boi@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com (Ken Boi) (07/23/90)
Has anybody else experienced this problem, or knows of why this problem is occurring? I have a Xetec Fastrack HD controller and a Quantum 105Mb HD running in my A2000 with 1Meg chip ram and 3 meg total RAM. The problem is that on a few occasion (about three times) during the six months of ownership of this system, I have had the occurrence of my system failing to autoboot from the harddrive upon system powerup. It appears to fail to recognize the existence of a harddrive. If I retry the powerup a few times, it eventually works. The last time this occurred though, I spent about a half hour retrying and finally gave up concluding that the harddrive failed. Because it was a holiday, I couldn't do anything with it that day, therefore made plans to bring it to the shop on the following day. Later in the evening, I tried it one last time and PRESTO, it autobooted. My dealer called both Xetec and Quantum, and as I would expect, both placed fault on the other. The problem is so intermittent, that I can't really have it serviced because there is no telling whether the problem would still exist by the time I brought it in to my repair` center. It is still warranteed, therefore I can get a replacement if the suspect hardware(???) is identified.
honp9@jetson.uh.edu (Jason Tibbitts/The Blob Shop) (07/24/90)
[Munch all you want, I'll type more] In article <963@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com>, boi@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com (Ken Boi) writes: > problem is occurring? I have a Xetec Fastrack HD controller and > a Quantum 105Mb HD running in my A2000 with 1Meg chip ram and 3 > meg total RAM. The problem is that on a few occasion (about three > times) during the six months of ownership of this system, I have > had the occurrence of my system failing to autoboot from the > harddrive upon system powerup. It appears to fail to recognize the > existence of a harddrive. If I retry the powerup a few times, it > eventually works. The last time this occurred though, I spent about I have a problem which sounds similar. If I leave my 2000 running for a long time (8+ hours) the Quantum 105S will lock up and refuse to do anything. I get read/write errors. If I reboot, the system will usually fail to notice tha harddrive, even though the access light flickers. If I power down, the system usually comes back up. I have heard of problems with older quantum drives 'sticking', and my drive is one of the early ones. How do I get service on the drive, if it is faulty. I am dead sure that the drive is somehow at fault. Thanks, ---- \/ Jason L. Tibbitts III // | THEnet: {George|Jane|Elroy|Judy}::HONP9 /\/"Blob Shop Programmers: // | SesquiNet, Telnet, etc: HONP9@JETSON.uh.edu \/ Because We're Bored!" \X/ | CREN (BitNet): HONP9@UHVAX1 "Ewige /\ . DISCLAIMER ." Whose opinions did you think there were?" ; Blumenkraft"
cwolf@ic.sunysb.edu (Christopher A Wolf) (07/25/90)
In article <963@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com> boi@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com (Ken Boi) writes: >Has anybody else experienced this problem, or knows of why this >problem is occurring? I have a Xetec Fastrack HD controller and >a Quantum 105Mb HD running in my A2000 with 1Meg chip ram and 3 >meg total RAM. The problem is that on a few occasion (about three >times) during the six months of ownership of this system, I have >had the occurrence of my system failing to autoboot from the >harddrive upon system powerup. It appears to fail to recognize the >existence of a harddrive. If I retry the powerup a few times, it Yes, I too have had a problem that sounds similar to yours. Every couple of days my hard-drive will fail to autoboot --- the Amiga acts like the hardcard (A GVP product) and the two drives attached to it (a 40 meg miniscribe and an 80 meg Seagate) DON'T EVEN EXIST!!!! Occasionally powering down and up again several times will work but sometimes this doesn't even help. What DOES work is removing the hardcard assembly and firmly reseating the card.... Sounds like a loose connection somewhere, right? I thought so too but I've tried moving the hardcard to different slots, cleaning the contacts on both the hardcard and the slots, making sure all chips were firmly seated, bending the slot-connector pins inward to make better contact, and several other things... and nothing works! I also don't think its a "stiction" problem since I've never heard of this happening on a MiniScribe drive. Also, the hardcard doesn't appear to even ATTEMPT to spin up the drives... Now the really odd thing is that I had this problem all last summer when I was living at home... when I went back to school for the year the problem virtually disappeared (once every couple of months it happened instead of every 2 or 3 days)... now that I'm back home its happening FREQUENTLY again. Could it be a heat problem since it only happens during the summer? Also, the drives never fail while the computer is on. The only time the problem appears is after the computer's been off and I try to power up. (Only on cold not warm starts) If I can get past power- up I'm fine. (Which seems to discredit my heat theory since heat should get worse after the computer's been running for a while...) Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Hope this problem will disappear once again after I get back to school... Thanks alot, Chris Wolf (I've directed follow-ups to comp.sys.amiga.hardware since this probably should be continued there....)
bleys@tronsbox.xei.com (Bill Cavanaugh) (07/25/90)
In article <963@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com> boi@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com (Ken Boi) writes: >Has anybody else experienced this problem, or knows of why this >problem is occurring? I have a Xetec Fastrack HD controller and >a Quantum 105Mb HD running in my A2000 with 1Meg chip ram and 3 >meg total RAM. The problem is that on a few occasion (about three >times) during the six months of ownership of this system, I have >had the occurrence of my system failing to autoboot from the >harddrive upon system powerup. It appears to fail to recognize the >existence of a harddrive. I've got a GVP Impact A500 with a couple megs of ram installed, and the same thing's happened to me if I leave the machine on for two or three days. The ram is still noticed, but the drive is ignored. First, the machine crashes, and then no matter what I do, the drive isn't noticed. I tried power down/up, and it still doesn't work. If I turn the machine off for a half hour, then back on, everything's fine. I think there's something overheating in there, but I'm darned if I know what.... /******************************************************************** * All of the above copyright by the below. * * Bill Cavanaugh uunet!tronsbox!bleys * * "You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever." * * Larry Anderson * ********************************************************************/
jmeissen@oregon.oacis.org ( Staff OACIS) (07/26/90)
In article <26ad143b-2580.3comp.sys.amiga-1@tronsbox.xei.com> bleys@tronsbox.xei.com (Bill Cavanaugh) writes: >I've got a GVP Impact A500 with a couple megs of ram installed, and the same >thing's happened to me if I leave the machine on for two or three days. The >ram is still noticed, but the drive is ignored. First, the machine crashes, >and then no matter what I do, the drive isn't noticed. I tried power >down/up, and it still doesn't work. If I turn the machine off for a half >hour, then back on, everything's fine. I think there's something >overheating in there, but I'm darned if I know what.... I had something equally as mysterious happening. I have a rev 4.2 A2000, with an A2090 and C='s 2-meg ram expansion. About every couple of months, it would suddenly start crashing, for no reason. I could boot it and leave it untouched for a while and come back and it would be flashing the ol' red GURU. The problems would get worse and worse, until it wouldn't even reboot, crashing at random spots during the boot process. Power cycling didn't help (even leaving it off for days at a time....turn it on and instant GURU). The only thing that would fix it was opening it up and removing the boards and putting them back. Then it would work fine for another couple of months. It got to be a regular thing, and I got quite good at popping the cover and reseating the boards. Finally I tried swapping the physical positions of the boards, and I haven't had a problem since (except, of course, when the room temperature exceeds 100 degrees :-) I don't question what works. :-) -- John Meissen .............................. Oregon Advanced Computing Institute jmeissen@oacis.org (Internet) | "That's the remarkable thing about life; ..!sequent!oacis!jmeissen (UUCP) | things are never so bad that they can't jmeissen (BIX) | get worse." - Calvin & Hobbes
rick@tmiuv0.uucp (07/26/90)
In article <963@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com>, boi@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com (Ken Boi) writes: > Has anybody else experienced this problem, or knows of why this > problem is occurring? I have a Xetec Fastrack HD controller and > a Quantum 105Mb HD running in my A2000 with 1Meg chip ram and 3 > meg total RAM. The problem is that on a few occasion (about three > times) during the six months of ownership of this system, I have > had the occurrence of my system failing to autoboot from the > harddrive upon system powerup. Since you say "upon system powerup", I would guess that the drive isn't spinning up and "going ready" before your controller queries it. Have you tryed a VNP (Vulcan Nerve Pinch, warm reboot, CTRL-Amiga-Amiga) when this occurs? If it fails a cold start, try the warm boot. If it comes up, the problem is that the drive isn't coming ready before the controller queries it. It's intermittent, because the drive is mechanical in nature and all manner of things can affect the spin up time (temperature of the drive, humidity, lotsa stuff). It's most likely the Xetec controller firmware. It's asking the Quantum to boot before it has spun up, hence the drive reports "not ready" and the autoboot fails. It's not really Quantum's fault, since all they can do is guarantee a maximum spin up time. It appears that many SCSI adaptors don't allow enough time for slow drives to come up. I have a similar problem with my HardFrame, Seagate ST-138N and Conner CP3200. The system boots off the Seagate. On a cold start, the Seagate doesn't always spin up and go ready in time (sometimes it sticks and doesn't spin up at all, but that's a different story 8-). The Conner, on the other hand, won't automount on a WARM boot, but will automount on a cold start (if the Seagate comes up in time). My solution: I don't shut the system down unless I do maintenence on it. It's running 24 hours a day for months on end. I do turn off the monitor, however. Like I said, try a warm boot when the problem appears. And contact your SCSI adaptor vendor (Xetec) about increasing the allowable spin up time. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [- O] Rick Stevens ? EMail: uunet!zardoz!tmiuv0!rick -or- uunet!zardoz!xyclone!sysop V CIS: 75006,1355 (75006.1355@compuserve.com from Internet) "I'm tellin' ya, Valiant! Da whole ting stinks like yesterday's diapers!" - Baby Herman in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LEEK@QUCDN.QueensU.CA (07/26/90)
In article <571@oregon.oacis.org>, jmeissen@oregon.oacis.org ( Staff OACIS) says: > >I had something equally as mysterious happening. I have a rev 4.2 A2000, with n >a A2090 and C='s 2-meg ram expansion. About every couple of months, it >would suddenly start crashing, for no reason. I could boot it and leave >it untouched for a while and come back and it would be flashing the ol' red >GURU. The problems would get worse and worse, until it wouldn't even >reboot,crashing at random spots during the boot process Power cycling >didn't help (even leaving it off for days at a time....turn it on and instant >GURU). The only thing that would fix it was opening it up and removing the >boards and putting them back. Then it would work fine for another couple of months. It got to be a regular thing, and I got quite good at popping the cove r and reseating the boards. Finally I tried swapping the physical positions of the boards, and I haven't have a problem since (except, of course, when the room temperature exceeds 100 degrees >:-) >I don't question what works. :-) > >-- >John Meissen .............................. Oregon Advanced Computing Sounds like you have a bad contact problem (more like oxidation problem). The physical action of unplugging/plugging the board remove some of the oxide and hence problem gone until more oxide built up. As for the reason why the board swap works ... May be one of the boards have a gold plated connection K. C. Lee