<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div>On Sun, 7 Dec 2025 10:04:14 -0600, Steve Hatle wrote:</div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><br>
My E3000 has a gaping hole where the DVD drive used to live. It wasn't <br>
there when it came to me.<br>
<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Hey, Steve! Let me guess: the drive got yeeted when it developed the weird eject/retract/eject/retract symptom that practically all of my ancient Sun CD and DVD ROM drives have picked up over the years? :-(</div><div><br></div><div>I vaguely recall a discussion of this from waaaaay back, but CBA to go look it up. Did anyone ever solve that or discover why it happens? Could a firmware update fix it? Or do we just go chuck those drives in the river? My lovely old L1000 tape library is full of DLT drives that died the mung fade too, despite attempts to keep up the proper cleaning and maintenance -- one by one they dropped off the SCSI bus or lost their little minds. Sigh.<br></div><br><div>Getting older is waking up to find a new thing that hurts, and will for the rest of your life. Applies to old computers, too.<br></div><div><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
If anyone has the grey DVD drive or just the blanking plate I could use it.<br>
<br>
If the drive were working that would be a bonus, but even a bad one <br>
would be OK to fill the hole.<br>
<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>*Just last night* before this digest arrived I'd fired up my E3500, and a bunch of other systems, to check on NVRAM status and do my sort-of-monthly inventory "wellness checks." The DVD drive decided to say "bleaaaaah" to me several times, and two of my FC-AL drives dropped. Sigh. Otherwise, it passed full diags with flying colors.<br></div><div><br></div><div>I don't know if this drive still works if a disc is inserted, but I suspect not. It might be more annoying to have one that malfunctions and randomly spits out its tray than to put up with the hole. :-) But I suppose you could leave it unplugged. Or I could pull one from the pile of 220R/420Rs that I'll be trying to get rid of, soon, once I can haul their heavy carcasses out of the racks. I might have one in the right livery that still works.<br></div><div><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
Let me know what you would like in cash or prizes,<br><br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Well, on topic, I've got a SunBlade 2000 with an unsightly gap around its floppy drive. Haven't gone looking for a replacement bezel for it, but if you just happened to have one... :-)<br></div><div> </div><div>I currently have two other Sun wish-list items:</div><div><br></div><div> 1. A replacement power supply for my 4/670MP (would trade some VME bits for it?)</div><div><br></div><div>I don't have the chops to attempt a diagnosis and repair, and even just opening it up to sniff around was an infuriating experience given the horrible internal mechanical design. :-( Would gladly swap it for a functioning one if someone cared to re-cap/repair it properly.<br></div><div><br></div><div> 2. I'd like to swap two 1GB memory banks for 2GB to fill out my aforementioned E3500.</div><div><br></div><div>It irks me that I've got 8 CPUs and 14GB of RAM, instead of the full 16GB. Seriously hampering my savoir faire and messing with my interleaving, that. I mean, I can live with it for as much use as this machine gets, but it offends my sensibilities more than the cosmetics of the SB2000.</div><div><br></div><div>Obviously these aren't terribly realistic or high priority, but ya never know.<br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<br>
PS - I could 3d print a blanking plate, but that whole color match thing <br>
would probably bug me about as much as having the hole :-)<br>
<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Maybe a paint match is easier to achieve? I know they used to make "NeXT Black", but did anyone make "Sun Purple"? Or, since it's hanging right there, "Midnight Sun" would be the perfect color name, for that dusky purpley-gray shade.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,<br></div></div></div>