I am not in an area which has been experiencing heatwaves though the temperature is probably 5-10 degrees hotter than normal at the moment - sitting round 25-30C. I have a 750 gig main hard drive installed, and 3 terabyte SATA drives in the other three bays (I do a LOT of movie work and need heaps of disk space!)
Today one of my terabyte drives isn't opening. When I got it out, it was hotter to the touch than I would like. I feel uneasy that the other drives in there must be operating at this temperature (and the drive isn't even spinning in this one.) I have a widget that shows temp control and it says that the startup drive is running at 39 C, Terabyte 1 is 29 C, Terabyte 2 is 29C, and Terabyte 3 is 37C. CPU A is 82C and CPU B is 81C which seems pretty high to me. CPU Heatsink 1 is 66C and CPU Heatsink 2 is 69C. The ambient temp is 31C.
As an experiment I have taken off the cover and am using an additional fan to blow directly into the box from the side. Is that a good idea or not? Are these the sorts of operating temperatures for the CPUs especially that you would expect? I can't seem to find any really consistent answers to this but I am worried that if the temps are higher than they should be, one not very old terabyte drive might have been fried by the high temps and the others may be at risk - and the CPUs - which I simply can't afford in my business. There's a limit to how much data you can back up in these circumstances.
I downloaded SMCFanControl and boosted the min speed to 1690 RPM on the CPU_MEM, IO and EXHAUST fans, and the PS is 1798. However, the icon in the menu bar says the fan is 500 rpm and the temperature is 69C. Maybe I need to restart for the software to take effect but I am not sure.
Any advice welcome. I just think that by the feel of the drive I took out, it was a lot hotter than I would like. (I do know that the whole system is supposed to zap out if the operating temperature gets too high to be safe for it to operate. At least that hasn't happened.) It may be that all is 'normal' and the drive just caved in all by itself. It was the one Time Machine was backing up to and it did an awful lot of work.
Rifty
Rifty rifty@redacted.invalid wrote:
I am not in an area which has been experiencing heatwaves though the temperature is probably 5-10 degrees hotter than normal at the moment - sitting round 25-30C. I have a 750 gig main hard drive installed, and 3 terabyte SATA drives in the other three bays (I do a LOT of movie work and need heaps of disk space!)
Today one of my terabyte drives isn't opening. When I got it out, it was hotter to the touch than I would like. I feel uneasy that the other drives in there must be operating at this temperature (and the drive isn't even spinning in this one.) I have a widget that shows temp control and it says that the startup drive is running at 39 C, Terabyte 1 is 29 C, Terabyte 2 is 29C, and Terabyte 3 is 37C. CPU A is 82C and CPU B is 81C which seems pretty high to me. CPU Heatsink 1 is 66C and CPU Heatsink 2 is 69C. The ambient temp is 31C.
As an experiment I have taken off the cover and am using an additional fan to blow directly into the box from the side. Is that a good idea or not? Are these the sorts of operating temperatures for the CPUs especially that you would expect? I can't seem to find any really consistent answers to this but I am worried that if the temps are higher than they should be, one not very old terabyte drive might have been fried by the high temps and the others may be at risk - and the CPUs - which I simply can't afford in my business. There's a limit to how much data you can back up in these circumstances.
I downloaded SMCFanControl and boosted the min speed to 1690 RPM on the CPU_MEM, IO and EXHAUST fans, and the PS is 1798. However, the icon in the menu bar says the fan is 500 rpm and the temperature is 69C. Maybe I need to restart for the software to take effect but I am not sure.
Any advice welcome. I just think that by the feel of the drive I took out, it was a lot hotter than I would like. (I do know that the whole system is supposed to zap out if the operating temperature gets too high to be safe for it to operate. At least that hasn't happened.) It may be that all is 'normal' and the drive just caved in all by itself. It was the one Time Machine was backing up to and it did an awful lot of work.
Rifty
OK - to answer some of my own questions - SMCFanControl does seem to need a restart to take effect initially. This is the first time ever since I have had the MacPro (about 20 months) that I have heard the fans cut in at anything but the min temps. It's slightly noisier but I feel easier about the internal temperature of the box.
For the record, the temps then (at default setting) and now (using SMCFanControl) are
Startup drive is running at 39 C, [now 36C] Terabyte 1 is 29 C, [now 29C] Terabyte 2 is 29C, [now 25C] Terabyte 3 is 37C. [now 23C] CPU A is 82C [now 40C] CPU B is 81C [now 41C] CPU Heatsink 1 is 66C [now 32C CPU Heatsink 2 is 69C.[now 34C] The ambient temp is 31C. [now 33C]
So I've closed the box and taken the external fan away.
What bothers me is why didn't the MacPro automatically step up its fanspeed for the fans inside the machine when it was running so hot? The CPU temps in particular seem to me to have been very high. I do suspect that the terabyte drive that died couldn't have been happy running at high temperatures. I'd be curious to know what the temps of these are for the boxes of other MacPro users.
Incidentally the monitoring device is an excellent widget which I would recommend for anyone, especially in this hot weather:
istat pro from islayer.com [available versiontracker.com]
Rifty
In article 1iuib6z.tpk1mlk9xh02N%rifty@redacted.invalid, Rifty rifty@redacted.invalid wrote:
Rifty rifty@redacted.invalid wrote:
I am not in an area which has been experiencing heatwaves though the temperature is probably 5-10 degrees hotter than normal at the moment - sitting round 25-30C. I have a 750 gig main hard drive installed, and 3 terabyte SATA drives in the other three bays (I do a LOT of movie work and need heaps of disk space!)
Today one of my terabyte drives isn't opening. When I got it out, it was hotter to the touch than I would like. I feel uneasy that the other drives in there must be operating at this temperature (and the drive isn't even spinning in this one.) I have a widget that shows temp control and it says that the startup drive is running at 39 C, Terabyte 1 is 29 C, Terabyte 2 is 29C, and Terabyte 3 is 37C. CPU A is 82C and CPU B is 81C which seems pretty high to me. CPU Heatsink 1 is 66C and CPU Heatsink 2 is 69C. The ambient temp is 31C.
As an experiment I have taken off the cover and am using an additional fan to blow directly into the box from the side. Is that a good idea or not? Are these the sorts of operating temperatures for the CPUs especially that you would expect? I can't seem to find any really consistent answers to this but I am worried that if the temps are higher than they should be, one not very old terabyte drive might have been fried by the high temps and the others may be at risk - and the CPUs - which I simply can't afford in my business. There's a limit to how much data you can back up in these circumstances.
I downloaded SMCFanControl and boosted the min speed to 1690 RPM on the CPU_MEM, IO and EXHAUST fans, and the PS is 1798. However, the icon in the menu bar says the fan is 500 rpm and the temperature is 69C. Maybe I need to restart for the software to take effect but I am not sure.
Any advice welcome. I just think that by the feel of the drive I took out, it was a lot hotter than I would like. (I do know that the whole system is supposed to zap out if the operating temperature gets too high to be safe for it to operate. At least that hasn't happened.) It may be that all is 'normal' and the drive just caved in all by itself. It was the one Time Machine was backing up to and it did an awful lot of work.
Rifty
OK - to answer some of my own questions - SMCFanControl does seem to need a restart to take effect initially. This is the first time ever since I have had the MacPro (about 20 months) that I have heard the fans cut in at anything but the min temps. It's slightly noisier but I feel easier about the internal temperature of the box.
For the record, the temps then (at default setting) and now (using SMCFanControl) are
Startup drive is running at 39 C, [now 36C] Terabyte 1 is 29 C, [now 29C] Terabyte 2 is 29C, [now 25C] Terabyte 3 is 37C. [now 23C] CPU A is 82C [now 40C] CPU B is 81C [now 41C] CPU Heatsink 1 is 66C [now 32C CPU Heatsink 2 is 69C.[now 34C] The ambient temp is 31C. [now 33C]
So I've closed the box and taken the external fan away.
What bothers me is why didn't the MacPro automatically step up its fanspeed for the fans inside the machine when it was running so hot? The CPU temps in particular seem to me to have been very high. I do suspect that the terabyte drive that died couldn't have been happy running at high temperatures. I'd be curious to know what the temps of these are for the boxes of other MacPro users.
Incidentally the monitoring device is an excellent widget which I would recommend for anyone, especially in this hot weather:
istat pro from islayer.com [available versiontracker.com]
Rifty
Hi Rifty
I wish I had MacPro notes to share (:>
However, I did have a heat incident recently. On a 42 degree Sydney day a week or so back, my 2nd gen MacBook got so hot it started to 'smell' different, the little fan was pumping like the blazes, and the air it was expelling would have been useful in a few London winters I remember.
I don't have your technical knowledge, and had to use my instincts. The inclination to shut down was hampered by the knowledge that in the short term, the fan's cooling effect would be lost, and the internal temperature actually rise. But the change in 'smell' was the decider - it was WRONG.
Like yourself, I had wondered if the machine was programmed to protect itself - and one would hope that it would but there were no alerts, no action taken. You don't mention any olfactory evidence, and I myself have been amazed at the temperatures these gizmos seem happy at. I could fry eggs on my modem, and yet it's been pumping data happily for years now.
Sorry about your dead drive, though. Techies I've chatted to suggest that the bigger the drive, the shorter the life. I have a film-maker friend working in Bangkok at present; she says the heat factor influenced her decision to use external drives, and keep them outside of the CPU equation. I'll pass on the link to that widget.
All the best to you
Emma
Emma Grey gone@redacted.invalid wrote:
Hi Rifty
Hi Emma - lovely to get a reply from you, and I hope 2009 is excellent for you. I thought you were still in England in the snow!
I wish I had MacPro notes to share (:>
Well, Fat Boy cost me a ridiculous $8000 with the setup I have, and I would like to add even more RAM. So if you have $$$ like that around, we can compare babies sometime. It is still faster than any laptops and most desktop machines newly on the market. I never regretted outlaying that much though. That's why the idea of frying it, especially if it was avoidable, scares me witless.
However, I did have a heat incident recently. On a 42 degree Sydney day a week or so back, my 2nd gen MacBook got so hot it started to 'smell' different, the little fan was pumping like the blazes, and the air it was expelling would have been useful in a few London winters I remember.
I don't have your technical knowledge, and had to use my instincts. The inclination to shut down was hampered by the knowledge that in the short term, the fan's cooling effect would be lost, and the internal temperature actually rise. But the change in 'smell' was the decider - it was WRONG.
Yep - it's equivalent to the smell of burning flesh in a human - when you smell that, you get the feeling that maybe something isn't quite right and you should probably remove your hand from the hotplate of the stove.... Like you I would just have shut it down and hoped that the temp inside wouldn't rise too much - I would have had an external fan hitting it with cool air full force at that time. ((Hey, those cooling trays for laptops are quite good - have you tried one of those? - they usually work USB and have a couple of extra USB ports. zazz.com.au or catchoftheday.com.au have them now and again. Much more pleasant if you have to sit a laptop on your knees on a hot day.
Like yourself, I had wondered if the machine was programmed to protect itself - and one would hope that it would but there were no alerts, no action taken. You don't mention any olfactory evidence, and I myself have been amazed at the temperatures these gizmos seem happy at.
No, there was no smell, but the room is hotter than the others, so even at the lowest temp it is pumping out some heat.... But I kinda felt reassured by that. I have read that the usual safe operating temperature for those CPUs in up to about 72C and I didn't like the thought that mine has been running at over 80C possibly ever since I got it (getting towards 2 yrs ago)!
On laptops, I have a PC laptop that kept zapping out - and it was HOT) yet the fan was working, but it turned out when they opened the case (I don't like tinkering with laptops...) apparently the fluff and stuff had gunked it up good and proper and it just couldn't suck in enough air to be effective. It worked fine for a while after they cleaned it (at considerable expense) but then it started doing it again. I don't think it is that dirty but it seems it was a bit of a lemon. (What can you expect if it's not Mac hey?:))
But maybe yours needs a good cleanout. Someone reckoned compressed air cans you can buy do a good job (without opening the case). I never tested it, I have to admit, but it might be worth a can just for the experience.
I could fry eggs on my modem, and yet it's been pumping data happily for years now.
Yeah mine too, but I rested the little fan that cools ME on it and the movement of air around it cooled it down while the fan was on. But like you I have wondered how for years now the Belkin wireless router that is never off copes with the heat - in the end I guess they're designed for that and that's it!
Sorry about your dead drive, though. Techies I've chatted to suggest that the bigger the drive, the shorter the life.
Wouldn't be surprised. The only two of mine that have turned up their toes have been Western Digital - this terabyte one and a 320 gig external one. Oh and one other that I don't trust also happens to be WD. (I have about 10 SATA ones altogether of varying sizes and that doesn't count a few external only drives). Maybe I have just been unlucky with them. I must see just how old that terabyte one is - guess it could be under warranty but when you buy them online you don't have much chance of dealing with the manufacturers, and you usually just cross your fingers that they will stay alive for a fair time.
At least I have taken to sharing my work around all four internal SATA drives so that if one dies I usually have some backup. Inevitably, drives fail eventually. Not if, but when. And Murphy's Law always enters the equation... You have to backup what you can't afford to lose...)
I have a film-maker friend working in Bangkok at present; she says the heat factor influenced her decision to use external drives, and keep them outside of the CPU equation. I'll pass on the link to that widget.
Using that widget to control the internal temp would definitely go a long way towards keeping the inside of the box cool for her, which means she could safely add internal SATA drives. And another thing you can do is buy an external SATA docking unit and just drop the required SATA drive in it and use it USB. Not as fast, but tolerable.
All the best to you
And you - are you back in Oz to stay?
Rifty
Rifty rifty@redacted.invalid wrote:
Using that widget to control the internal temp would definitely go a long way towards keeping the inside of the box cool for her,
Just to clarify that bit: I meant you can use the widget to check the temp and then use SMCFanControl to adjust the fanspeed. The widget doesn't do that. It just tells you when you're in trouble!
Rifty
In article 1iukbzd.jet8dr28tfpaN%rifty@redacted.invalid, Rifty rifty@redacted.invalid wrote:
Emma Grey gone@redacted.invalid wrote:
Hi Rifty
Hi Emma - lovely to get a reply from you, and I hope 2009 is excellent for you. I thought you were still in England in the snow!
And you - are you back in Oz to stay?
Rifty
Hi, Rifty, yes I am here 'for the duration', as they say - which means someone will have to bury me here, or sprinkle my ashes over the ocean. And indeed, I am a climate refugee. If I must have snow, then please, let it be in Zurich! The English seem to forget how to deal with it after each episode, and thus are totally unprepared every time. But what's going on in London now looks pretty much the same as the occasional white winters I remember as a child. Walking on Hampstead Heath in the snow was fun, with tea and cakes in Louis Hungarian ptisserie afterwards. Does that compare with a pizza on my knees on a balmy evening at Bondi Beach? All places have their magic moments, and I like mine warm!
Australia might not be the obvious place for those who love the intellectual life, but it has that 'warmth' of tolerance, especially if you can mix with (other) European refugees and thinkers. And with the growing access to documentation of all sorts via the www, maybe the Global Village really is truly becoming possible.
All Sydney needs now is water as warm as your Queenland stuff (without the box jellies).
All the best to you and your Tower of Mac.
Emma
[Note: there is a serious computer question at the end of this! :) ]
Emma Grey gone@redacted.invalid wrote:
Hi, Rifty, yes I am here 'for the duration', as they say - which means someone will have to bury me here, or sprinkle my ashes over the ocean.
Welcome home then! And I do hope there's a fairly long gap between now and the grave-digging or ashes-sprinkling.
And indeed, I am a climate refugee. If I must have snow, then please, let it be in Zurich!
Or Vienna - the first place I ever saw snow! A beautiful city and an exciting moment for me.
The English seem to forget how to deal with it after each episode, and thus are totally unprepared every time. But what's going on in London now looks pretty much the same as the occasional white winters I remember as a child. Walking on Hampstead Heath in the snow was fun, with tea and cakes in Louis Hungarian ptisserie afterwards. Does that compare with a pizza on my knees on a balmy evening at Bondi Beach? All places have their magic moments, and I like mine warm!
De gustibus non est disputandem! :) I grew up in the Qld tropics (for which my skin is paying dearly at the moment, sad to say) but have adapted to a cold climate and cannot bear the heat any more.
Australia might not be the obvious place for those who love the intellectual life,
As with the USA, it is there if you are in the right place!
but it has that 'warmth' of tolerance, especially if you can mix with (other) European refugees and thinkers. And with the growing access to documentation of all sorts via the www, maybe the Global Village really is truly becoming possible.
Certainly.
All Sydney needs now is water as warm as your Queenland
Some might regard that typo as fightin' words! :)
stuff (without the box jellies).
I have lived in Qld for less than half my life so far and am not likely to live there permanently ever again. But as long as I back Qld in the cricket and State of Origin, I guess I am a Queenslander at heart and always will be.
All the best to you and your Tower of Mac.
Thank you! Speaking of which, (and to return to something appropriate to a computer ng), you may remember I said I lost a terabyte SATA drive to failure - it was still in warranty. I accidentally slandered Western Digital by saying it was one of theirs, but it turned out to be a Seagate one - both the big WD ones are going fine, so apologies to WD for the error. I have emailed Seagate about their drive and have heard nothing back yet. To be fair they deserve a few days to reply. But my question is this:
If I put the SATA drive into a USB docking base, it spins up and it sounds like it is going to open, but it won't appear as an icon and Disk Utility can't see it. So nothing is getting past the optical reader. Yet the disk remains spinning, which suggests to me that the data on the drive may not be damaged at all - just a mechanical failure with the reading mechanism. Is there some way of finding this out without taking it to somewhere where it will cost a fortune to fix? Probably not, I suspect, but if anyone has opened a SATA drive and knows anything about these things from personal experience, I would love to hear from them.
In article 1iuzybr.85kr791bnvs4iN%rifty@redacted.invalid,
(snipped the chit chat)
If I put the SATA drive into a USB docking base, it spins up and it sounds like it is going to open, but it won't appear as an icon and Disk Utility can't see it. So nothing is getting past the optical reader. Yet the disk remains spinning, which suggests to me that the data on the drive may not be damaged at all - just a mechanical failure with the reading mechanism. Is there some way of finding this out without taking it to somewhere where it will cost a fortune to fix? Probably not, I suspect, but if anyone has opened a SATA drive and knows anything about these things from personal experience, I would love to hear from them.
Could you put the dodgy HD into your tower and start up using the DVD? Or will the tower not recognise a 1TB drive?
regards, 20cents
20cents noreply@redacted.invalid wrote:
In article 1iuzybr.85kr791bnvs4iN%rifty@redacted.invalid,
(snipped the chit chat)
If I put the SATA drive into a USB docking base, it spins up and it sounds like it is going to open, but it won't appear as an icon and Disk Utility can't see it. So nothing is getting past the optical reader. Yet the disk remains spinning, which suggests to me that the data on the drive may not be damaged at all - just a mechanical failure with the reading mechanism. Is there some way of finding this out without taking it to somewhere where it will cost a fortune to fix? Probably not, I suspect, but if anyone has opened a SATA drive and knows anything about these things from personal experience, I would love to hear from them.
Could you put the dodgy HD into your tower and start up using the DVD? Or will the tower not recognise a 1TB drive?
It was already in one of the tower bays when I noticed that it had disappeared as an icon from the desktop. That led me to investigate why, so I removed it and did my testing with a docking base simply as a convenience. Disk Utility can't find it. The tower has three terabyte drives installed in addition to the drive the system is on.
I am not sure why you are thinking about booting from a DVD. Can you advise me on that if you can see any advantage in doing so than booting normally?
Cheers and thanks for the response.
Rifty
In article 1iv6q42.1st6uu013er1ckN%rifty@redacted.invalid, rifty@redacted.invalid (Rifty) wrote:
20cents noreply@redacted.invalid wrote:
In article 1iuzybr.85kr791bnvs4iN%rifty@redacted.invalid,
(snipped the chit chat)
If I put the SATA drive into a USB docking base, it spins up and it sounds like it is going to open, but it won't appear as an icon and Disk Utility can't see it. So nothing is getting past the optical reader. Yet the disk remains spinning, which suggests to me that the data on the drive may not be damaged at all - just a mechanical failure with the reading mechanism. Is there some way of finding this out without taking it to somewhere where it will cost a fortune to fix? Probably not, I suspect, but if anyone has opened a SATA drive and knows anything about these things from personal experience, I would love to hear from them.
Could you put the dodgy HD into your tower and start up using the DVD? Or will the tower not recognise a 1TB drive?
It was already in one of the tower bays when I noticed that it had disappeared as an icon from the desktop. That led me to investigate why, so I removed it and did my testing with a docking base simply as a convenience. Disk Utility can't find it. The tower has three terabyte drives installed in addition to the drive the system is on.
I am not sure why you are thinking about booting from a DVD. Can you advise me on that if you can see any advantage in doing so than booting normally?
Cheers and thanks for the response.
Rifty
Well, something is corrupted, or broken, somewhere. If you start up from DVD you will be operating from a 'clean' system. If the HD is still not visible then it eliminates system software. That leaves disk software/hardware or cables.
regards, 20cents
20cents noreply@redacted.invalid wrote:
I am not sure why you are thinking about booting from a DVD. Can you advise me on that if you can see any advantage in doing so than booting normally?
Cheers and thanks for the response.
Rifty
Well, something is corrupted, or broken, somewhere. If you start up from DVD you will be operating from a 'clean' system. If the HD is still not visible then it eliminates system software. That leaves disk software/hardware or cables.
regards, 20cents
Ah... I see your reasoning. No, the problem is that the drive itself is broken, as if I place another SATA drive into the USB docking system, it immediately comes up. This is the only one affected, though it worked without a hiccup for ten months in the MacPro box. It's exhibiting the classic symptoms of a drive that's got a physical problem and not a software malfunction. I was just hoping someone knew something about getting access to a drive that was spinning but not responding to a demand to be accessed.
Incidentally, Seagate haven't responded to me email asking to let me know what's next in terms of warranty. I'll have to give them another go or try the phone.
Rifty
In article 1iv6q42.1st6uu013er1ckN%rifty@redacted.invalid, rifty@redacted.invalid (Rifty) wrote:
It was already in one of the tower bays when I noticed that it had disappeared as an icon from the desktop. That led me to investigate why, so I removed it and did my testing with a docking base simply as a convenience. Disk Utility can't find it. The tower has three terabyte drives installed in addition to the drive the system is on.
I am not sure why you are thinking about booting from a DVD. Can you advise me on that if you can see any advantage in doing so than booting normally?
Cheers and thanks for the response.
Rifty
Hi there
Just in case you were not aware there is a bug in OSX that can cause the HD icon to disappear, even though the HD is OK.
This might not apply to your situation but thought I'd mention it. (as I have recently spent hours and hours looking for fixes)
David
David postings@redacted.invalid wrote:
In article 1iv6q42.1st6uu013er1ckN%rifty@redacted.invalid, rifty@redacted.invalid (Rifty) wrote:
It was already in one of the tower bays when I noticed that it had disappeared as an icon from the desktop. That led me to investigate why, so I removed it and did my testing with a docking base simply as a convenience. Disk Utility can't find it. The tower has three terabyte drives installed in addition to the drive the system is on.
I am not sure why you are thinking about booting from a DVD. Can you advise me on that if you can see any advantage in doing so than booting normally?
Cheers and thanks for the response.
Rifty
Hi there
Hiya Dave - how's Leopard treatin' ya?
Just in case you were not aware there is a bug in OSX that can cause the HD icon to disappear, even though the HD is OK.
I wasn't aware of that, though I do know that that's not the problem in this case. I have tried this drive on two PCs as well and they can't see it.
This might not apply to your situation but thought I'd mention it. (as I have recently spent hours and hours looking for fixes)
Every bit of info or opinion is worthy of consideration when things go wrong, even if only to jolt one out of a particular way of thinking that's possibly blocking the solution. No, it's the drive that's the problem. I have an update on this.
Seagate have responded to my request for advice on what to do in this situation with a broken drive under warranty. I quoted them the Serial No of the drive and that proved to be helpful, as may be the advice below for anyone who recently bought a Seagate drive. I quote from the helpful person at Seagate:
Thank you for contacting Seagate Technical Support
The hard drive with serial 9QJ15FFX is affected with the firmware issue.
This issue affect a small number of drives compared to the actual volume that has been sold in the market
Please verify if your drive is detected in the BIOS?
IF DRIVE DETECTED IN BIOS
If drives is still detected in the BIOS, kindly visit the below website to check if your drive is affected by this issue and what's the latest firmware for your hard drives, since upgrading the firmware on these drives is relatively safe. Kindly follow the instruction / procedure carefully that's written on the website to avoid any complications
http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/crm/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=207931
IF DRIVE IS NOT DETECTED IN BIOS
However if it is not detected, Seagate will arrange for PICK UP of your affected drives to be unlocked and have it firmware to be upgraded. This process WILL NOT cause any Data Loss
If drive is determined after Seagate analysis to be defective due to any reason other than this FIRMWARE issue, then data recovery is not provided, instead a replacement drive will be provided. We will send the original drive back to you for you to perform data recovery.
Best regards
I informed Seagate that the drive was indeed undectable in bios, and they have followed up stating that they will arrange pickup for the faulty drive (or faulty firmware) and mend it (providing that is what's the problem) and/or provide a new drive.
I will see if they are as good as their word, but right now I am giving them 100% for responding and their intentions with what to do to sort it out.
Rifty
Rifty wrote:
I informed Seagate that the drive was indeed undectable in bios, and they have followed up stating that they will arrange pickup for the faulty drive (or faulty firmware) and mend it (providing that is what's the problem) and/or provide a new drive.
I will see if they are as good as their word, but right now I am giving them 100% for responding and their intentions with what to do to sort it out.
Rifty
I can't see any updates here, pardon me if you've already posted an update but did Seagate do what they said would happen?
Alan
The Man man@redacted.invalid wrote:
Rifty wrote:
I informed Seagate that the drive was indeed undectable in bios, and they have followed up stating that they will arrange pickup for the faulty drive (or faulty firmware) and mend it (providing that is what's the problem) and/or provide a new drive.
I will see if they are as good as their word, but right now I am giving them 100% for responding and their intentions with what to do to sort it out.
Rifty
I can't see any updates here, pardon me if you've already posted an update but did Seagate do what they said would happen?
Alan
Hi Alan - well, it's all quite interesting - Seagate did say at the outset that it might take a little time for them to line up a person contracted at this end (I live in a rural city) to arrange pickup, and that part has certainly turned out to be true. It is a couple of weeks now and I haven't heard from any local carrier about collecting the drive. So I have been waiting patiently before following up for such a response. (Maybe too patiently!)
I am going to have to contact them again and see what they've done about it, if anything.
So the drive sits in its static-proof bag awaiting transport back to be examined. Lucky I wasn't depending on them for quick action.
Cheers,
Rifty
PS I said to them right from the start that if it was cheaper and quicker for them just to send me a replacement drive, I would accept that, but I guess they want to make sure I didn't drop it or blow it up or something. If you work out the person-hours required to arrange transport, fix the drive, parcel it up and send it back, I think it would have been way cheaper for them just to send a new drive - which they probably get for less than fifty bucks apiece from the factory.
In article 1iv6ym5.1lltutr1mqdcvrN%rifty@redacted.invalid, rifty@redacted.invalid (Rifty) wrote:
20cents noreply@redacted.invalid wrote:
I am not sure why you are thinking about booting from a DVD. Can you advise me on that if you can see any advantage in doing so than booting normally?
Cheers and thanks for the response.
Rifty
Well, something is corrupted, or broken, somewhere. If you start up from DVD you will be operating from a 'clean' system. If the HD is still not visible then it eliminates system software. That leaves disk software/hardware or cables.
regards, 20cents
Ah... I see your reasoning. No, the problem is that the drive itself is broken, as if I place another SATA drive into the USB docking system, it immediately comes up. This is the only one affected, though it worked without a hiccup for ten months in the MacPro box. It's exhibiting the classic symptoms of a drive that's got a physical problem and not a software malfunction. I was just hoping someone knew something about getting access to a drive that was spinning but not responding to a demand to be accessed.
Incidentally, Seagate haven't responded to me email asking to let me know what's next in terms of warranty. I'll have to give them another go or try the phone.
Rifty
Any further news?
David Morrison davidmor@redacted.invalid wrote:
In article 1iv6ym5.1lltutr1mqdcvrN%rifty@redacted.invalid, rifty@redacted.invalid (Rifty) wrote:
20cents noreply@redacted.invalid wrote:
I am not sure why you are thinking about booting from a DVD. Can you advise me on that if you can see any advantage in doing so than booting normally?
Cheers and thanks for the response.
Rifty
Well, something is corrupted, or broken, somewhere. If you start up from DVD you will be operating from a 'clean' system. If the HD is still not visible then it eliminates system software. That leaves disk software/hardware or cables.
regards, 20cents
Ah... I see your reasoning. No, the problem is that the drive itself is broken, as if I place another SATA drive into the USB docking system, it immediately comes up. This is the only one affected, though it worked without a hiccup for ten months in the MacPro box. It's exhibiting the classic symptoms of a drive that's got a physical problem and not a software malfunction. I was just hoping someone knew something about getting access to a drive that was spinning but not responding to a demand to be accessed.
Incidentally, Seagate haven't responded to me email asking to let me know what's next in terms of warranty. I'll have to give them another go or try the phone.
Rifty
Any further news?
You must have missed a couple of later comments on this, David, but just to repeat what's there, Seagate have acknowledged there's a firmware problem with a batch and it can basically only be fixed in their workshops. They've been cooperative so far to the extent that they seem willing to do something about it:
I can't see any updates here, pardon me if you've already posted an update but did Seagate do what they said would happen?
Alan
Hi Alan - well, it's all quite interesting - Seagate did say at the outset that it might take a little time for them to line up a person contracted at this end (I live in a rural city) to arrange pickup, and that part has certainly turned out to be true. It is a couple of weeks now and I haven't heard from any local carrier about collecting the drive. So I have been waiting patiently before following up for such a response. (Maybe too patiently!)
I am going to have to contact them again and see what they've done about it, if anything.
So the drive sits in its static-proof bag awaiting transport back to be examined. Lucky I wasn't depending on them for quick action.
Cheers,
Rifty
PS I said to them right from the start that if it was cheaper and quicker for them just to send me a replacement drive, I would accept that, but I guess they want to make sure I didn't drop it or blow it up or something. If you work out the person-hours required to arrange transport, fix the drive, parcel it up and send it back, I think it would have been way cheaper for them just to send a new drive - which they probably get for less than fifty bucks apiece from the factory.
I haven't heard from a carrier yet. That seems to be the delay point.
Rifty