Path: utzoo!censor!isgtec!nigel
From: nigel@isgtec.UUCP (Nigel Burnett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy
Subject: read only disk drive
Keywords: REPOST with more info
Message-ID: <752@isgtec.UUCP>
Date: 8 Dec 90 21:59:41 GMT
Organization: ISG Technologies Inc., Mississauga, Ont.
Lines: 30


I'm posting this for a friend who has no net access:
-------------------------------------------------------

I moved a hard disk and its controller from an old tandy 1000 to a
tandy 1000SL.  All seemed well at first - I could boot
from it, and look at or run anything that was already there,
but any attempt to write to the disk resulted in a 1 min pause,
then the message "not ready error writing drive".

The SL has a rom drive (normally drive c) and the cpu is an 8086.
The drive is a miniscribe 3650 on a western digital mfm xt controller.
The same problem occurs on an rll controller.

Anyway - with either IRQ2 or IRQ5, the drive is not-formattable on the
1000SL.  If it is formatted on the 1000 or on a PC clone, the drive
comes ready and can be read fine on the PC, the 1000, and the 1000SL.
However, although it can be written on the PC and the 1000, it cannot be 
written by the SL.  I presume the problem is related to the built in
ROM drive which is normally C:.  It migrates to become D: and the hard
drive is recognised as C:.  Now we've got two read-only drives!

I'm sure that if you can shed more light, he'd really appreciate it.

Someone (Scott? - I lost your return path) suggested that it was a grounding
problem.  Well, we grounded everything together very carefully and still
have exactly the same problem.

thanks
Nigel 416-690-1834