Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ames!amdahl!ptsfa!pttesac!vanam From: vanam@pttesac.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: C-Ltd 20Meg Hard Drive Message-ID: <401@pttesac.UUCP> Date: Sat, 28-Mar-87 13:29:56 EST Article-I.D.: pttesac.401 Posted: Sat Mar 28 13:29:56 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 29-Mar-87 10:40:19 EST Organization: Pacific*Bell ESAC, San Francisco Lines: 66 Keywords: Hard Drive disk C-Ltd external fast ram trouble aaargh I posted an article a few weeks ago about the C-Ltd 20 Meg hard disk I bought at the Commodore computer show in San Francisco. At first the drive caused my C-Ltd 1 Meg memory expansion to take errors. Then the drive started taking read/write errors and finally the drive was "NOT A DOS" and wouldn't even format. This all took place within about 5 days of use. I called C-Ltd and they asked if I had replaced the 2 PAL chips in the Amiga (according to C-Ltd, Commodore has acknowledged that some Amiga's have substandard PAL chips). I had already replaced those chips. The only thing left to do was to send the drive back to C-Ltd for repair and/or replacement (there is a 90 day warranty). I did so. It cost me $20 for UPS shipping. C-Ltd promised to send back a repaired or replacement unit within 1 day of receipt of my unit. Well, I did receive the unit back within the number of days expected. There was a note from the repairman explaining that he had found and replaced a bad PAL chip in the controller. The drive worked just like before. It worked fine for a few hours. Then a few gurus. Then a memory test showed errors in my external RAM. Then a few hours later I started getting read/write errors from the hard disk. After about 10 hours of use, the hard drive was again "NOT A DOS" and wouldn't even format. I called C-Ltd and the only thing they could guess was that there might be something wrong in the drive that could cause the PAL chip in the controller to go bad. I asked if this time they would please send me a new, but burned in unit. They agreed to do this. I also asked if they would give me my money back if I have this same trouble again with the drive they send me this time. I was told that I would have to talk to my dealer about that. I reminded them that I bought the hard drive directly from them at a show. They said I would have to take it up with . I also asked if it was possible that my memory or my Amiga could be damaging the hard drive controller. They doubted that very much, especially since my Amiga and memory are working fine by themselves. Anyway I sent the unit back to them again. This time I sent it by 2 day air. Cost me $40 including insurance and the cost of a bigger box that the UPS folks in my town insisted I use. C-Ltd has told me that they would ship back with the faster service, so this time I expect a replacement drive to arrive within 8 working days. (2 day air does not mean delivery in 2 days -- usually ends up being 3 days total delivery time so I was told) If I have this same trouble again, I will try to get my money back. I pray I won't have to try for that. What I really fear though, is that I've been having two problems. One, that the drive (or controller) keeps going bad, and two, that my external RAM will take errors when the hard drive is connected. I'm afraid that I might get back a good working drive, but that it won't work correctly with my RAM. Then I may end up fighting with C-Ltd about that. My RAM is no longer under warranty, but I certainly expect it to work without errors with my hard drive, especially when both are from the same manufacturer. I will post another article after I test out the new drive. -- Marnix (ain't unix!) A. van\ Ammers Work: (415) 545-8334 Home: (707) 644-9781 CEO: MAVANAMMERS:UNIX UUCP: {ihnp4|ptsfa}!pttesac!vanam CIS: 70027,70