No, your problem is that the control electronics are trying to find
the 'servo' track on the media, and since it can't find it, it shuts
down
the drive as a safety measure. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with the
40 pin cable since the default for most drives is to spin unless
jumpered
to not do so, in which case they would not spin at all on power up.

You may be able to find a pin that changes state when spinning/not, but
it is most likely that the 3 phase drive for the motor comes from the
controller, so you're SOL.
Robert
(who has hacked many drives into 'spinners', but they were all sub
250MB)
and 'dumb' controllers).

Bala Chandar wrote:
>
> In this PicList, there are quite a few experts in matters relating to
> motors, robotics and PC hardware. My question is addressed to them.
>
> I have a Seagate IDE 1 GB hard disk (ST 51080A) removed from a PC because of
> media failure. But its spindle motor and drive electronics are in good
> working condition. I have been particularly fascinated by Bob Blick's
> "Propeller Clock" (www.bobblick.com) and I wish to check the suitability of
> this hard disk motor for the project.
>
> My problem is that when I connect the power supply cable (without connecting
> the 40 pin cable) and switch on the SMPS, the spindle motor starts spinning
> but after about 20 seconds, it invariably comes to a halt. I guess, this is
> because there is no signal coming from the PC through the 40 pin cable. How
> do I make it run continuously? The answer perhaps lies in tying one of the
> 40 pins to ground or +5V.
>
> Any suggestions please?
>
> I would highly appreciate helpful tips.
>
> Thanks & regards,
>
> Bala
>
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