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From: thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Re: Seagate fails on powerup
Message-ID: <32428@cup.portal.com>
Date: 4 Aug 90 05:10:00 GMT
References: <1990Jul30.153310.7818@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> <32282@cup.portal.com>
  <10779@wehi.dn.mu.oz>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 34

BAXTER_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz in <10779@wehi.dn.mu.oz> writes:

	I'm not at all sure this is the same problem that Quantum made famous
	at all.  Another possibility is that the brush/ contact arrangement of
	the motor is a bit suboptimal, and that it is possible for the motor
	to come to rest without the brushes being in touch with any contacts.
	In this case, the motor will start again if it is turned very
	slightly; cf stiction when it would require to be turned quite a lot.
	The 'very slightly' is probably on par with the gentle thump on the
	side of the case that many people have reported to work. Lots of
	motors develop this problem with age (as the brushes wear) and many
	people may have noticed it with their vacuum cleaner.

	Regards Alan

Sorry to read you missed last year's discussions in these regards; the
problem is definitely stiction as verified by examination under microscope
by several hard disk repair places here in N.California.

Of course, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Seagate makes shoddy motors,
too!  :-)

Thad

P.S. When I unstuck my ST157N, I used plumber's pliers and spun that sucker
quite violently.  I was actually prepared to destroy the damned drive, as a
moment earlier I had ripped the anti-static tab right off the PC board using
the same pliers.

Hmmm, wasn't there a story on the wires recently about Seagate drives which,
if spun counter-clockwise, would issue Satanic chants through the voice-coil
actuator?  :-)  :-)

Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]