[comp.sys.mac.hardware] HD20 Woes

sean@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Sean P. Nolan) (05/26/90)

Hi ho...

I'm having a problem with my internal HD20 that nobody seems to be able to
diagnose, including Apple. I'm hoping that somebody on the net can help me
out --- my next step is cramming the whole machine down the garbage disposal.

The problem: Every once in awhile (read about once or twice a week, usually
while in the midst of a programming assignment), my internal HD20 "freezes."
That is, I'll be working along happily, and suddenly the "drive-in-use"
LED will go on. The drive makes no noise, and the LED stays on solid. I can
continue to use my Mac until some program needs to read off of the disk, at
which time the machine freezes up, waiting forever for the disk to respond
(which it never does).

Moreover, once this happens it tends to repeat itself for the rest of the
day/night/period that I'm working. I'll reboot the machine (hard and soft
reboots, it doesn't matter), work for about 3 minutes, and the driver will
freeze again. Then, after being shut down for awhile, the problem disappears
for a few days, only to crop up again later.

This problem has persisted over different System Software versions, over
different drives (Apple replaced the drive the first time, and my new drive
does the same thing), between drive initializations, and with varying INIT 
combinations. 

The setup:	Mac SE
		4 megs RAM
		Sys Soft 6.0.5
		Internal Apple HD20
		Internal 800K Floppy
		External Microtech Nova 40 (no problems with this one)
		INIT-type stuff:
			Gatekeeper
			Gatekeeper Aid
			SoundMaster
			INIT cdev
			Corner INIT
			Superclock!
			Remember?
			ATM
			KeyMenu

Please help out if you have any ideas; you thoughts are VERY much appreciated!

--- Sean

sean@eleazar.dartmouth.edu