Did I Fry My SSD?

Sooooo, I may have fried my SSD.
I bought a new graphics card realized my case fans stopped working and started fiddling.
I plugged one of the molex cables into another I thought should have been plugged in. Nothing happened.
I popped open the front of my case and saw the fan controller simply wasn’t connected to the fans. While the computer was still running I plugged that back in and the computer shut off and my power button started blinking.
I turned it on, it posted, then it said, select boot device… #*$@
I unplugged that molex, posted, went it, and saw that the SSD was no longer being detected.
I tried removing the SSD and restarted. Now it won’t even boot and my Extreme3 Gen3 shows the error A6.

3 questions:
1. What do?
2. Do you think I can salvage any data from the SSD?
3. Why am I so dumb?

I'm not clear on the part about "the fan controller simply wasn't connected to the fans . . . I plugged that back in". Are your case fans connected to a drive bay fan controller? And if so, how is the controller powered? Directly to the motherboard or to the PSU? You really shouldn't hot plug anything into a motherboard except for devices that are "hot swapable" which doesn't include fans.

The only way to tell if you can recover anything from your SSD is to connect it to another computer. Do you have a SATA to USB dock or converter of some kind? That's the easiest way to do it.

A0-A7 errore codes: "Problem related to SATA or IDE divices."

http://www.asrock.com/support/faq.asp?id=334

noname2020x said:

3 questions:
1. What do?
2. Do you think I can salvage any data from the SSD?
3. Why am I so dumb?

Click to expand...

1) remove and reseat all cables/devices. Clear CMOS while you do that. Test it out. Maybe it was just being stubborn and the reseat/clearing will jump start it.

2) if its wont power on then I dont know how you pull the data. If you can power on, then there is a chance. Also try booting from a Linux live cd to check if it can see the drive. You may have just killed the mbr and need a reformat/reinstall. You can hope anyway

3) Im torn between poking a little fun and trying to console. But at least youve learned an important lesson

Good thought from knoober about the Linux Live option. If it won't boot using a linux live DVD then something is wrong with the motherboard or bios.

Thanks guys.

I reseated everything and cleared the cmos with no luck.

I don't have a CD-Drive :-(

I'm confused though, even without a hard drive, shouldn't it still post?

And why did it suddenly not post after it did twice?

Ugh. i don't have the money for this problem, haha.

I guess my next move is to buy something external to try to read the SSD? Maybe buy a new SSD?

It still should post without a hard drive. Sounds like a motherboard or bios failure. Also try booting with just one memory stick installed and try all of the sticks. Memory seems to be the most sensitive component to spikes.

trents said:

It still should post without a hard drive. Sounds like a motherboard or bios failure. Also try booting with just one memory stick installed and try all of the sticks. Memory seems to be the most sensitive component to spikes.

Click to expand...

Plugged one in, turned it on. A-3.

Rstarted.

Plugged one in, turned on...makes a tiny noise (like a tiny fan), no lights. Nada.

So... I guess mobo is the issue?

Try all sticks in all slots. There is a "magic" one (usually the closest or farthest from the cpu) that makes it work. Your mobo manual should tell you which one but I usally just run each stick through each slot.

Also Linux can be made into a bootable USB so no CD drive necessary. Not much help to you though until you can get your board to POST. If you have/can get spares of any components then it is time to start making swaps. First try SSD and RAM and cpu on a different board if you can. If they dont fire then try a new drive/ram etc on your existing board.

If you've got no spares then your budget is your guide to what to try replacing first. Good luck

Can you try a different PSU?

noname2020x said:

I don't have a CD-Drive :-(

Click to expand...

Most (all?) Live linux 'CDs' can also boot from a USB drive if the PC itself is capable from booting from USB. I do that instead of burning DVDs any more. I think they boot faster.

Good luck!

Sounds like you've got an electrical short somewhere. This sequence of events shouldn't happen for any other reason that I know of. I'm inclined to question the graphics card? Since you mention that it was just installed before all this started happening.

What did you actually plug that molex cable into though, I'm a little unclear on that?

3. I suspect this is related to the same thing that causes us as humans to walk into a room, and then immediately forget why we went in there. Or look for our glasses/sunglasses when they're already on our heads or hanging from our shirts around the neck.

Tech Tweaker said:

I suspect this is related to the same thing that causes us as humans to walk into a room, and then immediately forget why we went in there.

Click to expand...

Crap.

I forgot what I was going to say.