advice/help needed with 6300+

[Dave Emmerson]

In article <1989Dec26.220943.14476 at cs.rochester.edu>, ken at cs.rochester.edu (Ken Yap) writes:
> [deleted symptoms]
> The disk a half-height 5.25" unit marked Olivetti XM5220/2 and holds 20
> Mb. There are two cables, one 34 connector, one 20 (?) connector to the
> disk controller.
> 
> Do you agree with my diagnosis? Is the disk drive interface standard
> enough that one can plonk a similar 20 Mb unit and have it work (i.e.
> have you had to do this kind of replacement)? Recommendations for
> drives and places to buy them please?
> 

Sounds right.
It's probably a rebranded drive, perhaps a NEC, but you should be able to
swap in most popular ESDI type drives without needing a new controller.

Which one depends mostly on her budget, and even on her DOS version. Most
recent drives can be considered reliable enough for most purposes, if you
read this group much, you'll have some idea as to which ones to avoid.

> Alternatively, if the cost of finding a replacement disk and service
> charges are too high, I thought she might unplug the hard disk and put
> in a hard card instead. Is this feasible?  Which hard cards work with
> the 6300+?
> 

Spec-for-spec, hard cards should cost a bit more, you're buying the controller
too. I think they're a few db noisier too, not to mention needing one or
two slots, and you need another complete hardcard to add another drive...
On the other hand, they ARE easy to install.

> Something else which hasn't been working for much longer is the clock.
> I suspected the NiCd had shorted (the computer had been idle for a year
> or two) and indeed I measured just 1.6V across the 3 cell pile. Is it
> just a matter of plonking in a replacement pile or is the problem more
> subtle? Somebody else asked a similar question but we don't get the
> 6300 group, whatever that is.
> 

They're not all that reliable after two or three years. If you can get
a similar one and you're sure it's a NiCd, not a Lithium type, then yes, 
plonk it in, and give it 12 hours to charge up.

Hope that helps,

Dave E.