Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-25 Thread Kyle Owen
On Oct 24, 2015 6:36 PM, "Josh Dersch" wrote: > > > To add insult to injury, one of the heads is loose (the glue holding it on dried up and it fell off after the impact of running off the platter) so this drive is basically toast. At least now I can kind of see how one takes

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-25 Thread Mark J. Blair
> On Oct 24, 2015, at 14:22, Al Kossow wrote: > > On 10/24/15 11:40 AM, tony duell wrote: > >> Most likely those ICs are head switch/preamp devices and the servo head >> preamplifier. They are very likely to be custom. >> > > Silicon Systems was a common supplier in the

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-24 Thread Al Kossow
On 10/24/15 10:15 AM, Josh Dersch wrote: there are a few ICs surface-mounted to the flat ribbon cable running to the head assembly. Those are the head preamps. You should be able to scope out if there is anything coming out of them.

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-24 Thread Al Kossow
On 10/24/15 11:40 AM, tony duell wrote: Most likely those ICs are head switch/preamp devices and the servo head preamplifier. They are very likely to be custom. Silicon Systems was a common supplier in the 80s to mid-90s, which is why their Storage Products data books have been scanned.

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-24 Thread Josh Dersch
On 10/24/15 11:40 AM, tony duell wrote: That's pretty much what I figured. I took a closer look at one of the other dead XT2190s I have that I'd opened up to inspect awhile back and there are a few ICs surface-mounted to the flat ribbon cable running to the head assembly. I suppose it's likely

RE: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-24 Thread tony duell
> > That's pretty much what I figured. I took a closer look at one of the > other dead XT2190s I have that I'd opened up to inspect awhile back and > there are a few ICs surface-mounted to the flat ribbon cable running to > the head assembly. I suppose it's likely that one of these has failed, >

RE: Miniscribe "bricks" (was Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?)

2015-10-24 Thread Tom Gardner
was told, "we shipped it brick by brick." Tom -Original Message- From: Noel Chiappa [mailto:j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu] Sent: Friday, October 23, 2015 2:50 PM To: cctalk@classiccmp.org Cc: j...@mercury.lcs.mit.edu Subject: Re: Miniscribe "bricks" (was Re: Common Maxtor MF

Re: Miniscribe "bricks" (was Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?)

2015-10-24 Thread Eric Smith
On Sat, Oct 24, 2015 at 2:36 PM, Tom Gardner wrote: > The MiniScribe brick story is told at: > http://chmhdd.wikifoundry.com/page/MiniScribe+files+bancruptcy > > The apocryphal tale is that when the Maxtor President visited his then > recently acquired MiniScribe

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-23 Thread Al Kossow
On 10/23/15 12:04 AM, Josh Dersch wrote: The 2190 does not, and it fails in precisely the same way I've personally seen three or four other Maxtor drives of the same era fail: It spins up fine, but when it goes to load the heads, it sounds like the voice coil positioner for the heads is

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-23 Thread Al Kossow
On 10/23/15 1:33 AM, Joseph Lang wrote: the scream is the stepper motor trying to move with only one phase working. (Also a common drive failure.) Maxtor drives have a very distinctive (and loud) recal sound.

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-23 Thread Chuck Guzis
On 10/23/2015 09:10 AM, Al Kossow wrote: Maxtor drives have a very distinctive (and loud) recal sound. And some Maxtor drives are Miniscribes. I have one (I think it's an ESDI, IIRC) that has a beautiful Miniscribe HDA casting, with a Maxtor label wrapped around it. Ah, the good old days

RE: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-23 Thread tony duell
> > > The 2190 does not, and it fails in precisely the same way I've personally > > seen three or four > > other Maxtor drives of the same era fail: It spins up fine, but when it > > goes to load the heads, > > it sounds like the voice coil positioner for the heads is "screaming" -- it > >

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-23 Thread Josh Dersch
On Fri, Oct 23, 2015 at 9:08 AM, Al Kossow wrote: > On 10/23/15 12:04 AM, Josh Dersch wrote: > > The 2190 does not, and it fails in precisely the same way I've personally >> seen three or four other Maxtor drives of the same era fail: It spins up >> fine, but when it goes to

Miniscribe "bricks" (was Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?)

2015-10-23 Thread P Gebhardt
- Ursprüngliche Message - > Von: Chuck Guzis <ccl...@sydex.com> > An: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > CC: > Gesendet: 18:16 Freitag, 23.Oktober 2015 > Betreff: Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-23 Thread Josh Dersch
Hi all -- I acquired a Symbolics 3640 today and it came equipped with two "large" capacity Maxtor MFM drives (an XT-1140 and an XT-2190). The 1140 spins up fine and we were able to image it using Dave Gesswein's MFM emulator (yay). The 2190 does not, and it fails in precisely the same way

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-23 Thread Al Kossow
On 10/23/15 12:39 PM, Josh Dersch wrote: I don't suppose anyone has a service manual for these things so I know what stuff to probe? (Nothing on Bitsavers and a casual Google search turns up nothing of interest.) Service manuals/schematics/ASIC info is EXTREMELY difficult to get for anything

Re: Miniscribe "bricks" (was Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?)

2015-10-23 Thread Chuck Guzis
On 10/23/2015 02:49 PM, Noel Chiappa wrote: From: Pierre Gebhardt Haha, I guess you're alluding to the massive scam with the bricks, Miniscribe did back them to pretend stocks full of disk drives... Never heard the story. Can someone oblige? BTW, are there any other similar stories from

Re: Miniscribe "bricks" (was Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?)

2015-10-23 Thread Noel Chiappa
> From: Pierre Gebhardt > Haha, I guess you're alluding to the massive scam with the bricks, > Miniscribe did back them to pretend stocks full of disk drives... Never heard the story. Can someone oblige? > BTW, are there any other similar stories from the disk drive buisiness

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-23 Thread Josh Dersch
On 10/23/15 1:19 AM, Joseph Lang wrote: There is a plastic bumper in the head/disk assembly that turns to goo. When the head retracts it hits the bumper and gets stuck in the goo. The goo will eventually win. The head will no longer load. I can't say For sure this is your disk problem but it

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-23 Thread Joseph Lang
If the bumper is there it will be on the side wall of the HDA where the head actuator would touch when retracted. If the heads move freely you have a driver failure. the scream is the stepper motor trying to move with only one phase working. (Also a common drive failure.) Joe > On Oct 23,

Re: Common Maxtor MFM drive failure mode -- any ideas?

2015-10-23 Thread Joseph Lang
There is a plastic bumper in the head/disk assembly that turns to goo. When the head retracts it hits the bumper and gets stuck in the goo. The goo will eventually win. The head will no longer load. I can't say For sure this is your disk problem but it was a verry common Maxtor failure. Joe >