Missing a pin

It very much depends which pin it is but it is most likely to stop the drive from working or make it difficult for your bios to pickit up!!!!

metal ink

i onetime read a board about someone trying to fix a broken pin using a lot of metalic flake ink:
http://www.2spi.com/catalog/spec_prep/Circuitworks-MicroTip-Conductive-Silver-Pen.shtml

then dousing over it with superglue.

i seriously doubt it worked.

they sell a copper paint/glue repair kit for rear window defoggers
I have used this to fix some circuits you just can't get to

Which pin was it? You may still be able to use the drive in some configuration if the pin happaned to be an unimportant one..

Nodsu said:

Which pin was it? You may still be able to use the drive in some configuration if the pin happaned to be an unimportant one..

Click to expand...

Looking at the drive (2.5") with the label side up and facing the rows of pins, the missing pin is in the lower row, and it's the 11th pin from the right (which includes the two pins on the extreme right which are separated from the rest.) In other words, it's just to the right of the 'open space' in the center of that row.

My appreciation that you would possess such specific knowledge.

Have a look here http://pinouts.ru/HD/Ata44Internal_pinout.shtml and identify the exact pin number, evens top, odds bottom!!!!

Well, then it would have to be pin 27.

According to the database, that pin is "IORDY" (I/O Ready). I would need some help in interpreting what that, and the left-pointing directional arrow that's part of its description, means.

Pin number 27 is labeled as i/o ready!!! I'm not %100 sure but i believe it is required!! I think it is to allow the mobo to prepare the hdd to send or receive data, without it, i think the hdd will not respond when it is supposed to!!!!

Yes, it does sound like a critical pin.

Plug the drive in and see if it works... Pins are not usually replaced. The whole connector can be replaced but it's a lot of work. Replace the drive if it no longer works correctly

The pin got bent when I attached the adapter yesterday, and thus it was not in the corresponding hole in the adapter. I was unaware of the situation and installed it. The drive spun up but was not recognized by the BIOS.

However, I'd had problems like that with this drive before -- sometimes it would play with a motherboard but often it didn't The drive or the adapter may have already been damaged, but I was far from sure. Installing and uninstalling it in the mATX case is a bit of an ordeal, so I don't want to keep experimenting if the loss of the pin spells the end for all practical purposes.

So, it's time to remove it from the arsenal. Thanks to all for the help in making the decision.

If you can't resolder a new pin back on, you can replace the drive electronics (That exposed, green PCB board on the bottom of the drive). Just find a same model # drive from somewhere like eBay and swap the board out. It's very simple to do and all you need is a philips screw driver (usually).

If the data on the drive isn't important to you, then you'd be better off spending the money on a new driver, rather than trying to fix it up.

And by the way, don't be intimidated by soldering, because doing something like this is actually surprisingly easy with a decent iron... and you don't have anything to lose.