Re: RE:disk drive help

Ken Watson wrote:

> Donald,
>
> Thanks for the offer...
> The disk I am having problems with is a Maxtor 10 gig model. Model #90845D4
> 16383 cylinders, 16 heads 63 sectors. It looks like the PCB # is 301193100.
> This is the number silk-screened on the PCB.

Okay, can't help you from here -- I skipped over that size range, went
from 4 GB up to 40 GB without ever owning one that size. Other
suggestions still stand, and maybe someone else on the list can help.

> The drive just clicks like it is loading and unloading the heads. No
> screeches or scratching noise. I also tried to run a utility from Maxtor and
> it did not sound like the heads were seeking...so I assume they were not
> being driven properly, therefore the suspected PCB being the problem.
> Ken

Most of my drives make just a little "click" or "clack" when the head
seeks, not the whir or whine older drives might be expected to produce.
  There are a lot of possibilities, actually -- a bad voice coil (head
driver solenoid), bad driver transistors, bad buffer, the list goes on.
  You could possibly also get this if the heads were mechanically locked
(as by a bad bearing, debris in the solenoid, or a spindle that's not
starting up and thus preventing the heads from unparking). Failure of
the read circuits on the servo track surface could also produce that
kind of failure. All of these are recoverable with the right equipment,
but if it requires opening the capsule, it would only be worth it if it
was your own creations on there and they were something you expect to
make money from.

Assuming the drive failed in service, rather than after being removed
from the machine and reinstalled, we should be able to rule out wrong
jumper settings -- but if you installed a second drive and this one
failed, it could have been set as "Single" instead of "Master" and
produce errors that act like read failures.

In any case, this is grossly off topic for this list, and we're about at
the end of where I can help anyway -- I've owned a bunch of 'em, but
don't repair 'em.

-- 
The challenge to the photographer is to command the medium, to use
whatever current equipment and technology furthers his creative
objectives, without sacrificing the ability to make his own decisions.
                                                          -- Ansel Adams
Donald Qualls, aka The Silent Observer   http://silent1.home.netcom.com
Opinions expressed are my own -- take them for what they're worth
and don't expect them to be perfect.
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