Fortune Systems / freezer trick for hard drives

From: Rob Kapteyn <kapteynr_at_cboe.com>
Date: Sat Dec 16 15:31:49 2000

Seriously, the freezer trick might be worth trying :-)

The spindle bearings on my drive make weird noises that change pitch as the drive heats up.
After a while, it gets really loud and the drive stops working.
I think when the drive is cold, the bearings tighten a little -- due to themal contraction.

If the head actually crashed, I don't think there is any hope, however.

I have a little thermoelectric cooler/fan for a CPU chip.
I have thought about sticking it to the drive with some heat-sink compound.

Continuing on the other topic --

Data interchange with my Fortune is a pain because the 5-1/4 floppies have their own unique format
which nothing else will read.

Last time I looked at my floppies, it looked like they had a very thin layer of mold growing on them.
(I think I had them in a damp place for a while)

Anyone have experience reading moldy floppies ?

-Rob

-----Original Message-----
From: Sellam Ismail [SMTP:foo_at_siconic.com]
Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2000 1:43 PM
To: 'classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org'
Subject: RE: Anyone else with an interest in Fortune Systems ?

On Sat, 16 Dec 2000, Rob Kapteyn wrote:

> My Fortune is complete and basically works, except that it has a
> really flaky hard drive. (It makes lots of noise and runs about 15
> minutes before warms up and quits working).

Sounds like you need to stick it in the freezer :)

Try adding some more fans to the box to help keep the drive cool. It'll
probably run stably for great lengths of time (until it just up and
crashes).

I have a Fortune 32:16 as well. The only one I've ever seen. I guess
that makes it uncommon too, by my own standards :) The floppy mechanism
on mine needs work. I have a Fortune terminal but I don't think it's the
special kind that was mentioned was required to interface with it. I
don't have a keyboard either.

Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
Received on Sat Dec 16 2000 - 15:31:49 GMT

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