Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ncar!boulder!schmid
From: schmid@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Peter Schmid)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: lost Quantum drive
Message-ID: <27857@boulder.Colorado.EDU>
Date: 10 Oct 90 17:57:32 GMT
Sender: news@boulder.Colorado.EDU
Reply-To: schmid@plasma.Colorado.EDU (Peter Schmid)
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Lines: 39

First, the specifics:
	Mac IIX; 8Mb; 40Mb Quantum Hard Drive;
	Apple 13" Color Monitor and 8 bit High Rez card;
	HP Deskwriter; Hayes 1200 external modem;
	System 6.0.5; After Dark; ATM 2.0; Fish 2.0;
	Disinfectant 2.2

Now, the problem:
Last night while unstuffing the latest tech-notes from Apple.COM,
I experienced a horrible system crash.  I was running MultiFinder
with Stuffit and Unstuffit (since there are two .sit files in 
this batch of notes), and left the machine alone for a bit.  Upon
return, the screen saver (After Dark) had kicked in.  When I then 
moved the mouse to bring back the desktop, etc. to the screen, all
went black with just the white outline of the arrow/pointer on the
screen.  No problem, I thought, I'll just power down using the
button on the back of the cpu box and restart.  Unfortunately, the
floppy with the tech-notes.hqx file was still in the floppy drive,
and as you may have guessed, the machine didn't boot, displaying
a floppy disk icon with an X flashing on it.  Hmmm.  I then booted
using the system tools disk, and lo and behold, my hard drive was
missing.  The HD Setup application told me that it could not find
any SCSI drives attached to the machine.  Very strange.  Upon 
opening the box and verifying that the hard drive cables were
properly connected, I rebooted.  The hard drive light would blink
some, then the floppy disk with '?' icon appeared.  Methinks I'm
really screwed now.  So, I unplugged the machine and left it 
overnight, planning on taking it to be serviced in the morning.
Happily, I tried to boot this AM, and viola, the hard drive
booted as if nothing unusual happened.

What I would like to know is:
     1)  has anyone else experienced this before,
     2)  what may have happened/what can I do to avoid this,
     3)  what software tools should I have/acquire to help analyze
	    the situation and recover from it if it happens again.

Any help/pointers would be greatly appreciated.  
	Thanks  --  pete  <schmid@plasma.Colorado.EDU>