milne@ICS.UCI.EDU (Alastair Milne) (02/27/91)
Two people have already responded to my notice yesterday.
One reminded me that Quantum's have been known for problems
with the spindle spinning adequately. I have been told that
problem is addressed with the QuantumPro 105: there is apparently
an onboard routine that measures the capacitance needed to
turn the drive; if that climbs, it's interpreted as meaning
the drive is sticking, and the routine works the drive a bit
to free it. I expect this is correct, because from time to time
I hear the drive chattering to itself although there is no system
activity using it.
Nonetheless, I will have a look around for some public domain software
that was mentioned for lengthening the time the system allows the disc
to come up to speed, just in case, in some subtle way, the sticking problem
is still there.
There were (unlikely though it may seem!) a couple of points I should
have mentioned in the last message:
- when the Welcome message is on the screen (booting from floppy)
I usually hear the drive chattering, as if the system were actually
reaching it. At first I disregarded this as coincidence, but it
happens almost every time I boot from floppy.
After which there is usually a sustained pause, then the machine
reads the floppies.
- even as I am sitting in SCSI commander, trying to figure out what to
try next, I sometimes hear the drive chattering to itself. This is
maddening!
- the drive is internal.
I have just tried changing the SCSI address of the drive, in case
something happened to be bad with address 0; but it's just the same.
All help much appreciated.
Alastair Milne