Scott_A_Dalrymple@cup.portal.com (07/07/89)
Greetings, friends! I wonder if anyone out there has had a problem I am having with my Seagate ST-251 40MB hard drive. Lately it is very difficult to get it to spin up when I turn on my AT clone. It first happened probably a year ago. Not knowing what else to try, I pulled the cables off the drive, cleaned the contacts, and reseated the connectors. To my surprise, the disk the spun right up when I applied power. So, about 3 months ago, when the same symptom occurred, I knew what to try, and it worked then, too. It happened again again last Wednesday, and I tried the same trick. It didn't work right away, but I fiddled with the connectors and recycled power 2 or 3 times and it spun up. Then it didn't spin up Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday. Each time it required more and more aimless fiddling to get the thing to spin up. Sunday it was about 45 minutes. I haven't powered down the AT since, for fear that the disk will die for good then (of course, it is fully backed up). When it is not spinning up, the little green light comes on when power is applied to the AT, and if I listen *real* close, I hear a little click, similar to the routine clicking of a normal start up. If it were a car, I'd say, "it won't turn over" or "it needs a little 'kick start'." Can anyone provide any suggestions for me? I don't want to throw away a perfectly good car want of a battery (so to speak). The disk works *fine* once it comes up. No problems at all. Thanks for any help. Post or email. Scott Dalrymple Computer Sciences Corp. Scott_A_Dalrymple@cup.portal.com
byronl@copper.MDP.TEK.COM (Byron Lunz) (07/08/89)
In article <20197@cup.portal.com> Scott_A_Dalrymple@cup.portal.com writes: >I wonder if anyone out there has had a problem I am having with my >Seagate ST-251 40MB hard drive. Lately it is very difficult to get it >to spin up when I turn on my AT clone. It first happened probably a [gory details deleted] > >Can anyone provide any suggestions for me? I don't want to throw away >a perfectly good car want of a battery (so to speak). The disk works >*fine* once it comes up. No problems at all. I too would welcome suggestions. Just the day before yesterday, my 5.7 month old PC clone with ST251-1 came up with "Hard drive failure". The problem was the same - the disc was not spinning up. I took the drive out and just gave it a little twist of the wrist and when I reinstalled it it took right off. And there have been no more problems in the last 6 or so power-ups. But of course, with reports like Scott's, I would like to get the drive replaced under my dealer's 6-month drive warranty!!! Any suggestions how to convince the dealer there really is a problem??? (I tried to call Seagate's 800 # but it always busy - is that another symptom?)
Scott_A_Dalrymple@cup.portal.com (07/09/89)
Byron - first thing is to send a letter to the dealer NOW stating their is a problem and that you believe it should be covered. That gives you your proof that the problem arose before the warranty expires. *Then* worry about proving that it should be covered. Scott Dalrymple, CSC Scott_A_Dalrymple@cup.portal.com
ddurbin@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Daniel A. Durbin) (07/09/89)
I have had trouble with one of my ST251's for about 6 months now. My BBS has two ST251's and remains running most of the time. When I do occasionally power down, the one disk drive has trouble spinning up again. I need only turn the head spindle and things are back to normal. My guess is that the autopark mechanism on the old ST251 is sticking but the new drive has a newer improved mechanism. Does anybody know a fix for the autopark sticking problem? Daniel Durbin___________________________________________________ SysOp: Cygnus X-1 BBS | CIS: 73447,1744 (805) 541-8505 (data) | GEnie: D.DURBIN EL major at PolySlo | ddurbin@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU
nghiem@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Alex Nghiem) (07/09/89)
There is a well documented problem with Apple Quantum HD 40's because of a spindle design defect that caused the HD to lock up when the drive is powered down and cools off. There was also confirmation there are some Apple Seagate HD 40's that had similar symptoms. The serial numbers for the defective Seagates were posted on comp.sys.mac a few months ago. If the same drives are involved, Seagate knows about the problem. They have a good reputation for replacing defective drives.
mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP (Michael R. Volow) (07/09/89)
In article <20197@cup.portal.com>, Scott_A_Dalrymple@cup.portal.com writes: > I wonder if anyone out there has had a problem I am having with my > Seagate ST-251 40MB hard drive. Lately it is very difficult to get it > to spin up when I turn on my AT clone. It first happened probably a > year ago. Not knowing what else to try, I pulled the cables off the > drive, cleaned the contacts, and reseated the connectors. To my > surprise, the disk the spun right up when I applied power. So, about I had very similar problems with my ST225 in an upgraded IBM PC. In many power supplies, the clips in the white connectors are subject to deformation, make poor connection, and as a result the HD does not get up to speed in criterior time, and therefore does not boot from the disk. Usually, swapping a connector from one of the floppies would do trick for me -- for a while. Carefully and thoroughly seating the connector also helped. Sometimes compressing the clips in the power connectors makes a better contact. If the problem happens consistently with all of the connectors, it could be your power supply. Power supplies are cheaper than HD's, so some kind of substitution or replacement of this could also be diagnostic. M Volow, VA Medical Center, Durham, NC 27705 mvolo@ecsvax.UUCP 919 286 0411
karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) (07/09/89)
(lots of stuff about Seagates that don't spin) We see these once in a while, and simply replace them instantly. Our distributor hasn't given me a hard time about it yet. Just get the darn thing replaced if it's under warranty. This happens to a small percentage of the drives in my experience, but it does happen. Seagate seems to have the most common problems with this difficulty. I consider it an annoyance problem, since all but one that we've had it happen to were under warranty, and we were able to get the data off prior to replacement in all but one case. Out of a couple of hundred drives we have sold in the last two and a half years, two have had this problem so far. About a 1% failure rate; and this has been the ONLY failure that the 251/277R series has exhibited on us. --- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl) Public Access Data Line: [+1 312 566-8911], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"