=====================================¢ Check the Basics First¢¢ by Thomas J. Andrews, member¢ of ACE of Syracuse, and OL' HACKERS.¢ (Reprinted from the ACE of Syracuse¢ Newsletter with permission)¢¢ 1050 DRIVE PROBLEMS?¢¢ Recently, one of my disk drives¢ started acting up. It would have¢ trouble booting up disks known to be¢ good, and sometimes would take a long¢ time writing to a disk, an indication¢ that errors were occuring.¢¢ DONT JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS.¢¢ I began to assume that the head¢ was dirty, or a track sensor was gone,¢ or something even more devastating was¢ happening.¢¢¢ THINK BEFORE YOU LEAP.¢¢ I was ready to pull the screws¢ out and try to find out for myself¢ what was wrong, but I did something¢ smarter than that first. I checked¢ the basics.¢¢¢ THE BASICS FIRST.¢¢ I looked at the cable connections¢ and found the power supply cable to be¢ only halfway plugged in. Don't ask me¢ how it got that way-it just did. I¢ pushed it in all the way, and the¢ drive problem disappeared. This sort¢ of thing happens all the time, so¢ don't assume all connections are good¢ just because you haven't disturbed¢ them lately. When something goes¢ wrong, check the basics first! It¢ might just work....and save you a buck¢ or more!¢¢ (Editor. Just this past week my 1050¢ refused to boot up when a disk was¢ inserted. I remembered reading this¢ article in preperation for the¢ newsletter, but I was sure that I had¢ a $$ repair job on my hands. Then I¢ remembered that just before the unit¢ went down I had heard a funny sound as¢ I inserted a disk. I didn't want to¢ open the unit, although I do know how,¢ but when opened I probably wouldn't¢ know what was wrong anyway, if it was¢ an electrical problem. Wait just a¢ minute, before I turn the drive over¢ to a repair person, I decided to grab¢ a flashlight and I looked into the¢ slot. Yep, there was the culprit, a¢ small piece of paper had gotten in¢ with the disk and was lodged under the¢ head. I often make printed or¢ handwritten notes to myself and put¢ them into the sleeve, and they have a¢ tendency to slide into the folds of¢ the disk, and unless you look at both¢ sides of the disk before putting it¢ in, the paper can easily go into the¢ drive with the disk, and then gets¢ free of the disk somehow and remains¢ in the drive. A pair of teezers and I¢ was back in business. So, as TOM says,¢ check out the basics before concluding¢ that you are stuck! A.P.)¢¢ ======================================¢
