striker@ncoast.UUCP (Robert Forsythe) (10/05/87)
I have just purchased a Newbury (read: Maxtor) 140meg fixed disk, low level formatted it under DOS and installed it permanently under SCO Xenix V/386. After installation and mount as the /usr filesystem (/dev/u --> /usr), I ran a few benchmarks overnight. In the morning I was treated to a rude surprise, I was getting repeated "error on fixed disk (minor 64) ... sector=0 cylinder/hd= 0/0". My god, what the heck is that supposed to mean??!! Okay, so I shut down and let the thing cool off (BTW, this is an IBM AT w/ Inboard 386 & 6.5Meg). When I turn the thing back on, I get a 1790 AND 1781 error!! I boot Xenix and I can't even open the raw device to the friggin thing. Okay, so I must have munged something somewhere. I try to redo a low level format and BANG!, I get errors all over the place. One public domain ATDIAG program even had the gall to tell me that my controller may have croaked. I try it as disk0 (without the Priam 60M that is my /dev/rroot ---> /), still wild problems abound. Anyone face this kind of ridiculous cr-p, or am I the only sucker who bought a Newbury/Maxtor 1140????? Any suggestions? (I tried cust. support and THEY say "go to the people you bought it from, we CAN'T help you". Great, the people I bought it from are out of business... (Interesting note: when I boot Xenix and run without mounting (read: trying to mount) the 1140, it SQUEALS! Yes, SQUEALS! It apparently thinks it's disk0 and mimics the seeks, etc. of the Priam... ) (-more98%- It also seems that the 1140 is causing static interference at a scale large enough to produce "chatter" over the built in speaker on the AT! How's that for incredible...?) Thanks for any help and suggestions in advance - forgive the length of my post. My reaction is proportional to the money and wasted time spent on this drive. Robert Forsythe --- ihnp4!cwruecmp!ncoast!striker
burton@parcvax.Xerox.COM (Philip M. Burton) (10/06/87)
In article <4813@ncoast.UUCP> striker@ncoast.UUCP (Robert Forsythe) writes: > > >I have just purchased a Newbury (read: Maxtor) 140meg fixed disk, low level >formatted it under DOS and installed it permanently under SCO Xenix V/386. >mimics the seeks, etc. of the Priam... ) (-more98%- It also seems that the 1140 >is causing static interference at a scale large enough to produce "chatter" over >the built in speaker on the AT! How's that for incredible...?) > I have a Maxtor 1140 in my AT, which runs "only" a 286, but at 9 1/2 MHz using a speedup product. The damned thing is very noisy on head accesses, but I never hear anything through the speaker. Before you assume your drive electronics have given out, or your disk controller has gone south,try the swap-out method of testing. One note. Unless you use an identical drive/controller combination in your testing, you will have to redo a low-level format each time you move things around. But there are lots of other potential s for problems: First try to press on your ribbon cable connections. Also, take out something from your AT, since you might simply not have enough power. The Maxtor takes about 4+ amps of +12V, and that could affect even the AT's power supply. If you know it's the drive, try to call Maxtor service for a repair. Ask for customer service. They are nice folks. -- Philip Burton burton@parcvax.COM or ...!hplabs!parcvax!burton Xerox Corp. preferred path: burton.osbunorth@xerox.COM (Xerox net) 408 737 4635 ... the usual disclaimers apply ...