Re: port-sparc/45306: Formatting a floppy doesn't work on SparcStation 2 under NetBSD 5.1

[Marc Balmer <marc%msys.ch@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR port-sparc/45306; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Marc Balmer <marc%msys.ch@localhost>
To: gnats-bugs%NetBSD.org@localhost
Cc: 
Subject: Re: port-sparc/45306: Formatting a floppy doesn't work on SparcStation
 2 under NetBSD 5.1
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:12:31 +0200

 Am 29.08.11 13:55, schrieb Georg.Brein%unibas.ch@localhost:
 >> Number:         45306
 >> Category:       port-sparc
 >> Synopsis:       Formatting a floppy doesn't work on SparcStation 2 under 
 >> NetBSD 5.1
 >> Confidential:   no
 >> Severity:       non-critical
 >> Priority:       medium
 >> Responsible:    port-sparc-maintainer
 >> State:          open
 >> Class:          sw-bug
 >> Submitter-Id:   net
 >> Arrival-Date:   Mon Aug 29 11:55:00 +0000 2011
 >> Originator:     Georg Brein
 >> Release:        NetBSD 5.1 sparc
 >> Organization:
 > University of Basel/Switzerland
 >> Environment:
 > NetBSD se-zulu.psycho.unibas.ch 5.1 NetBSD 5.1 (GENERIC) #0: Sat Nov  6 
 > 18:44:40 UTC 2010  
 > builds%b6.netbsd.org@localhost:/home/builds/ab/netbsd-5-1-RELEASE/sparc/201011061943Z-obj/home/builds/ab/netbsd-5-1-RELEASE/src/sys/arch/sparc/compile/GENERIC
 >  sparc
 > 
 > The SparcStation 2 has firmware revision 2.9 (AFAIK the latest and greatest).
 >> Description:
 > Formatting a floppy disk on the internal FD drive of a SparcStation 2
 > produces verify errors and the resulting disk is unusable unless reformatted 
 > on another system:
 > 
 > root@se-zulu:~ # fdformat           
 > Ready to format /dev/rfd0a with 80 cylinders, 2 tracks, 18 sectors of 512 
 > bytes
 > (1440 KB) Yes/no [y]?y
 > Formatting track 0 / head 0 - VERIFY ERROR
 > Formatting track 0 / head 1 - VERIFY ERROR
 > Formatting track 1 / head 0 - VERIFY ERROR
 > Formatting track 1 / head 1 - VERIFY ERROR
 > Formatting track 2 / head 0 - VERIFY ERROR
 > <one line per track>
 > Formatting track 78 / head 0 - VERIFY ERROR
 > Formatting track 78 / head 1 - VERIFY ERROR
 > Formatting track 79 / head 0 - VERIFY ERROR
 > Formatting track 79 / head 1 - VERIFY ERROR
 > Formatting 160 tracks total complete.
 > fdformat: 160 track formatting errors
 > 
 > Turning off verification (fdformat -n) suppresses the error messages, but 
 > the resulting floppies equally exhibit read and write errors around (but not 
 > always on) block 14 while trying to write or read using dd on the raw device 
 > and a block size of 512 bytes.
 > 
 > The floppy in question is physically o.k. (tested on a Linux box) and all 
 > other floppies meet the same difficulties. Formatting and using the same 
 > floppies on the same hardware under Solaris (2.5.1) works flawlessly, so a 
 > hardware error is unlikely, either.
 > 
 > Using floppies formatted on another system poses no problem; the 
 > difficulties are limited to the formatting process.
 >> How-To-Repeat:
 > Boot generic kernel on SparcStation 2; put floppy disk (1440 KB) into floppy 
 > drive; execute "fdformat".
 >> Fix:
 > Only a workaround: format your floppies on another computer :-)
 
 Did you try if NetBSD-current can format a floppy disk on that machine?
  If not, can you try it, please?