[G4] Acard AEC-6280M Boot

[shopdog at mac.com]

Doug:

It's been a couple of weeks, but I need to ask you how you powered the  
drives that were sitting outside the chassis.  I have a CoolerMaster  
RS-450-ACLX power supply, which is normally used in a chassis to power  
all system components.  It, of course, has power connectors for hard  
drives.

I set it up as a stand-alone power supply for two drives that are  
sitting outside the G4 chassis.  Meaning, it's connected only to a  
power outlet, and the two drives.  The two drives are connected to the  
Acard AEC-6280M card via some IDE ribbon cables.  What I don't  
understand is that when I switch the power supply on, it doesn't power  
on.  It doesn't make any noise, and the fan does not start up, and the  
drives certainly don't get any power.  It's as if it's not turned on.

Is there another switch that I have to turn, or does it need to be  
connected to a motherboard, etc.?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

shopdog

>
> Not only is it possible to run 5 drives in the bottom of the case,  
> but I did it for over a year in my DA.  My setup was exactly like  
> yours, right down to the same ATA controller.  Here's how I did it.   
> It's already been established that the middle position can only have  
> one drive, so that is all I put there.  The rear most position is  
> the only one which can be used with Apple's 2 drive bracket so that  
> is what I put there.  The last 2 drives had to be mounted with some  
> custom brackets that I made using strap metal, which is commonly  
> available at a hardware store.  I had to offset the top drive so it  
> would fit back away from the fan housing.
>
> The hardest part is running the cables.  It's a tight fit no matter  
> how you install the drives.  As I said, I ran mine for about a year  
> this way and finally decided to go to SATA drives and cables which  
> fit a whole lot easier.  Since then I have moved the 4 data drives  
> out of the DA case entirely and mounted them in a separate large  
> full-sized 5.25" drive case which has it''s own PS.  Just made more  
> sense from a heat and power stand point.  I bought external pass  
> thru SATA cables which go where the slot covers normally fit and had  
> to fabricate some for the drive case.  Using 40 inch SATA cables  
> allows some flexibility on where to put the drive case.  In any case  
> it works well.
>
> HTH
>
> Just a message from Doug...