bobm@cpoint.clearpoint.com (Bob Mulcahy) (08/21/90)
Hi, I am trying to install a Maxtor XT1085 disk as the system disk on a microVAX2000. I have been unable to get past the self test. The error reported by the ROM self test is '5'. According to my documentation this means that I have an invalid UIB and I should reformat the disk. Howevr, I can't seem to get the ROM based format utility to format the drive -- I have no idea what the parameters are that the utility is asking for. Even if I give it answers that I guess at -- it fails. It always fails formatting during the process of locating the manufacturer's bad block table on the disk. Therefore, I went over to my MicroVAX II and formatted my disk with the controller on that machine. It is a SDC-RQD11-B (Made by Sigma Information System). I was able to get this to work just fine -- it formatted, tested and I even wrote something they call a 'disk structure' onto my disk. I then took that formatted disk over to my 2000 and it still failed the same way: invalid UIB. Does anyone know how I can get this drive to work on my 2000? thanks, bob
terry@spcvxb.spc.edu (Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr) (08/21/90)
In article <6993@cpoint.clearpoint.com>, bobm@cpoint.clearpoint.com (Bob Mulcahy) writes: > > Does anyone know how I can get this drive to work on my 2000? I assume the Maxtor is a ST-506 interface drive and you're trying to use the 2000's internal RQDX3-alike controller? (The other possibility being that you're trying to put a disk on the pseudo-SCSI port. The less said a- about that, the better 8-). Anyway, the 2000 uses a controller which has a disk format identical to the RQDX3. The RQDX3 formatter supports the following drives directly: o RD51 (Seagate ST-412) o RD52 (Quantum Q540, Atasi 3046) [The original drive was supposed to be the Evotek 5540, but sufficient quantities were unavailable) o RD53 (Micropolis 1325) * o RD54 (Maxtor XT2190) o RD31 (Seagate ST225) o RD32 (Seagate ST251-1) o RX50 (DEC RX50) o RX33 (Teac FD-55-GFR-17V) ** * - Minor hardware modification required - Insert 0 ohm resistor in R7 ** - Non-obvious jumper settings required All the hard disks in the list above should be jumpered for the 3rd (of 4 possible) drive selects when used in the BA23 box. Other drives can be supported if you want to figure out the MSCP table geometry for the drive. I suspect that's what the 2000's formatter is ask- ing you. It's somewhat convoluted. I suggest that you try to locate one of the above drives and just tell the formatter which one you've got. It's a lot easier. By the way, the for- mat is probably quite different from your Sigma board's format. Terry Kennedy Operations Manager, Academic Computing terry@spcvxa.bitnet St. Peter's College, US terry@spcvxa.spc.edu (201) 915-9381