rjung@sal42.usc.edu (Robert allen Jung) (11/02/88)
(Okay, okay, this doesn't pertain to the ST, but I'm desperate for an answer!)
^^^^^^^^^
Since the subject of hard drives came up...
Two months ago, a buddy and me got together a 20 megabyte Seagate hard drive
and an ICD hard drive kit for use with a 130 XE. We get everything assembled,
formatted, and partitioned, and it all works wonderfully.
HOWEVER, after a certain number (we don't know how many) of drive I/O
operations, the hard drive starts to buzz loudly, and keeps returning
"device done" (directory scrambled?) errors. We can still access the data,
but only IF we (a) reposition the drive ever SO SLIGHTLY, or (b) continually
try to read/write the drive (It gets through...eventually). Obviously, this is
a MAJOR pain in the butt.
Does anyone know what's wrong, or have a clue? Since a lot of net.st.people
have hard drives (Us? We're 100% naieve), and/or used to work on the Atari
8-bits, can anyone help?
Please post or reply. PLEASE!
--R.J.
B-(
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Disclaimer: These are my views, and mine alone.
# ## #
Mailing address: Beats me, just reply to this message # ## #
(rjung@nunki.usc.edu?) ## ## ##
#### ## ####ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Enartloc Nhoj) (01/01/90)
Wondering if someone could help me diagnose
my hard drive problem...
Symptoms: Occasionally... and sometimes frequently,
my Quantum drive slows down and then comes
back up. When it slows i obviously can't
read or write to the drive.
Conditions: The drive has been running smoothly
and without a hitch since last February when i
bought it new. I have had it running pretty much
24 hours a day since i purchased it. I have a good
fan and the housing is always very cool to the touch.
My house definitely needs re-wiring. Fuse blows are common.
The other day, i came down to the basement and saw that my drive
and system must have lost power at some time during the night.
My monitor displayed just floppies. Later that morning, when
turning on the oil furnace, another fuse blew...
I didn't seem to have any problems with the drive the subsequent
day. A few things seemed strange while i cleaned out and zeroed
out a few partitions to install a 530,000 word dictionary..
unpacked it and ran some checks on the files with wc and grep...
the heads were working hard.. but i couldn't see how that should
harm a the drive in any way.
I moved the system upstairs to an office on a different electrical
circuit.. then i started noticing the spin problems.. for a
few days i tried different outlets and surge protectors etc..
sometimes the drive wouldn't even come up to speed. This morning
i moved the system back to the basement to perhaps isolate the
problem to be the house wiring upstairs..
I just sat down to my 1040 and saw that a file i had downloaded from
my host was not written to my drive: "Check drive.. could be damaged"
warning... i hit retry and the file saved.
So the problem is not intermittent... Therefore, it will be hard to
isolate it and make if fail for a technician. Anybody out there
ever have similar problems?
My guess and hope is that it is my power supply... i couldn't find
any info on "trouble shooting" in the quantum manual...
Thanks for the help
-kevin
ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu
(BTW: Supra host adaptor)hcj@lzaz.ATT.COM (HC Johnson) (01/01/90)
In article <5189@blake.acs.washington.edu>, ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Enartloc Nhoj) writes: > Wondering if someone could help me diagnose > my hard drive problem... > > Symptoms: Occasionally... and sometimes frequently, > my Quantum drive slows down and then comes > back up. When it slows i obviously can't > read or write to the drive. > > > My guess and hope is that it is my power supply... i couldn't find > any info on "trouble shooting" in the quantum manual... > My guess is that the ability to read is failing on your servo track. This surface is used to control speed and bit rate. BACK UP YOUR DRIVE! IT WILL SOON BE DEAD! Howard C. Johnson ATT Bell Labs att!lzaz!hcj hcj@lzaz.att.com
Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET (Z4648252) (01/04/90)
Enartloc Nhoj writes of drive problems, Howard Johnson offers some wise advise: > Symptoms: Occasionally... and sometimes frequently, > my Quantum drive slows down and then comes > back up. When it slows i obviously can't > read or write to the drive. > >So the problem is not intermittent... Therefore, it will be hard to >isolate it and make if fail for a technician. Anybody out there >ever have similar problems? Howard Johnson responds: >My guess is that the ability to read is failing on your servo track. >This surface is used to control speed and bit rate. >BACK UP YOUR DRIVE! IT WILL SOON BE DEAD! One suggestion from my own "Dumb Larry Experience" is to go ahead and FIRST try some maintenance before attempting any backups!!! In my own use of some brain dead equipment, or at least retarded, is that if a drive fails when you attempt a backup, then you will, in most and all probabilities, loose that file along with others--missing clusters, and all of that good stuff. Do some hardware maintenance: cleaning and possible connector replacement first. Try this.. Remove your case top. Get some tuner cleaner and clean the connectors going to the hard drive mechanism from the power supply. Clean them exceptionally well. I've found that some connectors are only using aluminum material which will oxidize in some climates. These are particularly bad in my area where we have problems with salty air from the Gulf of Mexico. I had to dress my connectors twice a year on my hard drive. I finally replaced them with automobile electrical connectors (these are made of brass, I think), and have yet to have any problems. For a test, just snip off the connectors, connect the wires and solder them via a pigtail fashion. See if your drive works. Obviously, try the cleaning before you go to this step since this step might be unnecessary (disadvantage of composing on-line--rambling!). If cleaning solves the problem, then I'd replace the connectors with the automobile electrical connectors. Anyway, I think you see my point. Note that with all of your failures, you will probably have some corrupted files anyway. First, though, try to address the slowing down problem by dressing your connectors. See if the connector maintenance stops that. If so, then, do as Howard says, back up what you have. Then do a drive check via TuneUp or any of the other hard drive utility optimizer programs. Again, I think your connectors from your hard drive's power supply are the problem. Sorry about the rambling.. Larry Rymal: |East Texas Atari 68NNNers| <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET>
ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu (Enartloc Nhoj) (01/05/90)
In article <900103.10572140.037876@SFA.CP6> Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET (Z4648252) writes: >Enartloc Nhoj writes of drive problems, Howard Johnson offers some >wise advise: > >> Symptoms: Occasionally... and sometimes frequently, >> my Quantum drive slows down and then comes >> back up. When it slows i obviously can't >> read or write to the drive. >> >>So the problem is not intermittent... Therefore, it will be hard to >>isolate it and make if fail for a technician. Anybody out there >>ever have similar problems? > > Howard Johnson responds: > > >>My guess is that the ability to read is failing on your servo track. >>This surface is used to control speed and bit rate. >>BACK UP YOUR DRIVE! IT WILL SOON BE DEAD! > > One suggestion from my own "Dumb Larry Experience" is to go ahead >and FIRST try some maintenance before attempting any backups!!! In > Do some hardware maintenance: cleaning and possible connector >replacement first. > >Larry Rymal: |East Texas Atari 68NNNers| <Z4648252@SFAUSTIN.BITNET> First.. THANKS to all of you who have offered me advice. I am very appreciative and grateful. Unfortunately, Larry, i already mailed my drive off to MacLand in Tempe before reading your article... here's what i have learned in the past few days about certain Quantum drives: My dealer tech had heard about a bunch of quantums at Boeing that were sent back due to some "oil" leaking on to the media and causing the heads to stick. He wasn't any more specific than that as he had heard this idea from someone who heard something... etc... I called the techs at MacLand.. who, by the way, are incredibly helpful and very willing to listen... the tech there, Jay Denton, thought it might be the power supply... but, as Howard told me, it might also be in the servo track or motor... I called the Quantum rep... he gave me several possible diagnoses: Power supply.. any deviation of .6 volts off the 12 volt line or the 5 volt line will cause the drive to power down.. not always to a full stop.. He also described a problem with some "fluid"... had never heard of the "oil" scenario nor of the "recall"... Talked to a friend in Boston who immediately knew what i was talking about.. had heard of the Quantum 80 problems people were having.. Called MacLand again and talked with Jay.. he knew about the "oil" "fluid" "lubricant" problem.. it is documented by Quantum, and a chip fix is already available.. also.. the newer drives have the chip on the drive: The FLUID they are all talking about is the lubricant in the sealed cylinder that houses the actuator arm for the heads. Apparently, under dusty or humid conditions (even though it is sealed) the lubricant gets globby or ceases to function properly.. and thereby does not allow the heads to move where and when they want to.... the solution is a chip that forces a random seek across the plates when the drive senses inactivity after a period of x minutes. Supposedly, there's a 24 hour turn-around time.. so i should be getting the chip added to my drive and all will be ok. In the meantime, i have cleaned the dust out of my case and will heed Larry's advice and maintain the contacts he was mentioning above... -kevin ramsiri@blake.acs.washington.edu
clubok@husc4.HARVARD.EDU (Ken "The Snake" Clubok) (07/04/90)
So this morning I flip on my hard drive just like I have several times a day for the past several months, I wait a while for it to warm up, and I flip on my ST. Everything's fine. I then double-clicked on the Flash! folder, and on flash.prg. I got a long row of bombs, and the computer hung. Since then, the drive is completely dead. Running the latest version of icdfmt.prg, I was surprised to discover that I had four Adaptec 5500 cards, when I could have sworn that I had a single 4070. When I clicked on "rescan", I was told that there were no SCSI devices attached. The older version of icdfmt simply tells me that I have no host adaptor, which is also incorrect. So now I ask for advice; is my controller fried? My host adaptor? Is there anything I can do other than take it in to be serviced? I should mention that I have a plain 1040ST, a Seagate 250R (not a very commonly seen drive), an Adaptec 4070 controller, and an ICD host adaptor. If I do need to get it serviced, can anybody recommend a good place in the Boston Area? As of now, I plan to take it into the Bit Bucket on Friday. Has anybody had any experience with them? Thanks in advance for any help, and sorry for all the mixed tenses. Ken Clubok clubok@husc4.bitnet clubok@husc4.harvard.edu