Strange SCSI disk errors on Wren IV: Sparc SunOS 4.1.1
2007-12-25 7:36:00
Fact 1: If you have a Wren IV and need to re-format it under SunOS 4.1.1,
strange things may happen. If you get messages from format about
cylinders far beyond the actual physical size of the disk, you've
struck dirt. Don't ever expect to use that disk again. Don't ever
expect anybody to tell you why! Not Sun, not Seagate, not your
friendly vendor. DON'T WASTE ANY MORE TIME ON IT. Far too many
people have done so already. (Except of course, if you're a
masochist.)
Fact 2: If you have a disk that starts making "SPIOONNGG" noises at you,
the disk is a "goner". It may live for awhile, but you'll get
more and more error messages, and finally your machine will be to busy
printing these messages to do anything else. The "SPIONNGG" noise
means the disk head is actually *hitting* the disk platter, not a
very good thing for the disk platter.
Fact 3: We have observed that this is far more likely to happen if the disk
is sitting on the same electric circuit as a "neon lamp". We, and
some other sites I know, have been hit very hard by this. The cause
was a new, "environmentally friendly", neon table lamp that the
university bought for us... It may be worth your time and money to
check this if your site uses neon table lamps.
(I hope the list maintainer hasn't returned from the Usenix party, yet ...
If he has, I hope it was a great party, and he's in a forgiving mood :-)
Regards,
Jan Berger Henriksen
Principal Engineer
Institute of Informatics E-mail: jan@eik.ii.uib.no
University of Bergen
N - 5020 Bergen, Phone : 47-5-544173
Norway Fax : 47-5-544199
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