HELP! Evil UniPath/IDE interaction (?)
phil sutherland
philsuth at mycroft.DIALix.oz.au
Mon May 20 22:16:02 AEST 1991
[I'm posting this to the SCO mailing list as well as comp.unix.xenix.sco.]
[Please skip if you're seeing it twice. ]
Folks,
HELP. An evil problem is keeping me stuck in Sydney, far from my native
Perth.
Scenario
--------
SCO Xenix 386 2.3.2 GT
Seagate ST1162A IDE (AT interface) disk drive
SCO Unipath 1.3 with Pathway interface card
Symptoms
--------
System locks with disk drive light on, although ALT-Fx to flip screens
and indeed anything non-disk in nature still seems to work, including
a cu that was already in progress to a neighboring machine. Thus it
appears to be a disk hardware lockout of some sort. Problem occurs
randomly, sometimes even during multi-user bootup (I'd guess at about
the time snautil -start gets going). It appears to be aggravated by
intensive disk access - a /etc/badtrk non-destructive quick scan will
make the problem occur within seconds. Problem is completely solved by
unplugging the modem from the Pathway card - although for obvious
reasons this is unlikely to sit well with the customer. Thus, evidence
appears to point to some evil form of Unipath/disk interaction - maybe
an interrupt at the wrong time or something?
What it's not
-------------
Individual disk drive or bus interface card (I've replaced both).
Individual Pathway interface card - that too has been replaced.
Bad kernel/link kit.
What I'm thinking of trying next
--------------------------------
Different drive type (back to the old trusty ST506 or something)
Different kernel entirely - 386AT instead of GT
Deep probing the kernel with a special purpose device driver, to see
more of what's going on.
Application of appreciable kinetic energy using an axe.
Thoughts?
---------
Has anybody any ideas on what this is, or how I might go about fixing it?
My cats are missing me... Please mail responses - while away from a local
call zone my newsfeed is severely restricted.
Thanks in advance....
--
+--- phil sutherland -------------< philsuth at DIALix.oz.au >--+
| Open Access Pty Ltd, Perth, Western Australia. |
+------------------------------------------------------------+
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