Hard drive causes eMac display to shake under dock?

K

ksignorini

Registered
Hello All,

I upgraded the hard drive in my eMac from the factory Maxtor 60 GB drive to a Maxtor 120 GB (2 MB cache model) that I picked up at the local computer store.

Since upgrading the drive, whenever the drive is handling considerable disk activity, the bottom 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch or so of my display shakes.

Has anyone else experienced this on a stock or upgraded eMac? Perhaps I didn't mount it quite right (I did use the little sticky pads that were on the old drive to hold things snug and soft)?

I don't want to take it all apart again unless I know that I mismounted it for sure.

Thanks,
Kent!
 
You mean the machine shakes, or the image shakes? If the machine is shaking, you've got a simple mechanical problem, and you probably need to tighten something. But if the image is wavering, you've got a really weird bug or something that I've never heard of.
 
This is most likely caused by the magnetic field from the new hard drive disrupting the flow of cathode rays to the CRT display. It may be that the Maxtor drive produces more magnetic interference than the old drive, or that it sits closer to the display. If you can find a way to mount it further from the CRT, or try turning it around or over, you may be able to remove the magnetic interference. Or maybe not. :-(
 
If you still have your old hard drive, put that back in, and put the 120 GB model in a Firewire enclosure and attach it to your eMac externally. Then you can put it as far from the computer as you can find cabling.
 
Or get a Western Digital 120GB 8MB Cache drive. I put that in my eMac before selling it, and there was no wobbly display problem at all, though spinning up, its a bit noisy.

Nosh
 
But he already has the Maxtor. He shouldn't have to get another hard drive just because of a little interference.
 
Well, that's it, really.

I can live with the interference if it's not going to hurt anything, but how on earth would I build an RF cage around the drive? I mean, have you seen just how tight those things are in the eMac?

In fact, it's not really even possible to change the orientation of the drive in the chasis--not without adding long, odd cables and working very hard.

See, I wonder if it's interference from the drive motor or if it's the drive itself shaking the chasis which in turn rattles the gun a little bit. Maybe the drive isn't supposed to be very tight in the chasis--the pads are strange enough and I don't think the screws in the old drive were very tight.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Kent!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top