From: michael@tom.uh.edu (Michael Rice - UH Biochemistry)
Subject: Caveat Emptor?
Followup-To: comp.os.vms
Keywords: disk and controller purchasing gone awry
Reply-To: mrice@uh.edu
Organization: University of Houston, Houston, Texas
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 23:58:48 GMT

Hiya folx, I have a query and a warning, read and heed if you wish.

I recently purchased a Hitachi DK516-16 (1.5 GB) ESDI drive to go
into an existing configuration of two DK515-67 ESDI drives.  I'm running
the 515's on a Sigma RQD11-EC MSCP/ESDI controller and have been for
about 4 years now.

Now, when I purchased the DK516, I first consulted my manual for the
RQD11-EC.  Noting that the manual said it can support up to four devices
each up to 3MB/second throughput, I felt safe buying the DK516 which
has a transfer rate of 22.5 MHz or 2.75 MB/sec.  Oh what folly that was.

I believe you can get the gist of the problem from my tone:  The disk
turned out to be too fast for the controller (by about 4.5MHz, the 
controllers _actual_ but _unpublished_ rating is 18MHz.)  The 516 runs
fine on the controller until you start any write operations, then you'll
never know if your data got put on the disk correctly and intact until you
try to read it again.  (This fact came up when I tried to restore a save
set I put on the disk temporarily, said save set was unuseable until I 
wrote a program to copy it off and ignore the errors).  It also causes
problems with the other two disks if one does anything I/O intensive on 
the 516 (like a backup).

I've tried to resolve the problem by contacting Sigma.  After talking to 
Mike Chase in their Tech Support group in Nevada, I got the confirmation
that the manual lied, the controller was too slow, and that my current 
controller is not upgradeable to a speed that will support the DK516 
drive (it's ~18MHz, expandable to a maximum (theoretical) of 20MHz, but the
expansion is still only rated for about 19MHz)

I also tried talking to the Houston Sales Rep for Sigma, Dave Boyer.  Dave
told me that Sigma prints a disclaimer that they aren't responsible for
changes/errors in the manual, but he'd be happy to sell me a new, faster
controller.

I'd be happy with an upgrade to a fast enough controller.  I can't afford
a new one.  My current controller is about four years old, and an
upgrade for it to the current level of firmware revision is $325. 
That's $325 that I didn't plan on spending, but would be a fair enough
price if it would make my controller work with my disk.

Mike told me the week before last that the newest manual revision should
have the corrected information, and he offered to fax me the changes.  I
had a Tech Support guy from my disk vendor call Sigma and ask them if
their controller (the 
RQD11-EC) would support a DK516.  He was told that yes, it would... and
that it
has a 3MB transfer rate (this was just 3 days ago).

Now that my gripe is spent, here's my query:  Has anyone had any similar
experiences and would be willing to give me their opinions on what I could
possibly do to get this resolved and quickly? 

and my warning:  All this being told by Sigma that they can't and/or won't
help in any way has left me with a bad feeling for them and their way of
doing business.  I wouldn't hesitate at all to recommend one(any) of
their competitors.

Please respond via e-mail if possible, I'm an unfaithful reader at best.
I'll post a summary if requested.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael A. Rice                        MRICE@UH.EDU 
   University of Houston               MRICE@UHOU.BITNET
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        "Sometimes I think that the surest sign that 
         intellegent life exists elsewhere in the universe 
         is that none of it has tried to contact us." 
                                       -Calvin
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