I’m more used to working on HP drives of this type but it sounds to me like you are getting a seek Time Out. It sounds like the motor spins up to speed and the head load is being initiated. there should be a carriage unlock (I assume there’s a lock solenoid) and the carriage should start to move. If the drive doesn’t sense movement of the carriage away from the home position after a certain time (is there a carriage home optical sensor or micro switch to detect carriage home?) it could give a seek error, even before it gets near the disc.
It could be that locking plate Henk mentioned , the lock solenoid not pulling in, or a problem with power getting to the actuator to drive the heads out. That’s how an HP drive does it anyway. David Collins Sent from my iPad > On 7 Nov 2017, at 7:41 am, Henk Gooijen via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > wrote: > > > > Van: Aaron Jackson via cctalk<mailto:cctalk@classiccmp.org> > Verzonden: maandag 6 november 2017 19:15 > Aan: cct...@classiccmp.org<mailto:cct...@classiccmp.org> > Onderwerp: RL02 Spinup fails > > Hi everyone, > > I have managed to hook up an RL02 drive to my PDP-11 (thanks to Dave > Wade for the drives) . This took me longer than I thought it would - I > tried with a flat ribbon cable with a DIY terminator going straight into > board , but couldn't get it to work. Removed the terminator, and the > fault light turned off. So that's positive. > > I tried to load a cartridge, which I had cleaned, inspected and > generally appears to be in good condition. It started to spin up and I > could hear it getting faster, but after 30-40 seconds the fault light > returns. I made a short video demonstrating this: > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=japwBBodO8U > > According to the manual the fault light can appear for the following > reasons: > > - Drive select error... Surely this would come on at the start? > - Seek time out error... I'd have to hear the heads move first > - Write current in heads during sector time error... Same as above > - Loss of system clock... The fault light would be on from the start. > - Write protect error... I don't think it got that far > - Write data error... Same as above > - Spin error... Is this the only remaining fault? > > So could the only cause be a spin error? I am wondering if the belt is > slipping or something like that? > > Can anyone offer some advice? > > Thanks, > > Aaron. > > I saw the video. > It seems that the motor runs and the disk spins up. > As Tony suggests, check the possible fault sources. > One obvious fault: is the head still locked? That’s the small > metal plate fixed with one screw in the top right corner (IIRC). > > Long ago, I tried to run RK07 drives of the RK611 controller > using a flat cable (not shielded), length 1 meter. The XXDP diags > gave all sorts of errors that went away after I found the correct > (shielded) cable BCxx. > > You are correct, the fault light will go on immediately when the > drive is no connected to the controller. I *think* READY should > come up even when no terminator is installed. > > One other possible fault. Are you sure the RL02 disk pack is OK? > If it has been wiped with a magnet, it has become useless as a > disk pack, but maybe useful for a “wall clock platter”. READY will > never light up, and possibly there is a time out. > Not sure you can *hear* the head (carriage) move though … > >