Troubleshooting SCSI disk drive spin-up and spin-down questions.

Troubleshooting SCSI disk drive spin-up and spin-down questions.

The User wants to disable or cannot disable the disk drive's power management functions. The hard drive spins down, or does not spin down. The User has disabled the power management functions and utilities in the system BIOS, host bus adapter, operating system, has scanned for virus', and good quality SCSI cables are installed.

Applies to: Quantum® Atlas II, Quantum® Atlas III XP32275S XP34450W/D TD34450S XP39100L TD318200LW.

Are this drive's power management functions disabled by default?

Are spin-delay jumpers set or needed for this drive ? The drive may be failing due to bearings or latent handling damage, This symptom is often seen by a long spin-up time (up to 30 seconds is normal) and by examination for an excessive read/write retry rate.

Answer:

Power down the system, disconnect the main computer power (AC) cable and disconnect the drive's data cable.
Use only one hard drive, SCSI controller and SCSI cable to isolate the issue.
Confirm that the SCSI drive's Termination Power and Termination Enable functions are enabled.
Confirm that the spin delay options (if any) are correctly set. For Atlas-II drives, use a jumper across pin pair 11/12--spin up immediately on power. If present, remove pin pair 21/22 (spin up after delay) When power is supplied, a "working" drive will spin up, perform its self-check, and then stay spun-up. A drive that spins up and then spins back down (without the SCSI data cable attached) should be checked for: correct jumper configuration, or possible drive failure.

Notes:

Atlas-II (Harpoon) has minimal power management function. It is disabled by default.
Atlas-III (Trident) power management is not supported in the Distribution configuration.
An OEM drive may have different functionality.
The drive should never spin down.
See: Ch. 5, Physical Characteristics- ANSI SCSI specification X3T9.2/375R rev. 10L. [the SCSI 2 "bible"],
SCSI Reflector subscription scsiadm@wichitaks.ncr.com,
SCSI bulletin board (719) 574-0424

Power Management can be set on many levels. SCSI controllers, System-board BIOS, the operating system, or third party utilities can manipulate drive functionality. If the drive still spins down after this test, and after review of cables, connectors, SCSI bus termination, media scan, or a SCSI "low-level" Format, are inconclusive, the drive may be defective.

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