SUMMARY: Ultra-60 and non-Sun system disk misbehaviour

From: Carsten B. Knudsen (cbk@terma.dk)
Date: Tue Jun 22 1999 - 07:17:54 CDT


The problem here was: A new 18GB, 10,000 rpm IBM disk - replacing the
original Sun-OEM'ed 9GB IBM disk - fails to autoboot in an Ultra-60 but
otherwise appears to work OK.
  In addition, I asked if anyone knew whether a U-60 has enough airflow
to keep this disk from running hot.

Thanks to the following for good suggestions:

  Davin Milun <milun@cse.Buffalo.EDU>,
  Syed Zaeem Hosain <szh@zcon.com>,
  Rich Quinn <rquinn@sight-n-sound.com>,
  Roger Fujii <rmf@unixbox.lookhere.com>,
  Brion Leary <brion@dia.state.ma.us>,
  Martin Oksnevad <martin@stavanger.geoquest.slb.com>,
  Wimmer Jeffrey <Wimmer.Jeffrey@LittonDSD.com>

The majority of suggestions was that the disk might not have spun up
when the OBP starts to auto-boot and to make sure that the drive is
configured to spin up at power-on. Well, it already was, and since the
problem also occurs after a "warm" reset, it is probably not caused by
spin-up delays... So, problem so far unsolved.
  As for the other question, two people suggested that it might work,
but that I should not expect Sun to say so... Martin mentions a
low-profile (1" high) 18GB disk that should consume less power, but I
have not been able to find any references to such a thing on
www.storage.ibm.com. I know that you can get a Barracuda with those
specs, but noone around here is able to say anything concrete about
delivery terms. For the time being, I have ended up strapping an extra
fan under the front cover of the U-60 ensure sufficient airflow arounf
the disk.

regards,

/Carsten

-------------------------------------------------------------;-)-
  Carsten B. Knudsen Email: cbk@terma.dk
  TERMA Elektronik A/S Phone: +45 8745 6000
  Hovmarken 4-6 Fax: +45 8745 6001
  DK-8520 Lystrup, Denmark (@home: cbk@iname.com)
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Original question(s):

> Hello all,
>
> This morning, I replaced the original 9GB IBM/Sun disk in an Ultra-60
> with an 18GB IBM 10krpm disk. After the switchover, the machine
> persistently fails to autoboot after power-up or reset, failing with
> the message "Trap 3e", and falls into the ok prompt. But... typing
> "boot" at this point always succeeds, and once up, the machine
> apparently runs flawlessly (well, it has for 3 hours now :->).
> Any ideas what can be causing this behaviour? It does not appear to
> be a big propblem for now, but I am a bit nervous that over time, it
> could cause other kinds of trouble.
>
> Btw., another thing: This 10000rpm disk consumes around 18 watts and
> becomes significantly hotter that the old one. Anyone knows if a U-60
> is built to house a disk like this?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Carsten

Davin Milun wrote:

> Complete guess on my part: it's a spin-up problem. Either it's
> spinning up too slowly for the U60 (so it tries before the disks
> ready); or else it's not set to spin up automatically, and that's the
> problem. So, check if there is a spin-up jumper on the disk, and set
> it to spin up on power-on.
>
> It's just a guess though.

Syed Zaeem Hosain wrote:

> Hi Carsten.
>
> Our experience has been that you cannot boot from a disk larger
> than 9GB automatically. So we tend to leave in one smaller boot
> disk and then simply add larger extra drives for the capacity
> needs.

Rich Quinn wrote:

> Carsten,
>
> I know this question I ask is a no brainer but: - - -
> did you do a boot -r after you added the new drive?
> Maybe the driver is having a hard time with the new disk.
> Does dmesg tell you anything else?

Roger Fujii wrote:

> a good guess is that the drive takes too long to spin up, and
> the loader times out. You might be able to get around this by
> some fancy fcode stuff, or maybe attaching a property to the
> controller device.
>
> As for cooling, can't help you too much here. But the
> cooler, the better...

Brion Leary wrote:

> Just a thought - could the 18GB be slow spinning up?
> I'd check for jumpers related to spin up.

Martin Oksnevad wrote:

> If your 18gb 10000rpm disk are only 1.0" inch high (ie. very new model)
> then the heat shouldn't be a problem as the disk shouldn't produce more
> heat than a 1.6" high 7200rpm disk.
>
> But, if you have an older 1.6" high 18gb 10000rpm (and hot) disk then the
> heat could be problem because Sun have never sold 10000rpm disks in U30/60s.

Wimmer Jeffrey wrote:

> Are the new disk parameters listed in the st.conf file? It sounds as
> if the boot prom doesn't recognize the drive configuration. I think
> the power supply in an Ultra 60 can handle the drive as long as you
> don't try to put several that size in the bays.



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