spector@brillig.umd.edu (Lee Spector) (07/27/89)
I remember some discussion a few months back about "sticking" Apple hard
drives. Well, my new (< 1 month old) IIcx just failed to recognize its
Apple 80 meg internal hard drive at startup. I restarted but the problem
persisted. Then I disconnected the power, waited a few minutes, and tried
again - this time everything worked fine. This leads me to ask several
questions:
1) Was the problem with sticking drives ever officially recognized or
fixed?
2) Does the symptom I've described necessarily forshadow near-term drive
failure? (Is there any less serious problem that could cause it?)
3) Is there anything I can do to remedy the situation before
the drive dies? (Was there some kind of "secret recall"?)
Some previous posters had linked the problem to cold weather, but that is
definately not a factor in this case. By the way, I've tried to minimize the
number of power-ups to about one per day - I'd leave it on all the time
if it weren't for all of the thunder storms in Maryland at this time of year.
Thanks for any and all responses,
Lee Spector (spector@brillig.umd.edu)
University of Marylandwj4@prism.gatech.EDU (JOYE,WILLIAM A) (07/27/89)
I too have a problem with a Mac llcx 80Mb sticking hard drive.
When it goes, it makes a strange sound and blinks alot.
Solution, running SilverLining and search for SCSI devices.
It does not identify the disk, however, rebooting next seems to work every
time. (STRANGE!!!)
I'm interested in other's solutions.
JOYE,WILLIAM A
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!wj4
Internet: wj4@prism.gatech.edu
--
JOYE,WILLIAM A
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!wj4
Internet: wj4@prism.gatech.eduheberlei@iris.ucdavis.edu (Todd) (07/28/89)
In article <18768@mimsy.UUCP> spector@brillig.umd.edu.UUCP (Lee Spector) writes: >I remember some discussion a few months back about "sticking" Apple hard >drives. Well, my new (< 1 month old) IIcx just failed to recognize its >Apple 80 meg internal hard drive at startup. I restarted but the problem >persisted. Then I disconnected the power, waited a few minutes, and tried > 1) Was the problem with sticking drives ever officially recognized or > Lee Spector (spector@brillig.umd.edu) I looked into this problem a few months ago before buying an SE/30. I had heard several complaints about HD stiction, and I wanted to find out why to try and avoid it. * In the SE/30s (I don't know about the rest of the line) Apple has been putting in both Quantum and Sony drives (I have a Sony). * I could not tell if the failures were random or due to a design/manufacturing flaw. I do know lots of HD companies have had troubles in the past (the HD seems to be the most delicate part of a computer). I believe IBM recalled a number of HDs on its PS/2 line recently. Quantum is aware of complaints, but I do not know if they know whether it is random failuers or a design flaw. * I have been told of two causes for stiction: 1) lubrication solidifying on moving parts, and 2) the head actually sticking to the disk. I do not know at what temperature the lubrication (grease?) solidifies. * One solution is to nudge (or shake gently) your machine; HOWEVER, it is generally not a good idea to move any HD at all (ie. carrying it from home to work). * I have been told that the problems get worse, but I do not know anyone personally who has experienced it getting worse. * I would recommend that anyone with an Apple supplied HD get "Apple gauge".. I mean "Apple Care". Apple gives only a 90 day warranty while the HD manufatures give [to Apple] a much longer warranty. Bummer deal! Good luck with your problems, Todd
cyosta@taux01.UUCP ( Yossie Silverman ) (07/30/89)
In article <18768@mimsy.UUCP> spector@brillig.umd.edu.UUCP (Lee Spector) writes:
.I remember some discussion a few months back about "sticking" Apple hard
.drives. Well, my new (< 1 month old) IIcx just failed to recognize its
.Apple 80 meg internal hard drive at startup. I restarted but the problem
.persisted. Then I disconnected the power, waited a few minutes, and tried
.again - this time everything worked fine. This leads me to ask several
.questions:
.
. 1) Was the problem with sticking drives ever officially recognized or
. fixed?
.
. 2) Does the symptom I've described necessarily forshadow near-term drive
. failure? (Is there any less serious problem that could cause it?)
.
. 3) Is there anything I can do to remedy the situation before
. the drive dies? (Was there some kind of "secret recall"?)
.
.Some previous posters had linked the problem to cold weather, but that is
.definately not a factor in this case. By the way, I've tried to minimize the
.number of power-ups to about one per day - I'd leave it on all the time
.if it weren't for all of the thunder storms in Maryland at this time of year.
.
.Thanks for any and all responses,
. Lee Spector (spector@brillig.umd.edu)
. University of Maryland
Same happened to me, and I am stuck in Israel and unable to take advantage
of warrenty for repairs! Anyway, I took the mac to local dealer (who can't
honor the warrenty, but was willing to take a look) and he said the problem
was in the motor. The motor has a "dead" spot. If you start the machine
when the motor is at this angle, it won't be able to spin up. The solution,
to get a new one. The price, here, $1000 or so. The funny thing is, though,
that the drive will hang in the middle of operation, not only at powerup.
I have found, through experimentation, that if the drive doesn't spin up,
you can make it spin up by tilting the mac (and the drive) some 90 degrees
or so. When the drive starts responding slugishly during operation, there
is little to do. I usually (1) ignore it and wait for it to respond normalluy
again, or (2) turn it off and stop working for the day (this has done wonders
to my sleeping habits! :-() I am currently using the internal 80 as a temp
storage device and working off a DD70 (Jasmine, and faultless, so there!).
When in the USA later this summer I plan to replace it, not under warenty,
but certainly a little cheeper then here. I haven't had a single occasion
when data was lost, except with the drive stopped working in middle of
operation, and then it was only the latest data to be written, and always
when I exited to the finder, so the ram-cache was flushed already. The
hardware tests always indicate that all blocks are alive and well on the
disk. My system is a SE/30. If anyone has advice on what to do, which would
be simple and cheeper then replacing the drive, PLEASE send me info.
--
Yossie Silverman What did the Caspian sea?
National Semiconductor Ltd. (Israel)
cyosta%taux01@nsc.nsc.COM or RPR1YOS@TECHNION.BITNET
NSA LSD FBI KGB PCP CIA MOSAD NUCLEAR MI5 SPY ASSASSINATE SDI -- OOCLAY ITAYshibumi@farcomp.UUCP (Kenton A. Hoover) (08/19/89)
In article <2247@taux01.UUCP> cyosta%taux01@nsc.nsc.COM ( Yossie Silverman ) writes: >Same happened to me, and I am stuck in Israel and unable to take advantage ... >was in the motor. The motor has a "dead" spot. If you start the machine ... >you can make it spin up by tilting the mac (and the drive) some 90 degrees >or so. When the drive starts responding slugishly during operation, there We have often opened the cases up and spun the drives out of the "dead zone" by hand. This syndrome seems to strike most often during demos too. Only a handful of machines in the office seem to have been affected. What the mac needs is a kickstarter on the side...yeah, thats the ticket! -- | Kenton A. Hoover | | Postmaster General shibumi@farcomp.com | | Farallon Computing Inc. +1 415 849 2331 | | "Evil will always triumph over good because good is dumb" |
cyosta@taux01.UUCP ( Yossie Silverman ) (08/20/89)
Here's one to try. Place the mac on its front. I know this will block the speaker, but you don't have to leave it there once the disk spins up. It works for me, on my SE/30. Go ahead, try it! You should do the placing before you turn the power on, then wait for the disk to spin up and then turn the mac back to its normal position. beware excessive shocks to the mac when the power is on and the drive in motion. - Yossie -- Yossie Silverman What did the Caspian sea? National Semiconductor Ltd. (Israel) cyosta%taux01@nsc.nsc.COM or RPR1YOS@TECHNION.BITNET NSA LSD FBI KGB PCP CIA MOSAD NUCLEAR MI5 SPY ASSASSINATE SDI -- OOLCAY ITAY