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Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 14:32:09 -0700 (PDT)
From: Howard Lew <hlew@sequence.Stanford.EDU>
To: dyson@freebsd.org
cc: dyson@freebsd.org, igor@cs.ibank.ru, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: strange error with WD family disk
In-Reply-To: <199608300310.WAA01078@dyson.iquest.net>
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On Thu, 29 Aug 1996, John S. Dyson wrote:

> >
> > > ftp.wdc.com.  You would do well to call the WD support number
> > > for further help.  (I have had two drives fail with the old
> > > microcode.)  WD has some updated microcode that fixes the drive,
> > > but if your surface is damaged too bad, then you need to return
> > > the drive for replacement.
> > > 
> > > John
> > 
> > Sort of dumb question, but you are kidding right?
> > 
> > If not then  how does someone get the updated microcode?  Or do we have 
> > to return the drive to Western Digital?
> > 
> I have an RMA about to ship 2 of 'em back now (a 1.6GB, and a 2.5GB) that
> have completely failed.  They do have a download with which you can effect
> the microcode update (their term for it is an "overlay".)  Before applying
> the patch, you need to scan the disk for bad spots (and I guess it does
> bad block forwarding.)  Unfortunately, you need to run MS-DOS to perform
> the update :-(.
> 
> Again, this is not definitive, but WD appears to know about the problem,
> and there is "something" wrong.
> 

Hmm...  I checked their web site and I guess you were right... very odd
problem... I wonder why it affects Asus motherboards and whether or not
other hard disks brands also have this problem. 

I have several Western Digital drives here that according to the program I
do not need to overlay it.  I wonder if that means the drives are not
susceptible to that kind of problem or is it because do not overlay unless
an Asus MB is used.  I wonder what the criteria is...