HDD Noise possible issue?

[DarkKnight4251]

I'm pretty sure this thing is dead, but I figured it doesn't hurt to post about this and see if there's hope. When I received my 5160, it was giving me the 1701 POST error and the drive was making an odd noise. I've linked a video I made below here to share the noise. Now after I've worked on other things, it doesn't always make the noise right away. Sometimes, it'll be quiet when I turn it on. It will always give the 1701 error though and eventually, that sound does start. Using the advanced diagnostics disk to test it, I used to get a seek error instantly but now I just get a check adapter error. Attempting to switch to the drive letter c or d in DOS does not work either.

This thing sat in storage for 20 years or so, but was working when it went into storage, so I'm assuming that any settings are correct and this is a pure hardware issue. Am I correct in thinking this hard drive may be dead or dying? Any other thoughts or suggestions are welcome of course.

 

[modem7]

Per [here], a 1701 error has many possible causes. Even chips on hard disk controllers can deteriorate.

I have a Seagate ST-412 drive that often (not always) generates what I assume is bearing related noise, but even when making noise, the drive works fine.

First thing I think that you should do is re-seat the hard disk controller a few times in its ISA slot, in case a poor connection developed somewhere there over the years.
Re-seat the control and data cables, at both ends.
Re-seat the Molex power plug.

What error does the RAYXTMFM.EXE tool at [here] report?

 

[vwestlife]

Try oiling the stepper motor. They always get sticky with age on these old 3.5" Tandon/Western Digital drives.

 

[DarkKnight4251]

Per [here], a 1701 error has many possible causes. Even chips on hard disk controllers can deteriorate.

I have a Seagate ST-412 drive that often (not always) generates what I assume is bearing related noise, but even when making noise, the drive works fine.

First thing I think that you should do is re-seat the hard disk controller a few times in its ISA slot, in case a poor connection developed somewhere there over the years.
Re-seat the control and data cables, at both ends.
Re-seat the Molex power plug.

What error does the RAYXTMFM.EXE tool at [here] report?

Yeah that 1701 isn’t very specific, but I’m happy to hear that the noise may not necessarily mean a dead drive. I’ve been messing with cables and cards so I’ll make sure everything is reseated properly before additional steps.

I don’t have a way to get that exe file and run it on the XT unfortunately since I don’t have any other computers with a 5.25” drive. Seems like a useful tool, but all I have access to is DOS 3.1 and the advanced diagnostics disk.

Try oiling the stepper motor. They always get sticky with age on these old 3.5" Tandon/Western Digital drives.

I’ll get some proper oil for it and try that too. Might not fix anything, but it won’t hurt.

 

[DarkKnight4251]

Had a chance to play with this a bit. I cleaned the contacts on the controller board as well as the HDD just to make sure. The quip I used didn’t come away very dirty, but it’s better now. I also switched the slot that the controller was sitting in with my graphics card to test if the slot was bad, but no changes. The computer just refuses to recognized there is even a hard drive there beyond the fact that the diagnostics knows there’s an adapter card.

I’m toying with the idea of using something like an XT-IDE adapter for a CF card just to have some storage and possibly diagnose more via the RAYXTMFM tool mentioned by having it on the CF card since I don’t have a way to make a 5.25 floppy with it on there. Is there a particular adapter that you all r3commend to use with an XT 5160? Also, in my googling I think there may be an issue using the adapter and the hard drive controller at the same time. I’m assuming there is some sort of conflict? Anyone used the adapter and a HDD at the same time?

 

[modem7]

I'm toying with the idea of using something like an XT-IDE adapter for a CF card ....... Also, in my googling I think there may be an issue using the adapter and the hard drive controller at the same time. I’m assuming there is some sort of conflict? Anyone used the adapter and a HDD at the same time?

See the 'MFM hard drive controller of XT-class' section of [here].

 

[DarkKnight4251]

I need to get better at going through that site for confirmation too. I notice one of the things mentioned is that the MDF drive should be successfully booted before adding the card. I suppose I have nothing to lose since the drive may be dead in the first place. I’m hoping that won’t cause any other issues.

 

[modem7]

I'm toying with the idea of using something like an XT-IDE adapter for a CF card just to have some storage and possibly diagnose more via the RAYXTMFM tool mentioned by having it on the CF card since I don’t have a way to make a 5.25 floppy with it on there.

I need to get better at going through that site for confirmation too. I notice one of the things mentioned is that the MFM drive should be successfully booted before adding the card. I suppose I have nothing to lose since the drive may be dead in the first place. I’m hoping that won’t cause any other issues.

It will.

By default, the XTIDE Universal BIOS (XUB) on the XT-IDE card is going to try to boot from the MFM drive.
That is not going to work for you.

WORKAROUND

But the XUB gives you the ability to boot from the XT-IDE's drive instead of the MFM drive.
How that is done depends on the major version of XUB:
* v1.x.x versions of XUB present the boot menu shown at [here]. Simply keyboard arrow to what you want to boot from, then press the ENTER key.
* v2.x.x versions of XUB present a 'hotkeybar', as shown at [here]. To boot from the XT-IDE's drive rather than the MFM drive, press 'D' on the keyboard when the hotkeybar is seen.
In both cases, the XT-IDE's drive becomes hard drive 0 (usually logical drive C) and the MFM drive becomes hard drive 1 (usually logical drive D).

By default, 'Part 5 of 5 - INT 13h' part of RAYXTMFM targets hard drive 0, which now is the XT-IDE's drive.
So what we want RAYXTMFM to do instead, is to target hard drive 1, which now is the MFM drive.
To do that, run RAYXTMFM (of version 1.5 or later) with the /HD1 switch (e.g. "C:\RAYXTMFM /HD1").