Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ncar!noao!coyote!jmh
From: jmh@coyote.uucp (John Hughes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: HD will not spin up (sometimes), banging it helps; Suggestions?
Message-ID: <1990Oct30.042051.8311@coyote.uucp>
Date: 30 Oct 90 04:20:51 GMT
References: <1447@pedsga.UUCP> <26953@cs.yale.edu> <0!8%_**@rpi.edu> <4677@trantor.harris-atd.com>
Reply-To: jmh@coyote.UUCP (John Hughes)
Organization: Datalog Consulting, Tucson, AZ
Lines: 39

In article <4677@trantor.harris-atd.com> sonny@trantor.harris-atd.com (Bob Davis) writes:
>In article <0!8%_**@rpi.edu> freewill@pawl.rpi.edu (Jenni L. Lexau) writes:
>>
>>  
>	[DELETIONS]
>>   
>>Opening a drive in a normal office environment WILL kill it, even
>>if it's only open for a few seconds.
>>   
>
>	Has anyone tried this? I know it is
>supposed to be a bad idea, but...
>
>	If you ever opened a drive and then had it function
>satisfactorily afterwards, please tell me. Or, if it was
>kaput afterwards. tell me that, too.
>	Thanks.
>

I once opened an old 5 meg Tandon, fiddled with the head arm assembly,
put it back together, and.... it worked for about a week. Then it
died with an interesting "screeching" noise (eg. direct head contact
with the platter :-) ). In fact, it sounded a *lot* like the big
10-stack drive wherein I inadvertanly installed a replacement head
assembly upside down. That was interesting, too. What wasn't so
interesting was my having to shell out some big bucks for a new disk
pack, but that's another story.

Upshot: Unless you have a clean-air stall, or access to a clean room,
I don't think that the close tolerances on Winchesters allow for any
such fun and games.



-- 
==============================================================================
 John M. Hughes    | jmh@coyote.UUCP                  | Programmer at large,
 P.O. Box 43305    | john.hughes@emdisle.fidonet.org  | or large programmer.
 Tucson, AZ 85719  | noao!coyote!jmh                  | Take your choice,