VOGONS


First post, by Fdiskitup

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I’m trying to revive a Seagate ST-4026 Hard disk. It was stopping my computer from booting - complete power out. The 12V rail on the molex power connector was shorted. I removed the pcb and started looking for the shorts with my multimeter - and what a surprise there is a bad capacitor, but I had lift a few legs to find it…

Where I need help is understanding what these piggyback caps are next to the big chip?

Top one is marked A6A 101 JCC 614 = 100pF (2.5mm dia, 4.3 mm length)
Bottom is marked A5E 104 ZTA 551 = 0.1uF (2.5mm dia, 4.5mm length)

Is it a tantalum with a ceramic ?
What do the codes tell me for voltage and tolerance ?

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Last edited by Fdiskitup on 2022-06-30, 00:54. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 6, by Datadrainer

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Unfortunately tantalum caps on 12V rail are prone to fail. Sometime they can explode, sometime they just have a very small burnt dot that make them difficult to identify. That's very very common.
My assumption is they put capacitors in parallel to increase capacitance while keeping the cost low by using only a few different capacitors in the whole circuit.
Your photos are very blurry and with no backside it is difficult to know where they are connected, but if that induced a short-circuit inside one of the chip nearby, it could be dead now. Some of this old CMOS chips can be very resilient though, so there is still hope.

Knowing things is great. Understanding things is better. Creating things is even better.

Reply 3 of 6, by Fdiskitup

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The 2 caps in parallel add, so 0.1uF + 100 pF would give 100.1 nF ,
So the 100pF doesnt add much
I think it is some sort of high frequency MHz filter it connects to a pin on the big IC .
Ill replace with similar looking ceramic and report back.

Reply 4 of 6, by snufkin

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Bit late, but found this: https://datasheets.kyocera-avx.com/AVX-MA-Series.pdf

Format matches, so assuming (bit of a leap here) Kyocera haven't changed their markings much, then:
A6A 101 JCC 614 - AVX, (unsure of voltage rating, 600V?), C0G dialectric, 100pF, +/-5%, lot code CC, 614 date code (1986? week 14?)
A5E 104 ZTA 551 - AVX, 50V, Z5U dialectric, 100nF, +80/-20%, lot code TA, 551 date code (1985? week 51?)

Odd that the smaller value is further away from the PCB. I would have thought that smaller value caps would want shortest leg length. Maybe some post design rework to fix a particular EMC issue?

Reply 5 of 6, by Fdiskitup

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Bravo ! I think this is very close, at least it looks like I ordered the right capacitance values …
You may be right about the rework / bodge theory because I have a second drive ST-4026 that was manufactured slightly later in the year - the circuit board on that is quite a different layout.

Reply 6 of 6, by Fdiskitup

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Update: replaced the caps the short circuit is gone the drive now spins up like jet engine …. And then it makes a very bad noise. Click whirr, click whirr, Over and over. My guess is a mechanical problem - might even be stiff due to solidified grease. Do you think a few drops of oil will cure it …

Anyway if you need spare parts from a 1986 Seagate ST-4026 send me a message … there were various revisions see pics to see if connectors will match up.

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