mdg@smegma.UUCP (Marc de Groot) (06/15/88)
The hard disk I/O error messages are cryptic (to say the least) and Microport users deserve an apology. I am posting a quick note, and I will follow it with more details later. The "status", "estat", and "drstat" number which print out are registers in the hard disk controller. They are called the status register, error register, and SDH byte, respectively. A detailed description of their contents can be found in Western Digital's documentation and in the IBM Technical Reference, Options and Adapters volume. The drive number on which the error occurred can be decoded from drstat. If bit 4 of drstat (the fifth bit from the right) is set, the error occurred on drive 1. If bit 4 is reset, the error occurred on drive 0. -- Marc de Groot (KG6KF) UUCP: uunet!{uport,ubvax}!smegma!mdg AMATEUR PACKET RADIO: KG6KF @ KB6IRS "smegma (smegma) n. 1. Progress, intelligently planned." -D. Dew