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From: sonny@charybdis.harris-atd.com (Bob Davis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Seagate 251 making noise
Message-ID: <4113@trantor.harris-atd.com>
Date: 14 Aug 90 13:13:06 GMT
References: <12277@sdcc6.ucsd.edu>
Sender: news@trantor.harris-atd.com
Reply-To: sonny@trantor.harris-atd.com (Bob Davis)
Organization: Advanced Technology Dept., Harris ESS, Melbourne, FL
Lines: 30
X-Local-Date: 14 Aug 90 06:13:06 PDT

In article <12277@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> dlou@dino.ucsd.edu (Dennis Lou) writes:
>
>My Seagate 251-1 (about a year old) is starting to make a low pitched
>whining noise.  I assume this is the well known stiff grease problem
>popping up.  Unfortunately, I wan't paying attention to the solutions
>when this thing was discussed.
>
>I think I want to get another drive anyway, so I don't want to spend a
>lot of money.  What can I do about this drive?
>
	Sometimes the whining noise can be due to a vibrational resonance
in the grounding strap that touches and rides upon the drive's shaft 
spindle. Often you can turn the drive over and see this grounding strap 
reaching over to touch the spindle. Its purpose is to prevent electrostatic 
buildup on the disk platters which could do damage if arcing across the tiny
air gap to the flying heads were to occur.
	IF this is the source of your noise, here is what I have
read concerning a cure: Place a TINY amount of silicon sealer (the
kind usually available in clear or white varieties for caulking around
bathtubs) upon the strap, being CAREFUL not to get any on the drive
spindle itself. Your purpose is ONLY to change the resonant frequency of the
grounding strap enough that the whine goes away. YOU ARE NOT TRYING TO
GLUE ANYTHING TO ANYTHING ELSE.
	Good luck...
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