[SunRescue] Sun 411 problem that's been buggin me...

[Chris Petersen]

Okay, I'm glad to know I'm not nuts...This was the same conclusion that I
had drawn...The next question would be:  Did Sun ever use any drives that
had the ground on the bottom set?  There were at least 3 different drives
used in the 411-series chassis that I'm aware of (2 Sony's and 1 Toshiba),
I'm wondering if there's a different cable out there for the 1 OEM Toshiba
they used...

And yeah, it makes a lot more sense with a chalkboard (we had a whiteboard,
a magnifying glass, and a schematic in our case before we figured it out). 
You just expect this stuff to work, it's not rocket science, but apparently
there are different ways to make it work in the first place :)  My next
thought, has anybody tried to make their own cable?

Chris

> 
> 
> I've had that problem with Pioneer SCSi drives. What we have figured here
> (not been able to prove....just guessing) Is that there's a ground side to
> the block of jumpers which are all tied together, and the "id" side, for
> lack of a better term, couples to ground to make the ID. Sun assumes that
> the ground will be the upper set of pins, but if the manf of the drive
> puts it on the reverse side, then the Auto-ID switch grounds all the pins.
> ( which is why when you reverse it the drive gets an ID....a wrong ID, but
> an ID) We solved this by not using the Auto-ID but using jumpers. Took us
> a month to figure it out. I hope that makes sense. It's easier to explain
> w/ a chalkboard. 
> 
> Jay
> 
> Jay Radcliffe 
> Unix Administrator 
> College of Engineering Wayne State University
> jay at eng.wayne.edu
> 
> On Wed, 5 Apr 2000, Chris Petersen wrote:
> 
> > Okay, with the legal stuff wrapping itself up, we can all get back to the
> > more important things...
> > 
> > I've got a problem with a Sun 411 case that I've been boggled by for almost
> > 6 months now, thought somebody out there may have solved it.  I've got a
> > newer-model Sun 411 open-face case (the type with the stranded internal SCSI
> > cable rather than the ribbon cable) with a Toshiba 12x CDROM in it.  I
> > cannot for the life of me get the Toshiba CD to Auto-ID via the ID cable &
> > switch.  When the cable connecter is oriented properly over the CDROM's ID
> > jumper block, regardless of whatever I set the switch to, the CD will ID at
> > 7 as if all jumpers were set.  If I reverse the cable, the drive will ID as
> > expected (in this case, the opposite jumper setting than it should be, i.e.
> > a "1" on the switch yields a "4" for an ID).
> > 
> > Any ideas?  I know people have used Plextors in the open face 411, do
> > Toshibas just not work?  I've tried 4 or 5 different ID cables, and a couple
> > different switch/SCSI cable assemblies (I've got a stack of 411s here), all
> > to no avail.  I've got a Yamaha CDR in a 411 case with a similar problem.
> > 
> > Chris
> > 
> > -- 
> > Chris Petersen
> > Systems Engineer, Industry Services, Unigraphics Solutions Inc.
> > Co-founder, auctions.workstations.org
> > Email: havoc at apk.net
> > _______________________________________________
> > Rescue maillist  -  Rescue at sunhelp.org
> > http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue
> > 
> 
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