This isn't a NetBSD/mac68k specific problem, but because I suspect that a 
number of list members have a wealth of experience formatting and 
preparing hard drives for use with NetBSD/mac68k, I hope someone here can 
help me.

I am having problems formatting a Quantum Empire 2100S to use with 
NetBSD/mac68k on my Mac IIci or with MkLinux on my PPC 8500/120.  I 
bought the drive at a computer fair in Sept. '95, and installed it in an 
external housing I had bought for it.  When I tried to format it with 
FWB's Hard Drive Toolkit, HDT correctly recognized the drive as an Empire 
2100S, but showed its size as 0MB.  It would also not allow me to select 
the drive for formatting.  I took the drive to a Apple dealer, and he 
could also not get it to work.

I kept trying different things, including getting some pretty good 
customer service and terminating resistors from Quantum.  Finally, 
Quantum agreed to accept the drive for repair (for a price), and I sent 
it off to them.  Rather than repair the drive, they replaced it.  
Unfortunately, I still have the same problem with the replacement drive.  
So, obviously, the problem must lie elsewhere. :-)

One other odd thing I have noticed about the drive is that I will turn 
the drive on before starting up the computer (MacOS boot), but as the 
computer starts up, the Empire 2100S will spin down and then spin back up 
again.

Can anyone give me an idea what the problem could be?  I have tried a 
number of formatting utilities to include HDT and a few formatters on the 
Apple Club CD.  No joy.  I know termination is an area where problems 
often crop up, but I am not really sure how to test for those type of 
problems.  I am close to buying a SCSIVue Active Terminator, because I 
read somewhere that active terminators often help clear up termination 
problems.  Is that worth a shot?

IIRC, Apple's earlier versions of HD Setup would not work with drives 
using a non-Apple driver.  Could something like this be part of the 
problem?   I mean, if the drive were formatted for DOS or some other OS, 
would that cause this kind of behavior?  If that is the problem, might I 
be able to use the drive with a Pentium or 486 machine I am in the 
beginning stages of building?  (I'd need a SCSI controller card, though, 
wouldn't I?)

TIA,

Sean.


                 T. Sean (Theo) Schulze
71410.25@compuserve.com           TSSchulze@aol.com
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