From: Michel_Denber.WBST147@XEROX.COM
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Subject: Quantum 105S Update
Date: 2 Sep 92 20:42:00 GMT

Many thanks to the people who sent me their system configurations - that was a
big help.  That basically convinced me that my drive is OK and the problem is
not with the drive parameters I'm using.  Apparently, SCSI drives map logical
addresses to physical addresses, so you can use any combination as long as it's
under the total capacity of the drive.  On further checking, I discovered that
the read/write errors I got during the multi-file copy are bogus.  I was able
to list the files it complained about just fine afterwards.  If I do a "dir",
I'll get a r/w error maybe 3 times out of 10, and always in different places.

One person suggested that you can get these errors if you use a hi-res
interlaced screen, but I rebooted in lo-res and that didn't help.

Someone else suggested that there was a known DMA contention problem with early
2090A controllers and that there was a ROM upgrade available from Commodore.  I
tried calling the Commodore 800 information number and ended up talking to some
lady who apparently went to the Otto Schultz School of Customer Assistance ("I
know nothingk, I see *nothingk*").  She said I had to talk to the Commodore
Technical Support Hotline, but claimed not to know what this number was (anyone
care to give me a hint?).  She said I had to call my *dealer* and they would
tell me.  I told her the number I called *was* the number my dealer had given
me.  She then claimed to be sorry but I had to call my dealer.  Right.  I'm
sorry too.  I'm sorry I ever bought this &~%$# computer from Commodore!  So
then I called Commodore's main number in Pa.  They gave me a different 800
number which turned out to be another one of these touchtone things that just
gives you the name of your local Amiga dealer.  Great.  So I called the local
dealer, who naturally had no clue as to what I was talking about.  They tried
to offer me a "2.04 ROM enhancer kit".  No, dammit, I'm talking about the
*disk* controller.

After some consultations, I got two different stories: 1. there is a 2090A ROM
and the latest is v. 6.6.  There's a rumor that 6.9 is about to be released
(what happened to 6.7 and 6.8?) but no one can confirm that.  Story 2: there is
no upgrade for the 2090A, only for the 2091.  The person who really knew was
out and I should call back tomorrow.

The ROM on my controller (U36) has a stick-on label marked "(c) 1987 390230-02
2090  3145".  (That *is* the ROM, isn't it?)  The big socketed SMD chip (U40)
says "SCX6225NCM / V5".  The silk-screening on the board says "GXB-V0 8752".

Can anyone derive my ROM version from any of this information?

Does anyone know if spurious SCSI R/W errors are in fact due to some ROM
problem?

Why do I always get the weird ones?

(I really love my Amiga, but Commodore's customer support is a bad joke.  I
suppose there's been some progress though.  I called them two years ago and
waited on hold for 40 minutes.  At exactly 5:00 PM, someone picked up the phone
and hung it up without a word.  At least now they answer the phone.)

			- Michel

denber.wbst147@xerox.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware