Re: Profile drives care and feeding

[Patrick Schaefer <PSchaefer@epost.de>]

Peter Ibbotson schrieb:
> 
> Is there a website with instructions on care and feeding of a profile drive?
> I've just acquired one (Thanks Paul) and before I plug it in I'd like to
> check the PSU out in case of dried out capacitors etc.

Check the voltages at the PSU connector, there should be +5V, +12V and
-12V. You have to leave the logic board connected or provide a similar
dummy load to ensure proper startup of the switching regulator.

One of my drives had a dried capacitor on the 12V line which prevented
proper regulation - the voltage rose up to 20V. This killed a few ICs on
the drive's analog board, nasty to find without a schematic or
functional description of the amplifier.

After power-up, the HD stepper motor should move to track 0, then the
drive starts its surface scan (Power LED flashing). Any "irregular" move
during this phase indicates a bad block, which is replaced by a spare
sector. There are 32 spares available.

Don't expect any performance from the Profile. This thing is just a
collector's item.


Patrick