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Date:      Thu, 22 Apr 1999 01:25:30 +0100
From:      Mark Ovens <marko@uk.radan.com>
To:        Darren Pilgrim <dpilgrim@uswest.net>
Cc:        "Francis Percival C. Favoreal" <dune@cats.edu.ph>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: SCSI problem
Message-ID:  <19990422012530.D254@marder-1>
In-Reply-To: <371E6704.B6E8A560@uswest.net>; from Darren Pilgrim on Wed, Apr 21, 1999 at 05:02:12PM -0700
References:  <Pine.LNX.3.96.990421092534.18736A-100000@mayon.cats.edu.ph> <371D79EF.CA43A24B@uk.radan.com> <371E6704.B6E8A560@uswest.net>

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On Wed, Apr 21, 1999 at 05:02:12PM -0700, Darren Pilgrim wrote:
> Mark Ovens wrote:
> <brevity snip>
> > Just a thought but this couldn't be caused by (SCSI) BIOS settings
> > could it? I only ask because I've just added a second SCSI HD to my
> > system and it exhibits similar behaviour, although it never fails to
> > start.
> > 
> > The original disk is an IBM Ultrastar 2ES U/W and that spins up as
> > soon as the power is switched on but the new disk, IBM Ultrastar 9ES
> > U/W, doesn't spin up until the SCSI controller probes it (I thought
> > I'd forgotten to connect the power lead the first time I powered up
> > after installing it).
> > 
> > The SCSI card is a Diamond Fireport (NCR/Symbios 53c875 chip). It
> > seems strange that one disk spins up immediately and the other waits
> > until it's probed, but since it always spins up and works without
> > problems I've never bothered investigating further.
> 
> Some of the SCSI HBAs I have stage the spin-ups to avoid overloading
> the power supply.  Perhaps this might be the cause?
> 

I didn't know that. Anyway I powered off my system about an hour
ago and when I powered it back up I listened for the 2nd HD spinning
up. I wasn't quite right when I said it only spun up when the BIOS
probes it. It didn't spin up 'til FreeBSD probed it!.

I've looked at the tech sheet for the drive (PDF file) and there
are a couple of jumpers that control spin-up:

Disable / Enable Auto Spin Up (JP5)

This jumper controls how the drive starts when power is applied on
50 and 68 Pin Drives . If the jumper is installed then the disk
will spin up automatically after power -on reset . If the jumper
is NOT installed the disk will NOT spin up unless the host system
issues a 'START UNIT' command to the disk.  On 80 Pin Drives, if
the Jumper is not installed then the disk will spin up automatically
after Power-On Reset.  If the Jumper is installed the disk will
not spin up unless the Host System issues a "Start Unit" command
to the disk.

I've not got this jumper on so it needs a 'START UNIT' command to spin-up. Does that come from the BIOS or the OS?

Auto Start Delay and Delay Start (JP9, JP10)

The Auto Start Delay and Delay Start pins control when and how the
drive can spin up, with the com bination of Aut o Spin option (pin
#5). When in Auto Spin up and Start Delay mode the drive start will
be delayed by a period of time multiplied by its own SCSI address.
If Auto Spin up is disabled, these jumpers will be ignored.

Neither of these jumpers are on either but because J5 is off it
makes no difference. If J5 was on then the various combinations of
these 2 will give the following options:

   Spin up immediately after POR (Power On Reset)
   Spin up 6 seconds multiplied by the disk's SCSI address after POR
   Spin up 12 seconds multiplied by the disk's SCSI address after POR

Now, I imagine that if this drive was my boot drive and jumpered
the way it is, then I might have the same problem that Francis was
having.

-- 
      FreeBSD - The Power To Serve http://www.freebsd.org
      My Webpage http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~markov
_______________________________________________________________
Mark Ovens, CNC Apps Engineer, Radan Computational Ltd. Bath UK
CAD/CAM solutions for Sheetmetal Working Industry
mailto:marko@uk.radan.com                  http://www.radan.com



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