alz@tc.fluke.COM (Al Weiss) (07/28/90)
In article <11035@chaph.usc.edu> asplund@alcor.usc.edu (Daryl) writes: >I have, what I thought to be, a simple question about a friend's Compaq >Deskpro 386/16. His original disk drive (40Mb) died on him. He has a >Seagate ST251-1 (40Mb, 27ms) drive that he would like to use; however, >the Compaq "all-in-one" controller (controls hard disk, floppies, tape >unit, one serial, one parallel) has an odd connector on it. A quick >call to Compaq explained that the drive is an MFM drive (no probelm there), >but it uses the "special" Conor(?) connector. They went on to say that >there is a conversion between the standard connectors (the Seagate has >a place for the two standard cables (control and data)), but they could >not release that information. >I guess my question is: Does anyone have the conversion between these >connectors (if one really exists)? Since you mention the word "Conor" above, here is my answer: At the risk of saying something stupid (so what's new :-) I am going to guess that Seagate has misled you. If the original drive is a Conner Peripherals CP-344, with a 40 pin (I think) connector, then it has what amounts to a direct AT bus connection. Conner provides schematics of an "interface board" for the 344 (and newer 3044) which is nothing more than bus transeivers, and all the real interfacing is done in the electronics of the drive. The Compaq board would be duplicating Conner's suggested circuitry. So what I'm saying is that the Conner does NOT have a standard st412 type interface like your Seagate probably has, since you mention two connectors for it. Now, if the Conner has a 50 pin connector and is a Conner CP-340 then it has a SCSI interface, and again there is no way to simply cable up the Seagate. Has your friend gone thru the process of finding out about repair or replacement of the Conner? Some companies had negotiated a special 5 year warantee with Conner on the CP-34x series. I have no idea if that would apply to Compaq or not. If the original aint a Conner then ignore all that I said ;-) My 2 cents worth. Al -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Al Weiss alz@tc.fluke.com 206-356-5252 John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc. MS-269E PO Box 9090 Everett, WA 98206-9090 USA