SUMMARY: FDHD Repair and Replacement (long)
Gary Goldberg
with the net, but unfortunately, the story is still going on. Here is
what I've found so far...
Late Friday night I ejected a disk from the drive in my IIcx and it got
stuck midway through the release. This happened once before, so I knew to
get a paperclip and tried to release it. No good. At this point, I knew what
a bad idea it is to try to force the disk, so I didn't.
NOTE #1 - Don't DON'T try to force the disk. Even if you think it'd be
simple to do. It WILL cost you money.
I powered the machine down, and began to disassemble it. I found that the
IIcx comes apart surprisingly easily. Take the cover off. Disconnect power
cables. Disconnect all plugs, adb, serial, video etc. Blow the dust out.
(If you've had the drive more than a couple of weeks there will be plenty.)
Disconnect the hard drive data cable and power cable. Depressing the catches
on both sides of the drive, lift the hard drive basket and place aside.
The power supply slides up and away from the motherboard, where it is tied in
with a single Molex connector. Pull it up from underneath (go slowly).
Once it is removed, use a Phillips screwdrive to remove the screw from the
disk plastic housing. Disconnect the FDHD cable at the disk drive. Depress
the catch on the housing and remove the housing.
Turn the housing over to reveal the disk drive. Two screws in the back sides
of the housing secure the FDHD. Remove these. Remove the drive from the housing by slightly bending the plastic outward. Careful! The drive sits in a
cage - remove the screws holding it and remove the cage. What you are left with
is the drive.
At this point - I must have damaged something - probably the head. I thought I was being careful when I extracted it. Oh well.
Turns out the the mechanism, a Sony, is manufactured exclusively for Apple and
only Apple sells the replacements. This means that most street prices are about
$300.
I then looked into repair. I found the following places willing to repair -
1. MiproIII - as recommended by people on America Online. $125 for any repair.
They sold their floppy repair unit to a company called ERC, at (510)416-1113.
$125 + shipping and handling. The technician there said that these drives
are EXTREMELY prone to the head assembly getting bent or broken, making them
useless. This looks like the best place to get fixed. Also,
2. Shreve Systems (800)227-3971. Won't fix - replace $289.
3. Quadmation (800)733-7887. Any repair, $197. This didn't seem like much
of a deal.
4. Falcon Microsystems, Landover, MD. Government reseller, will fix for
$75/hour plus parts. (At least the same as a new unit.)
5. I also called some places in the back of MacWorld/MacUser. None will fix
for less than $150.
I eventually ordered a new Applied Engineering AE HD external floppy for $229
from MacConnection. It has a number of nice features that improve upon Apple's
external unit, including a combo red/green LED to indicate write/read.
But I still find myself sticking disks into the internal, and getting the
awful "Not a Mac disk - Initialize?" message. So I'll be getting the internal
fixed at ERC.
Some more notes - I looked at the mechanism for the FDHD in a Sun SPARCstation.
It appears to be near the same unit, but the model numbers were different, as
well as enough circuit board differences to convince me that it wouldn't
work as a replacement.
I also read through the DEAD MAC SCROLLS, a book by Larry Pina that discusses
repair. Very informative. Unfortuanately it also said the heads would have to bereplaced.
In messages from America Online, I learned that the IIcx and the IIci are
VERY prone to FDHD breakage, mostly because of the fan drawing dust through the
floppy slot and mechanism on its way out the back. One man said that of the
eight IIcx he purchased for an office, seven of the floppy disks went bad withinthe first year. There were numerous mail messages complaining about breakage,
stuck disks, etc., with these models. The best thing you can do to prevent
this happening to you is to keep the drive clear of dust and dirt, and keep
the slot covered when not being used. There were enough disgruntled people
with IIcx/ci's that they wanted to complain ala MODE32 to get Apple to acknow-
ledge guilt and repair them (on AOL).
I've learned a lot about motorized floppy drives in the past few days. I hope
that some of this can help you. Thanks everyone for the advice and suggestions.
--
- Gary Goldberg o...@access.digex.com Bowie, MD KA3ZYW
And NO organization to represent. ' ... Free, free at last ...'
Info on 'The Simpsons'? Let me know.
Bill Moynihan
retrieve a floppy disk with a paper clip...DON'T. Instead reboot
your Mac and hold the mouse button down. This will eject your
floppy (at least it has in every case I've tried).
Bill Moynihan (moyn...@venice.sedd.trw.com)
--
Bill Moynihan (moyn...@venice.sedd.trw.com)