Check those Serial ATA cables

ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
edited July 2004 in Hardware
Woke up this morning and booted the A64 rig of occasional doom.

Windows refused to boot, was so so slow loading Windows (nearly 10 minutes). I naturally was concerned by this. After a few botched attempts I grabbed my Western Digital "Data Lifeguard" diagnostic tool and ran it on my raptors.

Damn, one of them fails within a second. :(

So I go to remove said dead drive, then I check my Serial ATA cable connection to said drive. It was just slightly loose. A quick push back into place and a reboot later, here I am. Data Lifeguard reports the drive now as happy as MtGoat (Larry). All I did was move the cable a little last night while plugging in an external device that uses the SATA interface. Must have caught it and not noticed.

So if you think your precious serial ATA is dying one day, check the cables.. you might pull apart your rig .. for the sake of one loose cable :thumbsup:

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    SATA cables suck. Yes, they're thin, yes they have a great profile. But they don't hold in the socket worth a good god damn! :mean:
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited July 2004
    Yup. This is why I'm selling my SATA RAID card and going back to PATA RAID (thank GOD I went with PATA drives and converters)
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited July 2004
    Bluetac on the end of the cable connector sorts out this problem for me.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited July 2004
    All of my problems have been with the power cables for the sata adapters. For some reason, they all have cold solder joints or something on the power connectors, because unless they're in just the right position, the adapter won't work. :(
  • EQuitoEQuito SoCal, USA
    edited July 2004
    Why discard the SATA drives? the adapters are much worst than the SATA cables itself.
    As you just said, another problem is the adapter's power connector.

    Just use a tiny drop of superglue at the end of the cable and voila!
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited July 2004
    EQ is right! When I used to ship a lot of custom computers we built we used to use a thin line of regular old rubber cement on all the connectors. Its easily removed but kept the cables from shaking lose during shipment. Today a drop of the many silicone based adhesives might work better but ten years ago I just used the old rubber cement like you had a jar of in grade school. With superglue I would think a REALLY tiny drop would work great. superglue worries me because I have seen more numbnuts squirt the crap all over their fingers and stuff even when you keep saying JUST ONE DROP.... I had a co-worker that no joke ... glued his hand to his forehead.... I caught him trying to cut it loose with a rasor blade???? Will the madness never end? LMAO

    sorta like seeing thermal adhesive running all over the top of a XP cpu from some numbnuts thinking gee... if a little is good then obviously a little extra would be like REALLY good right...

    Tex
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    I use RTV Silicone gasket maker, Automotive type, Clear or Blue (not black, too much carbon content in that), to hold things on that keep working loose, small DAB near one socket corner or two opposed corners after connector is in place. Non-conductive, not toxic base, let cure overnight if you can before use. Set time, about 1-2 hours for a small-medium sized glop (10-12 pinheads worth, yeah, a little goes a long way). After a couple hours in an open case, the vapors from setting in will be gone into air. Only problem with superglue is getting it OFF if you later need to, assuming it bonds-- without destroying coatings on motherboard or card top coatings that insulate traces.....

    Being semi-clumsy with superglue myself, I wear Nitrile Automotive (mechanic) gloxes, throw-away kind, when working with it-- and use the mid-to-thick GEL kind so it does not run down into sockets, etc. And I prefer RTV silicone as you can get it off easily by peeling but it bonds to most things well.
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited July 2004
    John_D wrote:
    Only problem with superglue is getting it OFF if you later need to, assuming it bonds-- without destroying coatings on motherboard or card top coatings that insulate traces.....


    John, interesting point that, I've used superglue, (Cynoacrylic???) to glue the plastic nut & washers to motherboards for heatsinks & waterblocks that utilise the m/b mounting holes. On boards, such as the dfi lanparty, which dont conform to amd specs & have traces within the defined area I have glued over these & and so far no damage has occured. I was worried about the glue corroding the board but upon removal there doesn't appear to be any degredation and the glue just chips off leaving no trace. Maybe I'm just lucky but the board works fine afterwards.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited July 2004
    EQ, the drives are PATA. They're just on adapters. :)
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited July 2004
    If you use silcone for securing connectors make sure that you get the non-smelly kind. The ammonia given off during the cure of the standard type can cause serious corrosion of copper parts. I have seen this cause problems in connections that were potted in RTV to seal them.
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