Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!bywater!acheron!archet!larouch!jparnas From: jparnas@larouch.UUCP (Jacob Parnas) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt Subject: Re: ESDI disks for RT (AOS 4.3) Message-ID: <291@larouch.UUCP> Date: 4 Jun 89 09:27:37 GMT References: <3396@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> <613@acheron.UUCP> <3404@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> <170@arnor.UUCP> <3434@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> Reply-To: jparnas@larouch.UUCP (Jacob Parnas) Organization: Larouch Headquarters, Hopewell Junction, NY Lines: 105 In article <3434@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM> dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes: >In article <170@arnor.UUCP> jparnas@arnor.UUCP (Jacob Parnas) writes: >>Are you sure you modifed all of the necessary kernel files? > >Well, it's not clear to me what kernel files have to be changed when running >the standalone formatter. :-) By kernel files, I meant files under /usr/sys. For instance, the stand alone formatter must be rebuilt to be able to deal with new disk drives. Its source lives in /usr/sys/standca. You must change /usr/sys/standca/hd.c Then make in /usr/sys/standca, which will result in a new boot.out that you can copy to /boot. >>Are you sure that you have your drive jumpers/dip switches set to drive >>select 2 and the right number of sectors per track? >All jumpers were made to agree with other IBM H310 drives. This was >done with two different Maxtor 4380E drives and cross checked by >another guy. Drive select was 2. Both drives misbehaved identically-- >the formatter gave the same error on each track. We even tried this on >another RT (same microcode level). No difference. I was operating >under the assumption that the IBM H310 drive, which is labelled with >"Maxtor 4380E" on its backside, is the same as a late-model Maxtor >4380E which I can buy from a distributor. If all the disk geometries >agree, and the configuration record produced by the formatter is >correct, it isn't clear to me what kernel files would need to be >changed. It should look, smell and taste like a H310. I haven't used any Maxtor 4380E drives, so I can't comment on how to set them up. I think that IBM does sometimes have third party vendors modify the drives that they sell as IBM drives. >Do you think there is a remote possibility that: > > 0.) The jumpers for a H310 and an OEM 4380E mean different things > (no indication of this whatsoever from Maxtor.) Seems unlikely. Could be. I really don't know. > 1.) the AOS 12/88 formatter messes up with formatting ESDI disks? I haven't had any problems with the 12/88 formatter using Wren V and Priam 638 drives. > 2.) I have an IBM 114mb disk as my boot disk. I run the formatter > by typing ^C from the boot record. At that point, the EESDI > controller had to have polled drive 0 and got ITS attributes. > I, of course, are interested in formatting drive 1. Would > that mess it up? I'm pretty sure that isn't the problem. I often use hd70e drives as a boot drive, hit ^C at the boot prompt and format other types of drives. > 3.) I assume there's a separate AIX/RT hard disk formatter program > available. Perhaps that might work better. I'm sure I can borrow > this from the IBM folks at MIT/Project Athena, if I know what disk > from the AIX or diagnostic set to ask for. Any leads? I doubt this will help. Many AIX users here use the 4.3 BSD AOS sautil to do the initial format of their drives. >>Good luck, and if you have further problems give me a call or send me >>a note with all of the kernel changes that you made to incorporate your >>Maxtor drive. > >Thanks, I might take you up on that, barring any fresh suggestions! > >>Note that I have only used Wren V and Priam disks on the RT. > >Gasp, sputter... And here I thought I was being CONSERVATIVE by buying >the same drive as IBM sold! :-) > >-- >Steve Dyer >dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer >dyer@arktouros.mit.edu I would do the following: 1. Make sure that you are using a version of the boot program that knows about your drive. 2. If that doesn't work, try to contact the people at Maxtor that would know about modifications that may have been made on the Maxtor drives that were shipped as IBM drives. It may be that they changed something like the inter-sector gap or sync-field length or something like that to work with the EESDI/HESDI controller. Or they may have just changed the jumper/dip switch configuration for IBM drives, or maybe just changed them since without saying so in the documentation. (I think this was done on the CDC Wren V's). 3. If that doesn't work, try to get hold of a CDC Wren V or Priam 638, modify /vmunix and /boot in the same places as you did for the Maxtor and see if it works. That way, you'll have a good idea if you are modifying the system code in the right places. Hope that helps, -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Jacob M. Parnas | DISCLAIMER: The above message is from | | IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center | me and is not from my employer. IBM | | Arpanet: jparnas@ibm.com | might completely disagree with me. | | Bitnet: jparnas@yktvmx.bitnet \---------------------------------------| | Home: ..!uunet!bywater!acheron!larouch!jparnas | Phone: (914) 945-1635 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------