Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - IDE Pin 39 broken

cliche · 09-01-2004, 06:28 AM

I was moving my sytstem drive (a Hitachi Deskstar 123.5Gb) from one connector to another and it stopped working - unrecognised by the BIOS. On looking at the drive it appears pin 39 (-DASP) has loosened and been pushed slightly into the connector, so is no longer connected.

My understanding is that 39 (DASP) is the Disk Active or Slave Present pin, and that it operates in reverse - ie that its being disconnected is a constant assertion of DASP by the drive. This is backed up by the fact that the HDD activity light is constantly on on my machine after the inital search for drives.

I'd like to know (if anyone does) whether it's possible to use the drive (even briefly) without this pin being connected - otherwise I'll have to try some Heath Robinson method of connecting it. Nothing vital but some stuff that hadn't been backed up for a week, and there may be some patient-sensitive information which I don't really want to send to Hitachi as an RMA. I have another similar drive (older Deskstar) and am using 80-pin cables which I believe support CSEL, so I can connect in any configuration to get past the fact that DASP is being constantly asserted. Any advice?

09-01-2004, 06:28 AM	#1 (permalink)
cliche Rookie Location: Oxford, UK	IDE Pin 39 broken - how to use drive? I was moving my sytstem drive (a Hitachi Deskstar 123.5Gb) from one connector to another and it stopped working - unrecognised by the BIOS. On looking at the drive it appears pin 39 (-DASP) has loosened and been pushed slightly into the connector, so is no longer connected. My understanding is that 39 (DASP) is the Disk Active or Slave Present pin, and that it operates in reverse - ie that its being disconnected is a constant assertion of DASP by the drive. This is backed up by the fact that the HDD activity light is constantly on on my machine after the inital search for drives. I'd like to know (if anyone does) whether it's possible to use the drive (even briefly) without this pin being connected - otherwise I'll have to try some Heath Robinson method of connecting it. Nothing vital but some stuff that hadn't been backed up for a week, and there may be some patient-sensitive information which I don't really want to send to Hitachi as an RMA. I have another similar drive (older Deskstar) and am using 80-pin cables which I believe support CSEL, so I can connect in any configuration to get past the fact that DASP is being constantly asserted. Any advice? __________________ I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. -- John Cage (1912 - 1992)