The BlueSCSI Project: Replacing My Dead Quantum ProDrive

[_nec6678]

**Note: I yap a lot about uselessly trying to fix a Quantum ProDrive in the following paragraph, so skipping it will likely be in your best interest.
This afternoon when I went to turn on my IIx, the hard drive spun up but I got nothing but the floppy icon. This was pretty normal; my IIx has a thing where I need to restart the computer to get the hard drive to read. But when I did this, still nothing. I tried again and again, but still nothing. I eventually decided to open up the computer, and reseated the SCSI and power connectors. Still nothing, but now I could see that the activity light was solid. I knew the hard drive must be dead, so I took it out, and tried to open it. I thought that maybe the heads were stuck, and maybe I could get the drive to work again if I was quick. I was wrong, and with my clumsy hands, actually dropped an opening pick inside. I couldn't get the last screw out, so after prying really hard on the lid, I could get the pick to come out. I put the screws back in, knowing that I wouldn't able to get any further, and plugged the drive back in. Now, it didn't spin up at all, and instead made a heavy kachunk. I also felt a chip getting hot, so I decided to call it quits on this drive. Unfortunately, my thriving city from SimCity yesterday seems to be lost forever.

Something that I've been looking at for a while is building my own BlueSCSI, but I've never fully understood the instructions, since a lot of the videos I have found are using a kit. I am using this GitHub page, linked to on the official BlueSCSI website. Until I build one, I'll plug my BMOW Floppy Emulator into the second floppy port and have it emulate a hard drive. I'll see how far I can get with building a BlueSCSI on my own, and will update when I make progress (or fail).

**Side note: In case you're looking at the pictures, I have no idea who Kevin is.

 

[_nec6678]

Quick update, the BMOW Floppy Emulator idea I had didn't work. I feel pretty stupid.

 

[djc6]

Quick update, the BMOW Floppy Emulator idea I had didn't work. I feel pretty stupid.

I am a classic mac newb, but I do know the Floppy Emu can emulate an "HD20" device - a hard drive apple made that connected to the external floppy port.

But wikipedia says this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Disk_20

Apple officially dropped support for the HD20 with System 6 as well as omitting the necessary ROM code beginning with the Macintosh II.[7]

So maybe your IIx doesn't even have HD20 support in its ROM?

I bought a BlueSCSI for my SE/30 - I did not get a kit, it was fully assembled. Get the version with Wi-Fi its awesome

BlueSCSI (v2) 50-Pin Desktop - Joe's Computer Museum

It's Faster! It's Better! It's the the BlueSCSI v2 SCSI hard drive emulator! This 50-pin internal version provides a convenient way to use SD cards as hard drives in your vintage computer. It comes as a fully assembled solution or kit! For the kit builders: We've pre-soldered all of the...

jcm-1.com

I followed these Usage instructions: https://bluescsi.com/docs/Usage

And I asked a lot of questions on the BlueSCSI Discord Server which is quite active and full of people who can help:

Join the Open Retro SCSI Discord Server!

Check out the Open Retro SCSI community on Discord - hang out with 2274 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

discord.gg

 

[djc6]

I had the same model ProDrive on my SE/30 and it suddenly came to life when I placed the drive on its side. I wrote about my successful efforts on this other forum, with the help of a BlueSCSI v2 in Initiator mode in order to make an image of the old drive: https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/how-to-fix-quantum-prodrive-40s-from-se-30.48844/

 

[djc6]

I revived another drive recently (also Quantum SCSI from a mac, but a ProDrive LPS) that wouldn't spin after just gently moving the platters and heads myself which got things unstuck.

But I did so connected to a bluescsi in initiator mode so I could immediately image the drive.

 

[_nec6678]

So maybe your IIx doesn't even have HD20 support in its ROM?

That's pretty interesting! That would explain why the IIx doesn't have a DB-19 port on the back. I just assumed that since emulating a hard drive running MacOS 7.1 on the BMOW Floppy Emulator was possible on my Mac Plus (and maybe my SE FDHD, I can't remember) from the rear DB-19 connector, it would work with the internal floppy connector in my IIx. You learn something new every day!

 

[_nec6678]

I bought a BlueSCSI for my SE/30 - I did not get a kit, it was fully assembled. Get the version with Wi-Fi its awesome

Hey, I know it's been a while since I've visited this site, but I was wondering: what does using Wi-Fi with a BlueSCSI look like? What does it do?
I do plan on buying an unassembled BlueSCSI kit from JCM soon (probably two, since I am aiming on recapping and cleaning up my SE FDHD in the near future)!

 

[vtgearhead]

BlueSCSI / ZuluSCSI wifi provides a network interface that pretends it's a DaynaPORT SC (SCSI). Setup is quite simple: Configure the Blue/Zulu with the name and password for your Wifi access point and install the Dayna driver. Note that it's TCP/IP only and does not pass AFP frames. One slight nit is that Appleshare network drives will not be automatically remounted at boot. I fought this problem for a few days with no success. I believe the underlying problem is that the Dayna driver doesn't get initialized early enough in the boot process.

 

[_nec6678]

BlueSCSI / ZuluSCSI wifi provides a network interface that pretends it's a DaynaPORT SC (SCSI). Setup is quite simple: Configure the Blue/Zulu with the name and password for your Wifi access point and install the Dayna driver. Note that it's TCP/IP only and does not pass AFP frames. One slight nit is that Appleshare network drives will not be automatically remounted at boot. I fought this problem for a few days with no success. I believe the underlying problem is that the Dayna driver doesn't get initialized early enough in the boot process.

I'm pretty new to this sort of emulation, so what exactly does this mean? What can this do differently, as opposed to using a BlueSCSI that is not network enabled? Sorry if this question is pretty stupid...

 

[vtgearhead]

A network capable device gives your Mac a network connection.

 

[d_a_parker]

I know this is too little too late, but opening a hard drive is almost never the answer. The symptom you're describing is almost always an issue with voltage from the logic board to the motor, and not any of the internals. I currently have the same model drive in the same state, and I traced the issue to the motor control IC (U212 I think?), a HA13441 with bad output voltage to the motor.

With these drives in particular, you can often replace a board component or even just swap the whole board for a working one, and the drive is fine.

 

[_nec6678]

I know this is too little too late, but opening a hard drive is almost never the answer. The symptom you're describing is almost always an issue with voltage from the logic board to the motor, and not any of the internals. I currently have the same model drive in the same state, and I traced the issue to the motor control IC (U212 I think?), a HA13441 with bad output voltage to the motor.

Do you know the voltages that I should be expecting from the logic board?

 

[_nec6678]

I'm so far three for three getting Quantum ProDrives working again by opening them up and freeing the stuck heads. Two were older "40S" model like the one in the first post of this thread, the other was a newer "LPS" model. I'm still new to the mac scene, but I've picked up three SE/30s over the past two years and each of them the HDD would spin up but the heads wouldn't move. Opening them up and moving the heads around freed them up and I was able to image all of them with BlueSCSI Initiator mode. I wrote about the first one here:

How to fix Quantum ProDrive 40S from SE/30

I'm trying to see if I can get the Quantum ProDrive 40S from my SE/30 working again. Its making this periodic buzzing sound - here is a video with the lid off: I found this reddit post where someone had a similar complaint about this drive: I see lots of videos/tips on fixing the Quantum...

68kmla.org

I wouldn't use them long term after I'd opened them - I was just curious to see what was on the HDDs.

I think I was a bit unlucky with my attempt, since I couldn't get the screw under the warranty label out but had already broken the seal.

 

[d_a_parker]

Do you know the voltages that I should be expecting from the logic board?

On the HA13441, pin 2 (Vcc) should be 12V, and pins 18, 20, and 22 (the outputs) should each be around 5V. The dead drive I'm currently working on has 12V on the input but less than 1V on each of the output pins, so it's likely that the IC is bad. I've seen this before and have fixed a few with board swaps, but with this one, I may need to source a new HA13441 and try my luck at desoldering and re-soldering.

 

[d_a_parker]

I think I was a bit unlucky with my attempt, since I couldn't get the screw under the warranty label out but had already broken the seal.

Based on your original description of the problem, I don't think you needed to open the drive in this case. The drives that @djc6 was able to fix by opening all had spinning platters but stuck heads, and in that case, you do need to physically free the heads somehow. But it sounds to me like your drive was not spinning up at all, and that's more likely to be an electrical issue than anything else.

 

[_nec6678]

Based on your original description of the problem, I don't think you needed to open the drive in this case. The drives that @djc6 was able to fix by opening all had spinning platters but stuck heads, and in that case, you do need to physically free the heads somehow. But it sounds to me like your drive was not spinning up at all, and that's more likely to be an electrical issue than anything else.

I'm very sorry if my description of the problem wasn't great, but I could tell that the platters were in fact spinning. I could hear a loud, continuous whir, and after a second boot attempt the drive would work. It was only after I opened the drive and clumsily dropped my pick in that the platters stopped spinning. I will confirm that I am getting the right voltages, though, once I clean my desk!!

 

[d_a_parker]

My bad! I missed the part where you said "the hard drive spun up but I got nothing but the floppy icon." So, yeah, if you can hear (and feel) that the platters are spinning, then the motor is working and it's not a voltage issue. If the head is stuck, you can sometimes free it up without opening, by lightly tapping the drive, but often you'll just need to open it up, and know that it won't last long after that. I have read that putting the drive in the freezer for a while and then starting it up while it's still cold can sometimes fix a stuck head, but I've never tried this myself. Maybe someday!