spector@brillig.umd.edu (Lee Spector) (10/14/89)
I had the infamous Quantum/Apple startup problems with my IIcx & 80 Meg drive, and had already had the drive replaced twice and the logic board replaced once. Hence I was very happy to hear that an "official" solution to the problem was announced. I took my machine in and now have the new ROM (or PROM or whatever it is). So far I have had no startup problems, but I now have a NEW problem - Noises coming from the drive when it is NOT accessing. Causing the disk to access always causes a quiet grinding sound (this is normal, I suppose) but now the sound will sometimes continue to sound continuously after an access. For example, if I just play around in the finder opening folders, sooner or later I will open a folder and have the grinding sound continue (but the light does not continue to flash). No matter how long I wait it'll just keep grinding away. If I keep opening folders, the sound will generally stop at one of the subsequent accesses. Another way I've been able to toggle the noise on and off is by opening the control panel and switching amongst the CDEVs. Stranger still, some of the CDEVs seem more likely to cause the grinding to start (TappyType gets the grinding going most of the time). During normal work various things seem to be capable of causing the noise to start or stop. Does anyone know what's going on? Is it related to the "upgrade"? Any and all responses will be appreciated. Thanks! -Lee (spector@cs.umd.edu)
martya@cpl-mfh.UUCP (Marty Adelman) (10/16/89)
*** *** In article <20167@mimsy.UUCP>, *** spector@brillig.umd.edu (Lee Spector) writes: *** >I had the infamous Quantum/Apple startup problems with my IIcx & 80 Meg >drive ..... >I took my machine in and now have the new ROM ... >So far I have had no startup problems, but I >now have a NEW problem - Noises coming from the >drive when it is NOT accessing. > >Thanks! -Lee (spector@cs.umd.edu) I just had the new rom installed in my machine also. I noticed this phenomena and thought it might be perculiar to my machine, but since you have heard it also I guess it is in the rom. Near as I can tell, I read that the rom adds a full stroke command (??) to something or other and I think this is what we are probably hearing. Any other takers ? 8-) Marty Adelman cpl-mfh!martya@cs.buffalo.edu sunybcs!cpl-mfh!martya
thecloud@dhw68k.cts.com (Ken McLeod) (10/17/89)
In article <20167@mimsy.UUCP> spector@brillig.umd.edu.UUCP (Lee Spector) writes: >I had the infamous Quantum/Apple startup problems with my IIcx & 80 Meg > [...] > >Causing the disk to access always causes a quiet grinding sound (this is >normal, I suppose) but now the sound will sometimes continue to sound >continuously after an access. For example, if I just play around in the >finder opening folders, sooner or later I will open a folder and have the >grinding sound continue (but the light does not continue to flash). No >matter how long I wait it'll just keep grinding away. If I keep opening >folders, the sound will generally stop at one of the subsequent accesses. My IIcx/Apple-Quantum 80 is 2 weeks old. Just yesterday, it started displaying this "new" behavior. So far, I can't reproduce it with any regularity (the first time it occurred, I was running ResEdit 1.2 under MultiFinder, which made it doubly scary.) What seems to be happening is that the drive will start to seek normally, read the required block(s), and then continue accessing the disk INDEFINTELY until a fresh request for info is made. Each time, I was able to stop the frenzied seeking by doing something requiring a fresh disk access (once, I opened up a folder; another time, I launched an application, etc.) The infinite accesses seem to be generated by the drive itself, and not by the driver or other software (no v***s that I could find!) Now, ever since I got the drive, it has done a 'calibration' seek at roughly 5 minute intervals, each access lasting no more than a second. I'm told this is normal behavior. But... could a request from the driver occurring at exactly the same time as the periodic seek cause this "infinite access"? Or is it somehow related to the new PROM? (I haven't had any startup problems [yet], so perhaps recent Quantums are already "fixed"?) -- ========== ....... ============================================= Ken McLeod :. .: UUCP: ...{spsd,zardoz,felix}!dhw68k!thecloud ========== :::.. ..::: INTERNET: thecloud@dhw68k.cts.com //// =============================================
pcmeier@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Pascal Constantin Meier) (10/18/89)
In article <-539343565@cpl-mfh.UUCP> martya@cpl-mfh.UUCP (Marty Adelman) writes: >*** spector@brillig.umd.edu (Lee Spector) writes: > >>So far I have had no startup problems, but I >>now have a NEW problem - Noises coming from the >>drive when it is NOT accessing. >> >I just had the new rom installed in my machine also. I noticed this phenomena >and thought it might be perculiar to my machine, but since you have heard it >also I guess it is in the rom. Near as I can tell, I read that the rom >adds a full stroke command (??) to something or other and I think this is >what we are probably hearing. Any other takers ? 8-) > I was told by someone in the know that the original problem with the drives was that the lubrication on the read/write arm was not performing its duty, causing the arm to freeze up. Apple's solution to this is to periodically "exercise" the arm when no hard disk access is being done. So soon some happy virus is going to come along and trash our hard disks, and we'll be thinking the disk is doing its daily jumping jacks.....;-} Good luck, Pascal.
espen@well.UUCP (Peter Espen) (10/20/89)
> >I took my machine in and now have the new ROM ... > >So far I have had no startup problems, but I > >now have a NEW problem - Noises coming from the > >drive when it is NOT accessing. > > > > I just had the new rom installed in my machine also. I noticed this phenomena > and thought it might be perculiar to my machine, but since you have heard it > also I guess it is in the rom. Near as I can tell, I read that the rom > adds a full stroke command (??) to something or other and I think this is > what we are probably hearing. Any other takers ? 8-) > I also have the new ROM installed on my 80Meg Quantum. The noises that are occurring when the drive is not accessing are much louder than the normal read/write access noise of the drive, and are a little annoying and worrying. I think that the this phenomenon is also occurring at the same time as read/write accesses some of the time. It seems that when they do occur at the same time the access speed of the drive is dramatically degraded. This has not been verified at all, it's just a suspicion. Peter Espen espen@well
martya@cpl-mfh.UUCP (Marty Adelman) (10/20/89)
Distribution: na Organization: Clinical Pharmacokinetics Lab, SUNY at Buffalo Lines: 27 *** *** In article <14166@well.UUCP>, *** espen@well.UUCP (Peter Espen) writes: *** > > I also have the new ROM installed on my 80Meg Quantum. The noises >that are occurring when the drive is not accessing are much louder than >the normal read/write access noise of the drive, and are a little annoying >and worrying. > I think that the this phenomenon is also occurring at the same time >as read/write accesses some of the time. It seems that when they do occur >at the same time the access speed of the drive is dramatically degraded. This >has not been verified at all, it's just a suspicion. > I have been watching my drive more closely since I first observed this new phenomena. The drive noises are louder and do occur during disk accesses It definately degrades the drive performance at this point but only for a few seconds. Hey Apple what gives, you call this a fix, it is quite annoying. Any comment from someone from APPLE or QUANTUM.
esf00@uts.amdahl.com (Elliott S. Frank) (10/21/89)
In article <27101@dhw68k.cts.com> thecloud@dhw68k.cts.com (Ken McLeod) writes: > What seems to be happening is >that the drive will start to seek normally, read the required block(s), >and then continue accessing the disk INDEFINTELY until a fresh request >for info is made. I've got the sam problem, but only with **one** application -- Shiva's NetSerial. When I attempt to access the NetSerial modem on my SE/20 (2.5 MB), it goes into the continious diskacess cycle. When I exit VersaTerm (my NetSerial application), the accesses stop. This also happens on a coworker's SE/20 (same memory, same vintage), but not on the local MacWizard's 5 MB II. ??????????? -- Elliott Frank ...!{hplabs,ames,sun}!amdahl!esf00 (408) 746-6384 or ....!{bnrmtv,drivax,hoptoad}!amdahl!esf00 [the above opinions are strictly mine, if anyone's.] [the above signature may or may not be repeated, depending upon some inscrutable property of the mailer-of-the-week.]