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From: ehrlich@cs.psu.edu (Daniel Ehrlich)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt
Subject: Re: 6152 disk problems
Message-ID: <EHRLICH.89Sep7132926@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu>
Date: 7 Sep 89 17:29:26 GMT
References: <221600005@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Sender: news@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu
Organization: Computer Science Department, Penn State University
Lines: 47
In-reply-to: smiller@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu's message of 5 Sep 89 16:36:00 GMT

In article <221600005@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> smiller@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes:


   I have some interesting problems with three 6152's. First of all DOS diagnostic
   routines run fine and report no errors(advanced diagnostics). Now for the 
   problem:

	   Boot the MINIROOT disk.
	   Run fdisk and create a 4.3 partition (size is 1009 cylinders starting
		   at cylinder 13 to allow for a small DOS partition)
	   Run format.
   Problem: format fails at some random cylinder between 0 and 1009. The disk
	   access light stays on and the program reports that it is formatting
	   cylinder xxx. This message will stay overnight and the only way to
	   recover is to power cycle the machine.

   Attempted solutions:

	   Run low level format on the disks: this runs through to completion on
	   two of the machines which then continue to have the same problem 
	   mentioned above. The third machine low level format dies trying to 
	   format cylinder 0(zero) with the same symptom as above.

	   Try skipping the format and just go to create minidisks: after entering
	   the disk to work on minidisk goes out to lunch in the same manner as 
	   described above.

	   Try a new Installation Miniroot disk: same problem.

   I have successfully installed 4.3 on three other systems which, when people
   don't hit cntrl-alt-keypad del to force DOS or flip the power switch and boot
   from their floppy, are up and running fine.

   Anybody have some ideas??
   Thanks in advance.

   Steven Miller
   dragonslive@uiuc.edu

Have IBM replace the ESDI disk controller.  There was/is a bug in the controller
micorcode that would cause BIOS on the 286 to hang.  If you really need it I
could take one of our 6152s apart to get the ROM revisions, etc.
--
Dan Ehrlich <ehrlich@shire.cs.psu.edu> | Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are
The Pennsylvania State University      | my own, and should not be attributed
Department of Computer Science         | to anyone else, living or dead.
University Park, PA   16802            |