Thanks for you reply. I know I have been careless, usually I am quite
careful, but I was excited about trying another hard drive. This
computer was a university research computer that my supervisor gave me,
so probably for it's time was way ahead of the market. I did have it
working quite a few times and was just about to do a clean linux
install, so I know that it was fine at one point. Since I unplugged the
hdd with power on it hasn't worked.

I will try removing cards etc and switch ide channel and see if I can
get any life from it.

Thanks


meow2222@care2.com wrote:
>
> Theres no way you can know where the fault lies until you've found out.
> Hot plugging drives could at worst kill one of the 2 ide channels,
> leaving the system still perfectly functional if you move hdd & dvd
> over to the other channel. So no you've not killed it.
>
> I suspect why they threw it out was it did this from time to time.
> Check CMOS battery voltage is ok, check cables are firmly seated on
> mobo, ditto ram, multimeter on psu lines will give that a basic check.
> Next try removing all unnecessary items (cards, dvd, hdd) and try
> booting again.
>
> So far you've been careless, as you're aware, and I cant help but
> wonder if you're going to do more of the same by pulling out psu and so
> on. Enough care is needed if its to survive. The rule with wood is
> measure twice cut once, and you need to apply the same here. Do nothing
> until you're clear what youre doing, why, and how, and how to put it
> all back.
>
>
> NT