Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uupsi!sunic!ugle.unit.no!nuug!ulrik!news From: me@spirea.UiB.NO (My Account) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: major SCSI disk problem (?) Message-ID: <1991Apr19.203828.21435@ulrik.uio.no> Date: 19 Apr 91 20:38:28 GMT Sender: news@ulrik.uio.no (USENET News System) Organization: University of Bergen, Norway. Lines: 149 Nntp-Posting-Host: spirea.uib.no ersys!drin@nro.cs.athabascau.ca (Adrian Smith) writes: >We're having a *major* problem with a SCSI drive on a plain, 105 Meg >slab. Before I get into it, I've tried NextAnswers, FAQ, my campus rep, [stuff deleted...] >We've got a Micropolis 1648-7 drive (330 Meg half-height), which we're and I have a Conner CP-3100 SCSI (105 Meg half-height) >trying to run as an external SCSI device on the slab. We've got an >enclosure, a power supply, and a cable. The drive (we thought) had a >problem before with its low level format,... same here (but on a cube) >...and have spent the rest of the day (6 hours) trying to get it working. I've used a couple of weeks, but I'm a Unix know-nothing. >[symptoms - can read/write, write label, all the "right" signals/ >messages from Mach on boot/login, and so on...] yeah, exactly the same here... >then we get "error initializing external disk:initialization failure" no kidding? I get "builddisk: Disk initialization failed" >It'll write the label, and it'll even read and write the drive, but if >you try and init the drive, the following happens: > >disk>init >DESTROYS ALL EXISTING DATA -- really initialize?y >enter host name: nova >enter disk label: Mikey >writing disk label >Block 0 boot is "/usr/standalone/boot", ok? y >creating new filesystem on /dev/rsd1a >/usr/etc/newfs -n -v /dev/rsd1a >/etc/mkfs /dev/rsd1a 340448 28 7 8192 1024 32 10 60 4096 t >write error: 340447 >wtfs: I/O error >/usr/etc/newfs /dev/rsd1a failed (status 1) > >This wtfs error is repeatable, and is driving us nuts!! We cannot get the >drive to initialize. EXACTLY the same problem I've been having getting the Conner installed. (their tech support:"you have a WHAT??? A NeXT??? What OS does it run??? Unix - nope, don't know 'nothin 'bout Unix... Send it back as defective and buy a different brand (!)" ) This is what I got: sushi# /etc/disk /dev/rsd0a disk name: CONNER CP3100-100mb-3.5 disk type: fixed_rw_scsi Disk utility disk> init DESTROYS ALL EXISTING DISK DATA -- really initialize? y enter host name: sushi enter disk label: CONNER writing disk label Block 0 boot is "/usr/standalone/boot", ok? y creating new filesystem on /dev/rsd0a /usr/etc/newfs -n -v /dev/rsd0a /etc/mkfs /dev/rsd0a 90000 33 8 8192 1024 32 10 60 4096 t write error: 89999 wtfs: Error 0 /usr/etc/newfs /dev/rsd0a failed (status 1) (this was after trying to reduce the number of sectors to something ridiculous just to see if disk could tackle the disk. It couldn't.) scsimodes gave me this: sushi# /usr/etc/scsimodes /dev/rsd0a SCSI information for /dev/rsd0a Drive type: CONNER CP3100-100mb-3.5 512 bytes per sector 33 sectors per track 8 tracks per cylinder 776 cylinder per volume (including spare cylinders) 1 spare sectors per track 0 alternate tracks per volume 204863 usable sectors on volume sushi# After I got 2.0 I thought - Oh great, now I'm all set - I'll take on this disk now, heh heh heh. Wrong. 2.0 choked too. Witness the following: Building hard disk # # Building a 100 MB hard disk drive. # # NeXT File System build procedure # Build a hard disk from booted file system # Release 2.0 # # Build the read-write partition (a) # First check the size of the source directories disk name: CONNER CP3100-100mb-3.5 disk type: fixed_rw_scsi writing disk label creating new filesystem on /dev/rsd0a /usr/etc/newfs -n -v /dev/rsd0a setting optimization for space with minfree less than 10 /etc/mkfs /dev/rsd0a 102272 17 8 8192 1024 16 5 60 4096 s /dev/rsd0a: 102272 sectors in 752 cylinders of 8 tracks, 17 sectors 104.7Mb in 47 cyl groups (16 c/g, 2.23Mb/g, 512 i/g) super-block backups (for fsck -b#) at:write error: 32 wtfs: I/O error /usr/etc/newfs /dev/rsd0a failed (status 1) builddisk: Disk initialization failed Build of /dev/sd0 aborted I also tried initializing the drive first (low level format). The NeXT software (2.0) completed it without error. Rory Bolts formatter wasn't so easily pleased: Device type: disk Removable: no ECMA version: 0 ANSI version: 1 Make: CONNER Model: CP3100-100mb-3.5 Revision: 0A0B Blocksize: 512 Capacity: 0 Kbytes (its really 104.9mb) # CONNER CP3100-100mb-3.5 CP3100-100mb-3.5|CONNER CP3100-100mb-3.5|CONNER CP3100-100mb-3.5 w/512 byte sectors as 1 partition:\ :ty=fixed_rw_scsi:nc#776:nt#8:ns#33:ss#1024:rm#3600:\ :fp#160:bp#0:ng#0:gs#0:ga#0:ao#0:\ :os=sdmach:z0#32:z1#96:r0=a:\ :pa#0:sa#102272:ba#8192:fa#1024:ca#32:da#4096:ra#10:oa=time:\ :ia:ta=4.3BSD: Unable to format disk due to error in mode select command. So no - you are not alone (sorry...:-( ) But it was good to hear I'm not the only one with a NeXT and a "SCSI" drive that doesn't work. One wonders sometimes... Well, now there's TWO of us... Anyone out there in net land want to tackle this one...? Any help is greatly appreciated. (Actually I've already contacted the retailer to get a refund - they've refused, so far. Maybe at least I can sell it - it worked fine with the PS/2...) -- Thor-Lee Legvold | ppstl@nobergen.earn (or .bitnet) University of Bergen | ppstl@cc.uib.no NORWAY | and now on NeXT... Hvor mye for datter'n din...? | me@fiol.uib.no