Very Computer

I am running Linux kernel version 1.2.13 (the Yggdrasil Fall
'95 iteration). Sometimes when I access the CD-Rom (a Toshiba XM-3501
TA), the CD drive light stays on and the system hangs; I have to do a
hard reset. This usually happens on the following three CD's only:

- the Yggdrasil CD,
- Motif Archives,
- a 680 Mb (74 min.) CD created on a Pinnacle Micro recorder.

This problem is not Linux specific, it happens under Windoze '95 as well
(system locks up with a blue line at the top of the screen; which is
*very* similar to the blue lines produced by Accel-X's server 1.2
build c :)). My system configuration is as follows:

- P5-133 Asus M/B,
- Adaptec 2940-W PCI,
- a single DEC DSP3133LWD 1.3 Gb Wide SCSI-2 hdd,
- a Toshiba XM-3501 4x SCSI-2 cd-rom.

Has any one else experienced similar problems? I suspect it's the
cd-drive itself (or is it the media??). The problem is not reproducible
at will, though it's a bother nevertheless.

I am pretty sure the SCSI termination is correct, the problem
*sometimes* happens with the aforementioned media.........

On a different note, the DEC hdd has an unformatted capacity of ~1.7 Gb,
but ~400 Mb is unaccessible (cylinders marked as bad, I suppose). Is
there any way (software or hardware utility), to access and format these
cylinders? Has anyone tried this before?

I appreciate any and all help......regards,

Omar Gillani
--
If you're not going to go all out....don't go out at all.

I have exactly the same problem, the system hangs on CDROM access
but only on certain disks.  I tried everything; changed every bios
setting, changed defines in the ide.h.... on and on.  This morning
I found the problem.  The disk is not being grabbed tightly enough
by the spindle.  On this drive, a Mitsumi FX400, I can put a small
amount of pressure on the top of the spindle ( mounted on the top
cover of the drive ) and the system will finish reading the cdrom
and "unlock".  I suspect the CDROMs that have a thick and or rough
spindle area work better than disks with a smooth thin spindle area.
This is brand new drive so it surely doesn't need cleaning.  I will
bring it back and opt for a different brand.  My old NEC never
gave me problems during years of service.....

And yes, this behavior demonstrates itself in both Linux and Win95.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if this *isn't* your problem but
check it out....

Dave

I got the Toshiba 3701  with an adaptec 2940 scsi2 controller
and Yggdrasil would never see the cdrom to find
the root to bootup.
I ended up getting slackware and it's great.

I've never tried windows95 so I don't know if I would have problems
there too!?

Let me know if you get it figured out.  I would kind of like to try
yggdrasil since I got the cdrom.

Mark Arneson