Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!dino!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!tank!h3x2
From: h3x2@tank.uchicago.edu (andrew abrams shapiro)
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
Subject: Re: Kaypro 10 harddisk errors
Message-ID: <4075@tank.uchicago.edu>
Date: 24 Jun 89 13:45:11 GMT
References: <8906231622.AA01389@newton>
Reply-To: h3x2@tank.uchicago.edu (andrew abrams shapiro)
Organization: University of Chicago (not for long!)
Lines: 24

In article <8906231622.AA01389@newton> bridger%rcc@RAND.ORG (Bridger Mitchell) writes:

>Controller chips can get too *cold* also!  When Plu*Perfect Systems
>was in Idyllwild we had a Kaypro 10 in a minimally-insulated basement
>office.  When powered-op on cold (20 - 30 degree F) mornings it would
>often report as many as *100* bad tracks.  As it warmed up, fewer were
>reported, and in an hour all was again well.  After that, we usually
>left the machine running overnight!


It probably wasn't chips, but the drive itself!  In my PC experience, many
machines equipped with Seagate 20 or 30 Mbyte drives have serious problems
with physics.  That is, parts of the drives expand/contract with
temperature changes, which, uh, moves the tracks around a little.  I've
seen a machine that had its HD formatted in an air-conditioned room start
to die after it warmed up a little.  I suspect in the above case that the
disk wasn't formatted under cold conditions, and contraction caused problems
until the disk warmed up from the PS/drive motors/etc.

So before you check your chips, stabilize the machine at a reasonable room
temperature and see if you STILL have trouble...  If you don't, I'd be willing
to bet the trouble is mechanical, not electronic!

--Andy