#Maxtor hard disk woes
3 messages in this thread
Hi,
what can this be? I have an A2000 with several boards installed. One (the first
from the CPU slot) is my SCSI host adaptor, an Evolution 3.0. I have two
internal SCSI hard drives installed: a Quantum LPS240 as DH6: (boot disk) and a
Maxtor SC5120 as DH0:. The ribbon goes from the host adaptor via the Quantum to
the Maxtor. As recommended for proper operation, the Maxtor is terminated,
while the Quantum is not. Now to the problem(s):
1) the Maxtor sometimes won't startup with the rest of the machine. That is,
usually it takes longer than the Quantum to spin up, so I have to reboot the
system after a power on in order to get the Maxtor. Sometimes the Maxtor will
only start at about the time when half of the User-Startup has already
finished, sometimes maybe a quarter of an hour later, if it feels like it,
sometimes not at all.
2) the Maxtor sometimes goes down and isn't recognized anymore ("You MUST
replace volume Maxtor in drive DH0!"), usually it comes up again a few seconds
later (sometimes only a few minutes later, sometimes not at all). This is no
power saving feature because of inactivity of the drive, because it also
happens during reads or writes!!! A method to get the Maxtor back to life that
often (but by no means always) works is to put a floppy disk into one of the
internal floppy disk drives. As soon as the floppy is recognized by the system
and the disk.info read, the Maxtor starts up again (unluckily not always…).
Any ideas?
Thanks,
// Christian "ELP" Busse
\X/ near Frankfurt, Germany
Christian,
First check the power connectors going to the disks. Make sure they are all
connected good and solid.
Also, I've heard that it is a bad idea to have a hard disk get it's power from
the controller card, so if either drive is set up that way, change it so both
get power direct from the power supply.
Then if you still have problems its time to check the power supply voltages.
There should be +12V and +5V on the disk drive power connectors. Check it both
while its working and when the drive isn't running.
//
\X/ Amiga lives? Gary Bonnstetter
Gary,
I already checked the power connectors, they seem to be alright.
The Quantum which is mounted on the host adaptor board (and is running
perfectly) gets its power form the board, the Maxtor (the flakey drive) gets
its power directly from the power supply. I might have some problems with
checking the correct voltages on the plugs due to missing equipment (might
borrow me a multimeter though).
Thanks for the tips,
// Christian "ELP" Busse
\X/ near Frankfurt, Germany