Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!bu.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!cs.utexas.edu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!NSTN.NS.CA!cs.dal.ca!ug.cs.dal.ca!chapman From: chapman@ug.cs.dal.ca (Paul Chapman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware Subject: RE: SuperMac XP 20 Problems Message-ID: <1990Oct30.042847.17535@cs.dal.ca> Date: 30 Oct 90 04:28:47 GMT Sender: news@cs.dal.ca (USENET News) Distribution: na Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada Lines: 20 Originator: chapman@ug.cs.dal.ca Nntp-Posting-Host: ug.cs.dal.ca >About two days ago my hard disk started acting up. This is what it does: after >the machine and hard disk have been on for a while my computer does not see the >hard disk during a subsequent restart (the flashing question mark in the disk >is displayed). I figured it may have something to do with the 95 degree >weather we've been having down here so I set up a fan to blow on the hard disk >while it is in operation. This at least allowed it to boot on restart though >it did not do it as quickly as it used to. Consider yourself lucky. It's been well below freezing here recently. About your hard drive, I think that the old small-capacity drives used stepper motors to align the heads. When things get hot, the platters get a bit bigger, just enough to misalign things. Can't think of a solution though, except to put the drive in the refrigerator. :) ___________________________________ ___________________/ This message brought to you by... \___________________ | "Why stop now, just when I'm hating it" (the life of an undergrad) | | Paul Chapman, who can be reached at CHAPMAN@UG.CS.DAL.CA | \___________________________________________________________________________/