[MiNT] Old problem, unusual cure

[Jim DeClercq <jimd@panix.com>]

Hello, all

I asked for some advice some time in the past, got none, but 
finally figured out what was causing munged downloads, and file 
system damage, which may have been partly due to a drive finally 
getting around to wearing out its heads.  It was replaced, with a 
Western Digital drive. I am finding those reliable, if they work 
at all.

What I did on a holiday afternoon, and for most of it, was to 
apply quite a bit of automotive transmission fluid to all 
connections in my SCSI setup, and reconnect them.  I have learned 
that it is a good cleaner, as well as something that will keep 
areas not in firm contact from corroding and pushing the 
connections apart.  If there is a poor connection, this 
well-enhanced oil will break the connection.

So for a while I had drives and devices, although not all of 
them, coming and going, and a SCSI bus working and not working, 
but after much fiddling with connectors, it all worked, I can 
write to drives without messing up the file system, and got a 
clean download (of Zview). It has been a while since just one try 
would download a file, and it was all due to some flaky 
connection on one of many contacts of one of many SCSI 
connectors on a one-slot-to-go nearly full SCSI bus.

For electronic uses, a quart (or liter) of automotive 
transmission fluid lasts a long time, and is not expensive.

Jim

jimd@panix.com
jimd@isp.com

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