The HDD fan is really tiny. I wonder whether it does much other than make noise. As an experiment, you could remove the metal drive door and introduce additional airflow with a hairdyer set to “cool”. The noise will drive you nuts, but this is just a test.
Can you successfully restart the machine after the freeze? I’m assuming you can’t perform the standard shutdown and must just kill the power.
Just grasping at straws: have you changed the battery in recent memory? It probably won’t make any difference, but if can’t hurt to have fresh battery.
Unplug/replug the drive cabling at both ends. You might have something so simple as a sub-standard plug connection.
This could be a capacitor issue. Aging caps can cause all sorts of strange behavior.
Are the drives truly dead? Have they any signs of life if connected to a PC?
I am now out of ideas.
-~dk
Edited by dkfackler (02/06/25 12:24 PM)
_________________________
“One must never underestimate the power of music. A mandolin over the head can really knock one for a loop.”
~ The Hero’s Guide to being a Hero