Subject: Re: Booting NetBSD 1.2 from Iomega Jaz drive
To: Keith Browne <tuxedo@interlog.com>
From: Greg Oster <oster@cs.usask.ca>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 01/15/1997 14:53:45
tuxedo@interlog.com writes:
> System: Pentium 150 running NetBSD/i386 1.2, Adaptec 2940 PCI
> controller, internal Seagate 2.1 Gb fixed disk, external Iomega Jaz
> drive.
[snip of woes with Jaz drive problems]

I don't know how much help this will be, but I've been fighting with pretty 
much the exact same problem.  However, the machine I'm having problems
with is a Pentium 90 running Linux Red-Hat 4.0, Adaptec 2940PCI, two 
Quantum 1.2GB Fireballs, and an external Iomega Jaz.  (No, it's not my
machine.  If it was my machine, it would be running NetBSD on it, and I would 
be a much happier camper :-/ )

If I do a "mount -t ext2 /dev/sdc1 /foo", the first time I do it I'll get a 
"mount: /dev/sdc1 is not a block device" error.  The second time I do the 
command, it will work fine.  If the drive "spins down", then it seems that the 
first command sent to it (which causes it to spin up again) will fail, but 
subsequent commands will succeed (given that it hasn't spun down again). I'm 
currently "getting around" this problem by using a "jaztool" program thingy to 
first get the status of the drive, and *then* I can successfully do the 
mount...

Since we're seeing much the same problem with two different OS's, I'm 
wondering if it's a weird interaction between the 2940 and the Jaz?  (Just 
speculation -- I don't know how many different versions of the 2940 there are, 
or what ROM revisions are on the machines, or any of that stuff..)

Just my $0.02...  Hope it helps...

Later...

Greg Oster

oster@cs.usask.ca
Department of Computer Science
University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, CANADA