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From: cassiel@well.sf.ca.us (Paul Theodoropoulos)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Bizarre problems with the new Maxtor 120M SCSI drive
Message-ID: <25594@well.sf.ca.us>
Date: 22 Jun 91 05:29:16 GMT
Distribution: comp
Lines: 59



I'm hoping that the hardware illuminati out in net-land will be able to 
figure this out.

I own an Amiga 3000. i recently purchased a Maxtor 7120SR SCSI drive from
a mac peripheral reseller. I had hoped to set this pup up as my boot
drive, and then sell my stock quantum 40 meg drive (and the Conner 40meg
i hacked into the system some time ago). unfortunately, this drive just
will not work with my machine. First off, it spins up VERY slowly, a la
seagate. so slowly that on cold boot, the machine thinks there's no 
harddrive in the system. OK, fine, i'll keep the quantum for booting,
and use the maxtor as my second drive....NOPE. i've tried everything
in the book and this drive will not function properly. I've tried
"HDToolBox", which tells me its a Maxtor 7120SCS, Rev 3228. 1497 Cylinders.
4 heads. 42 blocks per track. 164 blocks per cylinder. (Maxtor tech support
says 1498 cyl., 4 heads, 42 bl. per track). QBTools says only ONE head.
anyway, i can low- and high-level format the drive. i can copy files to
the drive. if i try and run programs from it, i get the full complement
of amigados disk error notices: checksum error, key invalid, bad header, etc.
if i copy a full directory to the drive, then run LS, many of the files
in the directory will be listed multiple times. If i run QBTools, it
will report "Disk error reading bitmap". I've tried doing the full
complement of harddrive installing programs on the A3000 Install Disk:
PrepHD, FormatHD, InstallHD. This always fails at some point, with either
the machine or the drive locking up (or both).
Yes, i've turned off Reselection via HDToolBox.
In fact, i took the drive in to work, and had MIS install it in a MacIIcx,
format, run diagnostics, etc.. Checks out fine, so i guess the drive isn't
defective.
I'm rather at my wits end! i've got this nifty, big, new harddrive that
is virtually useless. (yes, i've jumpered the scsi address to whatever is
appropriate - 06 if i'm using it as first and bootable, anything else if
used as second drive). (Yes, i'm minding my termination, terminating the
last unit in the daisy-chain). 

Any wizards out there have any ideas? I've called Maxtor tech support,
they don't know Amiga from Atari. I've talked to my local amiga dealer,
Winner's Circle, and though friendly and helpful, they had no idea.
I've gone over the System Software manuals with a fine tooth comb. I've
scoured the "introducing the Commodore Amiga 3000" booklet (which has
remarkably detailed technical info, but nothing that helped with this
problem).
i'd hate to have to chuck this drive ( a: return drive to sellor. 
b: sell via comp.marketplace. c: trade for a 105meg quantum that MIS
has offered ). i want my 120 megabytes!!

i should note that the previously mentioned Conner, a CP340, came
from a computer equipment scavenging company. came from a Mac. it
also gave me some grief, trying to install it - difficult to format.
but that grief amounted to maybe six hours. not the week this one
has cost me...)

thank you very much in advance, and my sincere apologies for the length
of this.

i remain, 

Paul Theodoropoulos               cassiel@well.sf.ca.us