My hard drives connected to a Corsair RM1000x suddenly power down while I'm playing games and only become available again after restarting the computer. I read that some drives interpret the SATA 3.3V line as the PWDIS (Power Disable) signal, so I was considering covering pins 1–3 with Kapton tape or using a Molex-to-SATA adapter. I removed the 3.3V wire from the SATA power connector instead, but at least one drive still shuts down. What should I check next, and is either workaround safe?
2 Answers
Kapton tape over pins 1–3 is generally used to block the PWDIS signal, but it won’t fix a drive that is actually losing power. Avoid cheap Molex-to-SATA adapters, especially molded ones, since they can overheat or fail. Since one drive still shuts down with the 3.3V wire removed, test the drives individually and check temperatures, SMART health, and whether the problem follows a particular cable or drive.
If removing the 3.3V line didn’t change anything, PWDIS probably isn’t the cause. The drives may be losing power because of a bad SATA power lead, loose connector, failing drive, overheating, or a faulty backplane. Try powering the drives from a different modular SATA cable and a different PSU socket, and check the system and drive logs for reset or disk errors. Also make sure you’re using only the cables that came with that exact PSU model.
I removed the 3.3V conductor because I didn’t have Kapton tape, but the same drive still powered off. I’ll try another PSU cable and test the drives separately.