> I just got this machine that had two XT-4380E hard disks and one of them 
> was dead, so I replaced it with another XT-4380E I had in another 
> MicroVAX-II.
> 
> So far so good, I now have a system that has 2 XT-4380E on a RQDX 
> controller.

Well, a RQDX emulating controller.  A XT-4380E is an ESDI drive, and
the DEC RQDX controllers only run MFM drives.  Most likely you've
got a Dilog, Emulex, or Sigma/Webster/Qualogy ESDI controller.

> My problem, I can't write a disk label.  I run "edlabel" and it runs just 
> fine and I tell it to write the label, but when I go back to check the
> label, it's not their.  When I load my handy-dandy diagnostics tape, it
> tells me that the hard disks are "off-line".
> 
> If their anything special I have to do with these hard disks to get them to
> work?

Yep, you'll have to do a low-level format.  The incantations you'll
have to make to do such a low-level format vary depending on who
made the ESDI controller.  I have manuals for the Emulex and Sigma/Webster/
Qualogy controllers, and can point you toward the source for a Dilog
manual.

Tim. (shoppa@triumf.ca)