SomeGuy
Veteran Member
I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on this.
A while back I obtained a 5.25" full height MiniScribe 6053 hard drive. When I first plugged it in, there was a shorted tantalum (C60) that in turn blew up an inductor connected to it (L2). Fortunately, the power supply I was using detected the short and shut down.
After replacing those components, it worked perfectly. I was able to format it, load data on it, use it, and it passed all tests.
However in the middle of re-testing it some time later, it developed a new problem. Although I could low-level format, when I tried to actually do anything with it, the head would fail to seek properly and make a loud "thunk" with such force that shakes the entire drive.
It seems like the heads will successfully step over a small number of tracks. Since the low-level only steps one track at a time, that works. But if it steps a longer distance, it fails.
My understanding is that this drive uses a servo motor. And the way this motor works is that it sort of "throws" the head and then reverses the motor when it gets close to the target. So I'm guessing this reversing process is failing so the head keeps moving until it loudly hits a stop. (Oddly it does not seem to be damaging the platters. At least, I can still read and write sectors to/from the first few tracks ok)
I took a shot in the dark and tried replacing the large transistors on the logic board. However, that did not change anything. I don't have a spare logic board to test with, so I don't know if the problem is in the mechanical assembly or the logic board.
Any thoughts on what might be the specific problem?
A while back I obtained a 5.25" full height MiniScribe 6053 hard drive. When I first plugged it in, there was a shorted tantalum (C60) that in turn blew up an inductor connected to it (L2). Fortunately, the power supply I was using detected the short and shut down.
After replacing those components, it worked perfectly. I was able to format it, load data on it, use it, and it passed all tests.
However in the middle of re-testing it some time later, it developed a new problem. Although I could low-level format, when I tried to actually do anything with it, the head would fail to seek properly and make a loud "thunk" with such force that shakes the entire drive.
It seems like the heads will successfully step over a small number of tracks. Since the low-level only steps one track at a time, that works. But if it steps a longer distance, it fails.
My understanding is that this drive uses a servo motor. And the way this motor works is that it sort of "throws" the head and then reverses the motor when it gets close to the target. So I'm guessing this reversing process is failing so the head keeps moving until it loudly hits a stop. (Oddly it does not seem to be damaging the platters. At least, I can still read and write sectors to/from the first few tracks ok)
I took a shot in the dark and tried replacing the large transistors on the logic board. However, that did not change anything. I don't have a spare logic board to test with, so I don't know if the problem is in the mechanical assembly or the logic board.
Any thoughts on what might be the specific problem?
