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From: danno@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Your host... Dieter)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Emac hard disks vs. holding mouse down on boot
Message-ID: <16057@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Date: 11 Oct 89 21:54:53 GMT
References: <5439@umd5.umd.edu>
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Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
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In article <5439@umd5.umd.edu> allon@solarvax.umd.edu writes:
>I've found that when you hold the mouse down on booting (i.e. to eject a 
>floppy disk), if you have an Emac HD (only tested with two models on two
>mac Plusses), you get a sad mac (id 0f0002, I think).  Can anybody out there
>explain, or get this to happen on their machine?  I'm curious to see if it
>is just the plus and this particular hd, or any mac and this hd, or what...
>
>Thanks...
>
>                                - -= Allon =- -
>
Ohhh, yes, let's talk about EMACs. Here at Dartmouth, about 500 freshmen
just got EMAC 20s as part of the freshman package the college recommends
(this is along with a Mac Plus for minimum package; several hundred others
got SEs, SE/30s, or even IIcxs, but they are another story.)

And about 10% of these have been DOA for one reason or another. One problem is
that one version of the Disk Manager (they're all 3.22, but have different
modification dates) won't format properly for a Plus. But the major problem
is one of cabling: the opinion of those-who-have-been-studying-the-problem here
is that the terminators are not seating properly in the drive. To restate: the
flow-through terminators were either designed improperly, or we got a bad
batch. It is often rectifiable by setting the Mac up against the wall so that
the wall holds the cable in tightly. What a solution!

How does this relate to Allon's question? Well, many of the disks, once the
cabling thing is worked out, give a Sad Mac with this code. (Which, for
anyone who doesn't know the codes offhand :-}, is the only Sad Mac code which
indicates a software error rather than a hardware error. That is, anything
starting with "0F" is a software error, with "OOO2" corresponding, according
to 1st Aid Kit's manual, to SysError=02, or "address error.")

This is rectified, in our case, by re-installing the System. Could this be
a driver problem? Would anyone else like to share experience with EMACs? They
seem to be nice drives at a good price, although it would be nice to have a
CDEV to mount partitions. (Not that I would EVER recommend soft partitioning
under any circumstances to anyone; it's just that, if you're going to do it,
you should make it easy. I assume Everex does soft partitioning because the
partitions are re-sizeable, and SilverLining is the only thing I know of that
will re-size hard partitions withough reformatting, in some cases.)

A disclaimer is in order: I in no way represent Dartmouth's official reaction
   to this problem. I am merely a Student Assistant and Student Peer
   Consultant; as such, I get to deal with a large number of the students who
   experience these problems. I find it frustrating that even the people
   trying to solve the problem can't seem to get to the bottom of the matter--
   these things keep going dead, communication-wise. Also: since no one here
   really can tell what's going on, this is not a flame to Everex. I'm
   merely trying to get all the info I can.

Yay! More hard disk debate!

(Does anyone want to buy a Jasmine DirectDrive 45? For about $550?)
=======
--
|\_______/| Someone send me a new Tragedy mask graphic!|  Daniel McKinnon
|         |                                            |
| O     O | Comedy must be played with a straight face;| danno@dartmouth.edu
|    \    | Only tragedy deserves laughter.            |