john@taurus.UUCP (John McCurry) (11/12/87)
This took a while to get out I'm afraid - I used the wrong mailing
address.
Ken Smith wanted to know of a VDFORMAT exists for the CDC 515MB disk
drives. I asked around and got the following information.
The rev 3.5 vdformat tape will work with all of the drive types including
the 515. This version comes with CCI's System V release but we use it on
our Berekely systems too.
There is a known problem with it so our tech-support people asked me to
pass this along too:
-----------------------
COMPUTER CONSOLES INCORPORATED
TO: All Field Personnel
FROM: CSTO Irvine
DATE: 10-28-87
SUBJECT: 3.5 Vdformat problem
The purpose of this FLASH bulletin is to inform field personnel of a
problem with the 3.5 vdformat program. The 3.5 vdformat program was
included in the 2.21 release. This problem does not effect system
performance at the UNIX or application level.
The problem only shows up when running PITS after doing a verify of a
3.5 vdformated Maxtor 380 MB drive. When executing the verify option,
of vdformat, the program zero's out the pointer, in the ID block, to
the address of the maintance cylinder that PITS uses to test the drive.
Then when you run the disk subsystem test of PITS the diagnostics will
fail with the following error message: Cannot identify drive(s) The
program then returns you to the main PITS menu.
If you have a drive that experiences this problem you can rewrite the
ID block by using the Correct option in vdformat.
The procedure is as follows:
1. Boot vdformat and when the operation prompt appears type: "Correct".
When the operation prompt comes back type "start".
2. You should now have the location prompt. Type "ID" and answer the
questions. Type "start", it is now re-writing the ID block.
This problem will be fixed in the patch release 2.21.03 which will be
released in 2 months.
-----------------------
Ken, and any others in the same boat, I hope that this is of some help.
Please let us know - e-mail, phone calls, whatever - if you have any
problems getting the tape or if you have problems using it.
John J. McCurry
Computer Consoles Inc. CPD, Irvine, Ca. (714) 458-7282
uunet!ccicpg!leo!john