jg@ukc.ac.uk (J.Grant) (03/13/89)
Ephraim kindly sent me the Adaptec version of SF&I, but all was not as simple as I had hoped ... The instructions say that all that has to be altered (normally) is the #heads, #cylinders (& sometimes the step time) - but I still have problems. I have 3 4000A boards - and a small pile of drives - the problem (which is repeatable on a drive/card basis) is that the format always falls over on the test format. By watching the drive I can see the head step across the disk, but at the end of th format, it steps back (presumably to check the format on the next to last track) and promptly produces a SCSI error from the Adaptec - it's always a 14 (record not found) and looking at the numbers that follow it seems as if the formatter thinks that the head is at the start of the drive rather than the penultimate track (ie low number following the error code). I have this problem with every combination of drive/controller ... I have changed cables, supplies and now am a bit stumped ... I have a copy of the Adaptec manual (it's a photocopy and the tables are next t impossible to read correctly - hence I'm looking for help). Specifically, I'm trying to format a 75M Fujitsu ST506 drive (the one with eleven (!!) heads) on an Adaptec 4000A with a pristine Adaptec version of SF&I - any pointers as to what next would be appreciated ... John