Unhappy Disk Drive

[blacka013]

Hi All,

 

hope someone can help. I have a 1050 drive fitted with a Happy board. After about 10 - 15 minutes the drive will start to spin for a few seconds and then stop. This continues until the drive is powered down. The drive needs to be left for about 30 minutes before it can be used again.

 

I suspect this is a heat related fault, so does anyone have any ideas what is causing the fault?

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

Andy

[+bob1200xl]

Check the power diodes on the board. If they are hot (careful - they can be very hot), try replacing the big filter capacitors. If the diodes are not too hot (wet your finger and touch one - got sizzle?), try replacing the big filter capacitors.

 

Get some 'circuit cooler' and spray it on the ICs while it is failing - not too much and not all over the place. If the bad part cools down, the drive works again, right?

 

Bob

[Kyle22]

Capacitor tops should be flat, not rounded or heaved up. A capacitor that is heaved or swelled up in any way is bad and should be replaced.

 

Just a little info before you burn your fingers on the diodes

[thorfdbg]

If the diodes run hot, also replace them by stronger models. I had a problem with them on my 1050 quite some years ago, and the diodes of the voltage-doubler circuit are really under-dimensioned. The board underneath was already changing its color to brown when the drive stopped working. After replacing them, the drive worked fine again.

[blacka013]

Ok all,

 

will have a look at the areas mentioned tonight. Just a question thorfdbg, which are the doubler diodes?

 

Many thanks

 

Andy

[blacka013]

Okay, I have checked all the areas advised on and I can't find a problem. All diodes are slightly warm after about half an hour. Checked everything against another drive I have which is working, and that is warmer than the faulty drive.

 

Any thing else I should be checking?

 

Many thanks

 

Andy