LisaList2

General Category => LisaList2 => Topic started by: paule on March 16, 2023, 05:20:11 am

Title: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: paule on March 16, 2023, 05:20:11 am
I'm trying to use NewWidEx to deal with a problematic Widget. It spins up and I get the steady green light, but returns an 82 error when trying to use it. I'm running NWE and when I try to do various options such as SOFT RESET or RESET SERVO, I get the "You need a Widget to do that. Pretend there is a working Widget?" I try to answer 'Y' but the prompt at the top just blinks and doesn't respond to Return. What might be going on?
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: paule on March 16, 2023, 05:25:51 am
When I use DRIVE INFO, it responds with
DEVICE NAME - /???????????? NUMBER 0000000 NOT A WIDGET
REV-FFFF BLOCKS-FFFFFF BLOCKSIZE FFFF SPARES-FF
BAD BLOCKS-FF
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: ried on March 16, 2023, 11:01:07 am
Based on my limited experience, that happens when the Widget is not yet ready to talk to NeoWideEx. Also, I don't think a steady green light is what it should do. The green LED is the read/write indicator, and it should flash with disk activity.

Is the brake releasing after the drive gets up to speed? Is the arm moving the head across the disk while the green LED flashes its activity for any amount of time?
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: mactjaap on March 16, 2023, 04:45:11 pm
It helps if you can film what is happening. It the arm moving, etc. Is that possible?
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: stepleton on March 16, 2023, 05:46:09 pm
Yes, it sounds like the Widget isn't ready to talk to the Lisa yet. The DRIVE INFO data you see is probably the data in the Lisa's memory that was never replaced by information from the Widget.

ried has asked good questions --- knowing more about what the Widget is doing will help confirm whether our theory here is true.
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: paule on March 16, 2023, 08:30:22 pm
Is it safe to operate the Widget upside down or sideways? It would be much easier to see and record what is going on. Also - what is the best way to share video here?
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: sigma7 on March 17, 2023, 06:14:14 am
Is it safe to operate the Widget upside down or sideways? It would be much easier to see and record what is going on.

I believe it is safe to operate on its side as most drives of that era. I'd avoid running it on end or upside down, although I don't actually know if there would be any negative consequences.

Quote
Also - what is the best way to share video here?

There isn't much space in the files section here, so unless it is something that needs to be preserved forever, it is best to upload the video to flickr or imgur or the like and share a link.

Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: patrick on March 17, 2023, 10:34:23 am
Is it safe to operate the Widget upside down or sideways? It would be much easier to see and record what is going on.

Don't do that. You can run the motor with the drive sitting sideways or upside down, but never move the heads in this position.

Running the drive upside down with the controller Z8 removed (to avoid any head movement) for a few hours can improve its acoustic behaviour. The grease in the bearings is redistributed and the squeaking and screeching noises disappear or become quieter.
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: paule on March 18, 2023, 04:47:42 am
Here are two movies, one showing from above, and one focused on the stepper. You can here the sharp click of the brake releasing before the head moves. Well, except that I'm not sure if the sound comes through the uploaded movies  ???

https://i.imgur.com/NKAPDKx.mp4

https://i.imgur.com/qHnsOIq.mp4
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: ried on March 18, 2023, 10:20:28 am
Might help to plug that ribbon cable back into the motherboard  :) Here's how it should look (my Widget's on its side):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVbiyJ_jvOs

That's controller board LED isn't the one you're interested in, btw. You want to watch the one lower down, on the read/write board:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djsShb6qFhk

Those ribbon cable pins are extremely fragile, so be careful when aligning and them pressing them back into the socket on the Widget's motherboard. After you do that, start it up and watch the read/write LED. Let us know how it goes.
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: paule on March 18, 2023, 07:26:33 pm
Which ribbon cable? Here's a picture of the bottom of my Widget and two closeups of the ribbon cable I think you're talking about

https://imgur.com/UPqEAEU

https://i.imgur.com/eFpElyo.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8k5aJ7R.jpg
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: ried on March 18, 2023, 07:40:49 pm
Which ribbon cable?

This one:
https://i.imgur.com/8k5aJ7R.jpg

The pins are pointing up, instead of being installed down in the socket.

EDIT: Maybe not. Sorry. Perhaps they just stick up that high on yours, yet the other end of the pins remain engaged in the socket beneath. 
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: paule on March 18, 2023, 07:46:57 pm
I don't know why there are pins sticking back up from the connector, but here I've lifted the cable part way from the socket and you can see that it is plugged in.

https://i.imgur.com/zOlFFi7.jpg
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: ried on March 18, 2023, 07:55:33 pm
Yep, edited my comment. Yours just happens to have pins that are positioned to stick out both sides of the connector. My two widgets aren't like that, but it doesn't mean anything in any case.
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: paule on March 18, 2023, 07:58:40 pm
Well, shoot I was hoping you were right as that seemed like an easy fix.
Title: Re: Help with NeoWidEx
Post by: stepleton on March 19, 2023, 09:08:01 am
So having looked at the second video (the first is now unavailable), my usual hypothesis is that the head mechanism lubricant has become sticky with age and that the voice coil mechanism no longer has sufficient power to swing the arm through its full travel. Because the servo (the electromechanical mechanism that controls the arm) can't execute the command to move the arm, the Widget controller decides that the Widget is not ready, and that's why NeoWidEx can't talk to it.

As @ried knows well, I've had some success in the past in repeatedly resetting the Widget. Each time, the Widget controller tells the servo to try to swing the arm again. In my case (but not in @ried's case), the repeated attempts would each free up the arm a little bit, and after a while, full arm travel was eventually regained.

@ried had to try something a little more radical in his case: since repeated resets weren't making much progress, then --- ONLY WHEN THE DRIVE IS SPINNING, NEVER WITH THE DRIVE OFF --- @ried used a finger to push the arm mechanism through its travel. I think he pushed on the black plastic piece you can see twitching in your second video. This appears to have freed up the mechanism somewhat for @ried, though perhaps he should talk about his experience himself :)

There are a couple of true Apple hard drive experts on this forum, and maybe one of them will weigh in with true knowledge about what to do.