[comp.periphs.scsi] Strange problems with Priam 738 & Adaptec 1542B

hm78907@cs.tut.fi (Hannu Mikkola) (03/24/91)

I'm having some problems with my Priam 738 disk and Adaptec 1542B
controller. The operating systems I use are pc-dos 3.3 and Esix 5.3.2
d.  The problem is that my hard disk seems to reset itself every now
and then. It goes off for under a second, after that it goes on again,
resets itself (same kind of sound is heard on the scsi bus reset) and
starts to work. This might happen as often as five times within ten
minutes, but sometimes it takes two days to occur even once.  Under
ms-dos this is difficult because dos reports not ready error after one
"stop" and has to be booted again. Esix doesn't seem to care too much
for these stops if it's not writing something to disc while it's
happening.

Both the disk and controller are only few months old, and this thing
started to happen this month. 

What I'd like to know is where I should start to look the fault, be it
the disk, the controller, scsi cable or the computer power that is
making these errors? Or could my disk controllers parameters be wrong
(this I doubt because the system worked a few months without any
error)?

I guess at least Adaptec has some kind of guarantee, and perhaps Priam
has also one, but how can I know which one's fault is this? I can't
easily loan either another disk or controller for testing.

I'd like to hear your ideas concerning this problem!

--
	 ... the Earth hath skin, and the skin hath diseases.
		     One of these is called man.

		  Hannu Mikkola       hm78907@cs.tut.fi