talcott@nunki.usc.edu (Adam Talcott) (10/27/90)
About two days ago my hard disk started acting up. This is what it does: after the machine and hard disk have been on for a while my computer does not see the hard disk during a subsequent restart (the flashing question mark in the disk is displayed). I figured it may have something to do with the 95 degree weather we've been having down here so I set up a fan to blow on the hard disk while it is in operation. This at least allowed it to boot on restart though it did not do it as quickly as it used to. My question is is the problem simply old age (the hard disk is 3-4 years old) or something else? I did have this thing die on me two years ago when the temperature got to warm... -- | Adam Talcott | Not a bad bit of rescuing, | | talcott@nunki.usc.edu | huh? You know, sometimes I | | Electrical Engineering (Computers) Senior | even amaze myself. | | University of Southern California | --Han Solo |
chapman@ug.cs.dal.ca (Paul Chapman) (10/30/90)
>About two days ago my hard disk started acting up. This is what it does: after >the machine and hard disk have been on for a while my computer does not see the >hard disk during a subsequent restart (the flashing question mark in the disk >is displayed). I figured it may have something to do with the 95 degree >weather we've been having down here so I set up a fan to blow on the hard disk >while it is in operation. This at least allowed it to boot on restart though >it did not do it as quickly as it used to. Consider yourself lucky. It's been well below freezing here recently. About your hard drive, I think that the old small-capacity drives used stepper motors to align the heads. When things get hot, the platters get a bit bigger, just enough to misalign things. Can't think of a solution though, except to put the drive in the refrigerator. :) ___________________________________ ___________________/ This message brought to you by... \___________________ | "Why stop now, just when I'm hating it" (the life of an undergrad) | | Paul Chapman, who can be reached at CHAPMAN@UG.CS.DAL.CA | \___________________________________________________________________________/