Possibly Blown My HDD & other questions.

Mellownatts · 18 May 2006 at 08:20

Ok so yesterday i went out and bought a new pc case (Lian Li V600B) and got it home, the reason for this purchase is that my psu blew on my Sony Viao and the new one was a few millimetres larger and wouldnt fit back in. So anyways i transfer all my mobo and gfx cards over get everything set up and working then it comes to the 30+ little wires for the USB, Case Headphones, Mic Etc, My mobo already has these so i have not added them to the mobo as of yet, i added the other 10+ little plugs for the Power Button, Reset Switch and 2 Leds on the front, they all seem to be working fine..

So then it comes to pluggin a 4 pin power connector to my HDD and everything goes off (Seemed like something had shorted out) so i unplug everything and wait a few minutes and switch it all back on it boots up but the HDD is just silent likes it dead, tried a few other connectors that boot the CDROM up fine and still nothing, so do you reckon i have blown something in my HDD..

Also, keep in mind this is the first time i have transfered cases, i cant seem to get a Primary Master or a Secondary Master, everything i add comes up as a Slave..

Also does the way you have your round cables matter ?

And does anyone have a site that helps you out with those 1 pin plugs for the USB and other front panel things just incase i have set them up wrong ?

Thanks in advance.

earlyflash · 18 May 2006 at 09:14

Try the same conncector on a CD drive and see if that spins up.

Put your hand on the drive to see if you can feel it powering up, but if not, you probably have killed it.

Mellownatts · 18 May 2006 at 09:20

Ive tried both of those and nope, still doesnt power up, can't feel or hear anything coming from the HDD.

Any more input on the other questions, and if i have killed it, will i have to buy Windows XP and somehow install it again..

Is it difficult to do as i have never had to do it before ? :rolleyes:

dale1uk · 18 May 2006 at 09:46

Am I right in thinking the pc was powered up when you tried to connect the hdd and when you did it all shut down?? If so you've probably killed it, you should never really plug things in unless the pc is powered down.
As for xp If you have the windows disk and the sticker with the product code then you'll be fine, you'll just have to reinstall it on a new hdd. Its fairly straight forward just boot from the cd and follow on screen instructions for new install.

earlyflash · 18 May 2006 at 10:29

As above. Get used to installing XP, it's something that needs to happen every so often.

Mellownatts · 18 May 2006 at 10:52

Yes stupidly now thinking about it, yes the Pc was powered up when i plugged the HDD in.

What do you mean by the Windows disc, as far as im aware i dont have any disc and the XP discs ive seen online are from £50 - 80, will i need to fork out for this aswell as another HDD, or is there an easier way round that ?

earlyflash · 18 May 2006 at 11:15

Do you have a legit XP key? (On a sticker on the machine, or part of a seperate certificate of ownership?

If so, you can get a copy of a disc from anywhere.

Replacement XP media from MS is about £15, if you have a valid licence, but this DOES NOT include OEM licences.

Poolybit · 18 May 2006 at 11:19

It does, OEM licenses are perfectly valid.

Mellownatts · 18 May 2006 at 11:27

Well i have a Sony Viao which has Xp on it with a hologram sticker on the side with all the serial numbers on, im guessing thats what you mean.

Can you point me in the right direction to this disc, a friend at work said he has a copy of Xp with Sp2 with everything ready, should i trust the disc or get the one you are suggesting ?

earlyflash · 18 May 2006 at 11:29

Poolybit said:
It does, OEM licenses are perfectly valid.

OEM licences will not allow you to get replacement XP Media from Microsoft. They still work if you can get an OEM disc, yes, but MS don't provide support for OEM licences, that's what OEM means.

Messiah Khan · 18 May 2006 at 11:30

Mellownatts said:
Yes stupidly now thinking about it, yes the Pc was powered up when i plugged the HDD in.

What do you mean by the Windows disc, as far as im aware i dont have any disc and the XP discs ive seen online are from £50 - 80, will i need to fork out for this aswell as another HDD, or is there an easier way round that ?

You have most likely killed the hdd then. Never plug stuff in(especially harrdrives) when the power is on. Whenever I do any work on the pc, I turn the power off on the back of the psu, but leave the power cable plugged in so as to earth the case.

earlyflash · 18 May 2006 at 11:30

Mellownatts said:
Well i have a Sony Viao which has Xp on it with a hologram sticker on the side with all the serial numbers on, im guessing thats what you mean.

Can you point me in the right direction to this disc, a friend at work said he has a copy of Xp with Sp2 with everything ready, should i trust the disc or get the one you are suggesting ?

If the Sony Vaio isn't the machine that you are talking about above, then you can't install XP on it using that key, since that would be illegal.

Zefan · 18 May 2006 at 11:30

Mellownatts said:
Can you point me in the right direction to this disc, a friend at work said he has a copy of Xp with Sp2 with everything ready, should i trust the disc or get the one you are suggesting ?

It will almost certainly be a corporate version he has (To avoid activation) therefore your key will not work hence making you effectively a pirate. You'll need the version that you have on your Vaio (Doesn't matter if it has SP2 stealthed into it or not as long as it's hte same version) and you can use your key.

Zefan · 18 May 2006 at 11:31

earlyflash said:
If the Sony Vaio isn't the machine that you are talking about above, then you can't install XP on it, since that would be illegal.

Can OEM's not be used on more than one PC? I was under the impression there was flexibility... like 3 PC's within the same household and all had to be owned by the license holder etc etc.

earlyflash · 18 May 2006 at 11:33

Zefan said:
Can OEM's not be used on more than one PC? I was under the impression there was flexibility... like 3 PC's within the same household and all had to be owned by the license holder etc etc.

No. OEM licences are tied (forever) to the machine on which they are bought with. They cannot be installed on other PCs

Zefan · 18 May 2006 at 11:33

earlyflash said:
No. OEM licences are tied (forever) to the machine on which they are bought with. They cannot be installed on other PCs

Nasty

earlyflash · 18 May 2006 at 11:39

Zefan said:
Nasty

No, cheaper... Retail XP licences can be moved from machine to machine, as you'd expect, but they are still only valid for one machine at a time.

Apple does 'family' packs of OSX and iLife where you pay a little more and can install on multiple machines at once (up to 5), so that might be what you are thinking of.

Mellownatts · 18 May 2006 at 12:51

earlyflash said:
If the Sony Vaio isn't the machine that you are talking about above, then you can't install XP on it using that key, since that would be illegal.

Well i have taken the Vaio apart to put in my new V600B case, so its a mixture of components now..lol

Do you reckon buying XP from ocuk or another shop would be my best bet then ?

earlyflash · 18 May 2006 at 13:19

Mellownatts said:
Well i have taken the Vaio apart to put in my new V600B case, so its a mixture of components now..lol

Ek. If the components are still in the machine, can it still be classed as the Sony Vaio?

I think that this is a bit of a grey area, so in your case, I'd be tempted to hold off and use the existing OEM key that you have, but I'm not 100% sure of the legailty of this move, you'd need to read the licence agreement to be sure.

If you decide to do that, you need to get ahold of a Windows XP OEM disc, since the key won't work on any other sort.

Mellownatts · 18 May 2006 at 14:01

Yes lamost all the parts are from the Vaio, the only replacement im obvioulsy going to have to do now is the HDD which ive blown.