tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) (06/20/87)
What is the real reason for the Macintosh SE's upper (second) disk drive for being so slow (I've measured it to being up to 50% slower, or 1.5 times longer than the lower drive). The reason I got from Apple was that it is "inherint to the system". It seems ridiculous to pay more for a machine (Mac+) and get a drive with degraded performance. This is found to be true for all of the Mac SE's that I've tried. There should at least be some kind of mention of this when buying an SE, so the the hard disk option can be more heavily waited as an option. First, is there going to eventually be a fix to this problem (new disk controller chip or something), and why is this issue being kept such a secret. I've heard that the actual problem is that the contoller keeps turn the drive motor off -- is this true. NOTE: The disk drive hooked to the external port on an SE runs just fine. The problem is in the floppy port. I'd just assume to take out my upper internal drive and connect it to the external port. Tom Carstensen Mentor Graphics
dgold@apple.UUCP (David Goldsmith) (06/21/87)
In article <746@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM> tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) writes: >What is the real reason for the Macintosh SE's upper (second) disk drive for >being so slow (I've measured it to being up to 50% slower, or 1.5 times >longer than the lower drive)... This is a software bug. It will be fixed in a future system file. -- David Goldsmith Apple Computer, Inc. AppleLink: GOLDSMITH1 UUCP: {nsc,dual,sun,voder,ucbvax!mtxinu}!apple!dgold CSNET: dgold@apple.CSNET, dgold%apple@CSNET-RELAY BIX: dgoldsmith
tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) (06/23/87)
In article <1111@apple.UUCP>, dgold@apple.UUCP (David Goldsmith) writes: > In article <746@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM> tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) writes: > >What is the real reason for the Macintosh SE's upper (second) disk drive for > >being so slow (I've measured it to being up to 50% slower, or 1.5 times > >longer than the lower drive)... > > This is a software bug. It will be fixed in a future system file. If it is a software bug in the system file, why does old system versions (any version) also have this problem, and if still so, why hasn't it been fixed by now? Of the two systems I commonly use (ver 3.2 & ver 4.0) they both have the same effect on the upper drive. Tom Carstensen Mentor Graphics
han@apple.UUCP (Byron Han) (06/24/87)
In article <756@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM>, tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) writes: > In article <1111@apple.UUCP>, dgold@apple.UUCP (David Goldsmith) writes: > > In article <746@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM> tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) writes: > > >What is the real reason for the Macintosh SE's upper (second) disk drive for > > >being so slow (I've measured it to being up to 50% slower, or 1.5 times > > >longer than the lower drive)... > > > > This is a software bug. It will be fixed in a future system file. > > If it is a software bug in the system file, why does old system versions (any > version) also have this problem, and if still so, why hasn't it been fixed > by now? Of the two systems I commonly use (ver 3.2 & ver 4.0) they both > have the same effect on the upper drive. > It may be that a patch is needed and will be provided in a future system file. Of course, this is not to be construed as any OFFICIAL Apple advise. My comments are strictly personal opinion. /*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/ /* NOTE: This represents my personal viewpoints and in no way represents */ /* any official position of Apple Computer, Inc. */ /* Byron B. Han UUCP: {sun,voder,nsc,mtxinu,dual}!apple!han */ /* Apple Computer, Inc. CSNET: han@apple.csnet */ /* 20525 Mariani Ave MS 27Y GENIE: BYRONHAN CSERVE: 72167,1664 */ /* Cupertino, CA 95014 ATTNet: 408-973-6450 APPLELINK: HAN1 */ /*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
briand@tekig4.TEK.COM (Brian Diehm) (06/24/87)
>> >What is the real reason for the Macintosh SE's upper (second) disk drive for >> >being so slow (I've measured it to being up to 50% slower, or 1.5 times >> >longer than the lower drive)... >> >> This is a software bug. It will be fixed in a future system file. > >If it is a software bug in the system file, why does old system versions (any >version) also have this problem, and if still so, why hasn't it been fixed >by now? It is a software bug, but it is in the SE's ROMs. It was discovered by Central Point Software, makers of Copy II Mac and MacTools. Apple's response is that a patch is coming, a patch found as a system file resource. -- -Brian Diehm (SDA - Standard Disclaimers Apply) Tektronix, Inc. briand@tekig4.TEK.COM or {decvax,cae780,uw-beaver}!tektronix!tekig4!briand
dgold@apple.UUCP (David Goldsmith) (06/24/87)
In article <756@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM> tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) writes: (Concerning the slow upper drive on the Mac SE) >If it is a software bug in the system file, why does old system versions (any >version) also have this problem, and if still so, why hasn't it been fixed >by now? Of the two systems I commonly use (ver 3.2 & ver 4.0) they both >have the same effect on the upper drive. It is a software bug in the Macintosh SE ROM, in the floppy disk driver. It only happens on the Macintosh SE because earlier systems only had one internal drive. Note: you should not be running a system earlier than 4.0 on a Mac SE. In fact, you should be using only system 4.1 or later. -- David Goldsmith Apple Computer, Inc. AppleLink: GOLDSMITH1 UUCP: {nsc,dual,sun,voder,ucbvax!mtxinu}!apple!dgold CSNET: dgold@apple.CSNET, dgold%apple@CSNET-RELAY BIX: dgoldsmith
dwb@apple.UUCP (Dave W. Berry) (06/25/87)
In article <756@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM> tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) writes: >In article <1111@apple.UUCP>, dgold@apple.UUCP (David Goldsmith) writes: >> In article <746@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM> tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) writes: >> >What is the real reason for the Macintosh SE's upper (second) disk drive for >> >being so slow (I've measured it to being up to 50% slower, or 1.5 times >> >longer than the lower drive)... >> >> This is a software bug. It will be fixed in a future system file. > >If it is a software bug in the system file, why does old system versions (any >version) also have this problem, and if still so, why hasn't it been fixed >by now? Of the two systems I commonly use (ver 3.2 & ver 4.0) they both >have the same effect on the upper drive. > >Tom Carstensen >Mentor Graphics It is a software bug in the ROM which will be fixed in a future release of the system software. Actually, I think it's fixed in 4.1/5.5. -- David W. Berry dwb@well.uucp dwb@Delphi dwb@apple.com 293-0752@408.MaBell
blm@cxsea.UUCP (Brian Matthews) (06/25/87)
In article <756@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM> tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) writes: |In article <1111@apple.UUCP>, dgold@apple.UUCP (David Goldsmith) writes: |> In article <746@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM> tomc@mntgfx.MENTOR.COM (Tom Carstensen) writes: |>>What is the real reason for the Macintosh SE's upper (second) disk drive for |>>being so slow (I've measured it to being up to 50% slower, or 1.5 times |>>longer than the lower drive)... |> This is a software bug. It will be fixed in a future system file. |If it is a software bug in the system file, why does old system versions (any |version) also have this problem, and if still so, why hasn't it been fixed |by now? Of the two systems I commonly use (ver 3.2 & ver 4.0) they both |have the same effect on the upper drive. It's not a bug in the system file, it's a bug in the SE ROMs. It will be fixed by a patch to the ROMs which will be contained in a future system file. -- +---------+ Brian L. Matthews | P L A N | ...{mnetor,uw-beaver!ssc-vax}!cxsea!blm | A H E A | +1 206 251 6811 +--------D+ Computer X Inc. - a division of Motorola New Enterprises