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Date:	Thu, 1 Jul 2004 22:17:06 PDT7
From:	Tom Brown <thombrown@san.rr.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: On Thin Ice

Content Type: text/plain

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Jordan,

I have an all-SCSI system, LSI SYM22915A dual channel, 3 U160 LVD 36 GiB
fixed + 2 36 GiB swappable HDs on one, and the optical drives & tape on
the other. I have bought SCSI cables (with included terminators) from
CS-Electronics:

http://www.cs-electronics.com/

I think good cables are a very solid investment, both IDE and SCSI.

You did not mention what type of drives you have other than the
"DeathStar" brand. All of my drives are IBM/Hitachi. I have not had any
problems with my SCSI drives, but I *DID* have one 40 GiB IBM/Hitachi
IDE drive die on me. Replaced under warranty. :-)

Do you have S.M.A.R.T. monitoring running? The normal HDMON program
supports only IDE drives, but there is a version that supports SCSI
drives. I have a SCSI version, but I can't find the .ZIP file just now.
I will try to find it for you.

80-pin SCSI drives can often be found for cheap on eBay. They just need
an adapter to allow connection to a 68-pin SCSI bus.

HTH

J. R. Fox wrote:
>
> My primary desktop system remains in limbo. As things stood (before I
> left town for a week), it would run (perhaps) for 10 or 15 minutes and
> then there would be struggling, spin-rate changing noises from one of
> the two SCSI hard drives, culminating in a Trap 00D involuntary
> shutdown. I guess only one of these drives has to have a problem to
> bring everything down.
>
> Anyway, after I got back, I opened up the box, and vacuumed everything
> out pretty good, which it seems was needed. I also switched SCSI
> cable connectors for the drive I assumed was having problems . . .
> though I'm not absolutely sure I got the correct one. The H/D cable
> has 3 connectors. One of them apparently failed about 10 months ago,
> so I switched that drive over to the "spare." Since there are only 3
> connectors, I tried switching this drive back to the one I had
> previously assumed was no good, just as a test. Everything seems to
> be running, but I am now no longer running this system 24 / 7, but
> rather for hours at a time. The case is also off on one side, and
> partially in the front, which should make a temperature difference, if
> this indeed turns out to be something heat-related. All fans seem to
> be operating normally.
>
> I have had a problem like this at several-month intervals.
> Previously, it has stabilized and then things would be quiet for
> several months more. The boot drive (18G) is about 2 years old, the
> other one about 3 1/2. Does this suggest anything to any of you ? It
> is hard to tell if one of the drives may be failing -- these are IBM
> UltraStars with the 5 year warranties, from before the time Hitachi
> took over, and the UltraStars began to be called "DeathStars" in some
> quarters -- or if it might be something more to do with the cable or
> connectors. Right now, I am hesitant to seal up the box again, or to
> run this system for extended periods. Hopefully, I will manage to
> clone the hard drives before it may be too late. I am already in the
> process of generating fresh partition images, after too long an
> absence of doing this.
>
> If you don't hear from me again for more than a few days, you will
> know that the system has gone down again.
>

--
Tom Brown
thombrown at san dot rr dot com
Member SCOUG, V.O.I.C.E. & SDAA
running eComStation GA + FP 3
eCS system uptime is 0 days 00:42 hours

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