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From: krowitz@RICHTER.MIT.EDU (David Krowitz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apollo
Subject: Re: How to park a disc for shipment.
Message-ID: <9011302223.AA26346@richter.mit.edu>
Date: 30 Nov 90 22:23:40 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 47

The MD command "SH" does cause the disk drive to spin down for
the older DN3xx and DN4xx/6xx models. On the DN4xx/6xx there is
a head-locking arm on the drive that must be moved to secure the
heads. I do not know of any similar mechanism on the DN3xx models.

For DN3000/3500/4000/4500 machines, the "SH" command doesn't
really do anything. What I have been told by our field-service
engineers is that the shutdown sequence puts the drive in a
safe position, and that the drive spins down when the power
is shut off. There are no head-locking mechanisms mentioned in
any of the DN3xxx/4xxx packing/unpacking manuals, and the drives
themselves do not have any markings that would indicate action
that you would need to take (the DN460/660 155MB drives actually
had a sticker on them that said something like "move this switch
before shipping", etc.).

A word about HP's policy on shipping machines: they don't like
customers shipping machines. If it doesn't work when it gets to
the destination, it's your own problem. A valid maintenance
contract at the old site does not cover fixing the machine at
the new site. I had this happen to me this summer when several
professors from universities around the country shipped four
DN3xxx/4xxx machines to a conference in Boulder, Colorado. Even
though all of the machines were on maintenance at their home
universities, HP's Denver field service office refused to
help us out with any of the problems we had (some people forgot
their cables -:), others had left their external 350 MB drives
(which contained the EDSI control-bus terminators!), etc.) until
they had received an authorized purchase order for time & materials
at something in excess of $100 per hour. We were told that
HP's official policy is that the machines may only be shipped
(and remain under contract) if you have made prior arrangements
with HP and that they have packed the machines. Shipping them
in the original containers and/or in custom-made, foam-lined,
steel-reinforced, trade-show cases is apparently not sufficient.

The bottom line: CALL YOUR HP FIELD SERVICE OFFICE AND TALK
DIRECTLY TO THE BRANCH MANAGER *BEFORE* YOU MOVE YOUR MACHINES!



 -- David Krowitz

krowitz@richter.mit.edu   (18.83.0.109)
krowitz%richter.mit.edu@eddie.mit.edu
krowitz%richter.mit.edu@mitvma.bitnet
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