My seagate 7200.7 120gb just had a barbeque!!!!!

[Quailane]

OMG!!! I lost my best hard drive about twenty minutes ago!! I got this 7200.7 120gb IDE drive from some store, you know either officemax, staples, comp usa, or best buy. I forget which one, luckilly I have the receipt somewhere. I got it in late october and it has been running perfectly fine in my rig. It didn't seem hot or anything at all. Just warm. I restarted my comp and a second later I smelled and saw really bad smoke and I thought "OMG! My cd drive ate and burned my cd!" I pulled the cord pretty abruptly and opened my case. That smell stunk up my room pretty fast. I pulled the cd and hard drive out. I found a melty burn hole on one of the chips on the bottom of the hard drive. Upon sniffing inspection, this was what caused the black smoke. It also left a burn mark on the drive cage right below it.

I am just worried that that was caused by something I did, although I can't think of what. I restarted my comp with the drive plugged in. It recognized the cd drive and I was able to boot off of it, but it could not setect the hard drive. The hd made a slow sputtering, almost thudding noise. I want to rma the drive to seagate, but I wouldn't want to if I caused it. Has this or anything like it ever happened to anyone else? I keep thinking that it must be my fault because hard drives that work fine for months don't just suddenly die in smoke. Please let me know if you feel I caused it, or if I should rma it.

[Quailane]

I was just looking on seagate's website and at least my drive is listed as a 3 year warranty.

[Xaotic]

You should RMA the drive. Most times a controller chip failure is a manufacturing defect and in no way related to anything a user has done. A good example of this is the Quantum Fireball EX. The original line used a controller that tended to short and burn out. The drive line was reworked and used a different controller chipset that was more reliable. The only exception to this is where the drive has been installed with an external cause for the short, like a protuding metal piece of the case or another drive causing the short, this would be the responsibility of the user. Since the drive was not overheating and had been running normally, this drive should be RMA'd without any worries.

[Quailane]

Ok thanks. I just wasn't sure about that. I checked to make sure nothing was shorting it and the only thing it was touching were the sides of the drive cage, where it is suposed to touch. Thanks.

Quailane

[Hawker-rider]

It doesn't sound like you did anything to it that would have voided the warranty on the drive.

Perfect example of RMA in my opinion!!! just go ahead and get it sent out

[L337 M33P]

Pics :D

Oh, and RMA that drive :eek:

[Quailane]

It looks exactly stock except for a tiny hole in one of the small chips on the board.