#hard drive problems
15 messages in this thread
Hi All!
I have been having trouble with a particular partition on my hard disk
lately (i.e. volume xx has a read/write error), but it seems to be sporadic
and irreproducible. Also, choosing retry from the requester seems to make
it go away 99% of the time (tho' sometimes the requester comes up, and the
drive light stays on and the mouse pointer won't move, forcing a reboot. I
am using the Xetec FastTrak SCSI adaptor with a 40M Quantum drive. I have
used the SCSITool program supplied by Xetec (and it found no defects) and I
have backed that partition up (evidently succesfully) using Quarterback. I
am wondering whether a re-formatting of the drive (or the offending
partition) is likely to get rid of this problem … does anyone know? Is
anyone else out there using the FastTrak?
What (if any) problems have you experienced?
Thanx in advance!!
jake
Jake,
Yes…reformatting the partition *should* help. If it doesn't,
then it may be a DMA conflict…presuming the Xetec is a DMA type
interface. I don't know if it is or isn't so that may or may not be a
problem.
Don
Don,
I hate to break in on a thread, but I have a related prolem. My
problem is if I boot my system with a disk in the drive I end up visiting
the GURU. Well the problem is that now if I push a disk into the drive
after boot up the same thing happens. I know for a fact that my DF0: drive
is going bad (3 1/2 years old). I can get bad sectors on it and change the
disk to drive DF1: and read the disk.
Can the bad state of my floppy drives be causing me to visit the GURU? Even
if I boot on the hard drive?
<<<BP>>>
Bruce,
Yes…it is possible, but it's unlikely. More than likely, you've
got a bad CIA chip and that is what is causing the GURU on floppy access.
3 1/2 years is not old for a floppy drive…even if you use it
regularly.
Don
Don,
I am almost totally hardware illeterate. If you can think of a
chimp with C knowledge you have a good impression of me. WTF, is a CIA chip
and how can I find out if I have a bad one. Without taking it to the
dealer and having him let it sit on the shelf, telling me nothing is wrong
it must be the operator, "That will be $55.00, please". Yeah, my dealer is
a real slug. But he is all we have in the area. I there some sort of test
without cracking the box?
<<<BP>>>
Bruce,
CIA stands for Complex Interface Adapter…and the Amiga has 2 of
them. They control the disk drives, serial and parallel ports, keyboard
and other neat things. They are VERY sensitive to static and very easy to
'zap' if you plug things in and out while the computer is powered (and in
some cases…while it's not powered).
You can also zap them by messing around inside the computer.
The only way you can tell for sure if you have a bad one is to swap
the two of them … which of course requires opening the computer and
handling them VERY carefully when swapping. Then if only one of them is
bad…some things will start to work ok, and other things will quit
working.
The other way is to have your dealer check them out. The chip
itself costs about $15 or so. Labor to change it would be perhaps $20
(depends on the tech's rate of course).
Don
Don,
I will let my tech, work with them. Remember, Chip with shoes.<G>
<<<BP>>>
Bruce,
Many dealers will perform a CIA chip replacement as a walk-in repair. Maybe
your dealer will also do that for you? (It's a good idea to call first,
and to avoid his busy times.)
David
– via Whap!
David,
Just to set the scene I live in Hawaii, on the island of Ohau.
There is onlt one dealer that performs repairs on Amigas here. And YES he
knows it. As I said in an earlier post, I can't prove it, but several
times I have taken my machine in and "know" he did nothing and charged me
for 1 hours work. That and just for looking at the machine (no work,
doesn't open the box) he charges $55.00.
<<<BP>>>
Bruce,
That's when you left the choice up to him. If you went in and specifically
requested him to replace the CIA chips and give you the ones he removed,
you should be fairly certain that he'd do it for you. General technique
for identifying a bad CIA chip is to swap them in the machine. If the
symptoms change, at least one of them is bad.
David
– via Whap!
David,
Even better I set up an appoinment with him to remove them and
replace them. With the knowledge gleened from you brains on this system I
acted like I knew how long it would take. He seemed surprised but agreed
he coul change then in about 45 minutes (for the pair).
Thanks for the help, the louse would have tried o tell be it would
take hours.
<<<BP>>>
Bruce,
Glad to be of help. 8)
Remember, though, that since you're directing him, you assume the
responsibility of the outcome. It certainly won't hurt to replace the
chips with good new ones, but if it's not the problem, you'll end up with
some spare 8520's and back at square 1 as far as your trouble is concerned.
I worked with someone who had really bad failure to boot problems at home
but couldn't duplicate them for the service tech. After many frustrations,
including a desparation replacement of both 8520 chips, he finally traced
it to a bad joystick! (one of the kind with an auto-fire circuit
built-in.) Seems that he always connected everything at home when he was
trying it.
Let us know how you make out.
David
– via Whap!
David,
The problem is not a boot problem. It is that the machine visits
the GURU more often than not. I will check out the CIA chips and let you
know. I have also ordered 2 Air-drives as replacements.
<<<BP>>>
Jake,
I have the same controller/hard drive and recently experienced what
sounds like the same problem. In my case it turned out to be sticking heads
in the Quantum drive. They repaired the unit under warranty ( the absolute
biggest headache imaginable results from dealing with Quantums service
department – I reached the point where I was pricing replacement drives
from other manufacturers! ). In my case the problem was sporadic for two
months then fatal. Good luck!
– via Whap!
Jake,
I read in a Mac World magazine that a lot of Quantum owners are having
a problem with the drives. This problems are intermitent and are caused by
the lubrication they are using with those drives. It seems that it stick.
Fred