nomad@orstcs.cs.ORST.EDU (07/14/87)
A while ago I posted a note about some problems I was having with st238s on an original IBM PC. (original as in 64k motherboard w/new ROM BIOS). The problems included grinding noises and format failures. The solutions to both problems have been found. The grinding noises went away when I made a new cable. The formating problems were a bit harder to find. It seems that PC-DOS 3.1 doesn't like the combination of wd1002-27x controller and st238 drive(s). In order to format them, you *must* move your config.sys (if you have one) to something else and create one with only the following line: buffers=99 then you can format the drives successfully. Why this is, I don't know. All I know is that it worked. Note that if you have anything else in your config.sys file it won't work. (I found that out the hard way). I also don't know if I have to leave the buffers=99 in the config.sys now that I have the drive formatted. I can afford the memory, so I am not going to remove it. I would like to thank Archie at Western Digital and Julian Whiteagle (sp?) at Segate for all the help they gave in tracking down these problems. I have found that the wd1002-27x is an excellent RLL controller with well done low level formatting routines. I just wish that WD had one with the floppy controller built in. (They have one for the AT, but not the PC/XT, <SIGH>). Aside from the above problems, my st238s have worked fine, and even tolerated some pretty bad abuse when I had forgotten to park the heads <GASP>. I recommend both devices. (No, I don't have anything to do with either companies, I just use their stuff.) The technical support people, though busy (lots of time on hold - on 800 numbers) did a good and thurough job (which is why they were so busy) and didn't laugh at me once. :-) nomad@orstcs |------ back on the air tonight! ------------------------- v LEE DAMON FidoNet: 152/201 (The Castle) - (503) 757-8841 nomad@cs.orst.edu CSnet: nomad@cs.orst.edu "Real soon now!" UUCP : {hp-pcd,tektronix}!orstcs!nomad "Say what you like, the bicycle has a great past ahead of it!"