I recently was given a Western Digital Hard Disk 20AP, obviously intended for
use with an Apple computer of some sort. It identifies itself as a Western
Digital WD1006-something-or-other but doesn't spin up, and that suggests to me
that there might be an interesting bridge controller in this box.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to open the box. Does anybody know how that
might be done? Does anybody know how to operate this device (low-level details,
not Apple-user instructions)?
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Duell" <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2001 4:33 PM
Subject: Re: Ebay horror ...
> >
> > I won't say you're alone there, but I've more often than not seen people,
> > particularly people paid to do this sort of thing, isolate faults to the
board
> > level by swapping boards, then sending the board off for depot repair. I
guess
> > if you don't mind that the machine is down until the board is fixed then it
> > doesn't matter, but if that's the case, the machine isn't that important.
>
>
> Mnay people have tried to convince me that board-swapping is worthwhile,
> none have ever succeeded. I've tried it twice, and on both occasions it
> was a total waste of time. It didn't cure the fault, it didn't tell me
> where the fault was (in fact in one case it made me even more confused).
> I had to spend the time to find the real fault anyway. And if I'd started
> doing that rather than swapping boards I'd have had the system running
> much sooned.
>
> And on serveral occasions I've managed to _repair_ the old board using
> components sitting around on my workbench or in the junk box before the
> field servoid has managed to order the right replacement board, let alone
> actually have it in his hand.
>
> However, you are also missing a _very_ large point here. Whether or not
> component level diagnosis/repair is faster or slower is _irrelevent_ to
> me. I enjoy component level repair. I enjoy tracing faults. I enjoy
> repairing things that have been claimed to be unrepairable.
>
> It's a hobby. In general, it doesn't matter if one of my classics has
> some downtime. I'm not running them all 24/7 anyway. Nobody else is
> depending on my machines. So if I have a fault and it takes me a couple
> of weeks to repair it (remember I can't spend all my time repairing
> computers :-)), so what?
>
> >
> > Having spares of everything is a strategy for keeping a system running. It
may
>
> A complete second system which you can use for backup is one thing. A
> collection of parts that you randomly swap into a faulty system is
> something else. The former is useful, the latter is IMHO not a way to
> maintain a reliable machine. Certainly if I was depending on the results
> from a system, I would not depend on a system which only seemed to be
> working. And in general board swapping is done by replacing modules until
> the fault _seems_ to have gone away -- the machine boots and passes
> diagnostics. The real fault is not found, it is not known that it has
> been put right. No thanks!
>
> I've posted my horror stories often enough -- find them in the archives
> if you want them. Suffice it to say I've had too many problems caused
> directly or indirectly by board-swapping to ever want to do it again.
>
> -tony
>
>
Received on Tue Jun 12 2001 - 22:37:50 BST