mhampson@wpi.wpi.edu (Mark A. Hampson) (03/08/89)
Does anyone have a solid explaination as to why the floppy drives of the
AT&T 6300 spin slowly? I have a large number of these machines that I
take care of and recently we have been made aware that our machines will
not read diskettes that were formatted on 'normal' IBM type PC's and
compatibles. Our first reaction was that the drives were dirty as they
see an enourmous amount of use. Cleaning did not seem to have any effect.
A floppy that was formatted on a 6300 would be read by any other 6300.
I borrowed a program called RediScope which uses the Dysan Digital Test
Diskette and can check disk speed, alignment etc. Every one of the drives
reported slow. (292 RPM instead of the normal 300+/-5 RPM). I was told by
the person in charge of maintaining the PC here and he claims that it is
due to the fact that Olivetti designed them to be compatible with the
European 50Hz power. I find that this explaination has some pretty large
hole in it considering that the drives are built by toshiba and are printed
with markings for 300 RPM at 12VDC. (Not AC 50 Hz here)
In the 6300 this power comes off of the power supply just like it does in
other PC's and has been checked an is 12VDC, even under load. (Monitor is
powered from the same supply).
I don't get it, why would you intentionally design outside of the operational
limits of the spec.? :-| This seems od (if not counter productive) to me?
Looking for answers:
--
Mark A. Hampson WPI Mechanical Engineering
Internet: mhampson@wpi.wpi.edu Worcester, MA 01609 USA
(508) 831-5498
70% of all code is idiot proofing fmcgee@cuuxb.ATT.COM (~XT6510300~Frank McGee~C23~M24~6326~) (03/10/89)
In article <1229@wpi.wpi.edu> mhampson@wpi.wpi.edu (Mark A. Hampson) writes: >Does anyone have a solid explaination as to why the floppy drives of the >AT&T 6300 spin slowly? I have a large number of these machines that I [.........] >I borrowed a program called RediScope which uses the Dysan Digital Test >Diskette and can check disk speed, alignment etc. Every one of the drives >reported slow. (292 RPM instead of the normal 300+/-5 RPM). I was told by [........] >hole in it considering that the drives are built by toshiba and are printed >with markings for 300 RPM at 12VDC. (Not AC 50 Hz here) These two points would seem to contradict each other. The drive is not modified by AT&T in any way, and Toshiba says they should be spinning at 300 RPM. I used to support over 300 6300's and never saw problems moving disks between 6300's, IBM PC's, IBM AT's, Zenith clones, Radio Shack clones, NCR clones, and even a few no-name clones. As floppy drives get used, they wear out -- plain and simple. We never saw abnormal failures even under extreme usage. You might want to try actually removing the drives and physically cleaning them (ie, removing all the dust and stuff). In many cases PC's are placed under desks, in cabinets, etc. where they are exposed to a LOT of dust that gets sucked into them from their fans. It's a good idea to vacuum out your PC every now and then, and make sure your cleaning crew dusts them when they clean at night. Unfortunately, it looks like your drives are worn out and need to be replaced. You should be able to pick up replacement drives for less than $100 each. -- Frank McGee Tier 3 Indirect Channel Sales Support attmail!fmcgee
jec@nesac2.att.com (John Carter ATLN SADM) (03/19/89)
In article <2599@cuuxb.ATT.COM>, fmcgee@cuuxb.ATT.COM (~XT6510300~Frank McGee~C23~M24~6326~) writes: > In article <1229@wpi.wpi.edu> mhampson@wpi.wpi.edu (Mark A. Hampson) writes: ] ]Does anyone have a solid explaination as to why the floppy drives of the ] ]AT&T 6300 spin slowly? I have a large number of these machines that I ] [.........] ] ]I borrowed a program called RediScope which uses the Dysan Digital Test Does the program compensate for machine speed differences between the 'Big Blue' standard system clock and the faster clock in the 6300 and/or for the differences in the 8088 vs 8086 chips? ] ]Diskette and can check disk speed, alignment etc. Every one of the drives ] ]reported slow. (292 RPM instead of the normal 300+/-5 RPM). I was told by ] [........] ] ]hole in it considering that the drives are built by toshiba and are printed ] ]with markings for 300 RPM at 12VDC. (Not AC 50 Hz here) ] ] These two points would seem to contradict each other. The drive is not ] modified by AT&T in any way, and Toshiba says they should be spinning at ] 300 RPM. I used to support over 300 6300's and never saw problems moving ] disks between 6300's, IBM PC's, IBM AT's, Zenith clones, Radio Shack -- USnail: John Carter, AT&T, 401 W. Peachtree, FLOC 2932-6, Atlanta GA 30308 Video: ...att!nesac2!jec Voice: 404+581-6239 The machine belongs to the company. The opinions are mine.