Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cmcl2!sbcs!cwolf
From: cwolf@ic.sunysb.edu (Christopher A Wolf)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Harddrive Problem
Summary: Hardcard fails to autoboot sporadically...
Keywords: harddrive GVP hardcards MiniScribe Seagate problems
Message-ID: <1990Jul24.193214.29667@sbcs.sunysb.edu>
Date: 24 Jul 90 19:32:14 GMT
References: <963@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com>
Sender: cwolf@csserv1.sunysb.edu
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Organization: State University of New York at Stony Brook
Lines: 44

In article <963@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com> boi@richsun.cpg.trs.reuter.com (Ken Boi) writes:
>Has anybody else experienced this problem, or knows of why this
>problem is occurring? I have a Xetec Fastrack HD controller and 
>a Quantum 105Mb HD running in my A2000 with 1Meg chip ram and 3 
>meg total RAM. The problem is that on a few occasion (about three 
>times) during the six months of ownership of this system, I have 
>had the occurrence of my system failing to autoboot from the
>harddrive upon system powerup. It appears to fail to recognize the 
>existence of a harddrive. If I retry the powerup a few times, it 


	Yes, I too have had a problem that sounds similar to yours.  Every
couple of days my hard-drive will fail to autoboot --- the Amiga acts like
the hardcard (A GVP product) and the two drives attached to it (a 40 meg
miniscribe and an 80 meg Seagate) DON'T EVEN EXIST!!!!  Occasionally
powering down and up again several times will work  but sometimes this
doesn't even help.  What DOES work is removing the hardcard  assembly
and  firmly reseating the card....
	Sounds like a loose connection somewhere, right?  I thought so too
but I've tried  moving the hardcard to different slots, cleaning the
contacts on both the hardcard and the slots, making sure all chips were firmly
seated, bending the slot-connector pins inward to make better contact, and
several other things... and nothing works!
	I also don't think its a "stiction" problem since I've never heard 
of this happening on a MiniScribe drive.  Also, the  hardcard doesn't
appear to even ATTEMPT to spin up the drives...
	Now the really odd thing is that I had this problem all last
summer when I was living at home... when I went back  to school for the
year the problem virtually disappeared (once every couple of  months it
happened instead of every 2 or 3 days)... now that I'm back home its
happening FREQUENTLY again.  Could it  be a heat problem since it only
happens during the summer?
	Also, the drives never fail while the computer is on.  The only
time the problem appears is after the computer's been off and I try to
power up.  (Only on cold not warm starts)  If I  can  get past power-
up I'm fine.  (Which seems to discredit my heat theory since heat should
get worse after the computer's been running for  a while...)
	Any ideas would  be greatly appreciated.  Hope this problem will
disappear once again after I get back to school...

						Thanks alot,
						Chris Wolf
(I've directed follow-ups to  comp.sys.amiga.hardware since this
probably should be continued there....)