[comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware] Hard Disk Config & Spinup Problems

brada@bardlover.Eng.Sun.COM (Brad Albom) (09/05/90)

Hi all -

I'm having 2 different problems with 2 different hard disks.

1) I'm trying to use Speedstor &/or Seagate Disk Manager to reformat
a MicroScience hard disk, but the model doesn't show up
on any of the menus & none of the obvious values I've tried
seems to work. So, does anyone have the configuration for
a Microscience Model HH-612-C ? (i.e. heads, sectors, etc?)
Unfortunately I know nothing about the drive, not even its 
capacity. It came out of an old NCR PC clone. 
 
2) I can't seem to get a Toshiba model MK-156-FA (~141Meg ESDI)
disk to spin up. It came out of a Sun box, & appears to be
a normal disk. I've plugged it into a standard power supply
but it just makes a couple of clicking noises (like heads moving?)
but it never starts spinning. Is there some trick with this
drive ?

BTW, last time I posted a question about hard disks here (regarding
an IBM AT not recognizing 2 different hard disks on the same controller)
I didn't post a summary of all the useful responses because it turned
out to be controller related. Plopped in a different controller & 
both disks were recognized (although the AT still insists it hasn't
been SETUP properly at boot time).

Thanks in advance for any help,

-brad albom
Software Engineering Solutions, Inc
(707)552-5248 (Office)
(415)336-5999 (On-Site)

brim@cbmvax.commodore.com (Mike Brim - Product Assurance) (09/05/90)

In article <141815@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> brada@bardlover.Eng.Sun.COM (Brad Albom) writes:
> 1) I'm trying to use Speedstor &/or Seagate Disk Manager to reformat
> a MicroScience hard disk, but the model doesn't show up
> on any of the menus & none of the obvious values I've tried
> seems to work. So, does anyone have the configuration for
> a Microscience Model HH-612-C ? (i.e. heads, sectors, etc?)
> Unfortunately I know nothing about the drive, not even its 
> capacity. It came out of an old NCR PC clone. 

Heads = 4, cylinders = 306, sectors = 17, RWP = 307, park = 307
11meg cap.
-- 
********************************************************************************
Disclaimer: My company knows not what I say (or do).

Mike Brim			     |	Commodore Electronics Limited
PC Analyst - System Evaluation Group | 	West Chester, PA 19380
Product Assurance		     |	InterNet: brim@cbmvax.commodore.com
********************************************************************************

poffen@sj.ate.slb.com (Russ Poffenberger) (09/06/90)

In article <141815@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> brada@bardlover.Eng.Sun.COM (Brad Albom) writes:
>Hi all -
>
>I'm having 2 different problems with 2 different hard disks.
>
[problem 1 deleted (can't help there)]
> 
>2) I can't seem to get a Toshiba model MK-156-FA (~141Meg ESDI)
>disk to spin up. It came out of a Sun box, & appears to be
>a normal disk. I've plugged it into a standard power supply
>but it just makes a couple of clicking noises (like heads moving?)
>but it never starts spinning. Is there some trick with this
>drive ?
>

I am not sure about ESDI, but I know that most SCSI disks have an option which
will prevent them from spinning up until a signal is received from the
controller. So if a controller isn't connected, it won't spin up. On CDC
Wren's at least, this can be overridden by a jumper.


Russ Poffenberger               DOMAIN: poffen@sj.ate.slb.com
Schlumberger Technologies       UUCP:   {uunet,decwrl,amdahl}!sjsca4!poffen
1601 Technology Drive		CIS:	72401,276
San Jose, Ca. 95110             (408)437-5254