[comp.sys.zenith] partition problems with hard disk of Zenith; Compar, Inc.

amthor@umaxc.weeg.uiowa.edu (Geoffrey Amthor) (11/17/89)

In article <3185@husc6.harvard.edu> waldman2@husc8.UUCP (Bruce Waldman) writes:
>Recently I found that I was unable to access my 20 mb hard disk
>on my Zenith SuperSport 286. If I booted from a floppy, everything
>ran fine, but any reference to C:  elicited a message stating I
>was using an invalid drive. If I tried to boot from the hard disk,
>I was shunted into the SETUP menu and couldn't get out.  The Zenith
>service person says I have destroyed my partition.  Could someone
>explain to me what actually happened?  Sorry if this is a naive 
>question, but I thought partitions were used to access disks with
>>30MB or for splitting physical disks into >1 logical disks.  This
>is all occurring with Zenith MS-DOS 3.3 Plus.
> 
>Bruce Waldman, bw@harvarda.bitnet


I've had the same problem with my (former) Zenith Supersport 286 Model 40,
which has a 40MB drive.  Warning: it gets worse.

A chronology:

May '89--occasional inexplicable software crashes.  Early June--inability
to boot from c:, but still access to c: via a:.  Days later--garbage
directories, missing directories on c:, but still limited access.  Days
later: access denied to c: (Solution: rePARTition the drive--files still
good).  Still later--access again denied; rePARTitioning didn't help;
rePREPing the drive impossible (the PREP command wipes the slate clean
and rebuilds the disk; procees takes upward of an hour; in my case the
machine was unable to complete the process.)  Machine shipped to Heath/
Zenith for service (my source for the machine couldn't even get parts
for at least a month); new hard drive installed by Heath early July.

New drive lasted one hour.  Complete failure; similar symptoms.  Occasionally
revivable using PARTition command or repeated rebooting of machine to obtain
access to c: via a:.  Revival never extended past powerdown; sometimes failed
during use.  Machine usable only on floppy drive for one month (I was traveling
to Alaska).  Anchorage repair center in late August replaced motherboard and
hard drive.  New drive failed in one day.

Late September returned home.  Mightily pissed.  (Throughout these months,
my actions were largely directed by various clueless service reps--some
independent, some from Zenith, some from Heath, some from Compar (my source
for the machine.)  Late Sept., Compar rep Ray Jones hinted the problem
might have something to do with WordPerfect 5.0; said he'd now had two
similar cases; said Zenith aware of and working on problem.  Conflicting
info from Zenith.  WordPerfect, depending on the rep, was alternatively
clueless or suggestive of some compatibility problems with Zenith machines.
Finally, one WP rep said he polled his fellow WPers and concluded there were
NO compatibility problems.  WPman suggested hard drive corruption can
sometimes be caused by power fluctuations during read/write.

With consequential damages now about $10,000 because of lost contracts
in my profession (due either to lost time or data), I decided to bail out.
Since the earliest problems surfaced about a month after my purchase, I
felt reasonable justification in pursuing a refund.  After much stonewalling
by Compar, I wrote a 4-pg letter to Compar's president, detailing my problems
and suggesting legal action, Better Bus. Bureau, letters to trade pubs, etc.,
if Compar was unable to meet my deadline of November 1 for a refund.
With the president out of the country, his son (a mkg. mgr.) took it upon
himself to call me.  Not only did he refuse to apologize or even show sympathy,
the guy actually berated me and threatened me.

Fresh from this call, I faxed a copy of my Compar letter to Zenith.  A Zenith
rep unofficially suggested that Zenith would be willing to supply me a brand
new machine with a new warranty.  But after over five months of computer agony,
I did not feel the urge to repeat the experience with a new machine.  (My 
reasoning: since no one could identify the source of my problem, the problem
could easily be a design problem or compatibility problem that would resurface
even in a new unit.  I was not willing to wait for this to happen, or deal with
it again.)  After HEAVY armtwisting, Zenith came through.  To the credit of the
company, Zenith made in writing a full apology for my inconvenience and
promised a full refund.

(Some thoughts: As I was *Compar's* customer, and only an end user of Zenith's
product, it was Compar's place to arrange a refund.  I reiterated this over
and over to Compar in my discussions with them, but received only indifference
and growing hostility from Compar.  [Compar is a major distributor of Zenith,
located in Eden Prairie, MN.]  I'm sure Zenith isn't thrilled about end users
hassling them directly, but throughout my dealings with Zenith I was
always treated politely and with respect.  Though Zenith waited until my
stated absolute drop-dead deadline (Nov. 1) to respond, they did decide in my
favor.  My contact at Zenith has since been most conciliatory.  I'm still
waiting for my check, but my belief in Zenith Data Systems as a company
stays strong.)

Some conclusions:

Be wary of Compar.  I'm sure there are many satisfied customers of the company,
but my experience with them has been so unfathomably unpleasant that I can
only warn others to take my battle into consideration before buying from
the company.

There *may* be a design problem with the Supersport.  I emphasize
my uncertainty, as I have only my own experience and the experience of
Bruce to go on.  All I know is that I treated my machine with care,
and yet it failed repeatedly--even after two new drives and a new
motherboard.  I don't know enough about viruses to know whether a virus
could be the source.  I also don't know what to make of the hints (since
denied) that a hidden compatibility problem may exist between WP 5.0 and
the SSport that actually *damages* the drive.  (Yes, I used WP just fine
for a long time before problems cropped up.  And no, I have no idea how
software could damage hardware.  But this idea came from Compar; they
said something about "hard spaces" (??) being inserted by WP, tripping up
the drive--I couldn't follow the discussion at the time.)  I've also had
some minor problems running Norton Utilities 4.5, Corefast 2.0, and Word
for Word Professional on the SSport, but these may not be related.

What about the idea of power fluctuations being the source of the problem?
This idea came from WP; perhaps fluctuations affected the integrity of the
FAT during read\writes.  An interesting conjecture: the bad power could be 
the car battery, since that source has been the only source tapped during
*all three* incarnations of the SSport--no AC source has been there *each*
time.  (Yes, I've used a Zenith-issued car adapter.)  So maybe the SSport
has trouble with car power.

Final conclusion: we could use a lot more data.  Anyone out there with a
problem similar to mine?  Please e-mail or call.  I'm a neophyte on the
net, and have not tried out the e-mail function, so if I don't respond
to you it probably means I haven't figured out e-mail.  In that case,
please call 319-354-6465.  In any case, I'll summarize for the net.

pollack@toto.cis.ohio-state.edu (Jordan B Pollack) (11/17/89)

I recently went through some mysterious crashes with my supersport. 
It was either:  

A) the use of the extended 1M of memory by a MSW 2.03 Caching program,
B) the falling out or the right rear bottom screw. 

From my experience, it certainly seemed like a heat-related memory
problem. Hypothesis: either the use of the second M heated up the
machine, or the screw actually helps ventilation or heatsinking.

By the time I brought it into my H/Z dealer, I had removed the TSR and
found the missing screw. They could not find any problem nor has it
repeated, nor was there a case history.

I have not bothered to isolate the fault any further.

Jordan