Hi Allison:

I had this problem on one of my RD53s and fixed it as described below:

Flip up the large circuit board on the underside of the drive, and locate
the brake which is used to spin down the disk. It will have a fuzzy pad
about 1/2 by 1 cm on it. A solenoid is used to hold the brake away from the
disk spindle when the drive is powered up. Look at the solenoid and note
that, along with a small spring, it is held in place by a single screw.

In my case, the problem was caused by the solenoid not retracting the brake
enough to let it clear the disk spindle. Friction would ensue, the disk
could not get up to and maintain a constant speed, and it would then shut
down.

You can check whether this is your problem by inspection: with the large
circuit board flipped up, power up the drive and listen/observe to see if
the solenoid is working, and retracting the brake pad far enough. In my
case it was not.

I repaired this very simply by loosening the solenoid-retaining screw, and
adjusting the solenoid position to allow brake pad clearance, and then
re-tightening it. The RD53 works well now!

If this is your problem, then I'm sure this procedure will fix it. 

Good luck,

Kevin



At 10:55 PM 97/07/06 -0400, you wrote:
>Anyone happen to know the fix for RD53s that spin down after a few 
>minutes?  I have three I bgelive have good media and this problem.
>
>Allison
>
>
>

---
Kevin McQuiggin VE7ZD
mcquiggi@sfu.ca