Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pmafire!uudell!milano!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!aero!elliott From: elliott@aero.org (Kenneth B. Elliott III) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Format problems Message-ID: Date: 21 Nov 90 03:55:45 GMT Sender: news@aerospace.aero.org Distribution: comp Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA Lines: 21 Hopefully, someone out there has encountered and solved this problem. I just purchased a Sony 3.5" 1.44 M drive (as a second drive) for my AT clone (Bondwell--the ultimate clone machine). My first drive is a 5.25" 1.2 M drive. I've got a WD1003-WA2 controller. Once I finally got it installed and set up as drive B:, I was able to copy to and from it just fine. However, when I try to format it using Norton Safe-format, it refuses, saying there's an error in the system area. DOS normal format barfs over it also. Since I can successfully read and write, and given that this happens with every one of the ten 3.5" disks I've tried, I suspect that its a hardware problem (oooooooohhhhh, bad word). I've tried the old pin 34 fix just on the off-chance that it was the culprit, but I still can't format. Any suggestions? Please e-mail and I'll summarize if there is sufficient interest. KBEIII -- Ken Elliott elliott@aerospace.aero.org