Quantum ProDrive 80S Troubleshooting

[lilliputian]

Hello,

I'm currently trying to resurrect a Quantum ProDrive 80S that came with a Mac II I bought recently. The drive itself is not actually important to me, and so this is more of a technical challenge than anything else.

I've already dealt with the arm stiction by applying some electrical tape to the rubber bumpers, I've manually spun the platter to loosen the drive bearings to get it to spin again on its own, and I've exercised the arm even. The drive appears to be trying to work, but is unable to do anything useful. When booted from another drive, Lido reports a SCSI error 5, meaning it's not able to communicate with it, though I suspect that's a red herring.

I took video but I'm having trouble uploading here.

 

[retr01]

Hi @lilliputian!

Those Quantum ProDrive hard drives had a problem with the rubber stop for the header that became gloopy over time. When that happens, the header "arm" does not move well because the gloop is what is sticking, which causes the "elbow" to move the "arm" erratically.

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This person presented a fix for this issue. Perhaps that can help? Check that rubber part. If it is soft and behaves like that, you will need to correct it. Here is the related video.

 

[lilliputian]

Thanks for the reply, but as already stated, I've already dealt with the stiction and the arm is moving freely, so I know that's not the issue.

Since I can't seem to upload the video I took, the arm performs a smooth but narrow scanning motion for a bit, then attempts a seek (or some other function) but fails, resulting in a *brzzt* sound and a stutter from the arm, at which point it returns to the scanning motion. This continues in a loop. Sometimes the arm moves from the inside-out or back again, but the drive never enters normal performance mode. The arm may eventually stop moving entirely, just resting in whatever position it found itself at the moment, though the spindle remains in motion.

 

[retr01]

Ah, thank you for clarifying. What about the spindle motor in the middle of the platter(s)? When it seizes, it can create strange noises.

 

[lilliputian]

I decided to take another video and just upload to YouTube. Here's the video:

 

[retr01]

Magnetic voice coils in the actuator? Another area needs to be observed on the left side behind the header arm.

 

[lilliputian]

How's this? Also exhibiting a new behavior. (The clacking is the arm knocking into the PLCC.)

 

[retr01]

If the spindle motor did not seize, i still think it's the actuator or the magnetic coils. Have you checked the hard drives circuit board? Any solder cracks or anything odd?

 

[lilliputian]

Here's a photo of the underside. Looks okay to me at a glance.

 

[lilliputian]

And the underside of the controller board:

 

[retr01]

Hey Nate,

The board looks fine. Because of the age of the HDD unit, you may need to recap if you cannot find anything wrong mechanically.

I know you explained that you ruled out the o-rings. Can you double-check? The o-rings turning gooey is a common problem. See this post. A video discusses how to fix it if it's the issue temporarily.

Quantum ProDrive Rubber Replacement

Hi everyone, I opened a quantum drive I had for testing purposes and I noticed that it had two tubular rubber pieces, one was perfect and the other one turned to goo. I am wondering if there is a replacement part, not a piece of tape. Kind of like a stack of rubber washers or a full part. This...

68kmla.org

 

[lilliputian]

As mentioned, I used electrical tape on the bumpers.

 

[retr01]

Okay, good. Does that leave the caps as a possible fix? I am trying to figure out why the spindle becomes erratic for a second now and then during operation.

 

[robin-fo]

Did you separate the individual platters during repair?

 

[lilliputian]

Did you separate the individual platters during repair?

I did not have to remove the platters at all.

 

[lilliputian]

Okay, good. Does that leave the caps as a possible fix? I am trying to figure out why the spindle becomes erratic for a second now and then during operation.

There are three small caps on the controller board, as you can see. I suppose they could be replaced, but that seems unlikely to be the issue, since it is still doing something.

 

[lilliputian]

Well lookee here!



Gonna try restarting with an external to make a backup...

 

[lilliputian]

Was able to copy the entire drive! Now that that's done, I will try making a proper disk image. I guess the hard drive was able to recover itself somehow with enough power cycles?

EDIT: And success! Now running Disk Doctor on the drive... (Not that I expect to use this drive in the long term...)

 

[lilliputian]

Incredible:

 

[retr01]

It was odd about the "twitching" of the head. I am glad your HDD recovered! High five!

I have two SCSI HDDs that I will look at and probably resurrect. BlueSCSI is good for me for my SE/30 and IIci. I am still working on my SE/30 slowly, though.