[comp.sys.mac] Hard disk fear & panic update & summary

stovsky@elephant.cis.ohio-state.edu (Stovsky) (06/02/89)

First, thanks to those of you who offered such a speedy response to my
original posting!  What follows is a summary of responses received thus
far.  Any errors or ommissions are probably due to me, not the original
posters.

David Pakman <pakman@scrolls.wharton.upen.edu> and Clark Anderson
<anderson@apple.com> both suggest the "tones" I heard were indicative of
a RAM/SIMM problem.  They suggested the use of illegal configuration or
incorrectly sized SIMMs could cause the problem I encountered.

	My followup question: I installed "Apple" SIMMs nearly a year
	ago using 2 2-meg. "kits".  This is the first problem of this
	kind I have encountered.  Could the problem be due to humidity
	changes (it's getting warm in Columbus, & I have started up
	the a/c)

Werner Uhrig <werner%sw.MCC.COM@mcc.com> suggests the problem may be due to
a bad SCSI cable, particularly if there are several disks daisy-chained.
Werner suggests a full backup, reformat, init, test, verify, & restore cycle.
Probably a prudent thing to do in any case!  

	Followup: I have only one disk & it  has been in use for ~14 months, 
	could the thermal/humidity changes due to summer agrravate this p
	problem?  I suppose uplugging the cables & reseating them is 
	prudent too.


Dan Lulue <lulue@manta.nosc.mil> suggests a possible system s/w vs. disk
driver incompatability, particularly with CMS drives.  

	I have been using system 6.02 since its release with my current
	driver.  This is the first problem I have encountered, so I don't
	think this is the problem.  This raises a question, though.
	How does CMS distribute s/w updates.  Certainly they do not use
	the registration card I dutifully filled out & mailed in when I 
	purchased the disk.

Ric Anderson <ric@cs.arizona.edu> said the Mac failed a self-test.  Apparently,
sumex has some sound files you can play back to determine the nature of the
failure.  Ric also send an *extensive* list of error codes.  Unless I 
incorrectly recorded the code I got, my Mac failed a ROM test (s/w rot??!)


A few more notes in this "case".  I forgot to mention my machine has a 
68851 (MMU) installed, as well as a 68882 (floating point chip).  I am 
running System 6.02.  No h/w or s/w changes have been made to the machine
in the last few weeks.  I HAVE had ResEdit crash bigtime last week -- I had
to hit the "hard" power switch to reboot.  The resource file I was editing
was *completely* trashed.  At least I had backed up the day before!!  Could
this nasty ResEdit crash have ruined something?  I don't know.

At this point, I have not made any physical adjustments to the machine & it 
seems to be working (I am using it as we speak).  Perhaps it was a sunspot
or something.  Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!!

	Mike

	(stovsky@cis.ohio-state.edu)