From: malc@equinox.unr.edu (Malcolm Carlock)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sun.admin,comp.sys.sun.misc,comp.sys.sun.hardware,comp.sys.sun.wanted,alt.sys.sun
Subject: Wren VI on a Sun 386i -- format/newfs woes
Date: 10 Apr 92 02:46:29 GMT
Followup-To: comp.sys.sun.admin
Organization: University of Nevada, Reno  Campus Computing Services

Has anyone out there successfully attached a Wren VI to a Sun 386i?  If so,
I'd really appreciate it if you could let me know how you accomplished it...

I've been banging my head against a wall trying to do this for a while now.
The immediate problem is that newfs's fail with "wtfs: I/O error", but in
trying to trace this problem I've run into some so far insurmountable problems
with the format program as well.  The OS on the machine in question is 4.2.2.
I've had the same problems with two different Wren VI's.

The format.dat entry I've been using is as follows:

disk_type = "CDC Wren VI full-height" \
	: ctlr = CCS \
	: ncyl = 1626 : acyl = 2 : pcyl = 1632 : nhead = 15 : nsect = 53 \
	: rpm = 3600 : bpt = 27136

I partitioned and labeled the disk "by hand" from within format.  The only
defined partition is currently c (though I've tried defining and using
others), with a size of 0,1626/0/0.  The format command I've mostly been
using to access the disk has been "format -d sd0".  With these parameters,
format, when run, comes up with "disk formatted, defect list found".

The problems I've been encountering are as follows:

1.	newfs sooner or later fails with a "wtfs: I/O error" at some point
	while being run on any partition, and terminates at that point.

	Thinking the defect list might be incomplete, I go back into format.
	The automatically found defect list contains 17 items, which when
	listed with pr under def, appear to be reasonably random (i.e.,
	real.)  I then go into analyze and try compare, which fails almost
	immediately, while still on 0/0/0, with an "Unknown severity"
	message.  No blocks are repaired.

	Going into analyze and attempting a repair using the number of the
	"bad block" reported by newfs, or adding that number to the defect
	list and attempting a reformat, are ineffectual.

2.	I then attempt a new format (vs. the format from the factory, or
	from a Sun 4/110 running 4.1, both of which have been tried).  The
	conversation with format appears as follows:

	format> format
	Enter starting block number [0, 0/0/0]: 
	Enter ending block number [1297439, 1631/14/52]: 
	Ready to format. Formatting cannot be interrupted 
	and takes a long while. Continue? y
	Beginning format. The current time is Thu Apr  9 18:42:58 1992
	
	Formatting...
[about a 10-second wait here]
	Unknown SCSI disk type: CDC      94191-15        
	Using generic SCSI formatting procedure
[anywhere from a 5-second to 2-minute wait here]
	Format failed.
	format>

3.	Analyze and newfs continue to fail as above.

I've seen messages to the effect that others have indeed succeeded in
attaching Wren VI's to 386i's, though details have not been available to me
in these cases ("I did it a long time ago, but I don't remember the details".)

If anyone can offer advice, assistance, the phone number of a good exorcist,
or dkinfo output for a Wren VI successfully attached to a 386i, I'd really
like to hear from you.

Thanks in advance.

--
Malcolm L. Carlock                      Internet:  malc@unr.edu
                                        UUCP:      unr!malc
                                        BITNET:    malc@equinox