Date: Mon, 15 Mar 93 12:22:03 GMT From: knight@swfmc1.SINet.SLB.COM (Francis Knight, SIEM UK Felixstowe) Subject: Hard Drive Stiction problems: a follow-up sasg0244@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Steven Arthur Sivier) writes in response to my query last week: >You mean its Sony drives that have the stiction problems? I thought it >only affected Quantum drives. It happens I have an old 40 Meg Sony drive >(Model SRD2040A-02) from out of a IIcx that refuses to spin anymore. Can >I get this repaired (or replaced) for free or should I just toss it? I sure do. I went through this same loop last summer with my own SE/30 with a Sony drive. I had to do some research on behalf of my qualified Apple dealer, natch, but got a free replacement. Now he sounds most knowledgeable, as I discovered when I phoned him last week in relation to the firm's machine, until I got to the word "Quantum", whereapon: problem not known. I thought the Quantum problem was more widely known, but strangely, nobody has (yet) confirmed it in response to my query last week. You have until August 15 of this year to swap drives from the affected batches! Appended is the 8/91 Apple Service Notice, previously filed as report/old-quantum-drive-fix.txt. It more properly should be report/old-sony-drive-fix.txt. Cheers, Francis K. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= SERVICE NOTICE: 20MB/40MB HARD DRIVE REPAIR EXTENSION PROGRAM ( Copyright 1991, Apple Computer Inc.) OVERVIEW We have discovered that a certain batch of half-height internal 3.5" 20MB and 40MB hard drives and some external 3.5" 20MB and 40MB drives may have been subjected to disk media contamination. These drives may experience a number of different symptoms, as fully described later on in this notice. To address this problem, Apple is offering a 20MB/40MB Hard Drive Repair Extension Program for customers and Service Providers with drives manufactured four years ago or later that meet all the criteria below. A new drive, P/N 661-1629, has been substituted for the problem drives. DRIVE IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION * Definition of 20MB/40MB Symptoms * Stiction problems: Platter does not spin up after drive has been powered down for period of time. * Head crashes: Drive may or may not mount, and data may be corrupted. * Soft errors: Disk continually goes in and out of seek mode. * Model and Serial Number The affected 20MB and 40MB drives were manufactured in Macintosh( SE, Macintosh SE/30, Macintosh II, Macintosh IIx, Macintosh IIcx/IIci, and Macintosh IIfx computers. The problem also affects some external 3.5" 20MB and 40MB configurations. Additionally, these drives were used as Service repair modules under P/N 661-0612 (20MB) and P/N 661-0464 (40MB). Because of the problem, all new and existing orders for 20MB drives (P/N 661-0612) will automatically receive a 40MB drive (P/N 661-1629). If you have any questions regarding qualification of a failed 20MB or 40MB drive, contact Technical Operations for further clarification. * How To Identify Affected 40MB Drives 1) Symptoms of affected drives (one or more of the following): * Stiction problems * Head crashes * Soft errors 2) Serial number indicating the drive is less than four years old. See the chart below for qualifying dates and serial numbers. 3) Model number: SRD2040 * How To Identify Affected 20MB Drives 1) Symptoms of affected drives (one or more of the following): * Stiction problems * Head crashes * Soft errors 2) Model number: SRD2020 (Note: All drives with this model number are eligible throughout the life of this program. Serial number matching is not required.) RETURNING AND REPLACING HARD DRIVES * Customer Repair The program covers free replacement of a customerUs qualified failed 20MB (P/N 661-0612) or 40MB (P/N 661-0464) hard drive until August 15, 1993. In return, the customer will receive a 40MB hard drive (P/N 661-1629). Guidelines for Submitting Repair Claims Use the following guidelines for determining how to fill out the Warranty information area of an Apple Authorized Transaction Form when returning a 20MB or 40MB drive for repair: * In-Warranty Repairs: Some 20MB and 40MB drives are still under Apple warranty. When returning these drives for repair, always claim RIn-WarrantyS on the transaction form. * Out-of-Warranty Repairs: - If the drive is Out-of-Warranty and displays the symptoms described above, claim this repair extension program on the transaction form. - If the drive is ROut-of WarrantyS and does not display the symptoms described above, claim ROut-Of WarrantyS on the transaction form. In addition, note that if the drive is a 20MB drive (P/N 661-0612), the customer will receive the replacement 40MB drive (P/N 661-1629) at the current 40MB price. When replacing one of the qualified hard drives, do the following: 1) Replace the failed hard drive with the replacement module (P/N 661-1629). Refer to the Technical Procedures for complete installation instructions. 2) Record the following information on an Apple Authorized Transaction Form to obtain Tier 2 reimbursement and Parts Credit for each failed hard drive exchanged: * Customer/company information * Date the system was received * The Apple product name the drive was bundled with * Repair Extension Authorization code 2DS406; (Reference this code in the Repair Extension Code area.) * The part number, description, and Repair Confirmation Code (RCC) for the hard drive. All valid claims must include this information. Refer to the Repairing section of the August Service Programs manual for more information on completing an Apple Authorized Transaction Form. * Service Stock If you have a hard drive in your Service inventory with the serial number and/or model number identified above, return the drive to Apple through the Service Return Material Authorization (SRMA) process. Contact Apple Customer Service to receive the SRMA approval and number. Remember, the SRMA number must be written on the outside of each package. OUT OF WARRANTY REIMBURSEMENT Reimbursement is offered to customers who paid for Out-of-Warranty hard drive repairs performed by Authorized Apple Service Providers prior to August 16, 1991. Apple requires that customers submit the following information by February 29, 1992 to qualify for reimbursement: * Proof of purchase * An Apple Authorized Transaction Form that includes the following: - Name of the Service Provider performing the repair - Date of the repair - Parts used in the repair - Cost of the repair * Proof of the repair payment (cancelled check, credit card slip, or paid invoice) Customers should submit all of this information to: Apple Computer, Inc. Attn: 20MB/40MB Hard Drive Repair Extension Program P.O. Box 172243 Denver, CO 80217 Please advise customers to allow 6 to 8 weeks for processing their returns. If they have any questions concerning their claims, they should call (303) 297-2321. PROGRAM INFORMATION Repair extension information for this program has been added to this monthUs Product Notices section of the Service Programs manual. If you have any questions regarding this program, contact your Customer Service Specialist at (408) 559-6444. Apple Support icon Service & Support folder Service Notices folder This Month's Service Notices - Reseller folder 20MB/40MB HARD DRIVE REPAIR EXTENSION PROGRAM 8/15/91 ______ IMPORTANT! CLARIFICATION TO THE 20MB/40MB HARD DRIVE REPAIR EXTENSION PROGRAM Copyright 1991, Apple Computer, Inc. After additional review of the 20MB/40MB Hard Drive Repair Extension Program Service notice, there is a point that we need to clarify. SERVICE NOTICE In the "Drive Identification Information" section and later throughout the notice, we state that drives affected by media contamination exhibit "soft errors." However, soft errors usually cannot be detected by customers, since in general soft errors are not detectable. But, customers will detect a head crash, which can be a result of excessive soft errors. As a result of this clarification, the 20MB/40MB Hard Drive Repair Extension Program will only honor claims for the symptoms described below, which modify or replace the symptoms in the Service notice: 1) Stiction problems, exhibited by the drive failing to spin up after being powered down for a period of time 2) Head crashes, exhibited by a loud, metallic scraping noise at spinup If you have a customer with a failed drive that meets the serial number and model number requirements, but does not meet the symptom requirements stated above, please call your Technical Operations Representative. There is also some confusion over the age of the drives covered by this Repair Extension Program. We state that "drives manufactured four years ago or later" will be covered. To clarify, this means that drives that are no more than four years old will be covered by this program. To determine the age of the drive, please refer to the "Model and Serial Number" section in the Service notice to find information on reading the date code. SERVICE PROGRAMS MANUAL Since the incorrect symptom information is also included in your printed Service Programs manual update, please manually correct this information until we send you updated pages. (The AppleLink versions of the August Service Programs manual update contain the corrected information.) To correct your manual: * Cross out the last bullet under the RDrive Identification Information: Definition of 20MB/40MB SymptomsS section of the 20MB/40MB Hard Drive Repair Extension Program (page 8.7.1), which is a duplicate of the incorrect information in the Service notice. The information that needs to be removed begins with RSoft errors.S * Make the same deletion and correction under RHow To Identify Affected 40MB DrivesS (page 8.7.1). * Make the same deletion and correction under RHow To Identify Affected 20MB DrivesS (page 8.7.2). Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Apple Support icon Service & Support folder Service Notices folder This Month's Service Notices - Reseller folder CLARIFICATION TO THE 20MB/40MB HARD DRIVE REPAIR EXTENSION PROGRAM 8/15/91