[comp.periphs.scsi] Maxtor drive problems

bill@unixland.uucp (Bill Heiser) (02/25/91)

I have a Maxtor XT-8760S that I bought in "untested" condition at
a flea market.  I figured out how to get the SCSI id set, and put it
in line in my system as follows (I bypassed my tapedrive for this test).

       external 
       connector
           !
          \/
###### ----->  ###### -----> #######
Adaptec        Maxtor        CDC Wren
1542b          XT-8760S      94171-307  
terminators    no terms.     terminators.
               SCSI id 1     SCSI id 0

The machine boots, the Adaptec bios finds the drives.  When I try
to run scsicntl, it bombs, saying something like this:

Read Capacity:  hard Drive 1 error reported
sense key 03:  medium error
error code 31:  format failed


When I try to look at the drives using debug (g=dc00:06), it shows
the following configuration:

Target    LUN    Vendor ID    Product ID
------    ----   ---------    ----------
0          0     CDC           94171-9
1          0     MAXTOR        XT-8760S   JOHS

When I try to run the format routine, the following happens:

TIMEOUT ERROR
SCSI MODE SELECT COMMAND

When I try to run the verify routine, the following happens:

TIMEOUT ERROR
SCSI READ CAPACITY COMMAND


What is the most likely cause of these errors?  Is there a possible
configuration (jumper) error?  There are no jumpers in place on the back
of the drive except for the one I installed to make the SCSI id = 1.

If the drive needs work, does this sound like something that can be fixed?
Any approximation on what it should cost?

I'm not upset about this, as I bought the drive in an "unknown" state.
I figured for what I paid for it, even if it does need repair, it's probably
still lots cheaper than a "new" or "reconditioned" one, at least based on
what I've seen for prices on used ones in misc.forsale.computers.

One other question:  should "any" electronics parts house carry the 
terminators for this drive (in-line pins, 8 pins), or do I need to contact
Maxtor?

Any tips, hints, or suggestions regarding this situation would be most
appreciated.  The guy who sold me the drive said I could contact him 
to have it repaired if necessary, but I'd rather gather the collective
expertise of the net before I jump into anything.

Thanks in advance!
Bill






















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neese@adaptx1.UUCP (02/27/91)

>/* ---------- "Maxtor drive problems (LONG)" ---------- */
>
>I have a Maxtor XT-8760S that I bought in "untested" condition at
>a flea market.  I figured out how to get the SCSI id set, and put it
>in line in my system as follows (I bypassed my tapedrive for this test).
>
>       external 
>       connector
>           !
>          \/
>###### ----->  ###### -----> #######
>Adaptec        Maxtor        CDC Wren
>1542b          XT-8760S      94171-307  
>terminators    no terms.     terminators.
>               SCSI id 1     SCSI id 0
>
>The machine boots, the Adaptec bios finds the drives.  When I try
>to run scsicntl, it bombs, saying something like this:
>
>Read Capacity:  hard Drive 1 error reported
>sense key 03:  medium error
>error code 31:  format failed
>STUFF DELETED<

It sounds like the drive cannot find the firmware on the media.  This
particular Maxtor has a small amount of firmware resident on the drive
ROM to get it started and it copies the real firmware off of the disk
into RAM on the controller.
If the drive cannot get the firmware off of the disk, you would get the
errors you described.  One of two problems exist in this scenario.  The
blocks on the media, where the firmware is located have gone bad, or the
disk head that reads the media has gone bad, in either case, the disk
is not able to locate/read the firmware off of the disk.  To correct this
error, you would have to replace the HDA assembly.
The other scenario is; The HDA controller board is gone away and needs to be
replaced.  I don't think this would be the problem as the controller is
alive enough to report problems.

>One other question:  should "any" electronics parts house carry the 
>terminators for this drive (in-line pins, 8 pins), or do I need to contact
>Maxtor?

They are standard SIP resistor terminator packs.  220/120 ohm.

			Roy Neese
			Adaptec Senior SCSI Applications Engineer
			UUCP @  neese@adaptex
				uunet!cs.utexas.edu!utacfd!
				  {nominil,merch,cpe}!adaptex!neese
				uunet!mlite!adaptex!neese

thad@public.BTR.COM (Thaddeus P. Floryan) (02/27/91)

In article <283400056@adaptx1> neese@adaptx1.UUCP writes:
>
>>One other question:  should "any" electronics parts house carry the 
>>terminators for this drive (in-line pins, 8 pins), or do I need to contact
>>Maxtor?
>
>They are standard SIP resistor terminator packs.  220/120 ohm.

Uh, don't you mean "220/330 Ohm"?

While on this subject, is there an archive site for SCSI material that's
been posted to the Usenet?  Reason I'm asking is that I've a bunch of
goodstuff that I'm reposting every month or so to some other newsgroups
regarding SCSI and that task is becoming arduous, so I'd like to put it
"somewhere" where others can get at it easily.  Suggestions welcome, even
posting to this newsgroup from which an archiver can more-easily grab it
than I could email it.

Thad Floryan [ thad@btr.com (OR) {decwrl, mips, fernwood}!btr!thad ]

root@netdev.comsys.COM (Superuser) (02/28/91)

In article <283400056@adaptx1> neese@adaptx1.UUCP writes:

>>/* ---------- "Maxtor drive problems (LONG)" ---------- */

>>I have a Maxtor XT-8760S that I bought in "untested" condition at
>>Read Capacity:  hard Drive 1 error reported
>>sense key 03:  medium error
>>error code 31:  format failed
>>STUFF DELETED<

>It sounds like the drive cannot find the firmware on the media.  This
more deleted.

 I beleive the format command was interrupted mid-stream and the 'firmware'
area of the disk is partially or completely cleared. We had a occaision
to see the exact same error, and the same conditions. In fact the same
drives. Perhaps Roy can enlighten me if this is not possible. The recourse
is to return the drive to the factory, unless there is a format data recovery
proceedure available via Roy's scsicntl contributions - which I beleive
are very nice - thanks to Roy's work. 

 -Alex