MP C3504ex HDD fail

[guitar9199]

Second time on this machine in 6 months. SC860-00 and SC872-00 Error messages include Functional Problem, Problems with the hard disc & Problems with address book.
No power failure that the customer knows of and it is on a surge protector. Any ideas what might be causing this? Pretty damn inconvenient machine to get to.
Thanks

Surge protectors are great for preventing voltage SPIKES...but they don't do squat for a voltage SAG!

Get a line voltage tester, and make sure the wall voltage is within spec for the machine, there no excess neutral/ground voltage, and there's no big "Power Sucking Machine" sharing the same circuit (Shredders, other copiers, folders....).

[slimslob]

make sure the wall voltage is within spec for the machine, there no excess neutral/ground voltage

Anything over 10v ground to neutral and you're looking at a potential problem. Years ago I had a couple of Lanier 1200 dual floppy word processors out at China Lake Naval Weapons Center in a portable building. They kept crapping 2 or 3 data floppies a day. Lanier regional rep brought a Dranetz power line monitor. In 10 minutes of monitoring we had over 200 hits scattered across all 3 legs. A quick check with the post engineers and we found that the outlet ground was tied to the building frame. We recommended a separate ground rod be put in and the outlets the 1200 were on be tied to the dedicated ground. We also recommended UPS/surge suppressors. Post engineering had the ground rod in the next day and no more problems.

[anothertech]

Anything over 10v ground to neutral and you're looking at a potential problem. Years ago I had a couple of Lanier 1200 dual floppy word processors out at China Lake Naval Weapons Center in a portable building. They kept crapping 2 or 3 data floppies a day. Lanier regional rep brought a Dranetz power line monitor. In 10 minutes of monitoring we had over 200 hits scattered across all 3 legs. A quick check with the post engineers and we found that the outlet ground was tied to the building frame. We recommended a separate ground rod be put in and the outlets the 1200 were on be tied to the dedicated ground. We also recommended UPS/surge suppressors. Post engineering had the ground rod in the next day and no more problems.

Wow, 10 volts ground to neutral is a pretty high bar, I usually look for under 2volts.

[anothertech]

Surge protectors are great for preventing voltage SPIKES...but they don't do squat for a voltage SAG!

Get a line voltage tester, and make sure the wall voltage is within spec for the machine, there no excess neutral/ground voltage, and there's no big "Power Sucking Machine" sharing the same circuit (Shredders, other copiers, folders....).

We use Next Gen Pcs power filters, you can connect to them with your computer and print out the log file they have been storing. Shows all of the under and over voltages that have taken place. Great for handing to the customer when they don't believe it's a power problem.