Bad Drive... Warranty info?

Bad news for me.. I started getting the dreaded "no hard disk found" error. After reseating the drive cables several times, I am starting to think I might have a bad drive. One of the 2 drives seems to have something loose inside (although I read that rattling is normal for laptop drives).

So, I went to the Hitachi website (formerly IBM), and when I enter the serial no/part no for the drive, it tells me to contact the OEM.

What are my recourses to get the drive fixed? Is there a manufacturer's warranty?

Thanks
-Ted

If it's a Mk.2A (Rio branded) player then it's more likely that the drive cable is at fault. Car Support can sell you a replacement for about $15.

If it is the drive then it's out of warranty - all players are over a year old now. You can't get warranty service direct from IBM/Hitachi on OEM drives.

Rob

All of my laptop drives rattle. It's normal.

- Trevor

Don't most drives have a 3 or 5 year guarantee? Even if its OEM, I would have thought it would still be honoured?

Only if the OEM extends that warranty to the customer, which in this case SONICblue isn't, on account of being bankrupt and about to close down. It takes months to get refunds on OEM returns.

Rob

Thanks Rob:

Is there a way to isolate the problem to the drive or cable? I do indeed have a Rio player. How likely is it that a cable would fail before a drive?

Thanks
-Ted

Cable problems are widely reported on the bbs so its very likely its a cable or a dry solder joint of the ide header. If its out of warranty open it and have a look.

See here for the solder thingy http://empeg.comms.net/php/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=empeg_tech&Number=135963&page=&view=&sb=&o=

...and check the FAQ:

http://www.riocar.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&file=index&myfaq=yes&id_cat=8&categories=Known+problems+and+troubleshooting+questions&faqent=221#221

I made a picture from my faulty drive cable.
Maybe it helps you to localize your problem.

Andreas

Thanks for the infos. I have an email out to support about how to get a new IDE cable. I will inspect and if necessary resloder the joints when I get back home tonite.

Hopefully, the drives are still OK.

-Ted

I will inspect and if necessary resloder the joints when I get back home tonite.

And make sure to carefully read through that entire FAQ Entry so that you know all of the possible sources of the problem so you can check for all of them.

Put your ear to it and listen for the whirring noise that indicates a spinning hard disk. If you cannot hear that noise, the drive itself is probably pants. If you CAN hear it spinning, then it's probably a connector or cable issue.

The click-click noise will likely be present regardless.

Cheers

Do be aware that their may currently be a bit of a backlog on the support email at the moment, it may take a while for you to get a response.

Is this cable generic enough for me to get at Frys or mailorder from somewhere?

Thanx
-T

No. (FAQ)

Is this cable generic enough for me to get at Frys or mailorder from somewhere?

Please read through that entire FAQ entry.

Jinx!

Damn, grasshopper, you're in the ZONE, today, homie.

Unlike most days at work lately, I've had a lot of stuff to do, so when I hit the board, I'm in ultra-mega-hyper mode, both due to the fact that I haven't slowed down from the actual work and so that I can get some good goofing off in.

ok, ok.. everything is in the FAQ. my new nickname will be "ADD boy". So solder connections look good. I took a pair of pliers and squeezed the motherboard part of the connector to the back shell, and things started working again. looks like the connector is the culprit. i'm gonna order one through rob.

thanks for walking me through.
-t