optical drive query

[Gordon Bertrand]

Hello all,

I've just recently attempted to use the optical drive on my old '030
cube for the first time after acquiring some disks. Surprisingly, after
a few attempts, the system did mount the disk and I was able to read
from it (and write to it!) for the duration it was in the machine.
However, once ejected I was unable to mount the disk again despite many,
many attempts.

What's happening now is that the the drive accepts the disk, spins up
and then ejects the disk a few seconds later. From time to time the disk
will remain in the drive (spinning up and down several times) while the
console records many instances of the following message:
"init_to: N-1 Not Found".

I have no doubt the OD is on it's last leg, but I'm hoping that since it
worked once I can do to get it going again :) Any advice would be
greatly appreciated.

Also, is it even worth trying to find another OD drive or will they all
have similar problem at this point? Are there any alternatives to the
NeXT OD drove which would work with a cube system?

Cheers,
Gord.

[David Evans]

In article <400551B8.1060808@stfx.ca>,
Gordon Bertrand <gbertran@stfx.ca> wrote:I've just recently attempted to use the optical drive on my old '030cube for the first time after acquiring some disks. Surprisingly, aftera few attempts, the system did mount the disk and I was able to readfrom it (and write to it!) for the duration it was in the machine.However, once ejected I was unable to mount the disk again despite many,many attempts.

Well, you got *one* chance--count youself lucky! ;-)
I have no doubt the OD is on it's last leg, but I'm hoping that since itworked once I can do to get it going again :) Any advice would begreatly appreciated.

The usual advice is to very carefully clean the internals of the drive;
there should be lots of Usenet posts about this.
Also, is it even worth trying to find another OD drive or will they allhave similar problem at this point?

It wouldn't surprise me. I have three and none seem to want to work.
Are there any alternatives to theNeXT OD drove which would work with a cube system?

I don't believe that there's any other drive that can read these
optical disks. Of course, if that's not important to you, any SCSI
drive can be attached to the cube.

--
David Evans dfevans@bbcr.uwaterloo.ca
Ph.D. Candidate, Computer/Synth Junkie http://bbcr.uwaterloo.ca/~dfevans/
University of Waterloo "Default is the value selected by the composer
Ontario, Canada overridden by your command." - Roland TR-707 Manual

[Brent P]

In article <400551B8.1060808@stfx.ca>, Gordon Bertrand wrote: Hello all, I've just recently attempted to use the optical drive on my old '030 cube for the first time after acquiring some disks. Surprisingly, after a few attempts, the system did mount the disk and I was able to read from it (and write to it!) for the duration it was in the machine. However, once ejected I was unable to mount the disk again despite many, many attempts.

It worked once, so you have some hope. A careful cleaning is in order.

I have a working one, but it sits on the shelf in a static bag. I had
a NOS one die on me in the cube with very little milage on it. Just
powering them up or having them in open air seems to risk damage.
Now if it dies on the shelf, I dunno. (I used it get all the stuff
off the optical disks and on to a harddrive)

[Gordon Bertrand]

Brent P wrote: It worked once, so you have some hope. A careful cleaning is in order. I have a working one, but it sits on the shelf in a static bag. I had a NOS one die on me in the cube with very little milage on it. Just powering them up or having them in open air seems to risk damage. Now if it dies on the shelf, I dunno. (I used it get all the stuff off the optical disks and on to a harddrive)


Thanks David & Brent!

I cleaned the drive a while back when I first got the cube, but it's
been a good year since then, so another cleaning is good advice. I'll
check the USENET archives for some detailed instructions.

Out of curiousity, has anyone ever determined what elements of these
drives fail (ie. mechanical or electronic)? Based on the sounds mine is
making (and the fact that it worked one minute and not the next) would
lead me to believe it's a mechanical issue.

Cheers,
Gord.

[David Evans]

In article <40058D2A.8010506@stfx.ca>,
Gordon Bertrand <gbertran@stfx.ca> wrote:Out of curiousity, has anyone ever determined what elements of thesedrives fail (ie. mechanical or electronic)?

I don't think that anybody has ever really figured it out.

--
David Evans dfevans@bbcr.uwaterloo.ca
Ph.D. Candidate, Computer/Synth Junkie http://bbcr.uwaterloo.ca/~dfevans/
University of Waterloo "Default is the value selected by the composer
Ontario, Canada overridden by your command." - Roland TR-707 Manual

[Brent P]

In article <40058D2A.8010506@stfx.ca>, Gordon Bertrand wrote:
Out of curiousity, has anyone ever determined what elements of these drives fail (ie. mechanical or electronic)? Based on the sounds mine is making (and the fact that it worked one minute and not the next) would lead me to believe it's a mechanical issue.

They fail from a variety of issues as I understand it. But since yours
read a disk at one point in the middle of playing with it may be
something really simple. When you have the OD open for cleaning you
can see if lube or something is needed on gears etc. On the dust bunny
filled OD that was in my cube when I got it, I lubed the gears, etc
with lithium grease and mechanically it sounded alot better, but still
wouldn't read. On the NOS one that died, it sounds mechanically perfect
but doesn't function.