daver@dg.dg.com (David Rudolph) (11/02/89)
My 30M Mass Micro Systems drive is starting to have a problem I've seen mentioned here before. It often doesn't start spinning the first time I turn it on; flicking the switch several times always gets it started. The question is: Is this going to get worse and worse, to the point where eventually it will never start? MMS wants $50 just for an estimate, and possibly $250 to replace the drive mechanism after that. Are there any cheaper home remedies? David Rudolph uunet!dg!daver
c8s-an@franny.Berkeley.EDU (Alex Lau) (11/02/89)
In article <227@dg.dg.com> daver@dg.UUCP (David Rudolph) writes: >My 30M Mass Micro Systems drive is starting to have a problem I've seen >mentioned here before. It often doesn't start spinning the first time I >turn it on; flicking the switch several times always gets it started. Sounds like a power supply problem; Mass Micro has been known to sell drives with flaky or inadequate power supplies. >The question is: Is this going to get worse and worse, to the point >where eventually it will never start? MMS wants $50 just for an >estimate, and possibly $250 to replace the drive mechanism after that. >Are there any cheaper home remedies? I don't know about Massachusetts, but in California it's *illegal* to ask for money for a repair estimate. And they can't ask for more than 10% up front, or that would be against California law as well. You didn't say how old your drive was... how long have you had it? If it's more than two years old, you're probably getting a better deal if they replace the drive mechanism than getting a new drive for about $1-200 more. >David Rudolph >uunet!dg!daver --- Alex UUCP: {att,backbones}!ucbvax!franny!c8s-an INTERNET: c8s-an%franny.berkeley.edu@ucbvax.berkeley.edu FIDONET: Alex.Lau@bmug.fidonet.org (1:161/444)
wasilko@netcom.UUCP (Jeff Wasilko) (11/03/89)
In article <227@dg.dg.com> daver@dg.UUCP (David Rudolph) writes: >My 30M Mass Micro Systems drive is starting to have a problem I've seen >mentioned here before. It often doesn't start spinning the first time I >turn it on; flicking the switch several times always gets it started. > >The question is: Is this going to get worse and worse, to the point >where eventually it will never start? MMS wants $50 just for an >estimate, and possibly $250 to replace the drive mechanism after that. >Are there any cheaper home remedies? > >David Rudolph >uunet!dg!daver I bought a 30M drive from them last april and I have since gone through 6 or 7 drives. I had my most serious problems with their early non-embedded SCSI drives. Problems centered around defective media on two drives. The problems were so bad that as soon as I would reformat the drive (and block out the bad sectors) anotehr 200 or 300 bac sectors would appear. My recent problems with the Seagate embedded SCSI controller drives have been mostly assembly related such as incorrect SCSI address cable wiring and defective access lights. I had one Seagate that would spin up ok, but shut down during a work session. It would eventually spin up again, but I couldn't trust it very much. I finally have gotten a drive that works (and has still been working since June). I will never buy another product from them again even though I like their case design that allows a second 3.5 inch drive to be added. Jeff Wasilko