Compaq Evo power blown - try hard drive in caddy with another computer?

twiglet98

Everything I touch is breaking down lately so I have fired up the most primitive computer and hope it stays working long enough to post this query!

In addition to this ancient Deskpro EN, I have two Compaq Evo D510 SFF computers. One is redundant now DDs have bought themselves laptops, the other is MY computer, both pretty old, £30 each 5 years ago!

I switched mine on and there was a bang and flash from the back, where the power cable plugs in. It was plugged into a Belkin multi-point trailing socket with a built in surge protector. Obviously now it won’t switch on (though I haven’t tried a different power cord, assuming the problem is the internal power supply).

The redundant computer gets a wireless or wired connection to the BT Home Hub and will receive emails but for some unknown reason it will not load Internet Explorer, so it’s no use to us really.

I think I have two options to try and access the data on MY computer, but then I think this is too simplistic and I’m sure I'm missing some major problem:

1) See if the local computer shop can take the power supply out of the redundant computer and use it to replace the one that went BANG in MY computer (don't know it it's a capacitor blown, a wiring problem, all outside my scope);

2) Remove the hard drive from MY computer and put it in an external caddy, connect it to either the redundant same-model-but-lower-spec computer, or even to this old dinosaur.

They all run Windows XP. MY computer has an 80Gb hard drive and a 2.53Gb Pentium 4 processor. The redundant one of the same model has a 40Gb hard drive and a 1.70Gb Intel Celeron chip. This old Deskpro has a 10Gb hard drive and a 733mhz Pentium III.

I have never used an external caddy. Is it relevant that the other computers are smaller and slower? Would they be able to read the Word docs and Excel spreadsheets, mail on Outlook Express, photos, iTunes, all on the C drive…, bypassing the whole XP boot-up procedure? Would the host computer boot as normal and just see this hard drive as a removable disk?


And yes, it’s a salutary lesson that I am extremely silly not to have backed anything up since Christmas, and that it’s time I moved everything to some online system that is accessible from any computer.

Sadly not in a position to get a new computer as the car’s MOT is costing everything I have, and more...

banger9365

by the sounds its a powers supply thats gone and by the way its gone it sounds like a cheepo power supply
and the very old pc's power supply will not run the one thats gone ,
you can get a new power supply for about 30 pounds or a nastie one for less ,thats if the power supply thats gone has not killed your pc which it might have done .

bazster

As already stated, the obvious thing is to get a new PSU. Dabs own-brand PSU's start at about £10, and they are a doddle to fit.

If you put the hard drive into an external disc caddy (and if you are capable of doing that you are easily capable of replacing a PSU) then any computer you plug it into will see it as an additional disk drive, it will be neither the boot drive nor the C drive. Whether you can read documents etc. from it depends on what software you have installed on the computer: to read, say, Word docs off your external drive you need to have Word installed on the host computer, the fact that it was previously installed on the now-external drive is irrelevant.

robmar0se

Hi , if I read yr post correctly, you have two compaqs, one redundant and another with a blown PSU.

I understand that the compaqs are similar models, plus at this point we don't know if the blown psu has damaged anything else.

What I would do, is first to open up the one with a blown psu - usually 2-3 screws at the back and slide off the top panel. Then just undo the 4 screws at the back that hold the psu in.

You will see the various leads/plugs from the psu to various components, make a note of these. They are all push/pull fittings, with the plug(s) to the main circuit board having a clip which one just needs to press while lifting out (gently with a little left/right jiggle).

There will be a panel on the psu which will tell you the max wattage of the psu, I suspect it might be 250w.

Do the same on the redundant pc, assuming the wattage is the same, just reverse the process and put the redundant psu into your pc. Note all plugs are shaped so will only go in one-way round (when you remove the floppy drive cable, take a particular note on which way up it goes!)

If it boots, first job is to backup yr data!

Regarding the external enclosure (note you would need an IDE type - not SATA), you will find that on yr antique pc, that it is usb 1.1 which will be painfully slow, but should work, but patience would be required!

fwor

As an alternative to replacing the power supply, you also have the option of installing the HDD from the non-working PC as a second drive in the redundant one.

In fact you might even find that replacing the HDD in the redundant one with the HDD from the non-working one would boot and run fine. On the face of it that would sound unlikely, but XP is actually very resilient - I have done it quite a few times and have had many more successes than failures.

If it boots Ok then you ~may~ have to install some additional device drivers (easy enough with [STRIKE]Dells[/STRIKE]HP/Compaqs), but it has the advantage that your existing applications (e.g. MS Office) would continue to work.

Figment

Point Of Order! They are Compaq, not DELL

twiglet98

fwor wrote: »

As an alternative to replacing the power supply, you also have the option of installing the HDD from the non-working PC as a second drive in the redundant one.

In fact you might even find that replacing the HDD in the redundant one with the HDD from the non-working one would boot and run fine. On the face of it that would sound unlikely, but XP is actually very resilient - I have done it quite a few times and have had many more successes than failures.

If it boots Ok then you ~may~ have to install some additional device drivers (easy enough with [STRIKE]Dells[/STRIKE]HP/Compaqs), but it has the advantage that your existing applications (e.g. MS Office) would continue to work.

Thanks, that was my first thought - just move the hard drive from the blown PC to the redundant one, with the identical case (but slower processor). Then I vaguely remembered that the hard drive expects to be specific to a certain computer and may not boot in an unrecognised one. I don't know if there's something in SETUP that I would need to tweak? I'm paranoid that I'm going to accidentally wipe this hard drive.

For now I have bought an aluminium external case and am fretting at its instructions to back up all data and format the drive before fitting it in the enclosure... when the reason for doing so is precisely so I CAN back it up, better late than never.

fwor

twiglet98 wrote: »

Then I vaguely remembered that the hard drive expects to be specific to a certain computer and may not boot in an unrecognised one. I don't know if there's something in SETUP that I would need to tweak? I'm paranoid that I'm going to accidentally wipe this hard drive.

Windows has something called the Hardware Abstraction Layer which does quite a good job of coping with minor changes in the underlying hardware, and this is what gives it a good chance of working.

HOWEVER - you are right to be worried about backing up the data before trying anything experimental.

No need to do anything to the drive before putting it in the external caddy - it should work fine.

Is there enough disk space on the ancient Deskpro to fit all the stuff you need to back up on it? As already said, it will take a long time, but just leave it overnight if necessary. Then try the HDD in the redundant PC and see if it will boot Ok.

twiglet98

Thanks so much for the very helpful advice.

I have successfully fitted the old hard drive in the new external caddy and am in the process of copying its contents onto an external storage drive. The last 150 or so songs added to my iTunes don't appear in the iTunes folder - they're the ones from the iTunes Store, since the demise of free music from Limewire, but in the grand scheme of things... I can access my old emails, this year's photos, and the Word docs and Excel spreadsheets that I have been so lazy about backing up. Lesson learned.

Next steps are to try swapping out the psu from the spare Evo into my blown one, or to see if the hard drive from the blown one will boot if I fit it into the spare. I'd rather get the blown one working if possible, but if I try it in the spare machine first, do I need to change any settings in the BIOS? Can I expect any error messages and how should I respond to them, if a response if called for? These are compact units and there isn't room to fit a secondary hard drive in addition to the primary drive.

fwor

twiglet98 wrote: »

if I try it in the spare machine first, do I need to change any settings in the BIOS? Can I expect any error messages and how should I respond to them, if a response if called for?

On older machines, you might find that you need to enter the BIOS setup for it to correctly recognise the different size HDD, but probably not.

Assuming it boots, error messages are likely to appear as "new hardware found" messages, for which you may need drivers from the Compaq support website.

twiglet98

Fitted fhe hard drive from the blown PC into a caddy and I've copied its contents onto an external storage drive, apart from a stack of SQL files.

Then swapped the hard drive from the blown PC into the spare computer. Booted up straight away, but it's demanding the Windows and Office activation keys within three days. Both these Compaq D710 computers were ex-corporate machines, bought refurbished, with XP Pro and Office 2003 pre-loaded, so I don't have the activation keys. I seem to remember having an Activation Key Removal Tool years ago, but don't know where the disk is now. Epic fail.

In any case the redundant computer won't get a reliable internet connection, wired or wireless, though both computers have the same Belkin Wireless G Network Cards, fitted at the same time, and I have tried changing the ethernet cable - it's on a desk within arm's reach of the router - it does sometimes connect momentarily but won't load IE and because it won't load IE for long enough, I can't download another browser.

So now I'll have a go at swapping the PSU and hope no other damage has been done to the motherboard or anything else.

Just have to work out how to get the PSU out, it isn't very obvious what to undo and some of the sockets aren't Philips, they look as if they need a special tool

It could have been a worse Bank Holiday, it's not so bad being indoors when it's raining.


ETS Had something to eat, rebooted my brain, and remembered the Windows product keys are stickered onto the case... duh...