[bewilderbeast]

My story:

In 1996 or 97, a friend brought me his Compaq Deskpro, the SCSI HDD had stopped working. No sound at all, dead. Tried everything, checked voltages, reconnected cables trying to clear any oxidation. Wouldn't spin at all. Well, called it a night.

Next day, decided to take it out of the chassis for a last test, connected outside. Not only it spun, it worked fine!!! WTH????

Well, into the chassis it went. Nothing. Dead. Whaa..??? Outside again, it worked. In the chassis, dead. Outside, worked. Scratched my head... With it working outside, just tried to place it on top of the chassis. It spun down and stopped. Took it away, it spun up. Got it close again to the chassis, it spun down again... Scratched my head again... Gave up, left it disconnected outside for the day.

Next day tried it again and this time it worked outside of and in the chassis... My thoughts? The chassis was magnetized or something...

Worked for a couple more years.

[0xcde4c3db]

Perhaps a defect in a cable or connector such as a broken wire or a dry solder joint? These often cause problems that mysteriously appear or disappear as the cable is moved and the changing forces on the defect make and break the connection.

[bewilderbeast]

Nope, I tried everything, twisted the cables, etc. I even changed from power connector to another and changed SCSI cable. Outside it worked, inside didn't. Working perfectly outside, as soon it got close to the metal of the chassis it spun down, and as it got away from the metal it spun up.