12 Apr
2006
12 Apr
'06
2:55 p.m.
Sorry if some
of my questions were 'going over the bleeding obvious'...
All too often I've found I've made assumptions about what the other chap
has or has not done, and wasted a lot of time going along the wrong path.
No worries. It's good to have someone look over my shoulder helping to
make sure I'm not my usual complete idiot! :) Thanks! See if the
signal is stable and has the
right frequency (compare it with the same signal in another working drive).
Excellent advice. I will try this. I do have a scope, though I'm more
From memory, there are 3 versions of the logic board
used in the RL01.
The first oen is RL01-only, the other 2 can be used either in an
RL01 or
an RL02 with a jumper change. The last of those has many more testpoints
than the earlier one.
There are significant electronic differences between the first one and
the other 2. My RL01 printset only covers the first version, for the
others I look at the RL02 printset.
The pocket service guide (is that on Bitsavers?) is probably the best
reference to tell the boards apart. I have that that booklet too, and can
tell you what to look for if you have problems.
Another 'obvious' question : You have
made sure the head lock is not
fitted on the 'dirty drives'? That would stop it going ready.
Another valid question. Yes, indeed, the head/actuator locking plate
has been rotated to the 'un-locked' position. This might be the place
to mention that these two 'dirty' drives had the heads already locked at
the time of acquisition. I'm doubtful that they have been used in many,
many years, since this indicates that the former owner had not tried them.
I wonder....could the heads, having been in the retracted position for
so long (years and years), be kind of 'glued' in place by dust/grime/dry
grease, thus no READY indication? Hmm...a question: is it advisable to move the heads manually to test this, or am I better
off keeping my fat
fingers out of the head actuator area (which I've religiously done to date)?
What you want to avoid is touching the heads themselves (obviously) or
letting the heads touch each other. What I would do is put a clean,
folded, lens tissue between the head 'buttons', then carefully move the
carriage towards the spindle. Try to keep the heads on the loading ramp,
but the tissue should prevent any damage if you can't.
-tony