Re: FocusDrive and Interrupts

[dog_cow@macgui.com (D Finnigan)]

Michael J. Mahon wrote:
> OK.  ;-)
> 
> I would expect this to work if the "stiction" (not really) were the
> result of partial congealing of the spindle lubricant, which has not
> been a problem for a long time.
> 

I wish that I could record the drive noises and upload them for you to
analyze. There seems to be three different states which I have encountered:

1.) The "normal," operational state. Here, we here only the gentle hum of
the spindle motor spinning the 2 (?) platters. Disk access is a quiet
scratching sound. (Scratching is the best word I could think of, but I'm
sure you can hear the sound in your head and you know what I mean).

2.) Nonoperational state 1. Here, we also here the gentle hum of the spindle
motor. But there is a second, much louder noise. It sounds like rattling. It
almost has a pattern, if you listen to it for awhile, but not quite. I'm not
sure what's causing it. I think it might be the head arm moving back and
forth quite quickly. It is louder than the sound of disk access in the
normal state (Number 1).

3.) Nonoperational state 2. This is identical to Nonoperational state 2,
except that the loud noise sounds different. Unfortunately, I'm not at home,
so I can't describe how it's different, just that it is.


Final observation: I have noted that if I left the drive on anywhere from 10
minutes to several hours, with it starting in a non-operational state, it
would eventually revert back to normal state, with only the spinning hum.
However, an attempt to access the drive, such as doing a PR#7, would
immediately cause the loud noise to commence again.

It's all clear signs of mechanical failure, but I'm curious to know what's
going on inside the disk drive mechanism.

-- 
Mac GUI Vault - A source for retro Apple II and
Macintosh computing.
http://macgui.com/vault/