Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tektronix!ozvax!randyh From: randyh@ozvax.GWD.TEK.COM (Randy Hendry) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: jh1 (bridgeboard harddisk problems) Keywords: jh1 djmount bridgeboard dpformat Message-ID: <880@ozvax.GWD.TEK.COM> Date: 9 Aug 88 22:55:32 GMT Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or. Lines: 88 I'm having problems getting Amiga partitions recognized and formatted on my bridgeboard harddisks. Hopefully someone will have some insight and solutions to all the errors I have encountered. My configuration is Computer: Amiga 2000 Rev 4.2, small function keys on keyboard Bridgeboard (ibm xt) Assy No. 380755 Rev. 3 in right (from front) slot 380788-04 EMu-BIOS 3.4 (Phoenix), 38078[345]-01 support chips Harddisk: bridge: Western Digital controller WD1002A-WX1 ROM = 62-000094-002 (latest SuperBIOS), in middle XT slot Drive 1: Maxtor XT-1105 (918 cyl, 11 heads, ~80MB) Drive 2: Micropolis 1304 (830 cyl, 6 heads, ~40MB) Software: Amiga: WB 1.2 (33.59) w/ bridgeboard support (version ??? (~Sept 87)) bridge: MS-DOS 3.3 from MS + adisk, etc from C='s MS-DOS 3.2 The partitions I'm trying to set up are as follows: Drive 1: cyl's 0 - 56, MSDOS3.3 C: ~5MB (system disk. works fine) cyl's 7 - 113, MSDOS D: ~5MB (formatted fine (empty)) cyl's 114 - 343, Amiga jh0: ~20MB (formatted fine (empty)) cyl's 344 - 917, currently unused, planned mostly for Amiga Drive 2: cyl's 0 - 310, Minix ~15MB (current not partitioned) cyl's 311 - 829, Amiga jh1: ~25MB (THIS IS THE ONE THAT FAILED) Sorry about all the detail, but better too much than too little. Anyway, my scenario is as follows: Low level format both drives using the HD controller's SuperBIOS. Only enter the worst of the bad spots into the bad track table (btw, I have tried it w/ all the original known bad areas). Fdisk and high level format the MS-DOS partitions (always rebooting as necessary). Adisk both amiga partitions. Djmount and cancel requestors (two of them both saying something like "non-DOS" disk (as expected)). "dpformat drive jh0: name jh0"; works fine. "dpformat drive jh1: name jh1"; When I return shows this on the screen: Format cyl 516. Retry required cylinder 1. Hard error cylinder 1. Error: Format abandoned. A requester also appeared (I'm guessing an after product of the unsuccessful format): Error validating disk. Key 48340 checksum error. This is the first problem. Questions: 1. Did the format find a bad area on the disk? 2. If so, how can I tell where it was so I can lock it out with the low-level formatting. (Cyl 1 isn't very helpful since I don't want to waste that much space). 3. Will it do any good to lock out such bad spots i.e. will the driver handle them. My guess is yes, since I (think) I tried this before. 4. Is there some problem w/ the size (~25MB) or the position of the partition? Now in trying to get all this to work, I decide to use the same partition (at least the first 5 cylinders where the problem was indicated) as an MS-DOS partition to see if it will format. After making all the changes using adisk and fdisk, I was able to format the area successfully. Then, just for kicks :-( I decide to try and format it under the Amiga side again. Again I make judicious use of fdisk and adisk, but after rebooting, when I do djmount it doesn't recognize jh1: as a valid hard disk partition (my guess). Jh0: still comes up fine, but instead of getting a requestor saying something like "non-dos disk", I get one saying "Please insert volume JH1 in any drive"! It's like parts of the OS now think jh1: is a floppy. Well, getting desperate, I shut down drive 1 and reboot. This time djmount just hangs with an interesting "Divide by zero" error that shows up on, of all places, the MS-DOS screen. Thus the second problem. Questions: 1. Why does djmount no longer recognize my second hard disk partition? (Is this what C= means when, in the pamplet that comes with the bridgeboard, it is recommended that all partitions be formatted at once?) 2. Will I not be able to format additional partitions later on when I decide to use the unused space on my 80MB drive? 3. Is any of this detailed in the Tech. Ref. which I have on order? My local dealer isn't much help, *he* thinks there's an RLL harddisk controller on the bridgecard... 4. The big question: what do I need to do to get all this to work? I'm at witt's end (and don't even have a magazine :-) I sure could use some help from someone who has successfully made it through this procedure. Thanks, Randy -- Randy Hendry randyh@ozvax.gwd.tek.com ...!tektronix!ozvax!randyh Tektronix, Inc. Graphic Terminals Division (503)685-3063w P.O. Box 1000, M.S. 63-523, Wilsonville, OR 97070 (503)639-7697h "In Oregon, the sun shines every day; in the summer, you can even see it."