wwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu (William A Warner) (03/09/91)
This is a sampling of the e-mail that I have been recieving on this problem. >I have the same problem with my Amiga 3000 with two QUANTUM hard drives. >Every once in a while (one out of every seven turn ons) the second hard >drive is not "seen." Once the hard drive is seen (I actually have to turn >OFF the computer and back on again) the hard drive is always seen after every >re-boot. Everything is hooked up okay -- so I don't want to get mail saying >"check terminator" "Is it formatted??" etc... Everything is hooked up fine >and is a rather minor problem for me... It only happens on occasion, but >it should not happen at all... I thoght at first that it could be the hard >drive -- but that does not make sense -- especially now... I hope someone >at Commodore will analyze this problem and give us a good answer... > >Greg Bothe >GBOTHE@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU As you can see, this is not just an isolated case. I have recieved about 15 messages saying the same thing. Each one of these individuals is somewhat experienced with computer hardware and software. (Not novices!) THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN ADDING A 2nd HD: #1 Do NOT! I repeat DO NOT! change the partition device name of "WB_2.x" or "WB_1.3"! This is VERY IMPORTANT! You can rename the icon, but that is different. The 3000 hardware looks for these devices SPECIFICLY upon cold bootup (or "kickreboot",if you have it) for the proper kickstart! And Yes I did learn this the "hard way" about 2 am one morning! #2 If you want your "1.3 side" to recognize that HD then make sure you get the L:fastfilesystem into the Sys:L when you format that drive. This may sound like a stupid oversight on someone's part, but when you use 2.0 to use "HDtoolbox" to low-level format your HD, you probably booted up in 2.0. In which case, your sys:l dir (2.0) has NOT got the fastfilesystem in it like 1.3 does!!!! You will end up with a HD rigid disk block that does not contain the necessary fastfilesystem in it for 1.3 to recognize it. 1.3 will respond to it with "Not a dos disk" If you have already made this mistake and want to correct it, don't despair. All you have to do is go back (while in 2.0) and copy the 1.3:L/fastfilesystem (from the WB_1.3 floppy) into your 2.0:L dir. Then bring up HDtoolbox and select the HD with the problem, and under "partition drive/advanced options/add filesystem" add the "ffs" to just one of your HD partitions. (ie. no need to do it to every partition!) Make sure that each partition has the "ffs" as its filesystem. I don't think you have to even reformat your partitions if you formatted them "ffs" initially. #3 This is just a reminder when formatting. use the "quick ffs" option when formatting HD's. It not only saves you LOTS of time, but will allow you to format a HD that has some bad blocks in it that can be mapped off later by using "verify data". This allows you to still use the good blocks of a otherwise bad HD. I hope this helps someone out. As for myself, I am still having the "2nd Hd not recognized upon cold bootup and every other warm-reboot" problem! If ANYONE out there can help, PLEASE DO! -- Art Warner wwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu Amiga makes it happen.......IBM, Mac, Sun, and Next make it expensive!
wwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu (William A Warner) (03/09/91)
In article <1991Mar8.171901.13286@en.ecn.purdue.edu> wwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu (William A Warner) writes: >#3 This is just a reminder when formatting. use the "quick ffs" option > when formatting HD's. It not only saves you LOTS of time, but will > allow you to format a HD that has some bad blocks in it that can be > mapped off later by using "verify data". This allows you to still > use the good blocks of a otherwise bad HD. > You should "verify data" before you format. But, doing so after a format will not destroy the contents of that partition anyway. This tool is good to use if you suspect bad data/HD etc or if you get GURUS or corrupted data messages more than usual. (one corrupted data message is too many for me!) -- Art Warner wwarner@en.ecn.purdue.edu Amiga makes it happen.......IBM, Mac, Sun, and Next make it expensive!