igb@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Isidore G Bendrihem) (07/10/90)
I have a Seagate ST251 (40MB) disk whose platter is failing to spin on power up. At first, I thought the motor was flaky, but after talking to some local people, it seems like the drive is suffering from a common problem that affects Seagate drives: Stiction. Stiction occurs when too much resin is placed on the platters to help the read/write head slide over the platter. After a while, the resin accumulates on the head to the point that the head literally sticks to the platter. The motor doesn't have enough torque to spin the platter loose from the head, and it starts to heat up. The control circuitry detects this heating up and shuts the motor off before it burns up. Stiction can also be caused by dirt, humidity, or exessive oil from the motor. Does anybody knows what I can do to fix this problem? I have access to clean rooms and a variety of chemicals I could use to clean up the heads. I'd really like to save this drive since is barely 2 years old. Any companies that specialize on repairing this type of problem would also help. Thanks. Isidore Bendrihem
keshava@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Sanjay Keshava) (07/11/90)
In article <1990Jul9.214341.4490@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> igb@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Isidore G Bendrihem) writes: >I have a Seagate ST251 (40MB) disk whose platter is failing to spin on >power up. At first, I thought the motor was flaky, but after talking to >some local people, it seems like the drive is suffering from a common >problem that affects Seagate drives: Stiction. Stiction occurs when too >much resin is placed on the platters to help the read/write head slide >over the platter. >... >Isidore Bendrihem The Seagate ST4051 (40MB full height) rigid also has the sticking problem. A workstation I once used incorporated this drive. The sticking got so bad that the machine wouldn't boot, and the drive had to be replaced. Fortunately, I backed-up my desktop. (To the skeptics - It pays to backup regularly!!) My AT compatible also has this drive, and it occasionally sticks. The only way I've overcome this is to repeatedly (with a few seconds delay) power on/off the machine until the drive spins up. I know this could wreak havoc with the electronics, but it's most frustrating to have a broken machine just when I'm in the mood to read mail :-). Sanjay ->|<- Student in the UT Graduate School of Business DARPA: keshava@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu | Graduation Date: TBD CSnet: keshava%ccwf@relay.cs.net | Greetings to fellow Anteaters, UUCP: ...!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu!keshava | Trojans, and Longhorns.