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From: cfchiesa@bsu-cs.UUCP (Christopher Chiesa)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit
Subject: disk drive problems
Message-ID: <2803@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: 29 Apr 88 16:04:50 GMT
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 54
Keywords: remember last November?

Hello all...

Some of you may remember my somewhat frantic postings last NOVEMBER on the sub-
ject of my "bugged" Percom AT-88 disk drive: the one that would simply suddenly 
cease being able to read chosen sectors from my disks?

Well, I got a lot of responses to that original query; some suggested cleaning
the head (some saying "do it yourself," others saying "don't mess with it, take
it to a proessional"), others suggested having the head alignment checked, etc.
By all available evidence, Percom Data Corp. is long since out of business, and
the two addresses that were posted for Percom service (both in the same area in
or near Chantilly, VA) turned out to be the SAME company when I sent duplicate
letters to both addresses.  They didn't bother to answer any of my questions, 
just sent me a Xerox copy of their price sheet for new equipment, repairs, etc.
Didn't say how long it would take, what shipment method they recommended, or 
anything else.

I was originally planning to summarize this in greater detail, a lot sooner, but
hey, I'm a college student, and a BUSY one at that...  I don't think I've even
gotten around to PRINTING OUT the responses for posterity (although I DID READ
them, lest you respondents think you wasted your time).

One good aspect of this lengthy interval is that I've had time to observe the 
problem more closely, and formulate another couple of questions for you experts
of the Net.

   1) The drive SPEED appears to be off: 293 RPM.  This is either TOO SLOW, if 
      the Percom AT88 is supposed to run at 300 RPM like "other standard"
      drives, or TOO FAST if it's supposed to run at ATARI standard 288 RPM.
      Does anyone know?  Additionally, I opened the outer case to check on the
      possibility of adjusting this myself (using speed-check program and the
      strobe pattern printed on the flywheel), but couldn't find ANYTHING re-
      sembling a "potentiometer" (variable resistor) adjustment.  Any info? 

   2) The drive seems to work all right when first turned on, but then to
      get worse as it warms up.  This makes sense to me from an electrical
      standpoint, but I don't know enough about it to be sure, and the problem
      is STILL sporadic and hard to recreate.

   3) I remember seeing something posted here by someone else, explaining a 
      similar degeneration in the performance of his disk drive, which he
      eventually traced, as I recall, to a problem in the power supply.  If
      that person, or anyone who remembers (or saved) his posting, is reading
      this, I'd appreciate a pointer to him, so that I could pick his brains
      as to whether I'm having the same problem or similar. 

Thanks in advance,

   Chris Chiesa


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