Atari SH204 General Maintenance
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Care, head parking, opening the case and fuses for the Atari SH204 hard disk drive, from Atari's SH Hard Disk Drive Owner's Manual (C026263 Rev. B, 1986) and photographs of a surviving drive.[1] The drive is now close to 40 years old; back up its contents before any work on it.
The SH204 contains a mains power supply. Unplug the drive and disconnect it from the computer before removing the cover, and keep your hands away from the power supply while the cover is off, as Atari's manual warns.[2]
Regular care
[edit | edit source]Atari's preventive maintenance list:[1]
- Keep the drive away from dust, grease, smoke, heat, moisture and direct sunlight, and keep liquids away from it.
- Clean the outside with a soft, slightly damp, lint-free cloth only; no cleansers, abrasives or solvents.
- Stand it on a firm, level surface and move it no more than necessary.
- Do not switch the drive off while it is busy, and wait at least two seconds after switching off before switching on again.
The side and bottom vents are part of the cooling. Do not stand the drive on a soft surface or let papers slip under it.[3]
Switching on and off
[edit | edit source]Switch the drive on first. It seeks and calibrates for about 15 seconds, beeps a few times and turns its busy light off; then switch the computer on. Atari's manual says to switch the computer on last, and not to switch the drive off while it is busy.[4][5][1] The drive's internal fan and busy light should come on at power-up.[5]
Parking the heads
[edit | edit source]SHIP.PRG, on the SH Boot Disk, moves the heads to their landing zone. Run it from a floppy with no hard disk windows open, switch the drive off straight afterwards, and pack the drive in its original packing before moving it.[6][1]
Backups and the disk surface
[edit | edit source]Atari's manual asks owners to back up regularly to floppy.[6] HDX, the formatting program, can zero a logical drive and mark bad sectors in it; formatting or partitioning erases the whole unit.[7]
Fuse
[edit | edit source]| Unit | Fuse |
|---|---|
| United States | 1½ A, type 3AG, in the holder on the back panel[4] |
| European unit (190-270 V 50 Hz label) | T1.6A, 250 V, as printed on the caution label beside the holder[8] |
If the drive does not come on, or switches itself off in use, Atari's manual says to check that the fuse holder is tight and to replace the fuse with the same type. If the new fuse also fails, the unit needs a repair.[4][5]
Opening the case
[edit | edit source]Atari's procedure, given for setting the unit number:[2]
- Switch the drive off, unplug it and disconnect it from the ST. Switch off the rest of the system.
- Remove the eight cover screws, four on each side, with a Phillips screwdriver.
- Lift the back of the cover up and towards the front of the drive, and lay it beside the unit.
- Keep tools and other objects out of the unit while it is open.
- Refit the cover and its screws afterwards.
Atari's manual says that any work inside other than setting the DIP switches voids the warranty.[2]
Unit number switches
[edit | edit source]The DIP switches are in a small switchbox on the board towards the back of the unit, with three switches marked 4, 2 and 1 on the board. All are ON (unit 0) from the factory; a switch set to OFF adds its number to the unit address.[2]
| Unit | SW4 | SW2 | SW1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ON | ON | ON |
| 1 | ON | ON | OFF |
| 2 | ON | OFF | ON |
| 3 | ON | OFF | OFF |
| 4 | OFF | ON | ON |
| 5 | OFF | ON | OFF |
| 6 | OFF | OFF | ON |
| 7 | OFF | OFF | OFF |
Number drives in ascending order without gaps.[2] atari-computermuseum.de says the SH204 works only at DMA address 0, so test a drive set to another unit number before relying on it.[9]
Replacing the drive mechanism
[edit | edit source]The SH204's controller drives an ST506/412 mechanism through a SCSI controller board.[10] Owners fitting a replacement have to stay with an ST506-type MFM drive or, as one forum member suggested in 2019, bypass the converter board to use a SCSI disk; he did not report trying it.[11] A replacement mechanism needs formatting and partitioning with HDX or another formatter that knows its geometry; Atari's HDX lists only the SH204 and SH104 disk types.[7] The general procedures are on Hard Drive Maintenance and Repair.
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- Atari SH204
- Atari SH204 Troubleshooting Guide
- Atari SH204 Documentation
- Atari Megafile General Maintenance
- Hard Drive Maintenance and Repair
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 SH Hard Disk Drive Owner's Manual, appendix A, Preventive Maintenance, p. 24 (PDF p. 30).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 SH Hard Disk Drive Owner's Manual, chapter 3, Setting the DIP Switches, pp. 19-21 (PDF pp. 25-27).
- ↑ Atari Corp., SH Hard Disk Drive Owner's Manual, C026263 Rev. B, 1986, chapter 1, Connecting the Drive to the Computer, pp. 3-4 (PDF pp. 9-10). File:Atari SH Hard Disk Drive Owner's Manual C026263 Rev B.pdf.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 SH Hard Disk Drive Owner's Manual, chapter 1, Booting the Hard Disk Drive, p. 6 (PDF p. 12).
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 SH Hard Disk Drive Owner's Manual, appendix A, Troubleshooting, p. 23 (PDF p. 29).
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 SH Hard Disk Drive Owner's Manual, chapter 2, Running SHIP.PRG and Backing Up, p. 17 (PDF p. 23).
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 SH Hard Disk Drive Owner's Manual, chapter 2, The HDX Program and Running HDX.PRG, pp. 9-16 (PDF pp. 15-22).
- ↑ Photograph of the rear panel of a European SH204, atari-computermuseum.de. File:Atari SH204 rear panel (Atari Computermuseum).jpg.
- ↑ "Atari SH204 Hard Disk Drive", atari-computermuseum.de, https://www.atari-computermuseum.de/st_peri.htm#sh204. Secondary source.
- ↑ SH Hard Disk Drive Owner's Manual, appendix B, p. 25 (PDF p. 31).
- ↑ "Just got a new SH204 minus the hard drive", exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum, January 2019, post by tzok of 9 January 2019. https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1533. Community report.
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