pschmidt@bbn.com (Peter H. Schmidt) (04/12/89)
I bought my 3B1 (2M/40M 3.51) 3rd hand about 3 months ago. When I first got it, it would whine occasionally, with about a 2 minute quiet period in between whines. It has now progressed to the point where it is whining/ warbling constantly. It is hard to localize the source of the sound, but I'm afraid it's the disk, since I can hear the fan running quietly in the back. SO, what I'm asking is a) has anyone had this happen to their box (and did it precede a major disk failure)? b) does the 3B1 have a history of bearing lossage in it's hard drives? and c) can any of you hardware gurus walk me through a simple diagnostic procedure to pin the problem down better? The machine hasn't given the slightest trouble since I've owned it. It has been up for weeks at a time. I keep hoping the noise will just go away... but I backed up the entire disk night before last. Regards, Peter ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Peter H. Schmidt | All sweeping generalizations are invalid. BBN Advanced Computers Inc.| The one intolerable is intolerance. 10 Fawcett St. | Loving thy neighbor usually isn't worth the Cambridge, MA 02238 | effort. (617) 873-4311 | (I speak only for myself, as always.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
wilber@alice.UUCP (Bob Wilber) (04/14/89)
}I bought my 3B1 (2M/40M 3.51) 3rd hand about 3 months ago. When I first got }it, it would whine occasionally, with about a 2 minute quiet period in }between whines. It has now progressed to the point where it is whining/ }warbling constantly. It is hard to localize the source of the sound, }but I'm afraid it's the disk, since I can hear the fan running quietly }in the back. }... }Peter H. Schmidt This is a common problem, caused by the anti-static tab in the disk getting worn by the rotating spindle. To fix: Open up your 3b1 (the hard part :-( ), take out the disk drive, and remove the PC board at the bottom of the disk drive. (Be sure to note how the connectors go so you'll be able to reassemble it properly.) On the other side of the PC board you will see the copper anti-static tab. Bend it down, away from the disk spindle, and reassemble. No harm seems to come from having the anti-static tab not quite touch the spindle. Needless to say, back up the disk first. Bob Wilber wilber@research.att.com
lenny@icus.islp.ny.us (Lenny Tropiano) (04/14/89)
In article <38568@bbn.COM> pschmidt@BBN.COM (Peter H. Schmidt) writes: |>I bought my 3B1 (2M/40M 3.51) 3rd hand about 3 months ago. When I first got |>it, it would whine occasionally, with about a 2 minute quiet period in |>between whines. It has now progressed to the point where it is whining/ |>warbling constantly. It is hard to localize the source of the sound, |>but I'm afraid it's the disk, since I can hear the fan running quietly |>in the back. |> |>SO, what I'm asking is a) has anyone had this happen to their box (and |>did it precede a major disk failure)? b) does the 3B1 have a history of |>bearing lossage in it's hard drives? and c) can any of you hardware gurus |>walk me through a simple diagnostic procedure to pin the problem down |>better? |> ... Squeaky drives seems to be a very common thing, especially when your environment is a little dustier that it should be. My 2nd hard drive on my UNIX pc, had this problem a few weeks ago. It seems like the dust that the fan pulls through the external hard drive case (and in your case the UNIX pc case itself) was slowly making this sound more noticable. Finally it became too annoying not to ignore, so we took the hard drive apart. Basically (on the Miniscribe) we removed 4 or 5 hex nuts, to remove the main logic board on the hard drive. Under the logic board you will notice a metal tab (which is used for static discharge while the drive is spining). Mine was coated with dust-bunnies. Carefully remove the dust from the static tab and drive mechanism itself ("Q-tips" are useful in this procedure). Also lift slightly on the tab so that it will hit more firmly on the drive mechanism (this will hopefully decrease, or stop the noise completely). A dab of silcon grease on the tip of the tab might be helpful also... The noise doesn't seem to be related to any unexplained HDERR's ... ... Ahhh to sleep easier at night ... -Lenny -- Lenny Tropiano ICUS Software Systems [w] +1 (516) 582-5525 lenny@icus.islp.ny.us Telex; 154232428 ICUS [h] +1 (516) 968-8576 {talcott,decuac,boulder,hombre,pacbell,sbcs}!icus!lenny attmail!icus!lenny ICUS Software Systems -- PO Box 1; Islip Terrace, NY 11752
dold@mitisft.Convergent.COM (Clarence Dold) (04/14/89)
in article <9197@alice.UUCP:, wilber@alice.UUCP (Bob Wilber) says:
: }I bought my 3B1 (2M/40M 3.51) 3rd hand about 3 months ago. When I first got
: }it, it would whine occasionally, with about a 2 minute quiet period in
: This is a common problem, caused by the anti-static tab in the disk getting
: worn by the rotating spindle.
: To fix:
: Open up your 3b1 (the hard part :-( ), take out the disk drive, and remove the
: PC board at the bottom of the disk drive. (Be sure to note how the connectors
: go so you'll be able to reassemble it properly.) On the other side of the PC
: board you will see the copper anti-static tab. Bend it down, away from the
: disk spindle, and reassemble.
: No harm seems to come from having the anti-static tab not quite touch the
: spindle.
Certainly, the drive will run without the spindle ground, in fact,
some drives don't even have them anymore.
It would be better to bend the tab TOWARD the drive. The increase in pressure
will stop the chatter that you had been hearing.
--
---
Clarence A Dold - dold@tsmiti.Convergent.COM (408) 434-5293
...pyramid!ctnews!tsmiti!dold
P.O.Box 6685, San Jose, CA 95150-6685 MS#10-007