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From: cs471s07@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Cs471s07)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Whoa!  MINISCRIBE DRIVE BLINKS S-O-S!
Message-ID: <6598@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Date: 15 Feb 90 01:19:35 GMT
References: <1990Feb9.135440.26011@cs.dal.ca> <25d30a4c.d4e@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU> <11641@ucsd.Edu> <15817@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU> <22085@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <15833@orstcs.CS.ORST.EDU>
Reply-To: cs471s07@uhccux.UUCP (Cs471s07)
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Hawaii
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I got a drive from someone to look at because they said the drive was flaking
out.  I put it in my PC and checked it out.  I've tried SPINRITE, DISKMANAGER,
NORTON, and others, but this Hard disk does not respond.  When I boot up the 
PC, it tells me that the drive is not responding.  

Then lo and behold I noticed that the drive (miniscribe ~40MB) was blinking its
light.  Oddly enough the sequence is ... --- ... which is SOS in morse code.

Does anyone know if this message indicates a particular type of failure? That
is, does it indicate a failure of the on-board electronics rather than simply
a defect in the media?  Can the failure be fixed?  Or is the drive dead?

Please reply by e-mail directly.  It's too difficult to wade through 2,000
articles to find a reply...  Thanks for any help you can give!

Aloha!