Re: OT - Disk Drive(s)

Sometimes you need to get a bit more agressive.  Had an old B10 that would
no longer startup the load source drive.  When I had a similar problem
several years ago pulling the disk and shaking it/smacking it around a bit
and putting it back in solved the problem.  With this one it would not
start, so we sat it in a corner by the window as a "sacrificial lamb" in
case some idiots broke in looking to steal anything.  It sat there for
about 3 years, then the other week someone asked me about it.  I said
"that piece of junk won't start up anymore" and I hauled off and kicked
the snot out of it several times.  Then I had a thought - wonder if it'll
work now ?  Hit the power button, and 45 minutes later (it IS a B10) the
IPL completed !  ;-)

...Neil





"Chuck Lewis" <clewis@iquest.net>



        To:     "Midrange-L" <midrange-l@midrange.com>
        cc:
        Subject:        OT - Disk Drive(s)


OK, this is off topic, but anyone who ever spent time "tapping" on IBM
disk
drives to get them to fire up, can relate to this !

__________________________________________________________

                  COMPUTERWORLD DAILY SHARK
                      April 2, 2002
___________________________________________________________
Shark Tank: That's what it's all about

Wet-behind-the-ears sysadmin pilot fish spends a long day upgrading a
Unix server. Then he carefully shuts down and powers-off the server.

Next morning, fish comes in, flips the server's power switch, and ...
nothing happens. No familiar whine from the root disk drive, no start-
up messages on the server's monitor. Nada.

After several futile minutes of power-cycling the server, fish is
getting frantic and users are screaming at him to get the server back up.

So fish calls his favorite sysadmin wizard and lays out the situation.

"Oh, yeah," the wizard says. "I know the problem. Do exactly as I say:
Power it off, take the monitor off the top of the server and then
unscrew all the cables."

Fish quickly follows the directions.

"Now pick up the server," wizard tells him, "hold it over your head,
and do the hokeypokey."

"What?" says fish.

"Do the hokeypokey," says wizard.

"Um ... what is the hokeypokey?" fish asks.

"You know, dance around like a jerk while twisting your body," wizard
says.

So fish puts down the phone, picks up the server and dances around the
IT shop like crazy for a minute or so. Then he reconnects all the
cables and pushes the power switch -- and the disk drive powers up with
its familiar whine.

"What happened?" astonished fish asks wizard.

"The spindle in those @#$%! drives sometimes sticks when you power
them down for awhile," says wizard. "The hokeypokey just shakes them
loose."