From: jeff@DIALix.oz.au (Jeff Johnson)
Subject: Wierd hard drive problem
Organization: DIALix Services, Perth, Western Australia
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 01:43:18 GMT


This is a plea for help from a colleague who is currently on the other
side of the island. Replies to him (kendat@DIALix.oz.au) are best but it
is easy for me to redirect replies to him.

This is a verbatum answer from him for more information after an initial
enquiry. 

Thanks.

JJ

Jeff Johnson (jeff@DIALix.oz.au)		DIALix Services
Phone (09) 244-3233 modem			Box 371
Phone (09) 244-2433 voice (All Hours)		South Perth 6151

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for the reply. As requested here is the information, all but my star 
sign, date of birth and my mothers maiden name. Hope you can make sense of it.



CONTROLLER:	Western Digital Corp 1987 SCSI

HARD DRIVE(S):	1. 144 MB - 32 MB DOS(C), 113 MB UNIX(/ & /u)
		2. MINISCRIBE 255 MB - 30 MB DOS(D), 70 MB DOS(E), 154 UNIX(/u2)

PROCESSOR:	386SX Intel, American Megatrends BIOS

RAM:		640K Base, 7168 Extended

MATHS COPRO:	287

VIDEO:		VGA

UNIX MESSAGE DUMP:

Sat Aug 15 23:13:16

		     UNIX is a registered trademark of AT&T
		       Portions Copyright 1976-1989 AT&T
		Portions Copyright 1980-89 Microsoft Corporation
	    Portions Copyright 1983-90 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc
		   Portions Copyright 1988-90 SecureWare, Inc
			      All rights reserved

		SCO System V/386 Release 3.2v2.0 Operating System
	     kernel id 90/06/10 for i80386 Serial Number: com000479

DEdevice   address	vector	dma	comment
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
%f
Sat Aug 15 23:13:16
pu      -		15	-	type=80287
F0F1F2%serial   0x03F8-0x03FF	04	-	unit=0 type=Standard nports=1
%serial   0x02F8-0x02FF	03	-	unit=1 type=Standard nports=1
F3%floppy   0x03F2-0x03F7	06	2	unit=0 type=96ds15
F4F5%console  -		-	-	unit=vga type=0 12 screens=68k
F6%parallel 0x0378-0x037A	07	-	unit=0
F7F8F9F10F11GH0H1H2H3H4H5H6%disk     0x01F0-0x01F7	16	-	type=W0 unit=0 cyls=968 hds=9 secs=34
H7H8H9H10H11H12I0mem: total = 7808k, kernel = 1808k, user = 6000k
JKLAutoboot from rootdev = 1/40, swapdev = 1/41, pipedev = 1/
Sat Aug 15 23:13:17
40
nswap = 2000, swplo = 0, Hz = 60
kernel: i/o bufs = 600k


Sat Aug 15 23:13:18
%disk     -		-	-	type=W0 unit=1 cyls=1023 hds=15 secs=34

Sat Aug 15 23:13:43

WARNING: wd: on fixed disk ctlr=0 dev=1/46 block=0 cmd=00000020
status=00005910, sector=296208, cylinder/head = 968/0

*******THIS MESSAGE ONLY APPEARS ON A MULTI-USER SYSTEM START UP*********

UNIX PARTITIONS:

Current Hard Disk Drive: /dev/rhd00

	+-------------+----------+---------+----------+--------+---------+
	| Partition   | Status   | Type    | Start    | End    | Size    |
	+-------------+----------+---------+----------+--------+---------+
	| 1           | Inactive | DOS     | 1        | 1925   | 1925    |
	| 2           | Active   | UNIX    | 1926     | 8702   | 6777    |
	+-------------+----------+---------+----------+--------+---------+

Total disk size: 8712 tracks, (10 reserved for masterboot and diagnostics)

Current Hard Disk Drive: /dev/rhd1a

	+-------------+----------+---------+----------+--------+---------+
	| Partition   | Status   | Type    | Start    | End    | Size    |
	+-------------+----------+---------+----------+--------+---------+
	| 1           | Active   | UNIX    | 6045     | 15329  | 9285    |
	| 3           | Inactive | UNKNOWN | 1815     | 6044   | 4230    |
	| 4           | Inactive | UNKNOWN | 1        | 1808   | 1808    |
	+-------------+----------+---------+----------+--------+---------+

Total disk size: 15345 tracks, (16 reserved for masterboot and diagnostics)

UNIX BAD TRACK TABLES:

badtrk -f /dev/rhd00
ag A Bad Track******

Enter your choice or `q' to quit: 
Enter defective cylinder and head numbers.
Numbers are in decimal and separated with a '/'.
Terminate each entry with a <RETURN>. 
Terminate list of defects with a 'q'<RETURN>.
Enter in any order. Example: 20/3<RETURN>
This partition contains tracks 214/0 to 966/8.
Defects: 

*************As can be seen a bad track of 968/0 can not be flagged*******************************************On this drive*************************************

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

badtrk -f /dev/rhd1a

     Defective Tracks:
    +--------------------------------------+
    | Cylinder   Head   Sector Number(s)   |
    +--------------------------------------+
 1. |    410	  0	  209100 -  209133 |
 2. |    459	 12	  234498 -  234531 |
 3. |    580	 12	  296208 -  296241 |
 4. |    783	  4	  399466 -  399499 |
 5. |    890	  6	  454104 -  454137 |
 6. |    968	  0	  493680 -  493713 |
    +--------------------------------------+

******Flag A Bad Track********

Enter your choice or `q' to quit: 
Enter defective cylinder and head numbers.
Numbers are in decimal and separated with a '/'.
Terminate each entry with a <RETURN>. 
Terminate list of defects with a 'q'<RETURN>.
Enter in any order. Example: 20/3<RETURN>
This partition contains tracks 403/0 to 1021/14.
Defects: 

***************I can & have flagged the cyl/head on this drive****************************************But it doesn't match the sector***************************

FSCK:

I don't seem to have any trouble at all running this program on both hard drives


MOUNT:

When in single user mode I can mount all systems as follows:-

Mount Dir  Filesystem              blocks      used      free   %used
/          /dev/root               108090    101558      6532    93%
/u         /dev/u                  120000     93502     26498    77%
/u2        /dev/u2                 314668    137280    177388    43%

MULTIUSER MODE:

When I enter this mode I usually log into a line (ALT F1) and type haltsys
with no carriage return. I then log into another line (ALT F2) to do my
work. The second line will usually fold after aprox 100 key strokes. If I
try and log into another line it is the same problem, this indicates that it
may not be a tty line prob. So as to keep the system clean I then go back to
tty01 (ALT F1) and hit return several times to enable a clean exit.

DOS:

There were probs on dos in regards to a lock up on the prog CHECKIT when doing
a memory check on the base memory. I had this checked out by a firm here
($100 stinking bucks) to find no prob. But when installed in my system it
stilled locked. By chance the bios setup got corrupted on a battery down and
only the first disk was active (154MB). When only this disk was active
CHECKIT (DOS) would not lock. When active it would lock.

I then secured a copy of norton 6.00 and ran low level diags on DOS/DOG.
This found a couple of bad tracks on disk 2. Since then DOG has run fine
but UNIX is still in hurting mode.

UNIX LOW LEVEL FORMAT:

This is not an option that I would investigate unless the system was in total
melt down mode. The reason is that all manuals and most 3rd party software
is hiden under piles of trash in my Perth study. Trying to get a non-unix
person (wife) to find the appropriate stuff to send over so as to reinstall
all software is near on impossible.

CHANGES TO SYSTEM:

Nothing has really changed on the system in regards to new software/hardware.
I did have a tape unit expire on me about 1.5 months ago but the system ticked
along O.K. after that for about 3 weeks so I don't think there is any 
connection.

A new WARNING has been popping up when I relink the kernel.

WARNING: mscsi - device ad;not enough sdevice entries

As I have only recently come from Xenix to UNIX I am having a hard time     
keeping up with the new messages & procedures. (What ever happened to        
/etc/ttys? I miss it!!).

With the added disadvantage of having to leave my UNIX manuals behind I feel
like I'm trying to do breaststroke in treakle.

DRINKING PROBLEMS:

An increase in the consumption of the amber fluid was not detected until after
the problem arose.

CONCLUSION:

My system is now in limp mode (Single User). This is not a huge problem but
a hinderance. I have only recently discovered that I could operate in this
mode so it's better than nothing.

Any assitance that you can offer in solving this problem would be greatly 
appreciated. It would also solve my headache problem that occurs after each
session of bashing my head against the wall.



Regards Ken Mullins
KENDAT

Home  (07) 839 5218 This is also my modem line - on request, not always on
Work  (07) 227 8594
Pager (09) 483 6892 This gets redirected to me in Brissy (Brisbane)


Later...............
Newsgroups: biz.sco.general