SGI: Hardware

I have an issue on an old O2, the cdrom tray wants to remain open, when I slide it in, it just pops right out. Even under the "bios" (so it's not an OS issue).

Help!
Mia

You may want to check the eject buttom - maybe there's something stuck around, or maybe even some gear mechanism inside has a chipped piece of something that prevents it from latching to close.

kubatyszko wrote: You may want to check the eject buttom - maybe there's something stuck around, or maybe even some gear mechanism inside has a chipped piece of something that prevents it from latching to close.

Nah, that one looks okay.

Search the forums... O2s with CDROM tray issues are a cmmon occurance. There is a cog in the drive that comes off the spindle. I think there was even a mention on the O2 wiki page. http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/O2#CD-ROM

R.

PymbleSoftware wrote: Search the forums... O2s with CDROM tray issues are a cmmon occurance. There is a cog in the drive that comes off the spindle. I think there was even a link or two off the O2 wiki page. http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/O2#CD-ROM

R.

Not good, I think the spring or rubber band of some kind died in the cdrom itself.

Is it easy to replace the cd-reader? Can I just get the same item number and then it's just a drop-in replacement?

mia wrote:

PymbleSoftware wrote: Search the forums... O2s with CDROM tray issues are a cmmon occurance. There is a cog in the drive that comes off the spindle. I think there was even a link or two off the O2 wiki page. http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/O2#CD-ROM

R.

Not good, I think the spring or rubber band of some kind died in the cdrom itself.

Is it easy to replace the cd-reader? Can I just get the same item number and then it's just a drop-in replacement?

Again search the forums, a SCSI CD-ROM is pretty much a SCSI CD-ROM, unless you want to boot off it (then you need something that is 512 byte addressible)...
There were even reports of someone sticking a DVD-ROM in an O2... somewhere... I don't recall where right now.

Easy to replace...? not really.. I broke all the plastics on my O2 with the tray issues and had to glue them back together on mine.... the plastics is extremely brittle..

R.

PymbleSoftware wrote:

mia wrote:

PymbleSoftware wrote: Search the forums... O2s with CDROM tray issues are a cmmon occurance. There is a cog in the drive that comes off the spindle. I think there was even a link or two off the O2 wiki page. http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/O2#CD-ROM

R.

Not good, I think the spring or rubber band of some kind died in the cdrom itself.

Is it easy to replace the cd-reader? Can I just get the same item number and then it's just a drop-in replacement?

Again search the forums, a SCSI CD-ROM is pretty much a SCSI CD-ROM, unless you want to boot off it (then you need something that is 512 byte addressible)...
There were even reports of someone sticking a DVD-ROM in an O2... somewhere... I don't recall where right now.

Easy to replace...? not really.. I broke all the plastics on my O2 with the tray issues and had to glue them back together on mine.... the plastics is extremely brittle..

R.

Damn, not good at all.

So even with the same exact Cd-rom drive it's a pain to replace????

mia wrote: So even with the same exact Cd-rom drive it's a pain to replace????

For me, yes... Its the palstics I am talking about... See the curved front door thing...
See the those liitle clips on the side that hold the front drive face plate..?
Those were the first things I broke and had to glue back together..
You might be more skilled at delicate & intricate work like that.


R.

PymbleSoftware wrote:

mia wrote: So even with the same exact Cd-rom drive it's a pain to replace????

For me, yes... Its the palstics I am talking about... See the curved front door thing...
See the those liitle clips on the side that hold the front drive face plate..?
Those were the first things I broke and had to glue back together..
You might be more skilled at delicate & intricate work like that.


R.

Mine is a XM-6201TA... I'm not sure how easy it would even be to find something somewhat compatible. What a pain!

mia wrote:

PymbleSoftware wrote:

mia wrote: So even with the same exact Cd-rom drive it's a pain to replace????

For me, yes... Its the palstics I am talking about... See the curved front door thing...
See the those liitle clips on the side that hold the front drive face plate..?
Those were the first things I broke and had to glue back together..
You might be more skilled at delicate & intricate work like that.


R.

Mine is a XM-6201TA... I'm not sure how easy it would even be to find something somewhat compatible. What a pain!

I wrote: a SCSI CD-ROM is pretty much a SCSI CD-ROM, unless you want to boot off it (then you need something that is 512 byte addressible)...

Its not the drive its the O2 plastics... and some people use it as an excuse to put a DVD or (Yamaha) CDRW in there.

R.

Like it is getting stuck before it closes all the way, and then opening up again after two or three seconds of being closed? Try turning the whole machine upside down when it is "closed" The way these mechanisms work normally oppose gravity, and if it's weak or broken then it might need a bit of help.

Obviously a temporary solution

Yes, there is a pressfit nylon pinion on the transport motor that opens and closes the drive tray, and also raises and lowers the optical pickup assembly (moves it closer to the disc after the tray closes, and moves it away from the disk before the tray opens). This pinion splits when it ages, and when this happens the static friction between pinion and spindle is no longer sufficient to hold the torque required to lift the optical pickup. The drive interprets this as a mis-load and ejects the tray.

You could (can still?) order a replacement pinion from Toshiba (all these Toshibas share the same design flaw). Or, you can carefully superglue the pinion onto the spindle. I've done this, it works reasonably well if you can live with the increased tray noise (the pinion teeth will exhibit a greater or lesser degree of index deviation due to both the split itself and the insertion of a glue layer between pinion and spindle, depending on how careful you are with your repair).

Deary me, don't panic! Sorting this out isn't that difficult. Yes, the won't-close issue means the existing unit is duff,
but replacing it isn't really a problem. And SGI did ship later O2s with DVDROMs instead of CDROMs (Tohsiba SD-M1401
and SD-M1711, which I do have available if required), but if you want to replace with a directly compatible CDROM then
of course the Toshiba models to look for are the 32X 6201 or the 40X 6401. Note that other CDROMs may or may not fit
because of the catch positions required to hold the blue CDROM face plate, eg. I once came across a non-Yamaha CDRW
which I at first thought was a compatible fit, but on closer inspection I realised the CDROM cover had been glued on. :\

As for extracting the skins, removing the CDROM cover is easy. Just power on, press Escape when you see the message,
and let the tray eject if it tries to (if it doesn't, press the eject button to make it come out), then gently roll the O2 onto its side
(whichever is more convenient for you based on your handedness) and use a small flat-bladed screwdriver to lift the CDROM
tray catches just a tiny distance out of the way so that the cover can be moved 'upwards' and come free. Trust me, it's not
difficult at all. Once done, roll the O2 back up again, close the tray, hold it in place firmly with your hand while the unit tries to
eject it again; eventually it will give up, at which point you can press the power button once to turn off the system.

Check the O2 owners guide for removing the top lid, but basically slide a finger underneath at the back (after removing the
PSU that is) until you can feel the top lid's locking tab protruding downwards. Press the tab very gently inwards while at the
same time giving a little upward pressure on the back of the top lid with a fingernail of your other hand (or some other thin item);
at some point, the locking tab will be far enough out of the way of the chassis catch so that the lid can pop upwards. Key thing
is, don't press the tab in too far, and once removed, put it somewhere safe and well out of the way while you're working on the
rest of the system (all too easy to put it on the floor, then get up for some reason like the phone ringing, come back, forget
about the top lid, step on it by mistake).

Now remove the top 2 large screws holding the top cover in place and the cover should simply lift off. Two more large screws
of the same type hold the CDROM base tray in place: remove these, lift the unit upwards at the front, disengage from the chassis,
unplug the power and SCSI data cables.

Four small screws hold the CDROM in the tray. Remove these and the unit will slide free (older tray designs force the module to
be slid in/out horizontally; later versions are more flexible).

Remove the unwanted tray plate and flat facia cover from the replacement CDROM (unless it already has a proper O2 cover),
fit the curved black cover from the old unit (should come off easily). As long as you fit a Toshiba unit, the locking holes for the
black cover will be in the same place. Make sure the SCSI ID of the new unit is 4 (doesn't have to be, but it's the default used
by SGI), parity should be on, termination generally on.

Install the new unit in the base tray - make sure it's the right way round (the end with the catch hooks should be at the back
of the CDROM). Reconnect the power & SCSI data cables, re-engage in the chassis, lock it in place with the two scrws.

Reverse the earlier steps to put the system back together again. Once the top cover and top lid are on, power on the system,
let it fully boot. Login as root. Eject the tray, fit the blue CDROM cover, and that's it! Push the tray back in and you're good to go.

Cheers!

Ian.

PS. If you're lazy, I have all four CDROM/DVDROM models available, original SGI. Note that generic Toshiba DVDROM
models will not work quite right as they don't have SGI firmware (they do work, but they can be a bit fussy). By contrast,
generic Toshiba CDROM units will work ok.

Apparently there are multiple versions of the "normal" firmware for the SD-M1401, as well as a flashing tool available:
http://backfire.rpc1.org/tsstcorp/index ... =SD-M1401/
Do you have the SGI firmware somewhere, so we can SGI-ify our drives?