Wondering about the cables. Were the other two drives IDE or SATA? If SATA, have you used a new cable? If thet were IDE and the new SATA has just done the same thing, it's very odd.
Edit. Have you tried a different power supply? Two reasons, wobbly volts will mean the drive won't run as expected. Too many and you can fry the drivers circuitry (data's usually safe though - speaking from experience here).