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5160, weird power problem

I haven't done a low level format on it yet. I was going to do a surface check using diskman first, but that gave me an error. Diskmans diagnosis tool passes the controller test, but not the seek test or any other test that checks more than just the controller.
I haven't checked if this drive (ST412) works on the 5170 yet though. I guess that would be a start as I know that that controller works. If not, I have other drives that work but no 10 MB ones. But as far as I understand they will work, but only the first 10 MB will be used?

The 5160 diagnosis disk tells me there is 1 fixed disk connected but I don't think it has any low level formatting options?
 
You need the "advanced diagnostics disk", but you can also use Speedstor to do the same thing.

Remember that when it comes to RLL and MFM drives, each controller is sui generis--it understands its own low-level format and no others. You can't, for example, swap drives without low-level formatting between a 5170 and a 5160. Not at all like IDE or SCSI drives.
 
Is the XT advanced diagnostics disk available anywhere? I have the AT one but it doesn't work on the XT. If anyone has the files or an image that'd be great! I'll try Speedstor though.

Yea I know about each controller doing its own low level format but I figure it's a good way to see if the drive works at all.
 
snq said:
Yea I know about each controller doing its own low level format but I figure it's a good way to see if the drive works at all.
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I suspect that perhaps you don't understand what a low-level format does.

Until a drive is LL formatted, you have no idea if it's good or not. It's like trying to figure out if a blank CD-R is any good without writing to it.
 
I'm pretty sure I understand what it does - but then again, maybe I don't ;) I'll admit I've never had to deal with low level formatting before I got this 5160 and 5170.

Would a seek test in disk managers diagnostics program fail if the drive is not low level formatted first? And how about a surface check?
 
I wasn't able to get the diagnostics disk working, the machine either hangs or I get garbage on the screen. But Speedstor did the trick! :D

I think I may just have been using the wrong program all this time? Maybe my version of disk manager just doesn't support the XTs controller properly, or something. Speedstor did a surface scan without any complaints, and the drive is in good condition. It didn't find anything wrong at all but there was 1 bad spot on the label so I added it manually. I did have to add the quadboard because 256k was not enough to run the program.

Anyway, the drive is now partitioned and high level formatted, and the system boots to it just fine!

This is great, yesterday this machine was just a pile of parts and now it's a fully operating computer. Thanks for the help :!:

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