Solve : Problem loading 1GB Jaz Drive, DOS 6.22?

1.	Solve : Problem loading 1GB Jaz Drive, DOS 6.22?
Answer» If at first you don't succeed, try, try again (the reason for this statement will be made clear below). I have run into a problem I have never seen before, and hope that someone here can provide some insight. The Situation: I am running DOS 6.22 on an older model Pentium 2 computer. I am booting off of one (of 2) IDE hard drives, and am attempting to mount an internal 1GB Jaz drive (SCSI), using the Iomega GUEST.EXE program. My SCSI Host Controller is an Adaptec AIC-7890AB, and requires the ASPI8U2.sys manager. In an attempt to make the GUEST.EXE program run automatically at boot ("permanently loaded"), I copied the entire contents of the Iomega Install floppy into a local directory on the hard drive, and edited the guest.ini file to run the appropriate ASPI manager (obtained from a Windows 98 boot disk). I edited my config.sys file to contain the lines: DEVICE=C:\JAZTOOLS\ASPI8U2.SYS and: LASTDRIVE=T and my autoexec.bat file so that the last LINE is: C:\JAZTOOLS\GUEST.EXE LETTER=F The Problem: When I turn the computer ON (Plugged into wall, hit power switch), the computer boots as normal. The bios finds the two hard drives, the SCSI Jaz drive, and begins to boot DOS. It successfully "installs" ASPI8U2.SYS, and attempts to execute GUEST.EXE. The program PRINTS a message to the SCREEN: "Finding a drive letter for your Iomega drive...". After a relatively long wait (average: 38 seconds), the program returns "successfully", with the message "Your iomega jaz 1GB drive is drive letter F:". However, attempts to access the drive fail repeatedly. Occasionally, multiple attempts to access the drive will result in one "success" (i.e., the prompt will read: "F:\>"). However, even simple tasks like dir will fail. This is where it gets interesting. If I hit the computer reset button (cold restart), the computer reboots. This time, the execution of GUEST.EXE takes less than five seconds (same messages). After the reset, the Jaz drive works perfectly -- every time. Successive resets (at least ten) result in the drive always working (hence the "try, try again"). This seems like a hardware problem, but I've checked every connection multiple times. Additionally, the bios finds the Jaz drive every time (at both initial power up, and after a reset). The fact that the procedure works after a reset makes me think that it might be a driver issue. I've tried powering the Jaz drive up independently (and first) from a separate power source -- and then turning on the computer, but I get the same result. In addition, I've removed the references to GUEST.EXE from the autoexec.bat file, and tried to run the program manually, but the system exhibits the same behavior (i.e., failure after power on, and success after pushing the reset button). I have so far been unable to determine if this is truly a hard reset button (i.e., cuts the power to all system devices temporarily), or if it simply sends a signal to the processor. Any comments/assistance would be greatly appreciated. Preparing for the possibility that I can't "fix" this, is there any way to make the computer do a reset from some sort of batch file?Quote C:\JAZTOOLS\GUEST.EXE LETTER=F Edit this to read: C:\JAZTOOLS\GUEST.EXE/F: Save the changes and reboot. Make a copy of the original before editing in case this doesn't solve it...Have you considered the possibility of the jaz drive having failed? They were notoriously unreliable, which is a reason often suggested for their failure in the market place. @Patio: thanks for the tip. However, this did not fix the problem. @contrex: I have considered that, but am not sure that the Jaz drive is the problem. One reason is that I have two Jaz drives, and both (independently) exhibit the same behavior. Both were working before I started upgrading this system. While it is possible that I somehow managed to fry both drives, I do not think that that is likely. Secondly, I have been able to get the computer to boot from both drives (if the IDE drives are disabled in the bios) upon initial powerup, i.e., no reset necessary. Incidentally, executing the command: ECHO G=FFFF:0000\| DEBUG is a nifty way to reboot the computer from a command prompt. In my situation, executing the command seems to solve my Jaz issue IF (and only if) the command is entered manually. If it is a part of the autoexec.bat, the Jaz drive still does not load properly. This leads me to believe that timing is an issue -- maybe the Jaz drive needs some FINITE number of seconds of power before it can be loaded? I've tried playing around with delays in the autoexec.bat script, but even up to 15s doesn't seem to work. Any additional ideas would be welcomed. Have you seen these notes? http://pw2.netcom.com/~deepone/zipjaz/dos.html Thanks for the suggestion. I have, in fact, read through those. I do not have the original Jaz Tools disk, and so am stuck using Guest.exe. Unfortunately, Iomega does support Jaz drive anymore, so I can't get the utilities from them.

Answer»

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again (the reason for this statement will be made clear below).

I have run into a problem I have never seen before, and hope that someone here can provide some insight.

The Situation:
I am running DOS 6.22 on an older model Pentium 2 computer. I am booting off of one (of 2) IDE hard drives, and am attempting to mount an internal 1GB Jaz drive (SCSI), using the Iomega GUEST.EXE program.

My SCSI Host Controller is an Adaptec AIC-7890AB, and requires the ASPI8U2.sys manager.

In an attempt to make the GUEST.EXE program run automatically at boot ("permanently loaded"), I copied the entire contents of the Iomega Install floppy into a local directory on the hard drive, and edited the guest.ini file to run the appropriate ASPI manager (obtained from a Windows 98 boot disk).
I edited my config.sys file to contain the lines: DEVICE=C:\JAZTOOLS\ASPI8U2.SYS
and: LASTDRIVE=T
and my autoexec.bat file so that the last LINE is: C:\JAZTOOLS\GUEST.EXE LETTER=F

The Problem: When I turn the computer ON (Plugged into wall, hit power switch), the computer boots as normal. The bios finds the two hard drives, the SCSI Jaz drive, and begins to boot DOS. It successfully "installs" ASPI8U2.SYS, and attempts to execute GUEST.EXE. The program PRINTS a message to the SCREEN: "Finding a drive letter for your Iomega drive...". After a relatively long wait (average: 38 seconds), the program returns "successfully", with the message "Your iomega jaz 1GB drive is drive letter F:". However, attempts to access the drive fail repeatedly. Occasionally, multiple attempts to access the drive will result in one "success" (i.e., the prompt will read: "F:\>"). However, even simple tasks like dir will fail. This is where it gets interesting. If I hit the computer reset button (cold restart), the computer reboots. This time, the execution of GUEST.EXE takes less than five seconds (same messages). After the reset, the Jaz drive works perfectly -- every time. Successive resets (at least ten) result in the drive always working (hence the "try, try again").

This seems like a hardware problem, but I've checked every connection multiple times. Additionally, the bios finds the Jaz drive every time (at both initial power up, and after a reset). The fact that the procedure works after a reset makes me think that it might be a driver issue. I've tried powering the Jaz drive up independently (and first) from a separate power source -- and then turning on the computer, but I get the same result. In addition, I've removed the references to GUEST.EXE from the autoexec.bat file, and tried to run the program manually, but the system exhibits the same behavior (i.e., failure after power on, and success after pushing the reset button).

I have so far been unable to determine if this is truly a hard reset button (i.e., cuts the power to all system devices temporarily), or if it simply sends a signal to the processor.

Any comments/assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Preparing for the possibility that I can't "fix" this, is there any way to make the computer do a reset from some sort of batch file?Quote

C:\JAZTOOLS\GUEST.EXE LETTER=F

Edit this to read: C:\JAZTOOLS\GUEST.EXE/F:

Save the changes and reboot.
Make a copy of the original before editing in case this doesn't solve it...Have you considered the possibility of the jaz drive having failed? They were notoriously unreliable, which is a reason often suggested for their failure in the market place.

@Patio: thanks for the tip. However, this did not fix the problem.

@contrex: I have considered that, but am not sure that the Jaz drive is the problem. One reason is that I have two Jaz drives, and both (independently) exhibit the same behavior. Both were working before I started upgrading this system. While it is possible that I somehow managed to fry both drives, I do not think that that is likely. Secondly, I have been able to get the computer to boot from both drives (if the IDE drives are disabled in the bios) upon initial powerup, i.e., no reset necessary.

Incidentally, executing the command: ECHO G=FFFF:0000| DEBUG is a nifty way to reboot the computer from a command prompt. In my situation, executing the command seems to solve my Jaz issue IF (and only if) the command is entered manually. If it is a part of the autoexec.bat, the Jaz drive still does not load properly. This leads me to believe that timing is an issue -- maybe the Jaz drive needs some FINITE number of seconds of power before it can be loaded? I've tried playing around with delays in the autoexec.bat script, but even up to 15s doesn't seem to work.

Any additional ideas would be welcomed.

Have you seen these notes?

http://pw2.netcom.com/~deepone/zipjaz/dos.html

Thanks for the suggestion. I have, in fact, read through those. I do not have the original Jaz Tools disk, and so am stuck using Guest.exe. Unfortunately, Iomega does support Jaz drive anymore, so I can't get the utilities from them.

Solve : Problem loading 1GB Jaz Drive, DOS 6.22?

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