Re: Need help with zip drive

[bjblackbear@ibm.net (B.J. Major)]

> In article <19971021135719262185@slip129-37-106-177.wa.us.ibm.net>,
> B.J. Major <bjblackbear@ibm.net> wrote:
> 
> >And yes, like any other
> >SCSI item, its power MUST be on before powering up [any] computer
> >system.

Devin Reade <glyn@cs.ualberta.ca> wrote:
> 
> This is not quite accurate; some machines work quite well when their
> SCSI devices are powered up at the same time as the motherboard.  Take
> the stock Sun machines for example.  It's really a matter of timing;
> as long as the SCSI devices are ready to respond when the controller
> queries them, it shouldn't be a problem.

But if you powered them on FIRST, you wouldn't have to be concerned
about whether they were going to be ready or not.

> 
> Even on my GS I don't have a problem with simultanious power-up.  
(snip)

Your luck has not run out yet, but I wouldn't push it.  There is
*always* a possibility that SCSI devices won't be recognized if they are
not fully powered on before a cpu. From what I've read, you run the risk
of either frying out the motherboard on the cpu (with the sudden power
surge of all the devices running through the already-powered-on cpu at
once) OR ruining your SCSI port/connection, period, if you do not power
them on before the cpu. The risk is analogous to plugging in a keyboard
or mouse while the cpu is powered on--although in the SCSI case, there
is *much* more AC involved.  Better to be safe than sorry, I say.

-- 
--bj   Auto reply will not work; remove "black" to reply
Proud owner/user of Apple Computers since 1984  
"None of my computer systems do Windows."