External Firewire Enclosure?

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Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Dimension 4300
XP Home SP2

I have a dual firewire enclosure with two identical WD 80GB drives

When first setup they were both jumperd as CS and worked just fine. Now when
turning on the enclosure both lights blink and I get an alternating sound
like the drives are trying to start. This lasts for a minute or so and then
everything runs OK.

Both drives if installed singly and as master or CS work just fine. I also
have a Maxtor 40GB drive set as master and this will work with either of the
other drives set as CS or slave. The problem is getting the two WD drives to
work smoothly.

If I leave the power on, after 60 seconds or so they will both work fine and
be recognized by my system.

If I turn the power off and immediately back on they external unit works OK

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Bob

 

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"Leanin' Cedar" <Nospam@nospam.org> wrote:
>I have a dual firewire enclosure with two identical WD 80GB drives
>
>When first setup they were both jumperd as CS and worked just fine. Now when
>turning on the enclosure both lights blink and I get an alternating sound
>like the drives are trying to start. This lasts for a minute or so and then
>everything runs OK.

Sounds like a hardware problem. Get WD's low-level disk diagnostic
and run it on both drives (you may also want to put the drives in your
desktop machine for this test) to determine where the problem is. If
it used to work, changing jumpers isn't going help...

Also, find the documentation for your enclosure and see what it means
when the lights flash like that.

 

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<William P.N. Smith> wrote in message
news:0380m0h9vvtt1972kq9e251hmrsa2okqe8@4ax.com...
> Sounds like a hardware problem. Get WD's low-level disk diagnostic
> and run it on both drives (you may also want to put the drives in your
> desktop machine for this test) to determine where the problem is. If
> it used to work, changing jumpers isn't going help...
>
> Also, find the documentation for your enclosure and see what it means
> when the lights flash like that.

I tried the diagnostics and both drives are OK.

When going to My Computer Device Manager, the primary drive in the external
case shows as;
Oxford 911G IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device;

the secondary drive shows as;
UNKNOWN VENDOR AND MODEL IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device (could this be some of the
problem?)

According to the CD that came with the external case:
http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MAP-302F-01
it is plug and play and no drivers need to be installed.

I do not have any support information on the case so have contacted computer
geeks about the meaning of the flashing lights.

I am using an ADP Duo Connect USB/Firewire PCI card in the computer, and
everything else hooked up to the card is working just fine.

Thanks for the information on the WD diagnostics software.

Bob

 

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Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Leanin' Cedar" <Nospam@nospam.org> wrote:
>I tried the diagnostics and both drives are OK.
>
>When going to My Computer Device Manager, the primary drive in the external
>case shows as;
>Oxford 911G IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device;
>
>the secondary drive shows as;
>UNKNOWN VENDOR AND MODEL IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device (could this be some of the
>problem?)

More than likely, try swapping the drives around and see what happens.

>According to the CD that came with the external case:
>http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MAP-302F-01
>it is plug and play and no drivers need to be installed.
>
>I do not have any support information on the case so have contacted computer
>geeks about the meaning of the flashing lights.

If I had to guess I'd suspect the case, sometimes the cheap stuff just
doesn't last... Good luck with Computer Geeks, that type of vendor,
IME, doesn't/can't really know anything about the stuff they are
selling.

 

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<William P.N. Smith> wrote in message
news:enn0m0hmj4soi6hnqht32pmqcbldsffado@4ax.com...
>
> More than likely, try swapping the drives around and see what happens.
I switched the drives and the secondary drive still show unknown device. I
may try another cable and see if that solves the problem, although if the
drive is showing and working I am not sure if that will solve anything.

> If I had to guess I'd suspect the case, sometimes the cheap stuff just
> doesn't last... Good luck with Computer Geeks, that type of vendor,
> IME, doesn't/can't really know anything about the stuff they are
> selling.
The case is still under warranty so may just get it replaced

Bob

 

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"Leanin' Cedar" <Nospam@nospam.org> wrote:
><William P.N. Smith> wrote in message
>> More than likely, try swapping the drives around and see what happens.

>I switched the drives and the secondary drive still show unknown device.

Oh, then it's the case (or the controller built into it, but that's
the same thing.

>The case is still under warranty so may just get it replaced

If you can get a warranty replacement, that's the way to go.