http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=294956

Thanks!

I found something just like it at Fry's for $7 and online for $5.

I mounted the 2.5" drive in an ADS Pyro 1394 box and fired up the box. All I could hear spinning was the fan in the box. "My Computer" on the attached PC did not see the drive.

I also found the manual for the drive:

http:// http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=HardDrivesOpticalDrives/Documentation/

and it told me that pin 42 is +5 V and pin 43 is one of many system grounds. I connected them to the appropriate terminals on a 5V DC power supply. I could not hear the motor spin up. Am I correct that applying 5V to these pins will spin up the HDD, or does the controller have to send a 'start the motor' signal as well?

So I'm still left with the "?" of why we don't see the optical drive in the BIOS system setup. The missing HDD I can understand if it doesn't spin up.

I hate to put $ into a replacement HDD only to find that the system still fails to boot.

Thanks

baumgrenze

The IDE connector won't power the drive. The drive needs to have a separate Molex power feed from the PSU inside the external box.

The GQ (Great Quality - made in Taiwan) adapter I bought has a Molex power feed. When I turned on the box that would power up the drive, I could not hear the 2.5" HDD spin up. That's when I decided to apply 5V DC directly to the appropriate pins using a wall wart and probe type E-Z-Hook cables for connection.

I am still troubled that the laptop fails to find both the optical drive and the HDD. The diagnostics, loaded via floppy, show that the optical drive is fully functional.

I am reluctant to lay out $80 for a new HDD at Fry's just to find out that the machine will not recognize it because there is a fault on the mother board.

This machine is 5.5 years old. It still has the original CMOS battery in it. Is it possible that the BIOS is only partially corrupted? When the machine boots, one can go to the BIOS setup. It is clear in Setup that it is not finding the optical drive and not finding the HDD.

The machine is still adequate for my wife's needs. Her comment, "why would I want the 80 GB HDD at Fry's, I never used much of the 30 GB HDD it came with?"

thanks,

baumgrenze

Message Edited by baumjwb on 10-30-2007 04:12 PM