dead disk ???

[Kirk Clark]

 I discovered that our system had "hung" the other morning (following a nasty
T-storm) and I haven't been able to revive it since.   The computer (70GT)
could make it to the PROM prompt but will it will "hang" after issuing the
auto command.  Specifically, the typical 3 numbers plus an entry point number
are reported; the drive "clicks" a few times; and nothing --- system is dead
in the water.  On the advice of SGI hotline software support, I decided that
starting fresh with fx was my only hope.  Well, fx did not work and SGI
wants a PO # before we can get further <hardware> support.  I am not convinced
(not completely anyway) that there isn't a cheaper solution at hand... then
again I'm a biochemist not a computer scientist.

Things I can get the computer to do:

1)  boot sash.IP4 or fx.IP4 from the 3.2 distribution tape.

2)  with fx:  controller passes test
              fx can get label info from the drive
              auto (format, exercising) runs without complaint  (bye, bye data)

But:

The computer still always hangs when trying to start the install program
(called from either PROM or SASH).  A copy of install is put on the hard
drive; 3 numbers and an entry number reported; then nothing :-(.

- Does install require a fs to exist before it will run?
- What are the steps needed to install the primary system drive given only
  a tape drive from scratch?
- Does fx's exercising success guarantee hardware integrity?
- Do the fx's defaults really work?

Oh,  I don't if know these observations are important:

1)  an autoboot from PROM (after fx has labelled, formatted, and exercised
    the drive) reports:
                            sash not found, known files are
                                  sgilabel   280 bytes

2)  The computer's status number (next to the reset button) is a virtual blur
    because of very rapid changes in the displayed number.


Thanks in advance,

Kirk Clark
KLC at KSUVM
Biochemistry Department
Kansas State University