16 May
1999
16 May
'99
6:58 p.m.
Greetings,
I got the (assumed) GRiDCASE 1520 doing something today!
In fact, it's running an Apple ][ emulator right now. :)
The hard drive was totally hosed. Seized. Dead.
On a hunch, I opened up the Toshiba T1200 (which I can't use without
appropriate power supply) and extracated its HD.
I was happy to see that the Toshiba's drive used the same connector. I
guess it's a standard laptop drive. (Isn't it fitting that my very
first working laptop was also (more-or-less) the very first laptop? :) )
When I cracked open the outer case, I was even happier to see that the
Toshiba's drive was also 20MB and made by JVC.
Toshiba's drive: JD3824G01-4
GRiD's drive: JD3824G00-2
I figured they'd be the same drive, but methinks I was wrong. With the
Toshiba's drive in place, the GRiD now powers up the drive at the
appropriate time, and I guess the drive passes whatever test it needs to
pass, and then the GRiD is able to boot from floppy. But I haven't been
able to access the HD yet. It just makes unpleasant noises when I try.
I don't have the proper SETUP program for the GRiD, but shouldn't FDISK
be able to tell me what's there anyway? Or is the busted SETUP possibly
the only thing wrong now?
Gah!
Anyway, the GRiD didn't complain about the clock not being set, even
after an hour of being turned off. But the clock also didn't advance in
that time. The battery says it's non-rechargable, but I'm still hoping
it will recover. :)
BTW, what a freaking pain working in the Toshiba is, compared to the
GRiD! Plastic framework that goes all over the place, multiple
different screw types in annoying places, etc. Getting the case open
with no instructions was easier, but once inside it's harder to deal
with.
Or maybe I'm just used to the GRiDCASE's innards now. :)
--
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
16 May
16 May
4:27 p.m.
Date: Mon, 17 May 1999 01:58:51 -0500
Reply-to: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca>
To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers"
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Subject: GRiDCASE 1520 update
X-To: ClassicCmp <classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Greetings,
I got the (assumed) GRiDCASE 1520 doing something today!
In fact, it's running an Apple ][ emulator right now. :)
The hard drive was totally hosed. Seized. Dead.
HD that calls itself JVC that trails 26pin after it is dead on the
road nearly virtually always! Hated them. Many machines are
banging around in trashcans that had this dead HD. That was years
before I came across this CC list. :-( Dead JVC 26 ususally spun
freely but doesn't want to do anything or trease you with bit of
spins.
I figured they'd be the same drive, but methinks I
was wrong. With the
Toshiba's drive in place, the GRiD now powers up the drive at the
appropriate time, and I guess the drive passes whatever test it needs to
pass, and then the GRiD is able to boot from floppy. But I haven't been
able to access the HD yet. It just makes unpleasant noises when I try.
Needs to LLF it and put s/w on. That nasty noises you heard is GRiD
franically trying to boot it up but s/w is not in right places!
Anyway, the GRiD didn't complain about the clock
not being set, even
after an hour of being turned off. But the clock also didn't advance in
that time. The battery says it's non-rechargable, but I'm still hoping
it will recover. :)
No no no... better replace it anyway! Most likely lithium and you
can read the specs on that cell before you have closed it up?
BTW, what a freaking pain working in the Toshiba is, compared to the
1000XE, 3100/100 easy, 1600 Yuk! So many odd little-bitty parts and
thousands of screws of all sizes. I have done on IBM TPs
(excellent in obtaining parts even for 5 years old notebooks!), Toshs
(design and support sucks now), Compaq totally sucks now in
everything. Digital is sorta ok and mildly weird but easily gotten
around them. Don't ask me to work on Znote 625 or to rebuild those
cells in them! (int. standby/cmos pack used quad AAAA cells, no way
to find them had to use discs and chew out bit of plastics and lot of
force to bend plastics against it's wills to fit this new pack.)
Epson notebooks is out out out! Ditto Samsung sx-25 that acts like
286 10 with 20MB hd. ?1?
Or maybe I'm just used to the GRiDCASE's
innards now. :)
Don't get too attached! Explode your mind after going thru all
these
said series I done. :) Best tip: memorize all the screws that each
one is removed that associates to which hole. I get lot of
impressions and comments that I can remember what screws belongs to
by looking even after few days or weeks. Or tape em down to
cardboard in right "places" on near-outline of the parts if you have
poor memory. Maybe needs ECC memory grey matter graft module? :-)
--
Doug Spence
Wizard
5 Jun
5 Jun
11:13 p.m.
On 16-May-99, jpero(a)pop.cgocable.net wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I got the (assumed) GRiDCASE 1520 doing something today!
>
> In fact, it's running an Apple ][ emulator right now. :)
>
> The hard drive was totally hosed. Seized. Dead.
HD that calls itself JVC that trails 26pin after it is
dead on the
road nearly virtually always! Hated them. Many machines are
banging around in trashcans that had this dead HD. That was years
before I came across this CC list. :-( Dead JVC 26 ususally spun
freely but doesn't want to do anything or trease you with bit of
spins.
Well this dead one doesn't spin at all, and I haven't been able to grab
onto the spindle to see if I can force it to spin.
The other drive, from the Toshiba, is still living in the GRiDCase 1520
because the machine seems to require the presence of a hard drive in
order to work, and I've been using the machine a lot.
> I figured they'd be the same drive, but
methinks I was wrong. With
> the Toshiba's drive in place, the GRiD now powers up the drive at
> the appropriate time, and I guess the drive passes whatever test it
> needs to pass, and then the GRiD is able to boot from floppy. But
> I haven't been able to access the HD yet. It just makes unpleasant
> noises when I try.
Needs to LLF it and put s/w on. That nasty noises you
heard is GRiD
franically trying to boot it up but s/w is not in right places!
OK, but how do I low-level format it? I'm not an MS-DOSer by nature,
but I tried FDISK and it just beeps and says "Error reading fixed disk".
I'm wondering if it requires the CMOS to be set for the HD type first,
but it doesn't want to accept that info, so maybe I need to replace the
battery first.
<snip>
Wizard
--
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
6 Jun
6 Jun
2:10 p.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
This may sound a bit extreme, but if it's your last shot at saving a
laptop HD, try this method.
1. Find a flat, level surface.
2. Pick up the laptop (or just the drive)about 6 feet above the surface.
3. Drop it.
Kind of extreme, I know, but it works -- I've done it on an old Toshiba
286 laptop. Worked great for me every time (about 6 or so) until I did it
on the basement floor and cracked the LCD.. oops. Oh well, I still had my
"trusty" Boldwell B310 back then..
Kevin
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's you isn't it? THE BASTARD OPERATOR FROM HELL!"
"In the flesh, on the phone and in your account..."
-- BOFH #3
3:19 p.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
On Sun, 6 Jun 1999, LordTyran wrote:
This may sound a bit extreme, but if it's your
last shot at saving a
laptop HD, try this method.
1. Find a flat, level surface.
2. Pick up the laptop (or just the drive)about 6 feet above the surface.
3. Drop it.
What is this supposed to accomplish?
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0!
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 05/25/99]
3:34 p.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
What is this supposed to accomplish?
The HD for mysterious reasons works again. The person I got the laptop
from told me about it.
Kevin
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's you isn't it? THE BASTARD OPERATOR FROM HELL!"
"In the flesh, on the phone and in your account..."
-- BOFH #3
6:34 p.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
On Sun, 6 Jun 1999, LordTyran wrote:
Oh really? Well, I know something that works better then. Next time,
take a sledgehammer and lift it way up over your head, then come down hard
on the laptop. That should give it a better jossling than merely lifting
it six feet and dropping it on the floor.
Sellam Alternate e-mail: dastar(a)siconic.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Don't rub the lamp if you don't want the genie to come out.
Coming this October 2-3: Vintage Computer Festival 3.0!
See http://www.vintage.org/vcf for details!
[Last web site update: 05/25/99]
What is this
supposed to accomplish?
The HD for mysterious reasons works again. The person I got the laptop
from told me about it. 
7 Jun
7 Jun
1:04 a.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
> > What is this supposed to accomplish?
>
> The HD for mysterious reasons works again. The person I got the laptop
> from told me about it.
The likely problem is stiction, heads stick to drive media and it will not
spin causing a boot error. Dropping it is a destructive practice at best.
next time try rotating it very sharply while sitting on the desk to help
spin the media.
Allison
6:28 a.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
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9:19 a.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
At 07:28 PM 6/7/1999 +0100, you wrote:
Either a headcrash, or possibly a cure for stiction?
It fixed LCD screens so they don't work anymore!
----------------------------------------
Tired of Micro$oft???
Move up to a REAL OS...
######__ __ ____ __ __ _ __ #
#####/ / / / / __ | / / / / | |/ /##
####/ / / / / / / / / / / / | /###
###/ /__ / / / / / / / /_/ / / |####
##/____/ /_/ /_/ /_/ /_____/ /_/|_|####
# ######
("LINUX" for those of you
without fixed-width fonts)
----------------------------------------
Be a Slacker! http://www.slackware.com
Slackware Mailing List:
http://www.digitalslackers.net/linux/list.html
This may sound a bit extreme, but if it's your
last shot at saving a
laptop HD, try this method.
1. Find a flat, level surface.
2. Pick up the laptop (or just the drive)about 6 feet above the surface.
3. Drop it.
What is this supposed to accomplish?
5:56 a.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 16:19:10 -0500
Reply-to: classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu
From: Arfon Gryffydd <arfonrg(a)texas.net>
To: "Discussion re-collecting of classic computers"
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
Well, I will say so...
It fixed LCD screens so they don't work anymore!
Do u want to do that on anything u own and suggest to somebody and
also subject that idea to someone's LCD based devices to this drop
fix?
NO WAY, PERIOD!
All flat panels of all kinds, (LCD, Plasma, TFT, DSTN etc), are hard
to find and very $$$. I once got quoted for a noncommon
type notebook that still needs a HD frame w/ nonstandard 40pin plug
w/ IDE 44pin on other end. That hd frame also make up left half
front cover. The LCD DSTN color 640x480 appox 9" cost 500 US to
replace. Nah. That hapless notebook promptly got relieved of cpu
and SO-DIMM to upgrade the TP 701C and cpu for desktop.
And NOT GOOD IDEA on dropping whole shebang either, breaking those
plastic parts all of them are structual even it's not that apprent to
anyone. I have done that repairs twice in past. Both 140CDN on both
counts, one keyboard frame and one top shell for display panel. Oh 2
more to add, I turned down ordering for Aero top shell
with hinge hardware (only way to get that clutch) for 75. And LTE
386s/20 (now retired) needs keyboard and top shell, battery for over
400CDN, didn't go for it either.
IBM TP series is really mother of all for MOST parts availiablity.
BTW even brought whole screw kit enough for one TP 701C and spares
left over, two logos one small and one larger for 25CDN. Wow.
Wizard
----------------------------------------
Tired of Micro$oft???
Move up to a REAL OS...
10:13 a.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
Do u want to do that on anything u own and suggest to
somebody and
also subject that idea to someone's LCD based devices to this drop
fix?
NO WAY, PERIOD!
Ok, this is getting a bit out of hand. My suggestion meant that if you
have an old HD that you're about to chuck into the bin because you can't
get it to work, try this as a *last resort*. This isn't even a perm. fix.
I did it on a 286 laptop that someone gave me. It was a 20meg drive and
the machine was just a spare. I liked it though, but it's not the end of
the world that the screen cracked.
Kevin
10:42 a.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
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8 Jun
8 Jun
3:42 a.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
> >> > 1. Find a flat, level surface.
> >> > 2. Pick up the laptop (or just the drive)about 6 feet above the
surface.
> 3. Drop
it.
What is this supposed to accomplish?
Either a headcrash, or possibly a cure for stiction? 
6 Jun
6 Jun
10:48 p.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
This may sound a bit extreme, but if it's your last
shot at saving a
laptop HD, try this method.
1. Find a flat, level surface.
2. Pick up the laptop (or just the drive)about 6 feet above the surface.
3. Drop it.
This is called "E and R, elevate and release", but I wouldn't do it more
than about 6 inches high.
7 Jun
7 Jun
4:06 a.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
On 7 Jun 99 at 3:48, Mike Ford wrote:
This was an accepted repair trick with the Atari STs when they stopped
functioning. Any chips not seated properly were driven home. I've done it
and it works but I was always a little tentative when doing it, usually at
about 3 inches. 6" was the recommended height, certainly not 6 feet.
ciao larry
lwalker(a)interlog.com
Let us know of your upcoming computer events for our Events Page.
t3c(a)xoommail.com
Collectors List and info http://members.xoom.com/T3C
This may sound
a bit extreme, but if it's your last shot at saving a
laptop HD, try this method.
1. Find a flat, level surface.
2. Pick up the laptop (or just the drive)about 6 feet above the surface.
3. Drop it.
This is called "E and R, elevate and release", but I wouldn't do it more
than about 6 inches high.
8:23 a.m.
New subject: GRiDCASE update, now laptop hard drives
*Shrug* 6' or so always worked for me & that's what the guy I got it from
said to do... oh well, it worked.
Kevin
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's you isn't it? THE BASTARD OPERATOR FROM HELL!"
"In the flesh, on the phone and in your account..."
-- BOFH #3
9098
days inactive
9120
days old
16 comments
9 participants
participants (9)
-
a2k＠one.net -
allisonp＠world.std.com -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
arfonrg＠texas.net -
dastar＠ncal.verio.com -
ds_spenc＠alcor.concordia.ca -
jpero＠pop.cgocable.net -
lwalker＠mail.interlog.com -
mikeford＠netwiz.net