HDD LED alway on

GiganticDays · October 23rd, 2002, 02:10 PM

Gigabyte GA7-VKMLS
Maxtor Fireball 3 Hard Drive
JNC SJA72 300W midi tower case
Athlon XP1900 CPU

Just built the above and have found a little niggle:-
The hard drive LED is always on. I've tried the connector the other way 'round but then it doesn't come on at all. Anyone know why this is?

originel · October 23rd, 2002, 02:37 PM

are you shure that it doesn't come on at all when plugged in teh other way. when you put an led plug in backwards it will turn on all the time, so it is probably supposed to go the other way. just checking, but your hd is using the oboard IDE right?

MDS · October 23rd, 2002, 02:38 PM

are ya sure you don't have it on the power indicator pins?

Graham · October 23rd, 2002, 05:38 PM

Sorry originel, when you plug an led in the wrong way round it will not light at all.
If the LED is on all the tome, it is not the LED that is faulty, as MDS says you may have it on the wrong headers, or there is a fault with the board.

G

GiganticDays · October 23rd, 2002, 07:23 PM

Yes I think Originel is getting mixed up with FDD cables. Maybe a fault with the board.

Dax_Brandy · October 24th, 2002, 10:33 AM

GiganticDays,
what connector are you actually saying here? is it the IDE ribbon cable, 12V dc power supply cable to the drive or just the HDD status LED found in the case?

in your case, when you reverse the "connector", the LED doesn't turn ON at all. LED is a diode and if you reverse the connection (cathode to negative supply), basically it wont turn ON.

do you have HDD activity with the LED always turned ON? can you boot from your drive? if not,check your IDE / supply connections. worst case, your board is busted.

good luck,
dax

GiganticDays · October 24th, 2002, 10:42 AM

It's the status LED on the case. You're right; when it's reversed it doesn't light at all. When it's the right way 'round, it's on all the time. The drive works fine, it's just that someting is wrong and I want to sort it even though it's a very small problem.

agathodaimon · October 24th, 2002, 10:53 AM

Mine does that too.
I have a GA-7VRXP Mobo with a Maxtor 40-gig and my light is on all the time.

There is a green power light, and then the red HD activity light that should only be on when it is doing something, just stays on.

BTW, what should I have as the first boot device? the HD, Floppy, CD or what?
I also noticed in my Bios, that the HD is set as Primary Slave, is that correct??

GiganticDays · October 24th, 2002, 12:03 PM

You should really have your Hard Drive set as Primary Master (assuming it's the only HDD you have). You'll need to set the jumper on the drive - there's usually a small diagram of the jumper settings on the drive casing. As for which device to boot from first; default is usually Floppy, Hard Drive then CDROM and this works fine for most people.

agathodaimon · October 24th, 2002, 12:54 PM

Maybe that's part of my LED problem.

When I first installed everything, I didn't know what a jumper was. I didn't know what "slave" or "master" meant. (I soon found out afterwards) but not until just recently I noticed that my HD is set to primary slave, so I started to wonder if i should switch it.