Re: HELP!!! ][e suddenly having problems!

[dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff)]

rubywand@aol.com wrote:
: In article <5drdsg$66d@login.freenet.columbus.oh.us>, dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff) writes:

: >....
: >PROBLEM:
: >Suddenly, the machine won't operate properly.
: >Now, the machine still boots, but when I try to access D2, it takes two 
: >tries to find the directory track...like the drive isn't seeking properly. 
: > So now it looks like I have a bad drive, the one that I used to call 
: >Drive #1...the one that booted when I first put in the replacement power 
: >supply .....
: >
: >Okay, so does anyone have any ideas for me?  What's going on here?  I do 
: >not have another working Disk ][, nor do I have another Disk ][ 
: >controller.  And this is a bit upsetting...this is the first time this 
: >machine has failed since it was purchased in 1983 (I don't count the time 
: >I accidentally fried the RAM by shorting the test pads at the front left 
: >corner of the motherboard...)
: >....


:      It sounds like your drives are not getting enough current on the +12V line. Since swapping in a new Power Supply does not help, and since both drives are affected, you are left with three decent suspects:


We may have a winner.  Last night, I was poking (or is that POKEing...)
aroun, trying to come up with any patterns.  For simplicity, I will refer
to the actual drives as "a" and "b" ("a" has the "Drive 1" sticker; "b"
has the "Drive 2" sticker).  Apparently, drive "b" works just fine when
hooked up as Drive 1 by itself.  No idea why it didn't work that way a
couple of nights ago; perhaps I was mistaking its normal "light" sounds as
"weak whirring".  Last night, I managed to get Drive "a" to work fine,
healthily, by itself, then had problems when I added "b" as Drive 2.  With
"b" as Drive 1 and "a" as drive 2, the system boots, but Drive 2 ("a")
doesn't work right.

After getting "a" to boot once and never again, I pulled it off of the
controller, and examined the connector.  Lo and behold, the first two
wires (pins 1 and 2 of the cable) were detached from the connector.  I got
as far as pulling the connector off, but I haven't managed to put it back
on yet.  And I don't know what those first two pins are.  But if Pin #1 or
Pin #2 happens to be 12v power, then this is clearly the answer to the
problem.

Once I get the drive put back together, I'll update and let you folks know
how it went...and if that did indeed fix the problem.

Thanks for all the advice!

]Dave Althoff, ][.
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