Hi Keith,

Thanks for the User Guide pages - much obliged.  I removed the HDA and
cleaned the
optical pickup.  There was a fair amount of a white powder-like substance
in the
chassis and on the pickup itself.  Quite a bit of corrosion on metal parts
in the 
box too (similar to the CPU chassis...this unit wasn't taken care of...)
Also 
cleaned the belt (it's in good shape), HDA hub and the motor hub.  Tried
reseating 
the connectors.  All the indicator lamps are good.  Still getting the same
error.  

Given this, does anyone have further suggestions?  I know that RA8x devices
are
monsters but I'm curious as to what is on the drive.  Perhaps it's time to
switch
to RA7x's...?

Thanks,
Jason

On Sun,  6 Jun 99 10:53:34 PDT  Keith Huff wrote:
>
>Hi Jason,
>
>  What you have is a spin error, and are quite common. The problem is, at
least with all 
>the RAxx drives I had, is that there is an optical pickup under the HDA
that is used like a >tachometer. Over time dust and dirt collect and
prevent the pickup from working. What you >want to do is remove the HDA
unit from the drive, be carefull and make sure you lock the >heads, and
clean pickup. That should do it, if not, you have a more serious problem
like a >bad spindle bearing or something else. 
>
>  I've scanned the error codes from the RA81 Disk Drive User Guide and
attached them below, >good luck.
>
>
>On Sat, 05 Jun 1999 22:30:49 -0700  Jason Brady wrote:
>
>> SNIP <<