exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Hello,

I'm currently working on a C-Lab Falcon MK2 CA401332-002-REVC which has been reported to have HDD issues.
Motherboard photos: https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =59&t=3809

~ Plan is - investigate HDD issue
~ If possible, back up data and transfer to CF card
~ Perform any other 'quality of life' improvements the client might like after

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Noticed top left pin has either snapped half-way or has been pushed internally - will need to remove drive PCB and investigate. Also make sure there isn't debris inside the connector header. Also note - I have noticed all the drive warranty stickers have been broken. Have informed the client.
After removing the controller board I can see the pin has been pushed inside (luckily) this is much easier to fix than if it were snapped off. See Donatello in the background, he's giving me electrical advice, smart turtle.

A new day... New things to do.

Finished fixing the HDD pin. The pin also needed to be resoldered to the board. The pin was also quite fragile now, so to stop it being pushed back in finished it with some araldite glue which is non conductive and sets like cement.
Upon further inspection of the Clab SCSI interface I noticed a track looking rather corroded. Upon testing continuity of the track it was definitely broken. I'll have to remove, clean and patch this trace next.
Removed the board to make sure there was no corrosion underneath, scraped off all the corrosion and cleaned with IPA. Traces patched. Will spray with PCB sealant before fitting back to the falcon.

It would be odd corrosion just on one track and not the ones next to it. Looks more like its had a lot of amps through it and its burnt up and blown like a fuse.

Oh yeah that does make sense @exxos. I hope that if this is the case, that this trace acted like a fuse wire and protected the SCSI controller. I think the faulty trace lines up with the faulty pin on the HDD, probably all related. We will find out soon...

It's all fixed and soldered back in to the motherboard now:

Can anyone tell me if this is the correct orientation to plug the SCSI in? I don't want to get it wrong. I can't see any indication to pin 1 on the drive and can't find any info on the net. Seems to be the only way I can make it fit so it's probably right, I won't test it until I can get some confirmation from somewhere first just in case.

Not used SCSI for like 20 years, but I would assume those pins on the right are jumpers, are they not labeled on the drive itself what they are for ? They *should* be offset to not allow the cable to be plugged in incorrectly..

I am afraid you might have to look it up on the drive or look for the drive specs document on the Internet.
Should have been standard and have 1st pin right after the jumpers but this is not the case always (on IDE drives as well).

From my experience, putting a SCSI cable in the wrong way around doesn't harm anything as all it does is connect the data lines to ground. As long as you don't run it like that for very long then it's not a problem, and I've been playing with SCSI for about 30 years now.

Having said that, the IDC connector notch should be at the top and you have the IDC cable PIN 1 at the correct end.

Steve

Okay - I'm pretty sure this is all correct. Cheers for the extra info @stephen_usher, nice to know it will be safe either way. Those eight pins on the right are separate from the main row. I'm just double checking with the owner of the Falcon also.

The eight pins will be the SCSI ID, parity and possibly drive spin-up jumpers.