Hard drive spins up only when "activated" then spins down immediately

[Bill-kun]

Vintage hard drive, WD-93044-A, 43 MB. I got this in a KHL 195 computer I was given a few days ago. I am booting from a floppy.

The hard drive starts to spin up when the computer is turned on, then after about 3 second spins down again. Then continuing, when the BIOS searches for hard drives, the hard drive spins up again, but again spins down again.

Not surprisingly, trying to access it via "c:" in the DOS prompt results in "Invalid drive specification". I verified with a multimeter that the hard drive is getting power from the power supply.

[Al Kossow]

It can't do an initial head load / servo calibration.
If you don't hear any head movement it may not even be bringing the drive motor up to the
correct speed.
If you don't hear the motor spinning, the heads are probably stuck to the platter.

[SomeGuy]

I'd still test it on a different, known good power supply while nothing is connected to the IDE port. See if it spins up and stays running.

[Bill-kun]

It can't do an initial head load / servo calibration.
If you don't hear any head movement it may not even be bringing the drive motor up to the
correct speed.
If you don't hear the motor spinning, the heads are probably stuck to the platter.

I think there are 2 motors in question. One motor spins the plates, and the other is the stepper motor for the heads.

The hard drive is almost identical to the one shown by Adrian Black in this video. I am experiencing one of the failure mode symptoms he described: the drive starts to spin up, then immediately spins down. In this video he repaired the drive by putting 2 drops of bearing oil on the stepper motor spindle which then penetrated through and unbinded it.

https://youtu.be/-UJ0YE1a1Fs?t=36

I used a lubricant like he did but after a half hour of letting it penetrate, plus me manually turning the stepper motor spindle all the way clockwise and counterclockwise, there has been no change. I could wait a day and see if it makes the difference, or if more oil or a turning of the spindle by me is needed.

Further background on this machine that I got from the previous owner: It was made in 1990, and the label on the hard drive also says the hard drive was made in 1990. The computer was given to him in 2000, and the hard drive was already not functioning in 2000.

[mbbrutman]

Try with a different power supply.

A weak power supply will make a hard drive unable to spin up. It will try, and it might even get moving, but it won't be able to get to the required RPM or hold the required RPM, causing it to error, spin down, and try again. After a few rounds of that it will give up.

(I've had it happen ...)

[Bill-kun]

Try with a different power supply.

A weak power supply will make a hard drive unable to spin up. It will try, and it might even get moving, but it won't be able to get to the required RPM or hold the required RPM, causing it to error, spin down, and try again. After a few rounds of that it will give up.

(I've had it happen ...)

Nope, using a different power supply made no difference.

[rimmeruk]

You're wasting your time with that drive, scrap it for parts if you need them. Could be electronic or mechanical fault or even bad cable connection.
With old drives like that, if the simple checks don't work then it's time to scrap.

[compaqportableplus]

Is the stepper motor stuck? I know that’s a common issue with those, and it could be causing it to shut off when it tries to seek.

I think it’s well worth the effort to try and revive an old stepper motor drive, rather than just give up at the first sign of fault. I’ve revived many, many old drives and most still work fine. I like the authentic experience of a real, vintage hard drive.

[rimmeruk]

I like the authentic experience of a real, vintage hard drive.

and the sudden failures or intermittant read/write errors, yeah don't you just enjoy that
If you place a strong magnet over the hard disk you can introduce errors on the hard disk and experience
all the pleasures of a vintage failing hard disk drive.

[Bill-kun]

Is the stepper motor stuck? I know that’s a common issue with those, and it could be causing it to shut off when it tries to seek.

I think it’s well worth the effort to try and revive an old stepper motor drive, rather than just give up at the first sign of fault. I’ve revived many, many old drives and most still work fine. I like the authentic experience of a real, vintage hard drive.

Exactly. After watching Adrian's video
https://youtu.be/-UJ0YE1a1Fs?t=36
you can read so many of the comments to it where people had exactly this problem, and the bearing oil on the stepper motor spindle was exactly what fixed their hard drives into perfectly working condition again. My computer in question has not unbinded yet, so tomorrow I am going to the hardware store to get specifically bearing oil.

Happy New Year!! ��