Hard Drive wont spin up

[Guest george41407@noemail.com]

I have a Quantum fireball 15gig harddrive. It has been working fine

as my master. I have another identical drive for my slave. Earlier I

started my computer and it would not boot. I unplugged both drives,

changed the cable, all the usual stuff. Booted from a floppy and

Fdisk dont even see the drive. Thats when I noticed that if I plug

and unplug the power connector while the computer is on, I do not hear

it spin up. However, the slave drive has a noticable spin up sound.

Obviously the drive is trash. Fortunately I had a backup from a few

weeks ago and did not lose much. I am not booted from that backup.

 

Anyhow, I'd like to see if I can make that drive spin up one last time

so I can retrieve the few missing files. First off, if it wont spin,

does that mean the motor fried, or are there other things that can

cause this? If a bearing ceased, I hope to oil it so it runs long

enough to get my files. I have never tried to repair a HD before.

Can someone tell me the usual procedure to follow. Should I remove

the circuit board first or just open the case?

 

One other thing, if this drive is plugged in to the computer power,

even with the data cable unplugged, the LED on the drive's circuit

board keeps flashing 5 times in a row, then it stops and does another

5 flashes. Does this mean anything?

 

By the way, Quantum was purchased by Maxtor and Maxtor was purchased

by Seagate, so I dont think I'll get any factory support. It looks

like Seagate now owns all the competition.

 

Thanks

 

George

[Guest Franc Zabkar]

Re: Hard Drive wont spin up

 

On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 16:30:18 -0500, george41407@noemail.com put finger

to keyboard and composed:

>I have a Quantum fireball 15gig harddrive. It has been working fine

>as my master. I have another identical drive for my slave. Earlier I

>started my computer and it would not boot. I unplugged both drives,

>changed the cable, all the usual stuff. Booted from a floppy and

>Fdisk dont even see the drive. Thats when I noticed that if I plug

>and unplug the power connector while the computer is on, I do not hear

>it spin up. However, the slave drive has a noticable spin up sound.

>Obviously the drive is trash. Fortunately I had a backup from a few

>weeks ago and did not lose much. I am not booted from that backup.

>

>Anyhow, I'd like to see if I can make that drive spin up one last time

>so I can retrieve the few missing files. First off, if it wont spin,

>does that mean the motor fried, or are there other things that can

>cause this?

 

It could be a stiction problem, ie the heads could be stuck to the

platters. With the power off, whack the front of the drive with the

handle of a screwdriver. This may dislodge the heads.

 

Otherwise look for a physically damaged motor driver chip (TDA5247HT

???) on the circuit board.

> If a bearing ceased, I hope to oil it so it runs long

>enough to get my files. I have never tried to repair a HD before.

>Can someone tell me the usual procedure to follow. Should I remove

>the circuit board first or just open the case?

 

It's not a good idea to open up the case. Even the slightest

contamination could cause a head crash.

>One other thing, if this drive is plugged in to the computer power,

>even with the data cable unplugged, the LED on the drive's circuit

>board keeps flashing 5 times in a row, then it stops and does another

>5 flashes. Does this mean anything?

 

It could be an error code, but only the technical manual will tell you

what it means. I'm betting that the drive's controller is probably OK,

and that the problem is in the motor area. Look for a burn mark on one

of the chips.

>By the way, Quantum was purchased by Maxtor and Maxtor was purchased

>by Seagate, so I dont think I'll get any factory support. It looks

>like Seagate now owns all the competition.

>

>Thanks

>

>George

 

http://www.eio.com/public/harddrv/0271.html

http://www.eio.com/public/harddrv/1357.html

http://www.hddtech.co.uk/Standardfailures.htm

 

"Typically electrical faults on these drives [Quantum Fireball] will

result in one of the chips showing signs of burn damage."

 

- Franc Zabkar

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