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Ebay bought 5160 HDD issues

IndirectX9 said:
Odd, because before I bought it off of Ebay, the seller had photos of the system using the hard drive prior to him shipping it.
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IndirectX9 said:
is the the twisted cable for the hard drive shown in the photo above the correct cable?
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Are you suggesting that the seller changed the cable before shipping the computer?

IndirectX9 said:
Okay, I found that the controller is an IBM 6135983 on the component side, and is a 6135984 on the solder side.
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So you have the 'variation #2' shown at the web page at [here].

With that controller and a Seagate ST-412 coupled, we expect an untwisted control cable (per diagram at [here]), but only because on the ST-412s that IBM supplied, the 'drive select' links on the shunt block were set at the first 'drive select' position. If you look at the underside of your ST-412, are the links on the shunt block set per the photo at [here]?
 
modem7 said:
Are you suggesting that the seller changed the cable before shipping the computer?


So you have the 'variation #2' shown at the web page at [here].

With that controller and a Seagate ST-412 coupled, we expect an untwisted control cable (per diagram at [here]), but only because on the ST-412s that IBM supplied, the 'drive select' links on the shunt block were set at the first 'drive select' position. If you look at the underside of your ST-412, are the links on the shunt block set per the photo at [here]?
Click to expand...

yep, the shunts have the same configuation.

I reseated the cable for the stepper motor on the control ST 412 board,

I'll re assemble the machine and will boot and will see what happens.
 
modem7 said:
With that controller and a Seagate ST-412 coupled, we expect an untwisted control cable (per diagram at [here]), but only because on the ST-412s that IBM supplied, the 'drive select' links on the shunt block were set at the first 'drive select' position. If you look at the underside of your ST-412, are the links on the shunt block set per the photo at [here]?
Click to expand...
IndirectX9 said:
yep, the shunts have the same configuation.
Click to expand...
So, there is a problem just there. For the shunt configuration that I pointed to (first drive-select position set), an untwisted (AKA 'flat', AKA 'straight-through') control cable is required.
 
And there is something else that is not making sense - the lack of a 1701 error.

If we go with the hypothesis that the seller changed the control cable before shipping, from an untwisted one to a twisted one, the Xebec controller should be generating a 1701 error. How do I know for sure? Because I just now made such a cable change on my functional 5160 with IBM/Xebec controller (variation #2) and ST-412.

But it occurs to me that the OP might not be waiting long enough for the error to appear:
1. 5160 motherboard POST counts up to 640 KB of RAM
2. 30 seconds of inactivity (except for blinking cursor) <---- some people may power off computer during this period, thinking that it has hung
3. IBM/Xebec controller's BIOS ROM displays '1701'
 
Something that I should have thought of earlier:

A rare form of twisted control cable is a 'double twisted' one.
It is the bottom cable in the diagram at [here].
I have never seen one myself, but I know that they exist.
If your control cable is one of these double twisted ones, then having the ST-412 connected to its end connector is equivalent to using an untwisted cable.

Is it a 'double twisted' cable ?
 
IndirectX9 said:
Odd, because before I bought it off of Ebay, the seller had photos of the system using the hard drive prior to him shipping it.

Is Low level formatting able to save this drive?
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I had the same experience with a Seagate ST225 I bought from an eBay reseller. The drive was shipped formatted and functioning, but by the time it arrive it needed to be low-level formatted, formatted by DOS and have the OS installed once again.

I don't know this to be true but I suspect the carrier, e.g. Postal Service in my case, may in the process of scanning it for who-knows-what have affected its disk's magnetic properties. If that's the case, a low-level format may be your first and best alternative. There may be a format utility routine in the controller ROM. Check here for Microsoft article on the subject.

-CH-
 
FWIW, OP never indicated (even after being requested) whether the cables are keyed or not. Because if they're not, they might be connected backasswards. :)
 
Stone said:
FWIW, OP never indicated (even after being requested) whether the cables are keyed or not. Because if they're not, they might be connected backasswards. :)
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Sorry for not filling you guys in, but the cables ARE KEYED, and they are inserted the correct way; I connected the straight cable to the HDD like modem7 said.

Unfortunately, I tried to low level format via minuszerodegrees Debug and Speedstor methods, and with speedstor, the drive cannot access the partition table, and if I were to use Fdisk on the boot diskette, fdisk will give me an "error reading fixed drive". I did do all of the tests for the drive via speedstor and there were a lot of defects, most likely due to the seller failing to park the heads before shipping and the shipping carrier having the boxes knocked about.

I will try the advanced diagnostics and if that cannot get the HDD working, then I will have to call it quits with that drive and get a refund from the ebay seller.

I thank all of you for your help and for being patient with me and my inexperience with handling old computers, I know I would've gotten frustrated with myself!
I look forward to learning more in this community!

-Brandon
 
IndirectX9 said:
Unfortunately, I tried to low level format via minuszerodegrees Debug and Speedstor methods, and with speedstor, the drive cannot access the partition table,...
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SpeedStor doesn't access the partition table during a LLF. Neither does any other LLF method. The partition table can *only* be created **after** a successful LLF.
 
The ST-412 has a stepper flag (AKA damper, arm, interrupter). During the low-level formatting, did you see that slowly move from one extreme to the other?

st412_cyl_0.jpg
 
Well I have good news!

Turns out the HDD had a pin touching a resistor, and by moving that pin, I was able to format and create a partition!

So now I need to figure out how to put DOS on the Hard disk via 3.5 floppy.

Any pointers to that is greatly appreciated!

Thank you
-Brandon
 
Whatever floppy you use it's the same. Boot from the DOS floppy. Type 'SYS C:', then copy all the remaining DOS files to the HD.

Of course, if you have an install set of DOS disks, after you boot, type 'setup' and follow the instructions.
 
Stone said:
Whatever floppy you use it's the same. Boot from the DOS floppy. Type 'SYS C:', then copy all the remaining DOS files to the HD.

Of course, if you have an install set of DOS disks, after you boot, type 'setup' and follow the instructions.
Click to expand...

Problem is, I only have the MS DOS 5 Boot disk, so I cannot use the SYS C: command, and If I use WinImage, the image is incompatible with my USB Floppy. I have no Idea what I need to do next, I do have a windows 2000 equipped laptop with a built in floppy if that means anything.
Plus, I am using the standard 360 kilobyte IBM floppy controller, so if I were to use a HD 720k diskette, then I get a general failure error.

Is there anyway I can fool the floppy into formatting a 720k DSDD from a 720k HD?
 
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