Re: SmartPort Problem

[dempson@atlantis.actrix.gen.nz (David Empson)]

In article <QjG3d4y00YUz9ES1V3@andrew.cmu.edu>,
Arthur T. Gola <ag4e+@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
> 
> I have a serious problem with my Smartport, It seems like it just
> decided to stop working.  I have 2 Apple 3.5  drives hooked up to it
> and, they don't show up on anything as even existing.  I can still eject
> disks from them, and the light will occaionally flicker on, but thats
> about the extent of their life.

OK, they have power then.

Two things to try, if you haven't done so already:

1. Try each 3.5" drive individually.

2. Try the 5.25" drive individually.

If the symptoms are the same in each case, you may have a blown IWM on
your motherboard.  This is next to impossible to repair, because it is
a surface mount chip.  Your best option would be to get a motherboard
swap from Alltech Electronics.

The problem might also be that all of your drives have blown up (not
very likely).  Trying them on another machine would confirm this
(connect them one at a time, don't connect more than two 3.5" drives
at once, and make sure the 5.25" drive, if any, is always last in the
chain).

If it is a motherboard fault, another possibility would be to stop
using the internal drive port and buy a 3.5" Disk Controller Card.
This isn't much of an option if you can't use your RAM disk or 5.25"
drive, though.

> Also, when I hook up a 5.25" to the end of the chain, it just spins
> and spins and spins.  When I try booting slot 5, it says no device
> connected.  A self test of the GS says nothing is wrong with it.

The self test doesn't have any errors for indicating IWM failure, so I
doubt it tests it (all it would be able to verify is that the chip is
there - not much could be done without a test disk in the drive).
-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand