Hmmm...

The scorch mark is normal. Part of the VFD manufacture.

I am surprised how many times the hard drive had to retry. It found it, and you could sync, but maybe the cable is loose but still making contact.

You see nothing on the VFD even while booting? Perhaps the VFD cable is loose on the main board as well?
_________________________
Paul Grzelak
200GB with 48MB RAM, Illuminated Buttons and Digital Outputs