sick disk?!

[Peter Fales]

In article <ROOT.89Sep25002448 at nidhog.nidhog.cactus.org>, root at nidhog.nidhog.cactus.org (Root) writes:
> 
> HALP!
> 
> The disk works well most of the time but occasionally the hard disk 
> makes an awful noise ``brrrrrrrr...spriong-griong-griong''. The status
> manager(smgr) flickers or dies sysinfo responst /dev/rfp002  can't 
> read superblock. The disk is gone. Well diagnostics ran and responded
> error on check read when ever this happens. The only thing I can think
> of is bad power. If any one out there has had a similar experience :*(.
> Or has any helpful suggestions Please Let me know. 

Deja Vu!  I had an almost identical experience.  Every few days I would
come home and find that smgr had died, though the system seemed to be
working fine.  I was also getting hard disk errors in the unix.log every
few days, though I didn't know if the two were related.  Finally, I 
happened to be in the room at the time and I heard the strange noises 
that you described.  I was worried, let me tell you!

My first thought was also "bad power."  I took the cover off 
and checked the power supply voltages.  Ah ha!  Power was going up and
down randomly between about 4.5 and 4.8 volts.  Then I happened to look
at the connector where the cable from the mother board connects to the
power supply.  Pins on this connector alternate with odds pins as +5 and
even pins as ground (or vice versa, I don't remember).  In any case, the
plastic connector was discolored near each of the five volt connectors, as
if those pins had somehow gotten very hot!  When I pulled the connector
off the pins on the power supply were black (like smoke).  As a first
try, I polished the connectors and put everything back together.  Voila!
5 Volt power solid as a rock.

I still don't know what happened to get me into this, but since that
time (several months of continuous use) the system has never crashed, 
smgr has never mysteriously died, and I have had exactly one disk 
error in the log.

-- 
Peter Fales			AT&T, Room 5B-420
				2000 N. Naperville Rd.
UUCP:	...att!peter.fales	Naperville, IL 60566
Domain: peter.fales at att.com	work:	(312) 979-8031