#Maxtor Problems
19 messages in this thread
I am having problems with a Maxtor MXT-540S.
(S not SL, this is the IBM OEM drive)
I am using it in an A3000.
The problems I am having concern the transfer of large files. Some times
it will take a long time (maybe 10-30 seconds as opposed to a maximum of
2) when transfering a file over 200k.
When this happens the copied file, has correct size, but the data is
corrupt.
Someone on BIX has the same drive, and placed a single terminator on the
A3000 motherboard to correct this problem. I have tried this but it has
helped very little.
Dave
Elite MicroComputers – Flying high on AutoPilot
Suggest you try reducing the MAXTRANSFER number in HDTOOLBOX to 1FFFF or so
from 7FFFFF. It is possible the large file is outstripping the Amiga/drive
ability to keep up and reducing MAXTRANSFER may help the system keep up more
easily.
I have played around with the MAXTRANSFER. It didn't help any, just slowed
the entire drive down. But I will try what you gave me.
Dave
Elite MicroComputers – Flying high on AutoPilot
Nope. MaxTransfer 1FFFF – 7FFFFF didn't help any…..
Dave
Elite MicroComputers – Flying high on AutoPilot
You could try swapping out the WD SCSI controller chip with a newer
version. I've seen some problems with 3000s and some drives that I felt
were firmware problems between the "proto" chip in the 3000 and the
drive.
-Jim
MOS via Autopilot & Amiga
Do you know what the current REV of the WD chip is?
I have a WD33C93A-PL 00-04 9114 WDC PROTO
Dave
Elite MicroComputers – Flying high on AutoPilot
-08 is a current part.
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."
UGHHH……I'm 4 revs back? Time to search for a new SCSI chip.
Anyone know any sources? Is GrapeVine still around?
Dave
Elite MicroComputers – Flying high on AutoPilot
Rev -04 works fine for most people using AmigaOS. Under alternate OS's,
the -08 is nicer because it fixes bugs (AmigaOS works around the known
bugs in each of several revs).
It is not an Amiga-specific part, so availability isn't much of a problem.
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."
-8 is the last version I've heard of. I recently saw someone in Amigaworld
advertising them, but a quick look thru the last couple issues was
fruitless. It's a standard part though, so it should be available thru the
usual electronics outfits.
-Jim
MOS via Autopilot & Amiga
excellent suggestion. A friend had a 'similar' problem recently with a maxtor
120 on a A1200 which we solved by formatting the drive from scratch and
reinstalling 3.0. He copied some software onto it and whenever he went to use
it it crashed. I think a virus crept in.
Daniel,
The problem is the drive is made by Maxtor.. Amiga owners must enabe one
of the reserved jumpers for some reason. Contact Maxtor (18002Maxtor) as
to your particular drive.
//
Gary Vander Mei on Auto-Pilot \X/
Just ran into a WEIRD problem with a Maxtor 25128 120mb IDE 2.5 inch drive on a
A1200. Formats perfect, shows no bad blocks, but when certain programs are
'called up' from the drive they act weird. Virus checker says all is well.
Other drive (Seagate) does not experience same weirdness. Interestingly
QBTools says BOTH partitions on the MXT25128 have 'problem' on the root and
says it will fix it but it doesn't. And that's IMMEDIATELY after a completely
fresh 'format' operation. Absolutely stumped – never seen such a weird
problem. Drive acts clean, but affects programs.
If MAXTRANSFER doesn't help, I'm at a bit of a loss unless the data transfer is
somehow screwed up or you've got a virus.
It's not a virus, I saw this problem as soon as I set up the drive.
I also never had any problems like this with the old drive.
Do you know anything about how the MASK works? I don't really know what it
does, but in playing around with it, I've really increased the noticable
speed of the drive. (When it decides to copy large files correctly :< )
Dave
Elite MicroComputers – Flying high on AutoPilot
I believe MASK is a number which MUST be at a certain value for each of the
different file systems the Amiga has. Good luck. I hope it turns out to be the
old style SCSI chip in your A3000 and you can replace it. I was quite
surprised the first time I saw an early A3000 SCSI chip with BETA written right
on it! But the SCSI drivers are written to compensate for it as much as
possible – perhaps this is a case where it just kills your throughput to have
the older chip.
DC >>Do you know anything about how the MASK works?<<
I believe it deals with "where" within the Amiga's memory, the data can be
DMA'd. And whether the transfers are 32-bit, 16-bit, or 8-bit in
alignment.
—
The MASK is the highest area of memory (in BITS) that is accepted as a
viable DMA area. The last digit of the MASK (c, e, or f) marks the
alignment as 32, 16, or 8 bit.
(If I got my math & facts right…)
A mask of 0xfffffe = 16,777,215 bits (2-megs). This allows DMA transfers
to the first 2-megs of address space, but doesn't allow for DMA transfers
to other memory areas.. This would be the CHIP memory area.
A mask of 0x7fffffe = 134,217,726 bits (16-megs). This labels the first
16-megs of address space as an approved DMA area. This would allow DMA
transfers from HD to CHIP RAM, FAST RAM (Zorro-II), and Slow-Fast (if it
is DMA'able).
A mask of 0x7ffffffe = 2,147,483,647 bits (256-megs). This is first
256-megs of address space, which would include CHIP, FAST (Zorro-II),
Slow-Fast, and the A3000/4000 motherboard memory, & A3000/4000
co-processor slot RAM.
—
The last digit of the mask affects whether the transfer is to be an 8-bit,
16-bit, or 32-bit transfer.
0x7fffffff = 8 bit alignment
0x7ffffffe = 16 bit alignment
0x7ffffffc = 32 bit alignment
Since my A1200 has 32-bit memory, I use "0x7ffffffc" for EACH partition.
This should allow me to have HD transfers aligned with my 32-bit FAST RAM.
Also, the MAXTRANSFER rate should be '0x1fe00' for EACH partition of an
IDE hard drive.
Ron. – ("I'm not stupid, I'm not expendable, and I'm not going!"
– quote made by any low level RPG player.)
Ron,
Thanks for the encyclopedic explanation of the Mask (a movie I want to see
soon B-). I filed it for reference.
DJ
Ronald,
thanks for the information. Even though I rarely have to deal with
such, it gives one the warm fuzzies to have such detailed information
around.
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