Km5050 hard drive problems

[copydocinc]

I have now replaced the hard drive on this particular customers machine, 3 times over a 3 year period.
Have not replaced a hard drive on any other model or any other customers with the 5050 either.
But this one keeps going out. So far I've been able to get hard drives off other used machines,
but now I'm out of other used machines, so now it's getting to be expensive for me.

Any ideas what makes these go out and is this common to go bad for anyone else out there?

[qbert69]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

I have now replaced the hard drive on this particular customers machine, 3 times over a 3 year period.
Have not replaced a hard drive on any other model or any other customers with the 5050 either.
But this one keeps going out. So far I've been able to get hard drives off other used machines,
but now I'm out of other used machines, so now it's getting to be expensive for me.

Any ideas what makes these go out and is this common to go bad for anyone else out there?

Perhaps dirty power???....what time of year do these failures occur??...summer? winter? If it's in the summer and there's a "rolling brownout" that can cause data corruption and short hard drive life! Perhaps a power line filter would be appropriate? ESP makes a filter that is also a data logger:

http://espsurgex.com/product/nextgen-pcs/

Cheaper on E-Bay!:

NextGen PCS in Computer Surge Protectors and Power Strips | eBay

Just remember, to get the data off, you'll need to have the data cable!

[darry1322]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

Remember to keep for filters and fans clean as heat kills drives. Used drives may also be part of the problem.

These things do have a lifespan and the used ones may be living on borrowed time already.

I reuse drives whenever I can with the understanding that the drive may die prematurely.

[Santander]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

Is the user shutting down the machine with the main switch without first hitting the power button on the control panel? The shutdown procedure is to press the power button on the control panel and wait for the the light to stop blinking before turning off the main power switch. This allows the unit to perform its shut routine and wind down the hard drive. Just turning off the main power switch will eventually crash the hard drive. Easy way to educate the customer is to ask them if they shut down windows first or just turn off the power to their computer? Guess what the answer will be? Same scenario!

[Tulsa]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

[QUOTE=copydocinc;536662]I have now replaced the hard drive on this particular customers machine, 3 times over a 3 year period.
Have not replaced a hard drive on any other model or any other customers with the 5050 either.
But this one keeps going out. So far I've been able to get hard drives off other used machines,
but now I'm out of other used machines, so now it's getting to be expensive for me.

Any ideas what makes these go out and is this common to go bad for anyone else out there?[/Q/

[Tulsa]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

Santander makes a great point, as we have experienced that challenge first hand as well. Do you get an 0640 code when your hdd fails? or is there someother code?
Thanks, and good luck!

[copier parts n.ireland]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

formatting disk drive sim 21 and 24 worked well for me on several utax 1250 and 1230 over the years,always preferred new parts hard drives when available

[copydocinc]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

Is the user shutting down the machine with the main switch without first hitting the power button on the control panel? The shutdown procedure is to press the power button on the control panel and wait for the the light to stop blinking before turning off the main power switch. This allows the unit to perform its shut routine and wind down the hard drive. Just turning off the main power switch will eventually crash the hard drive. Easy way to educate the customer is to ask them if they shut down windows first or just turn off the power to their computer? Guess what the answer will be? Same scenario!

I did explore that possible issue on the previous hard drive replacement and of course asked again this time.
They pretty much never turn off the main switch, unless they get an error code that tells them to do so. But that has only happened on the hard drive error codes, that ultimately ended up I me replacing the hard drive.

[copydocinc]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

formatting disk drive sim 21 and 24 worked well for me on several utax 1250 and 1230 over the years,always preferred new parts hard drives when available

I could not format the hard drive with this error code popping up, but when I replaced the hard drive with the NEW hard drive this time.
It automatically formatted it on its own, after turning the power back on.

[copydocinc]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

Santander makes a great point, as we have experienced that challenge first hand as well. Do you get an 0640 code when your hdd fails? or is there someother code?
Thanks, and good luck!

Yes, this time the error was c-0640, the last time it was c-0630, but they are not turning off the main switch at all, so I'm still looking for other possibilities, like the fans.?

[copydocinc]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

Remember to keep for filters and fans clean as heat kills drives. Used drives may also be part of the problem.

These things do have a lifespan and the used ones may be living on borrowed time already.

I reuse drives whenever I can with the understanding that the drive may die prematurely.

I didn't notice when I was there, but my customer has called to tell me that there is an annoying fan noise coming from the machine.
Maybe that has been the cause all along, maybe not working then starting up to try to work and making this noise she is talking about.
I'm going there with some fans to replace and se if that might help
thanks

[copydocinc]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

Perhaps dirty power???....what time of year do these failures occur??...summer? winter? If it's in the summer and there's a "rolling brownout" that can cause data corruption and short hard drive life! Perhaps a power line filter would be appropriate? ESP makes a filter that is also a data logger:

http://espsurgex.com/product/nextgen-pcs/

Cheaper on E-Bay!:

NextGen PCS in Computer Surge Protectors and Power Strips | eBay

Just remember, to get the data off, you'll need to have the data cable!

Maybe, but they do have a pretty good surge protector, I think it's EFI filter for power, network and fax, outlets. the bigger one with the cord, not the plug in the wall type.
I think they were like $200

[NeoMatrix]

Re: Km5050 hard drive problems

Re: Fans:
I'd say you are on to the problem.
Platen HDD's don't like to work reliable in too higher temperature, especially if there's no Air conditioning in the building.

Have you tried swapping/replacing the RAM chip at the rear of the machine ?


HTH