Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!eastapps!vergil!gsteckel From: gsteckel@vergil.East.Sun.COM (Geoff Steckel - Sun BOS Hardware CONTRACTOR) Newsgroups: comp.periphs.scsi Subject: Re: 1542A & WrenIII Summary: Old Wren may not be CCS compliant Keywords: CCS Message-ID: <6397@eastapps.East.Sun.COM> Date: 27 May 91 18:19:25 GMT References: <1991May25.230247.542@hawkmoon.MN.ORG> Sender: news@East.Sun.COM Reply-To: gsteckel@east.sun.com (Geoff Steckel - Sun BOS Hardware CONTRACTOR) Distribution: na Organization: Omnivore Technology, Newton, Mass. (617)969-3448 Lines: 61 In article <1991May25.230247.542@hawkmoon.MN.ORG> det@hawkmoon.MN.ORG (Derek E. Terveer) writes: -I have a WrenIII that I would like to also hook up but the adaptec board -does not seem to be able to see enough of it to verify the drive. - -Configuration: - - Esix 5.3.2-D - NoName 386-33 motherboard - aha-1542A - Wren IV (94171-376MB) ID=0 - Wren III (94161-156MB) ID=1 - -The Wren IV runs beautifully. If however, I replace the wren IV with -the wren III and change nothing else i can use the 1542A's on board -utilities to probe and format the drive successfully (or at least that -is what it claims) but attempting to verify the drive immediately -returns an "ERROR 520". I don't know what a 520 error is and the aha -manual doesn't explain it. I can fdisk the drive in dos but i can't -format it -- dos thinks that the media is bad. If I attempt to install -Esix on it (no other drive in the system) it reports that "HA 0 has no -TC's". I take this to mean that hardware (disk) adapter zero has no -drives hooked up to it, meaning that esix can't see the drive. Indeed, -later on the hard disk partitioning step fails in the fdisk command -(can't open /dev/rdsk/0s0). [rest of description of symptoms deleted] I have an (older) Wren III drive and have had similar, but not identical problems with it. Once past them, however, it has worked perfectly. It appears that some of the lower-capacity ( < 300 MB ) and/or older Wren SCSI drives do not fully support the SCSI Common Command Set, or at least that part that the Adaptec uses. They DO support enough to do normal read/write activity. Does anyone have a list of what commands Adaptec DOES use? My solution: use a homebrew format utility to hard format and spare, remap, etc., then use DD on a unix system to copy a partition table onto the drive. Once there's ANY sort-of-valid-looking partition table on the drive, you can FDISK it, etc. I used a system which doesn't use DOS partition tables (a 68000 system) to do the format and DD. You can then use ADB (under Unix) or Norton Utilities under Messy-DOS to patch the partition table. You can't use Messy-DOS FORMAT on it, ever. Won't work (I assume the verify track commands in the FORMAT program use something that CDC didn't supply). You can't use a 386 Unix format program on it either, but you shouldn't have to unless blocks go bad and the automatic sparing system fails. Unix mkfs/newfs/whatever doesn't do a hard format and should work properly. I am willing to release my SCSI utility program, but someone else would have to port it to the ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programming Interface) for Messy-DOS. It is complementary to Roy Neese's programs, as it does a bunch of things his don't, and vice versa. I've got negative time available, and I LOATHE Messy-DOS. Any volunteers? good luck, geoff steckel (gwes@wjh12.harvard.EDU) (...!husc6!wjh12!omnivore!gws) Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Sun Microsystems, despite the From: line. This posting is entirely the author's responsibility.