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RickyMaveety · 10-19-2008, 07:35 PM

My motherboard (only 11 months old) died today. Just flat up and DIED!!

If that weren't enough, when I pulled out my drive enclosures so that I could hook the drives up to my laptop (and copy off the data so that I could keep working while I wait for a new mobo), I found I didn't have the ESATA cables that I KNOW came with the enclosures.

First I look to see if I can just order a replacement cable. No joy ... the enclosure company has gone out of business as of last month.

So, I call the ONLY store anywhere near here that is open on a Sunday (Radioshack .... I know ... I know) and ask them specifically if they have any IDE/SATA drive "enclosures" that will fit a 3.5 inch hard drive.

The guy on the other end of the says that, yes, they do have one. I stress that I do NOT want to drive all the way out there if they do not have what I need ... which is an "enclosure." He says that they do have one.

I drive all the way over there, and he hands me A HARD DRIVE!!! I damn near clocked him right then and there. I asked him if he understood the difference between a hard drive and a hard drive ENCLOSURE!!

Then, I asked him if they had any SATA power cables. He said, yes ... and showed me the EXTENSION CORDS!! I mean regular hook up your lamp to your wall socket extension cords.

I then asked him if he knew anything ... anything AT ALL about computers. I was just curious. Anything????? Then I gave him an inkling of how much I didn't appreciate the waste of time and gasoline getting to that store just because some idiot doesn't know the difference between a drive and an enclosure.

I got home .... went through a zillion boxes of sundry parts and cables, and found an extra SATA power cable. I then pulled one of the data cables out of the computer and hooked it all up to the old enclosure ... and voila ... it WORKS!!!

So, the data is being copied off as I write this. When that is done, I'm going to test the hold OS hard drive (I'm hoping it's what's dead and not the mobo, but I'm betting it's the mobo) .... rats and damn.

The problem is the computer froze this morning ... no mouse control. Keyboard was working, but no mouse. I shut it down and rebooted ... still no mouse. So, I shut it down again and hooked up my cabled mouse and keyboard (thinking that there was something wrong with the bluetooth connection), and while there is power ... it won't kick into the BIOS .... I just get a black screen (well, actually four black screens). Took it down to the bare bones ... just the mobo, one stick of RAM, and the HD .... and now, all I get is one continuous ear piercing beeeeeeeep, and four black screens.

Erg. Just what I needed. Exactly what I needed. Anybody got some super strength Valium I could "borrow"???

10-19-2008, 07:35 PM	#888
RickyMaveety Holy S**T!!! Posts: 5,213 Karma: 108401 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: San Diego, California!! Device: Kindle and iPad	Arrrrrghhhhh!!! My motherboard (only 11 months old) died today. Just flat up and DIED!! If that weren't enough, when I pulled out my drive enclosures so that I could hook the drives up to my laptop (and copy off the data so that I could keep working while I wait for a new mobo), I found I didn't have the ESATA cables that I KNOW came with the enclosures. First I look to see if I can just order a replacement cable. No joy ... the enclosure company has gone out of business as of last month. So, I call the ONLY store anywhere near here that is open on a Sunday (Radioshack .... I know ... I know) and ask them specifically if they have any IDE/SATA drive "enclosures" that will fit a 3.5 inch hard drive. The guy on the other end of the says that, yes, they do have one. I stress that I do NOT want to drive all the way out there if they do not have what I need ... which is an "enclosure." He says that they do have one. I drive all the way over there, and he hands me A HARD DRIVE!!! I damn near clocked him right then and there. I asked him if he understood the difference between a hard drive and a hard drive ENCLOSURE!! Then, I asked him if they had any SATA power cables. He said, yes ... and showed me the EXTENSION CORDS!! I mean regular hook up your lamp to your wall socket extension cords. I then asked him if he knew anything ... anything AT ALL about computers. I was just curious. Anything????? Then I gave him an inkling of how much I didn't appreciate the waste of time and gasoline getting to that store just because some idiot doesn't know the difference between a drive and an enclosure. I got home .... went through a zillion boxes of sundry parts and cables, and found an extra SATA power cable. I then pulled one of the data cables out of the computer and hooked it all up to the old enclosure ... and voila ... it WORKS!!! So, the data is being copied off as I write this. When that is done, I'm going to test the hold OS hard drive (I'm hoping it's what's dead and not the mobo, but I'm betting it's the mobo) .... rats and damn. The problem is the computer froze this morning ... no mouse control. Keyboard was working, but no mouse. I shut it down and rebooted ... still no mouse. So, I shut it down again and hooked up my cabled mouse and keyboard (thinking that there was something wrong with the bluetooth connection), and while there is power ... it won't kick into the BIOS .... I just get a black screen (well, actually four black screens). Took it down to the bare bones ... just the mobo, one stick of RAM, and the HD .... and now, all I get is one continuous ear piercing beeeeeeeep, and four black screens. Erg. Just what I needed. Exactly what I needed. Anybody got some super strength Valium I could "borrow"???