jessenator
Well-known member
So I'm asking this more as a maintenance type of question thread vs 'I have an emergency' kind of help query, but figured I'd try to get some answers as to why I've been having similar symptoms across a number of optical drive, and why they keep crapping out in the same ways.
My drives are mostly non-Sony/Apple drives—Toshiba drives—all supported with FWB CD-ROM Toolkit drivers, and have at one point or another worked. I make a point of calling them out, as I've heard that Apple/Sony drives have issues, e.g. caps on the 150/300 e models etc. But if recaps are a necessity on these other drives, I won't shy away from that now I feel a bit more confident in SMD work. As far as condition, these drives are essentially lightly used or NOS drives, seeing limited use and have none of the dust cakes typical of the average vintage Mac/Clone. What is happening are these, usually in this order:
I'm wary of attempting a lens clean, even with lint-free cotton and 91+% IPA, and have been using air in most cases. And I don't want to keep purchasing "working pull" specimens of drives if they're really going to meet the same fate. SO far, the 12x Toshiba (1997) I recently bought has been working fine, but then again, so was the 4x (1996) replacement I bought earlier last year, which is now on stage 2 of the failure path above.
Are there general upkeep/maintenance items that one should attend to with optical drives of this vintage? I'm wondering what would cause these kinds of errors that isn't solved by an air-de-dusting.
My drives are mostly non-Sony/Apple drives—Toshiba drives—all supported with FWB CD-ROM Toolkit drivers, and have at one point or another worked. I make a point of calling them out, as I've heard that Apple/Sony drives have issues, e.g. caps on the 150/300 e models etc. But if recaps are a necessity on these other drives, I won't shy away from that now I feel a bit more confident in SMD work. As far as condition, these drives are essentially lightly used or NOS drives, seeing limited use and have none of the dust cakes typical of the average vintage Mac/Clone. What is happening are these, usually in this order:
- Drives won't boot compatible media on the first or second tries (OEM or 1x burned), but will function somewhat normally once in the Finder
- Drives are unusually slow, intermittently slow (what I mean is these are 4x + speed drives and are acting slower than a boot floppy)—they kinda boot, but get halfway through the loading screen or finder load (not consistent when it hangs), and then just keeps going. I hear the drive seeking, or at least spinning and the head moving, kind of making a repetitive pattern of sounds, but nothing jarring, like a grinding noise, etc.
- Drives ultimately fail at loading media; refuse to mount
I'm wary of attempting a lens clean, even with lint-free cotton and 91+% IPA, and have been using air in most cases. And I don't want to keep purchasing "working pull" specimens of drives if they're really going to meet the same fate. SO far, the 12x Toshiba (1997) I recently bought has been working fine, but then again, so was the 4x (1996) replacement I bought earlier last year, which is now on stage 2 of the failure path above.
Are there general upkeep/maintenance items that one should attend to with optical drives of this vintage? I'm wondering what would cause these kinds of errors that isn't solved by an air-de-dusting.