SCO Unix 3.2v2.0 + Micropolis 1325 hard disk?

[Darrell Tschakert]

>
>generic 386sx clone running SCO Unix v3.2v2.0
>Micropolis 1325 68(?)MB MFM hard drive
>the Micropolis disk is actually repackaged as a DEC RD53
>
>The problem is that though the system can reference the
>1325 disk from its AMI BIOS and from DOS, any attempt to
>access the disk under SCO Unix v3.2v2.0 causes the
>process doing the access to hang... The BIOS doesn't have
>a drive type number for the disk (its parameters are 1024
>cylinders, 8 heads, 17 sectors/track, write precomp
>cylinder 1024, write current reduce cylinder 1024, control 5,
>ecc none) but that doesn't bother either the BIOS (which has
>a user configurable drive type #47 where you enter those
>parameters) or DOS (which blindly and happily follows
>the BIOS, I guess). This failure mode under SCO Unix happens
>either with the disk as drive number 2 (of 2) or as a drive
>on a second hard disk controller card (Which requires
>hardware and software finagling too major to go in to here).

I have had a similar problem with the same drive. However I also have
the same problem with a Maxtor 140 Meg, Hitachi 86 Meg, Hitach 46 meg, 
etc. 
My problem though is that the system goes to hell as soon as I try to 
access any second drive. If I do an fdisk, divvy, dkinit or anything
that reads the second drive I immediately get errors indicating that my
first drive has bad blocks. Next I can't access files on the primary 
disk. Sometimes I can't even run haltsys and must RESET the computer.
However sometimes I can get dkinit, divvy, fdisk to work just for a short
time and then things go bad. That is to say, its not really consistent.

I can work with both drives in DOS or SCO 3.2.0 but not SCO 3.2.2.
I called SCO and they said to try another controller. I tried another
controller but then ran into a different problem. I am now looking for
another controller to try.

SCO 3.2.0 uses HZ=100 while 3.2.2 uses HZ=60. The system won't let me 
change HZ to 100 so I can't try that. I don't know what else to try. 
I guess I could try a different interleave.

Again SCO UNIX 3.2.0 worked just fine. 
I would really appreciate some help on this one.
Thanks in advance.


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