Date   : Mon, 31 Dec 2007 11:37:35 -0600
From   : julesrichardsonuk@... (Jules Richardson)
Subject: Technomatic Disaster

Rob wrote:
> If ADFS isn't even seeing that there is a hard disc there (and mounts
> floppy as drive 0)  then it implies that it's something earlier in the
> chain than the disc itself.  I'd suggest swapping out the adaptec &
> host adapter boards with a known working system... 

Definitely - I've seen a few of those Adaptec boards fail now, and of course 
ST506/412 type drives aren't particularly reliable.

I'd start with a known-good drive first, or at least test that the drive being 
used is coming ready (either check the signal on the drive connector itself, 
or issue a 'test unit ready' command via the Adaptec board).

> There ought to be a way of interrogating the adaptec card to see if
> it's working, but not sure of the exact method; there ought to be some
> diag programs about though, I would imagine.

I think there is a diagnostic command built into the board - but unfortunately 
all it does is dump the system state over the SCSI bus to the host; I don't 
think the knowledge of how to interpret the data is in the public domain :-(

cheers

Jules