Dead XF551

[crash]

Hi,

 

A day or two ago, the XF551 would at least attempt to read a disk when the system was booted, but it only got boot errors. Now, there is no LED flash when it is powered on, and no voltage from the internal MOLEX connector. It looked like there was a damaged trace near the power connector, which I repaired, and I resoldered a number of suspect joints, since the XF551 apparently has quality issues in this regard. Still nothing. Does anyone have suggestions? So far I haven't been able to figure out where to put the meter to trace how far electricity may be getting into the circuit.

 

Thanks

[MrMartian]

Well, quickly, the EPROM should show 5v with a meter with the black lead on pin 14 and the red on pin 28...

[crash]

Nevermind - it turns out that there were multiple failure points, several traces on the SIO ports, traces from the power jack and power switch - basically anything with a physical connection to a port was intermittent. I tried to hand wire the SIO, power, and power switch. The drive turns on and has voltage and flashes the led, but when the computer is powered it does not attempt to read the disk at all. I'm sure there is some other cracked trace that I can't see. I think the board in this drive is just too far gone.

 

Thanks

[Joey Z]

Nevermind - it turns out that there were multiple failure points, several traces on the SIO ports, traces from the power jack and power switch - basically anything with a physical connection to a port was intermittent. I tried to hand wire the SIO, power, and power switch. The drive turns on and has voltage and flashes the led, but when the computer is powered it does not attempt to read the disk at all. I'm sure there is some other cracked trace that I can't see. I think the board in this drive is just too far gone.

 

Thanks

if it's that dead, send it to me! (unless you are going to keep it for parts of course)

sorry to hear it looks unrepairable though.

[+orpheuswaking]

Metalguy likes to repair those

[MrMartian]

Me too!

[Mathy]

Hello crash

 

IIRC, somebody (damn, I memory refuses to refresh) was working on a replacement board. Lenore, can't remember her login name.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

[crash]

I did see a thread about someone trying to gauge interest in a production run of replacement PCBs but didn't determine whether this happened. The problem with this drive is that I did get it sort of working a few times, where the computer could see the drive and try to read a disk, but it could not actually boot or read any files. it would only produce a single read beep, read, and boot errors.

 

The PCB has several pads that have cracked away from the traces, in particular with the power jack, so there isn't even a good physical connection to the board. I ran jumpers to make the appropriate connections, including all of the lines on the SIO ports, but it is still not working. Right now it powers and flashes the LED, but the drive is not visible to the computer at all. I suspect that something was fried due to shorting while the power jack was intermittent. PCB aside, I'm not confident that the drive mechanism is good either. So, the case is yellowed and has other discoloration, the PCB is bad, and the drive mechanism is very rusty and probably not good. I'm not sure it is worth anyone's time or even shipping money. I would give it away before throwing it away; just don't want anyone being too optimistic. I don't know that I want to gamble $75 on a replacement pcb just to see if the mechanism is also faulty.

 

Thanks

[+SoulBuster]

I have a Mech to put in it. I converted one to a 3 1/2 in drive and still have the mech. If you want to ship it to me I will pay for the shipping.

[gtkakega]

Metalguy likes to repair those

yup, he fixed my 2 dead XFs