CMD (Commodore) D9090 Hard Drive Issue

[B. Degnan]

Hello.
I have a Commodore "new" D9090.  I am experiencing some symptoms that I 
hope someone can help me diagnose.  I don't have the manual for the 
D9090.  I have verified that everything is plugged in, but I have not done 
any electrical tests.  The drive was working earlier this month and then 
was shipped to me.  When I received the drive initially it did not work at 
all, but pressing lightly on some of the socketed chips to be sure they are 
making proper contact got me at least to the point I am now.  It appears 
that the package was dropped or vibrated during shipping.

I leave the unit powered up for a good ten minutes before turning on my 
known-to-work Commodore B128.  The expected drive initialization lights 
flash and the system sits waiting for action while the top light shines 
green, the bottom light is off.  Here are the things I have tried:

-------------------------
?ds$ - returns CBM DOS 3, etc. message
-------------------------
open 15,8,15
print#15,"i0"  [top and bottom lights shine green, drive sounds spinning, 
never completes.]
close 15

NOTE:  The first time I run these commands the READY prompt returns to the 
screen and I can continue working, even though the drive lights perpetually 
shine green and the drive spins.  If I do repeat this set of commands 
however I will freeze up the computer and I am forced to hard boot the B128.

-------------------------

header "degnan9090", d0, i01

The "are you sure?" message appears and I can initiate the drive 
format.  Both lights shine green.  The B128 freezes up.  Because I have a 
Rev B ROM, I expect that it will take less than 3 hours to format the 
drive.  In my testing I finally aborted after 10 hours.  I know from 
experience that when a header command is issued, control returns to the 
B128 (or whatever computer) while the formatting is happening on the drive.
-------------------------

dcleard0 - does not appear to move the drive heads.
-------------------------

It seems like the heads are not moving and that's the problem.  I do not 
hear "head moving noises"

Any suggestions?


Bill D
Wilmington, DE
here are some pics: