scott@cs.hw.ac.uk (Scott Telford) (05/24/91)
I've got a 20MHz 386SX clone which originally came with DOS 4.01, an Acer IDE/floppy/COM/LPT card and an NEC D.... (can't remember) 42-ish Mb IDE drive. The drive developed a problem, where occasionally, during moderate-to-heavy disk activity, the heads would stop moving (ie. the chirruping noise would stop) for about 15 secs, then, if DOS 3.30 was running, it would then generate "Not Ready" critical error. Retrying would continue as normal. If DOS 4.01 was running, no error message would appear and whatever was running would continue as normal. I got the drive replaced under warranty with a Microscience 8040 40Mb drive, and, would you believe, it's happening again! Not so often this time, and apparently only under DOS 3.30. Since it was shipped with DOS 4.01, I expect the company to be a bit reluctant to change the drive again, so I'm problably going to try installing 4.01 (been using 3.30 because of all the bug stories) soon. Has anybody else had problems like this? Does anybody know what the problem is? It happens at 8 & 20MHz, in & out of Windows 3, and on a completely clean floppy-booted system. Please reply by mail & thanx in advance... _____________________________________________________________________________ | Scott Telford, Dept of Computer Science, scott@cs.hw.ac.uk | | Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. scott%hwcs@ukc.uucp | |_____ "Expect the unexpected." (The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) ______|
scholten@esseye.UUCP (David Scholten) (05/28/91)
From article <3084@odin.cs.hw.ac.uk>, by scott@cs.hw.ac.uk (Scott Telford): > > I've got a 20MHz 386SX clone which originally came with DOS 4.01, an > Acer IDE/floppy/COM/LPT card and an NEC D.... (can't remember) 42-ish Mb > IDE drive. > > The drive developed a problem, where occasionally, during > moderate-to-heavy disk activity, the heads would stop moving (ie. the > chirruping noise would stop) for about 15 secs, then, if DOS 3.30 was > running, it would then generate "Not Ready" critical error. Retrying would > continue as normal. If DOS 4.01 was running, no error message would > appear and whatever was running would continue as normal. > > I got the drive replaced under warranty with a Microscience 8040 40Mb > drive, and, would you believe, it's happening again! Not so often this > time, and apparently only under DOS 3.30. Since it was shipped with DOS > 4.01, I expect the company to be a bit reluctant to change the drive > again, so I'm problably going to try installing 4.01 (been using 3.30 > because of all the bug stories) soon. > > Has anybody else had problems like this? Does anybody know what the > problem is? It happens at 8 & 20MHz, in & out of Windows 3, and on a > completely clean floppy-booted system. > > Please reply by mail & thanx in advance... > > _____________________________________________________________________________ > | Scott Telford, Dept of Computer Science, scott@cs.hw.ac.uk | > | Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. scott%hwcs@ukc.uucp | > |_____ "Expect the unexpected." (The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy) ______| I am having severe errors with my IDE drive too! I had posted an earlier S.O.S message, but recieved no replies... must not have made out. But anyway, I have a Rodime 105M IDE drive. I have had the following problems: When turning on the computer, the drive won't spin up. While accessing the disk, it will also stop for extended periods of time and gives the one of the following errors: (Under DOS 3.3) "Sector not found" "Drive not ready, door open" <-- my favorite for a HD! I can't seem to figure out what is happening. Does anyone have any advice out in netland? Thanks, Dave scholten.
honeywel@chama.unm.edu (Honeywell Field Service) (05/29/91)
Just passing on some information on disk problems. We had been
experiencing some strange error messages on some of the AT class systems
which would usually involve the disk or floppy. After some investigating
it turned out that they all had one thing in common a mouse card with
the IRQ jumpered to 2. It seems IRQ2 is somewhat special in the AT
systems--they've cascaded two interrupt controllers together using IRQ2
and having something active on that interrupt caused the problems. I
believe the error messages were soemthing the the effect that the disk
wasn't ready and system hangs were not infrequent.
I've been reading the articles on IDE and other disk problems with some
interest. According to our depot repair people it does sound as if many
of the problems reported are due to "Sticktion". (Hope the spelling is
correct.) The symptoms are that the drive does not come ready, after
investigating you will discover that the motor is not spinning. Repeated
power up and down of the system may bring the drive back to life. The
symptoms are also of an intermittent nature, i.e. the problem may go
away for awhile. You may discover, as I have, that reaching in and
gently moving the motor a fraction of an inch will cure the problem
temporarily.
What is apparently occuring is that the heads are actually sticking or
adhering to the platter surfaces with sufficient force to keep the
motor from spinning. The depot people reported that the problem seemed
more severe with plated media. Some of the Seagate drives have experienced
more problems with "Sticktion" than others, in particular the "100" series
and the ST251 were mentioned. None of the manufactures seem immune to
the problem and I was told that there seems to be a rash of problems of
late involving IDE drives. (That was great news since I just got an
IDE dri!)
The only solution if you're experiencing the problem frequently is to
replace the media--this means shipping your disk off to a repair center.
They reported that sometimes just cleaning the heads seemed to cure
the problem, but this is not something you can do at home.
When I asked what was causing the problem, the answers were a little vague.
The possibility of contaminant from the motor coating either the media or
the heads was mentioned. I've been aware of "sticktion" problems in the
past. When we first serviced what was then new technology CDC 600MB
winchester disks we found out about "sticktion". The heads on those drives
would stick if they were powered down for an extended period of time. The
difference was that the motors had considerably more torque than our
little 5.25 or 3.5 inch pc drives. If they stuck, the motor would just
rip the head right off the gimbals and fling it around inside the HDA.
From what I understood, "sticktion" has been around all along on the
pc disk drives, just as it was on the mini's and mainframes. Out of 1300
PC's on service here, I'm definitely not seeing the problem that frequently.
Most of these systems have 5.25 drives, we're just starting to install
the 3.5's. The drives I have seen display this symptom had generally
been in service for a couple of years and some of them were 5-6 years old,
so I encourage you not to p
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
HONEYWELL Third Party Computer Service -- 1(800) 525-7439
Mike Thomas, Senior Technician, Albuquerque, New Mexico
honeywel@wayback.unm.edu (505) 888-5820brian@mermaid.micro.umn.edu (Mail Delivery Subsystem) (05/30/91)
honeywel@chama.unm.edu (Honeywell Field Service) writes: Stuff about sticktion apparently in reference to people who's harddrives stop in the middle of working, then start working again. Just to clarify, don'tchaknow. As far as I know (got my Rodime fixed): He says: >What is apparently occuring is that the heads are actually sticking or >adhering to the platter surfaces with sufficient force to keep the >motor from spinning. Exactly. >The only solution if you're experiencing the problem frequently is to >replace the media--this means shipping your disk off to a repair center. Aside from the temporary fix to get it going (for that one last backup) this is what needs to be done :-( >When I asked what was causing the problem, the answers were a little vague. >The possibility of contaminant from the motor coating either the media or >the heads was mentioned. Take two very polished very flat metal plates and hold them together. Now try to slide them. I've been told it sticks like crazy. I doubt it's contamination, especially since so many people have this problem. >From what I understood, "sticktion" has been around all along on the >pc disk drives,... The way I hear it, the newer, more polished, smoother, higher capacity drives have this problem more, and that the relatively rough surfaced (but lower capacity) older drives had this problem infrequently. -- Brian "When I have a headache, NO ONE gets laid!" - hin9@midway.uchicago.edu (T. Rev) "Mark "When I finish the Apple Jacks, NOBODY gets any" Lippert"
bkottmann@falcon.aamrl.wpafb.af.mil (Brett Kottmann) (06/08/91)
I have similar problems with my IDE (Seagate 1144A). When I first boot up, the light cycles faster until it is almost continuous, then start slow and builds up again (needless to say, it doesn't complete a boot sequence). If I cycle the power, everything is fine. The other problem is similar to the ones presented earleir. The drive just times out with a sector not found or drive not ready error. Sounds like an IDE specification problem. Brett =============================OFFICIAL=DISCLAIMER================================ The opinions and views expressed here are strictly my own and do not necessarily reflect the official position of either the U.S. Air Force or its contractors. =====================DO=NOT=REMOVE=TAG=UNDER=PENALTY=OF=LAW===:)================