weird power problem

[WilliamWallace]

i have 2 hard drives, 1 floppy, and 1 dvd/cdrom drive...i tried adding a zip drive...so i mounted it below the floppy drive..connected the slave ide connecter, whos master is hooked to the dvd/cdrom drive...and plugged in one of the extra power cables...but when i try to turn the box on theres no power....however, when i take out the zip drive it works fine....why will the box not turn on after installing the zip drive? can there be a limited number of items you can add?

[bdg1983]

yes there can be a limited number of items but it depends on the power of your power source, it is unlikely that the problem is your power source. check to see that there is no broken wires and that the zip drive works fine in another computer. If it works fine in another computer try moving that power source to a working box, if it works then there is something wrong with your computer, if it doesn't then it's the power source it'self...hope that helps :)

[WilliamWallace]

it works fine in another computer...and all other equipment in my box works fine...do you think my power supply is too weak to handle two hard drives, a floppy drive, a cd/dvd drive, and a zip drive?

[navy-linux]

How big is the power supply? 230, 250, 300?
Does the zip drive work in a different computer?
My fist guess would be the zip drive has an internal short. That would cause the power supply to not come on. the power supply would sense this short and shut down.

Check out www.compgeeks.com (http://www.compgeeks.com)
You can get a 300 watt power supply for a cheap price. They even have some 425 watt power supplies.

[bdg1983]

the power supply works fine or the zip drive?
if the zip works fine than it's the supply
you may need somthing in the 250 to 300 watt range.
not expensive maybe 69 dollars canadian

[bdg1983]

i have a question too
are you using "y" cables to get power to all those devices?
if so the answer is probably obvious

[DMR]

AS others have said, if the Zip works in another computer, your power supply may be too weak. There is no physical limit to the number of devices you can add, but there is a limit to the total amount of current you can draw from any given supply. If your installed devices exceed the amount of current the supply can provide, it will most likely go into an overload/shutdown state to avoid frying itself. However, unless you have a very wimpy power supply, your hardware configuration doesn't sound too taxing. I've got 2 hard drives, 1 floppy, 1 CD-ROM, and a Zip drive running off of a 250 Watt supply, and have never run into any problems.
If you can, grab a voltmeter and test the voltage coming from your supply, with and without the Zip conected. If you see a heavy sag (voltage drop) with the Zip connected, either your supply is too wimpy, or your cabling has problems. Even if the voltage seems O.K., you may still be exceeding the current capacity of the supply. Current isn't something that can be directly measured with a voltmeter, but you can, with a little bit of work, figure out how may Amps/milliAmps your system draws. If your installed devices draw more current than the supply can deliver, it will probably shut down in the way I described earlier.

[bdg1983]

Are you sure both the DVD and Zip are jumpered correctly? This will cause the pc to not boot or power up. Pin 1 orientated correctly?

Try disconnecting the DVD and only connect the Zip and see if it works.

[WilliamWallace]

yes everything is jumpered correctly, and its not a short...i belive the power supply is too weak....