Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!purdue!gatech!prism!russ
From: russ@prism.gatech.EDU (Russell Shackelford)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Sony 3.5" 1.44 drive
Keywords: help please, info please
Message-ID: <817@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Date: 12 Jun 89 08:47:01 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Lines: 35

just got myself a 386.  i also got a Sony 1.44 drive to go in it as the B drive.
I have both an immediate problem and a less-pressing question:

Problem: the drive WILL read the DIRECTORY info from 3.5" disks from other
sources but will NOT read FILE contents or write them, i.e., i get a 
"general error: abort retry ignore?" message (not verbatim but close).
When i attempt a format, it will chug for a while and then gimme a failure
message on disks that i know are good. hmmmmmm. 

drive came with no doc except for a flyer saying it was setup for drive B.
it IS set to ds2; i cannot recognize any terminator packs on it.  what's
the deal? what's the fix? any ideas?
 
(NOTE: this problem may or may not be caused or 
aggravated by the fact that i've got an Archive tape drive installed along
with the board that muxes the 2 floppies (1.2 & the Sony) along with the 
tape drive; dunno if this matters, i will experiment with this. I do know that
both the 1.2 drive and the tape drive are functioning properly. thus, it seems
unlikely that the mux is the problem, but if it
IS the problem, i will know about it tomorrow.  if not ???????) . The Sony
flyer also says that it works with IBM, etc., but for others a sw driver
might be necessary; this seems irrelevant since this is an apparently legit
clone Phoenix 386 bios, but who knows?     

Other Question: does anybody know how to disable the hardware sensor on this
thing so that DD disks can be used as HD (assuming i get it to work at all)?

Doc note: the flyer that came with the Sony drive is for drives 
MP-F11W-55D and MP-F17W-55D.  It makes reference to "the installation kit
manual (CH-100)" for durther info, but I DON"T HAVE such a manual.
-- 
Russell Shackelford
School of Information and Computer Science
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332
russ@prism.gatech.edu         (404) 834-4759