Date   : Tue, 21 Aug 1984 15:52:28 EDT
From   : David Towson (SECAD) <towson@Amsaa.ARPA>
Subject: Re: Osborne I disk drive problems

I am not an Osborne owner, but the symptoms you cite sound very much like
the power drain due to the disk drive may be causing variations of the
power supply voltage to the rest of the computer.  This could result from
a high resistance in the power feed at a point common to both disk drive
and computer.  I suggest you disconnect and clean every pluggable connector
in sight, and see whether that helps.  Another useful troubleshooting step
would be to swap the two drives.  If this causes the problem to move with the
drive (i.e., it's always the same physical drive) then you will know there
is something wrong with the drive.  If, on the other hand, the problem stays
with the position (i.e., drive B) then you can look deeper into the wiring.
If swapping the drives causes the problem to vanish, then it was probably a
dirty connector that got scrubbed a bit when you unplugged it.  If so, don't
stop there; clean it right, and you should be good for a while.


Dave
towson@amsaa.arpa