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Service Hints & Tips

Document ID: VLAR-3ERUJL

This document is provided to IBM and our Business Partners to help sell and/or service IBM products. It is not to be distributed beyond that audience or used for any other purpose.

2.11/2.16GB and 3.24GB IDE Deskstar3 Hard Drives - Hanging condition when accessed in DMA mode

Applicable to: United States

Problem:
The Aquarius 2.11/2.16GB and 3.24GB IDE Deskstar3 Hard Drives may experience a hang condition when a drive is accessed in DMA mode.

Affected Products:
This will impact DAQA-3xxxx drives sold through options or pre-installed in system units prior to mid Jan '97. Drives shipped/ pre-installed after mid Jan'97 should have microcode v.A53A. SETDAQA.EXE DMA BusMaster Fix for Deskstar 3 Drives is available on the BBS and will replicated to the Web/FTP sites.

Option P/N	Description	FRU / (Original FRU)	Raw P/N
76H0949	Aquarius 2.16/2.11GB Deskstar 3 IDE HD	76H0963 / (07H0828)	46H3430
76H0950	Aquarius 2.16/2.11GB Deskstar 3 IDE Bulk20	76H0963 / (07H0828)	46H3430
76H0962	Aquarius 2.16/2.11GB Deskstar 3 IDE Retail	76H0963	46H3430
75H9918	Aquarius 3.24GB Deskstar 3 IDE HD	76H0964 / (75H8976)	46H3432
75H9919	Aquarius 3.24GB Deskstar 3 IDE Bulk20	76H0964	46H3432
75H9920	Aquarius 3.24GB Deskstar 3 Retail	76H0965	46H3432

Explanation:
During IBM's ongoing testing it was discovered that IBM Deskstar3 drives with microcode version A52A or earlier have the potential to cause a system hang condition if the drives is accessed in DMA mode. While the chances of this happening are very remote and require specific sequences of events to occur, a fix is being provided to the field. Note that this problem does not occur if the drive is accessed in PIO mode which is the way most systems operate.

Solution:
The microcode and a utility to update the microcode has been placed on the BBS:

RXIRA53A.BUF Hard disk drive microcode file.
SETDAQA .EXE Executable file to load microcode to hard disk drive.

To apply the fix, the customer must have a bootable DOS diskette.

The below information was taken from the Readme file for the DMA Bus Master Fix Diskette for the DAQA-32160, DAQA-32700 and DAQA-33240 (2.1, 2.5 and 3.2GB) IBM Deskstar3 hard disk drives.

Files Required:
README.TXT Essentially this document.
RXIRA53A.BUF Hard disk drive microcode file.
SETDAQA.EXE Executable file to load microcode to hard disk drive.

Function:
This program was written to update the microcode of DAQA-3xxxx from A52A to A53A. The program checks:
(a) Hardware type of all IDE ports,
(b) Current microcode version of hard disk drive.
(c) Hardware level of hard disk drive.

If current microcode level is A52A then update the version to A53A. If the hard disk drive is an earlier level than A52A then the drive's identify information will be changed to report that it does not support DMA transfers.

Installing the microcode:
1. Prepare a bootable DOS diskette.
2. COPY SETDAQA.EXE, README.TXT, and RXIRA53A.BUF to the bootable diskette created in Step 1.
3. Insert the bootable diskette with the above files into Drive-A(Diskette drive) and turn on the power of the PC.
4. At DOS command prompt, type "SETDAQA" then press ENTER.
5. Wait until completion mesage is displayed on the screen.
6. After completion, power cycle the PC to make the change effective.

Limitation:
Some SIS chipset caused hang during updating. So this program can not be used on the PCs with those chipsets. (SIS 82C50x, SIS 551x, were already checked.)

	Search Keywords
	Hint Category	General Information, Hard Drives
	Date Created	01-03-97
	Last Updated	24-11-98
	Revision Date	19-11-99
	Brand	IBM Options
	Product Family	Hard Drives
	Machine Type	2.x GB, 3.x GB
	Model	76H0949; 76H0962; 75H9918; 75H9920
	TypeModel
	Retain Tip (if applicable)
	Reverse Doclinks and Admin Purposes