I've also posted this message in the Storage forum - Thanks

I have two computers networked and running WinXP Pro. The one computer had been off for about a week, and when I attempted to start it, it was DOA. I came to the conclusion that the power supply was bad. After replacing the PS, I restarted, and the BIOS would not recognize the drive. After, attempting auto detect, booting from XP CD, other IDE controller, new cable, battery, etc., nothing would get the drive to spin up. Assuming the drive was probably a goner, I hooked up an identical drive (Maxtor 30Gig) and had the same result. I even tried them both as slaves on my other machine. No recognition, no spin.

Has anyone else seen this problem. Is it weirdly possible that both drive are now bad? The power supply was also the same wattage as the original, could there be a problem there? I would really like to get the data off the drive. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

DW

I would set it to slave on a different PC to retrieve the data and determine if it was a bad HDD. If it runs, that means the MB in the original PC may be the problem.

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Been there, done that. In addition, I hooked up an identical Maxtor 30GB drive to another machine as slave after trying it on the original machine as master. That drive was not also not recognized. That's what's so bizarre about this situation. Thanks
DW

Have you tried to use Maxtor's diagnostic tools?

If it doesn't show up then it might just be a goner. Is it possible that the original machine (the one that was off for a week) got hit by a power surge or something? This might have caused permenant damange to that machine and it may just be toasting the drives when you hook them up.

I haven't ever seen that happen before but electricity does strange things.

Still don't know yet if it is the HDD or the MB on the original machine that has the issue. If it is HDD, one last resort trick to get data off is to pack it in a ziplock bag and put it in the freezer, get it cold and then install it still cold and try booting.

Thanks - that will be my last resort, followed by hitting it very hard and finally dosing it with gasoline and setting it on fire (just kidding).

Since you like quotes, you may like this one from Robert Fulghum.

"The unexamined life is not worth living, but the examined life is no picnic".

DW