivalent age (or even just the market value of a used item of the same age). You should not be worse of than you were before the drive broke, but there's no right to be better off either.

[peterb]

A 'B' grasde device isone that has been repaired or returned as unwanted - it will meet the oriiginal mfr's spec. The title 'B' just indicates that it is not 'new' - but otherwise it will have identical characteristics to a new device.

[PowerPie5000]

I received the replacement drive today and it's DOA . It makes a clunk noise followed by a few clicks and whirring sounds and that's all i get! Tested with both our PCs wth the same result. HD Tune can see the drive (Doesn't show in Windows though) and this is what it displays:






As you can see it's pretty much all blank! No firmware, no SMART status, no features list, no temps... Nothing but the drive model and capacity (it's pretty much the same with Crystal Disk Info too). This was supposed to be a repaired drive from Toshiba... It might actually be enough to put me off buying another Toshiba drive. I thought maybe DPD had thrown it around, but there's not a single mark on the box.

[PowerPie5000]

Received ANOTHER replacement from OCuk and once again it's ANOTHER faulty unit!!! It's also clocked over 600 hours which is strange considering i only received it this afternoon. If it's another repair/refurb then i've lost all confidence in Toshiba/Hitachi engineers... Or have a just been sent someone else's faulty drive (it could even be my original drive for all i know!). I can't use a drive that keeps giving SMART warnings (tested with various disk management utils).