kevins@CIE.UOREGON.EDU (11/28/89)
I recently purchased a 286 hard drive controller from a local outlet and am having some problems. The card is a PTI-213 286 HDS card made by Datatech Enterprises. The documentaion is as sparse as possible, however it does use the Western Digital Chip set. The problem is that the lights on the drives stay lit all the time depending on which drive was last accessed. Thus the light on the C: drive will stay lit until the D: drive is accessed, then the D: light will stay lit.... Is this a major problem? I also cannot get the external LED to work using the 4 pin connector on the card. Anyone have any thoughts? I returned the card once and got a replacement, but the replacement acts just the same as the first one. Suggestions?? kevins@cie.uoregon.edu (Please email your replies as I am unable to keep up here)
plim@hpsgpa.HP.COM (Peter Lim) (11/29/89)
> > I recently purchased a 286 hard drive controller from a local > outlet and am having some problems. The card is a PTI-213 286 > HDS card made by Datatech Enterprises. The documentaion is > as sparse as possible, however it does use the Western Digital > Chip set. > > The problem is that the lights on the drives stay lit all the > time depending on which drive was last accessed. Thus the light > on the C: drive will stay lit until the D: drive is accessed, then > the D: light will stay lit.... > Is this a major problem? > I think this brings back good old memory. About 3 years ago, I used to have a 10MHz AT (I think using WD controller). I hung 2 physical drives off it and the above situation was observed. Very annoying but didn't do me one bit of harm. I used the setup for about a year with not problem. I sold the whole thing to someone at the end of it and since both drives had died. No idea if this has anything to do with that ? Not likely since it worked for about a year.
gs940971@longs.LANCE.ColoState.Edu (glen sunada f84) (11/30/89)
In article <340034@hpsgpa.HP.COM>, plim@hpsgpa.HP.COM (Peter Lim) writes: > > > > > I recently purchased a 286 hard drive controller from a local > > outlet and am having some problems. The card is a PTI-213 286 > > HDS card made by Datatech Enterprises. The documentaion is > > as sparse as possible, however it does use the Western Digital > > Chip set. > > > > The problem is that the lights on the drives stay lit all the > > time depending on which drive was last accessed. Thus the light > > on the C: drive will stay lit until the D: drive is accessed, then > > the D: light will stay lit.... > > Is this a major problem? > > > I think this brings back good old memory. About 3 years ago, I used > to have a 10MHz AT (I think using WD controller). I hung 2 physical > drives off it and the above situation was observed. Very annoying > but didn't do me one bit of harm. I used the setup for about a year > with not problem. I sold the whole thing to someone at the end of it > and since both drives had died. No idea if this has anything to do > with that ? Not likely since it worked for about a year. The problem you booth apear to be having is probably due to a stupid "standard" that IBM started with the XT. What happens is that there are two cables to the hard disk drives, a daisy chained control signal cable and a seperate data cable for each drive. The control cable is the 34 wire flat cable and the data cables are the 15 (I think) wire flat cables. The stupid standard IBM started was to put a twist in the control cable. The did this because they started using drives that could not decode the device select codes on the control cable. When using the twisted control cable both drives need to be set for device 1 (the second device select option for the drive). If you have a straight control cable then the C drive is set for DS0 (Device select zero or the first device select option for the drive) and drive D is set for DS1 (Device select 1 or the second option). I hope this helps and I appreciate any comments either over the net or by email to the address in my signiture. Glen U. Sunada gs940971@longs.LANCE.ColoState.EDU ARPA Internet (preferred) ...ncar!boulder!ccncsu!longs.LANCE.ColoState.EDU!gs940971 UUCP Money is the root of all evil. Men need roots. - Lazarus Long
tvf@cci632.UUCP (Tom Frauenhofer) (11/30/89)
I've noticed the same thing on my AT clone (the never endling lights). It's been running for over three years, no problems so far... Of course, I hate this, but I suffer along anyway... ( :-) ) Thomas V. Frauenhofer ...!rutgers!rochester!cci632!ccird7!tvf *or* ...!rochester!kodak!swamps!frau!tvf *or* ...!attctc!swamps!frau!tvf "Had coffee with Melnick today. He talked to me about his idea of having all government officials dress like hens." - Woody Allen
lloyd@comp.vuw.ac.nz (Lloyd Parkes) (12/04/89)
What sort of machines do you guys have?? If you have a machine with a drive activity light in the case, then you will notice that the lights on the hard drives now indicate the drive select, while the light on the case, still only flashes during drive access. Why the suffering?? Lloyd -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lloyd | lloyd@comp.vuw.ac.nz | "... I can gleek upon occasion." - Parkes | ...!uunet!vuwcomp!lloyd | Nick Bottom ------------------------------------------------------------------------