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SCSI Hard Disk install problem.

mikeyd

Member
I've been working with a maxtor 10k III with an adaptec 29160 without a problem.
I went and picked up a ibm 160/10k drive on ebay. It had the 80pin sca adapter so I purchased a converted and installed it. The 29160 saw the drive correctly, but I've been having nothing but problems with it. I tried to do a diag on it in the 29160 bios and got several errors. Bad drive or do I have something set up wrong. there are jumper positions on the 80-68 pin adapter. the only thing I jumpered was to set the scsi id to 9. Please help - otherwise I'm scrapping the drive and not trusting ebay for that kind of purchase.

Thanks.
Mike.
 


<< Did you set termination on the adapter? >>


Not on LVD rated adapter, there are none.


Make sure your SCA-68 pin adapter is LVD rated, this is a must. Also some LVD drives will have a little tiny jumper on the bottom which can change the drive from SE to LVD. Also you have a terminator at the end of you chain (LVD rated cable) right?
 
If the 10K III was working fine and this one is giving lots of errors, the drive is likely bad.. but before you give up, try a low level format using the 29160. SCA isnt much different and as long as you have the proper adaptor, the drive should work just fine. One way to tell if the correct adaptor is being used, is on boot up if the drive is ID's as U160 or even U80 then you have the correct adaptor. The non LVD adaptor would detect it as U40
 
I think the adapter is fine. It sees the drive as U160.
I tried the low level format and got 2 different kinds of errors. First I got serveral bad block errors and clicked ok to reassign. After several of those erros, I got a scsi command error.
I think the drive is toast. Any other suggestions??
 
Im sure the IBM site has a downloadable utility to test the drive. Use it, and record the errors it gives. You will likely need to do that to RMA it if you are going to go that route. I know there is at least one Ebay seller who sells a lot of AS IS hard drives and he will NOT back them up. About 35 percent of his feedback is negatives for selling bad drives. Its really the risk of the buyer on AS IS stuff like that, and you usually eat it.
 


<< Its really the risk of the buyer on AS IS stuff like that, and you usually eat it. >>


I think several of us have learned the hard way on ebay.:frown:

 
If the drive is indeed bad, there should be some of the original warranty left on it from IBM. Almost all SCSI drives have a 5 year warrany and since this is a U160 10k drive it should be easily under the original warranty.
 


<< Almost all SCSI drives have a 5 year warrany and since this is a U160 10k drive it should be easily under the original warranty. >>


That is IF this is a retail drive. OEM drives do not carry the same warranty, ebay is famous for passing on these drives.
 


<< That is IF this is a retail drive. OEM drives do not carry the same warranty, ebay is famous for passing on these drives. >>



i've never seen a retail SCSI drive....
 


<< i've never seen a retail SCSI drive.... >>



I have several, they say Seagate or Quantum or Maxtor instead of Compaq or Dell, etc.

By retail I am not implying retail boxed but retail branded.

Example: You can buy a Quantum Atlas 10K drive retail branded with a 5 year warranty. And you can buy the exact same drive but as a Campaq 10K which has warranty through Compaq only (try it through Quantum(Maxtor) and once they plug in the serial # they will tell you it is an OEM drive).
 


<< << Almost all SCSI drives have a 5 year warrany and since this is a U160 10k drive it should be easily under the original warranty. >>


That is IF this is a retail drive. OEM drives do not carry the same warranty, ebay is famous for passing on these drives.
>>



Been there, done that. I bought a drive from Ebay AS IS. A IBM drive too. Sent me a wrong at first, second time sent me a DOA. The drive is under warrenty, but IBM won't RMA it unless its bought retail.

Got my money back from the ebay seller after some unfriendly emails.
 
Back to the problem at hand, my vote would be that the adapter is suspect. Many people have had problems using adapters. The only ones I would trust are the ones sold by hypermicro.

And as for warranty, just plug in the serial # at IBM's site and see. It will tell you the exact status of the warranty without all the guesswork.
 
If your other drives working correctly here are couple headers to check:

1) Check the SCSI ID on HD
2) Make sure your SCSI card picks up the drive and do a low level format. <----Problems showed up? well then the drive is toasted.
3) Make sure you have terminated your LVD cable at the end.
4) Check all your pins on your harddrive make sure they are in the right place.
5) Downloaded the utility from IBM's site and test drive your HD with it. <----most likey its not going to work.
6) Get the guy who sold you the drive and return the damn thing. <--- Always purchase from a reliable source when purchasing SCSI HDs many times people will sell you refurb drives on Ebay.


Hope it helped.


--Scsi
 


<< By retail I am not implying retail boxed but retail branded. >>



oh, you mean like that. i've seen plenty of those 😉
 
Maybe I'm late in posting this, but here is my $.02 worth of input. SCSI-2 & SCSI-3 cables are different and these technologies should not be mixed.

As far as I know SCSI-2 LVD cables are different from SCSI-3 LVD cables Link and Link so to make sure you are using the correct cables, use only the p/n for the cable of either SCSI-3/SCSI-2 LVD kits.

The SCSI-3 Ultra160 LVD cable p/n: ACK-68I5-LVD CBL Kit (5 position)

The Ultra SCSI-2 LVD cable p/n: - ACK-68I-U2W (5 position)
 
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