Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wasatch!uplherc!esunix!blgardne
From: blgardne@esunix.UUCP (Blaine Gardner)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Strange FORMAT problem with A2090A SCSI
Message-ID: <1298@esunix.UUCP>
Date: 1 May 89 04:57:14 GMT
References: <6714@cbmvax.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
Lines: 53

From article <6714@cbmvax.UUCP>, by jesup@cbmvax.UUCP (Randell Jesup):
> In article <1289@esunix.UUCP> blgardne@esunix.UUCP (Blaine Gardner) writes:
>>I've just added a SCSI drive (CDC Wren III, 155 meg) to my A2000/A2090A/
>>KS+WB 1.3/ASDG 2MI system. I've been using an ST506 drive for months
>>without any problems, but I've just hit a strange problem with
>>formatting the SCSI drive.

>>Format drive FH0: name Big0 FFS
 
> 	First, you say CD0: in your mountlist.  Second, FFS isn't
> needed.

Whoops, a typo there, it should be "Format drive CD0:" as in the
mountlist.

>>displays the message "Formatting cyl 4, 259 to go" and then terminates.
>>(No error message is displayed, and WHY has nothing useful to say.)
>>I've tried every trick I can think of, including (GASP!) a stone stock
>>1.3 WB disk, but I always get the same results. In desperation, I tried
>>adding the "quick" keyword to the command above, and it worked! 

> 	Could be it couldn't get enough contiguous chip memory to pass for
> the verify option (9 * 36 * 512 bytes = 162K contiguous chip mem).  Format
> currently requires chip mem even if it isn't needed.
 
No, it isn't fragmented Chip RAM. I just tried it again and it failed
just the same way. I've got 330K of contiguous Chip RAM according to
Avail.

It was something I hadn't thought of though, thanks.

>>Do I need to do a full format, since the quick format seemed to do the
>>trick? Am I missing possible bad blocks by using the quick option? I'd
 
> 	No, the Wren should have mapped out bad blocks for you.  Quick is
> usually fine with SCSI drives.

If "quick" works, that's fine by me, I've got more interesting things to
do than watch 150 megs of hard drive format the slow way. :-)

I do like this drive. I'm getting about 550K/sec with Diskperf, and I
was only getting 220K/sec with my ST4096 (ST506 interface). 

One more question though, with the switch from ST506 to SCSI I've also
hit the A2090A's severe slowdown problem when lots of bitplanes are
displayed. I've heard rumors that there is a fix available (or RSN) for
the A2090A. Is this true, and what do I have to do to get it?

Thanks for the info Randell.
-- 
Blaine Gardner @ Evans & Sutherland    580 Arapeen Drive, SLC, Utah 84108
Here: utah-cs!esunix!blgardne   {ucbvax,allegra,decvax}!decwrl!esunix!blgardne
"Nobody will ever need more than 64K."    "Nobody needs multitasking on a PC."