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[marcfrick2112]

Hello all, Well, my A1200T system (see spec. below) is acting odd. So far, 2 times in 2 days, after I boot my A1200T, and try to run any program, I get 'volume Workbench has a checksum error at xxxxx' error, and I can then do nothing else... If I try another partition, the HD light stays on, and I can't access anything. All I could do is boot from a floppy, re-format the partition, and restore from a backup.... Could my IDE HD be dying?

Specs: A1200 Power Tower, 68060/50MHz, DCE SCSI module, 192MB RAM, 8.5GB HDD, OS3.9 w/BB 1 and 2, lots of hacks, but my system has been stable with them for quite some time.

Any ideas would be great, thanks much

[FaLLeNOnE]

If it happens with all harddisks connected to system than it's a hardware problem. If it only happens with a specific harddisk, than it's a problem with that harddisk. If it's a scsi hdd than it could be a termination problem.

[rkauer]

Replace the capacitor right on the side of the IDE connector. It can be the cause of your issues.

Better: change all electrolytic capacitor on your board each 3~5 years.

[AMC258]

What filesystem is it?

If it were me, I'd back it up in a HURRY, and format it.

[marcfrick2112]

Thanks for the advice, everyone...

Well, it's an IDE 8.5GB hard drive. Now that I think of it, several partitions of this drive have given checksum errors over the last year or so. My SCSI devices have never had this problem.

rkauer: I don't think I am up to the task of replacing caps on my 1200, I could barely hold steady enough to replace a 64MB SIMM with a 128 MB

AMC258: Well, I have 2 backups, one on Zip, one on CD-R, tho, strangely I couldn't boot from the Zip disk today, as I have before.... I have also formatted the partition twice so far...
ps, your avatar looks strangely familiar


Sounds to me like the HD is dying.....

Any opinions?

[AMC258]

I don't think I am up to the task of replacing caps on my 1200, I could barely hold steady enough to replace a 64MB SIMM with a 128 MB

Go ahead and buy the caps. One of these days when I can find the time I can do this for you. I actually have won awards for my soldering 8-) Though, I'll have to buy a new iron. My good one died and the only working one I have left is a piece of crap. I have a great one at work, but I don't want to bring it home or I'll forget to take it back!

ps, your avatar looks strangely familiar

I'm getting anxious! I had to go to Miller Park Saturday night. We went to Friday's Front Row and stared out into the stadium! (I have Loge Infield Box tickets coming in the mail soon :-D)

[marcfrick2112]

AMC258: I just may take you up on your offer, I could even let you use my crap RadioShack 15/30W soldering iron... Except for one lucky episode where I enabled 1MB Chip on an A500, my soldering skills are >NIL:

What caps do I need anyway?

I tempted fate, and powered on my 1200 again, so far it's working alright, but I notice a definate lag for programs to actually run. e.g. DOpus 4.12 usually pops up within 1 sec. , now it seems to take a bit longer....

[Thomas]

it's an IDE 8.5GB hard drive

Please run Check4GB and post its output here.

Bye,
Thomas

[marcfrick2112]

Thomas, I will DL and run that program, but so you know, I have used this same 8.5GB HDD for a number of years, at first with NSDPatch and OS 3.1, then OS3.5, now OS 3.9 with BoingBag's 1 and 2, no problems... Only in the last year or so have I gotten occasional checksum errors on 3 different partitions of this hard drive. This problem with my Workbench: partition has been out of the ordinary, ususally if this happens, I just format, and restore from my backup.

(So far, after my last format (with verify) my SYS: seems OK...)

[Methuselas]

Sounds like the drive is about to puke. I'd replace it, just because. It's an 8.5GB, which means it's *WAY* past warranty and well beyond it's prime.

Hell, my primary 160 took a sh!t and now my Windoze box is using my Amithlon drive as a new boot drive.

I'll buy another one, when I get my tax return, assuming I have enough left over after I put my new head gasket on my car and pay off bills.

[Thomas]

I have used this same 8.5GB HDD for a number of years, at first with NSDPatch and OS 3.1, then OS3.5, now OS 3.9 with BoingBag's 1 and 2, no problems...

I does not need to be a 4GB problem, but the program lists a lot of information which could be helpful.

However, did you ever have more than 4GB of data on all partitions altogether ?

Only in the last year or so have I gotten occasional checksum errors on 3 different partitions of this hard drive.

The bad thing with the 4GB problem is that multiple partitions share the same storage area on the HDD. So by writing to one partition, a second one might be corrupted. And by repairing the second partition, the first one becomes bad.

After formatting the SYS partition, did you check the others if all files are still readable ?

Bye,
Thomas

[marcfrick2112]

@Methuselas: I am thinking the same thing, gonna check out my local
over-priced PC store tommorow, or if I need to, EBay...
I know the drive is way out of warranty, I think it was when I bought it
. Only sticking to smaller drives, cuz that's all I have needed
for most of the time I had an A1200T.

Can't really wait for my tax return, my A1200T is the main
software backup for all my Amigas.... I am actually typing this on said A1200
, but I don't know how long it will last.

@Thomas: I DL'd and ran 'Check4GB', it simply crashed my Amiga, yet I KNOW my miggy
can handle HDD's bigger than 4GB, I have run such a setup for
years, even under OS3.1 (NSDPatch)

Don't want to tempt fate anymore, my Amiga goes off, until I get a new
HDD.

Thanks, everyone.....

[marcfrick2112]

@Methuselas: I am thinking the same thing, gonna check out my local
over-priced PC store tommorow, or if I need to, EBay...
I know the drive is way out of warranty, I think it was when I bought it
. Only sticking to smaller drives, cuz that's all I have needed
for most of the time I had an A1200T.

Can't really wait for my tax return, my A1200T is the main
software backup for all my Amigas.... I am actually typing this on said A1200
, but I don't know how long it will last.

@Thomas: I DL'd and ran 'Check4GB', it simply crashed my Amiga, yet I KNOW my miggy
can handle HDD's bigger than 4GB, I have run such a setup for
years, even under OS3.1 (NSDPatch)

Don't want to tempt fate anymore, my Amiga goes off, until I get a new
HDD.

Thanks, everyone.....

[marcfrick2112]

Thomas: after formatting SYS: , all other partitions were
readable. I am almost certain, that I have had more than 4GB
on this HDD, and have for quite some time

So far so good, I'll just listen to some tunes, then bed, then a new
IDE HDD....

[Methuselas]

@Markfrick


I'd try Price Watch. I typically buy my hardware from them and have never had a problem once with any of the dealers I've used. Good place to find some older hard drives, if you can wait for the shipping.


Best of luck to you, Mate.


M