HowToFixComputers.com




Watched TopicsWatched Topics SearchSearch RegisterRegister Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages ProfileProfile Log inLog in
I fixed Windows Delayed Write error....how?

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Index -> SCSI
Author Message
Dennis Gordon
Guest





PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 9:44 am    Post subject: I fixed Windows Delayed Write error....how? Reply with quote

I have a new X2 build. 2-15K Fujitsu drives. The 2nd drive (73G) never
installed correctly. I got lots of Windows Delayed Write and Device Not
Found errors. The drive seemed to be failing.

Tonight I replaced it with another 73G drive; which immediately gave me
problems. The machine wouldn't boot with it attached. Fiddled around a bit
to no avail; then I tried reversing the SCSI chain, putting the terminator
right after the new drive rather than after the LSI adapter. That fixed it,
so I swapped the original "failing" Fujitsu back in. No more errors. Fast as
could be.

I've set up half a dozen scsi installations before and never came across
this problem. Sometimes the machine won't boot until I rearrange things, but
I've never had a machine that ran, but with constant errors.

Why did changing ther termination position fix it? I'd like to find a little
practical knowledge here, as opposed to my usual fumbling upon the solution
way of doing things. Thanks...
Back to top
Michael Baeuerle
Guest





PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 3:23 pm    Post subject: Re: I fixed Windows Delayed Write error....how? Reply with quote

Dennis Gordon wrote:
Quote:

[...]
The 2nd drive (73G) never
installed correctly. I got lots of Windows Delayed Write and Device Not
Found errors. The drive seemed to be failing.
[...]
then I tried reversing the SCSI chain, putting the terminator
right after the new drive rather than after the LSI adapter. That fixed it,
so I swapped the original "failing" Fujitsu back in. No more errors. Fast as
could be.

There must always be two terminators, where is the second one?

[...]
Quote:
Why did changing ther termination position fix it?

Most likely because it was in the wrong position before.

The SCSI bus must be a linear sequence of one or multiple cables with a
terminator on each end. The terminators "terminate" any signal that runs
into them - by converting its energy to heat - preventing it from being
reflected at the end of the cable (reflected signals can lead to the
situation that a device detects the same signal multiple times).

This means the terminators must be placed on the two _physical_ ends of
the bus (regardless where the devices are placed between them). Note
that a hostadapter counts as a device like e.g. a disk.

The devices should be uniformly distributed across the bus for best
electrical characteristics and should have a distance of 30cm from
each-other if possible. A minimum distance between the terminators and
devices is not required (therefore it is possible to integrate
terminators into devices).

For your configuration this might look like this:

+---------+ +-------+ +------T
| \ / \ /
+--O--+ +--O--+ +--O--+
| T | | | | |
| | | | | |
+-----+ +-----+ +-----+
Hostadapter Disk1 Disk2

(T: Terminator)


Micha
Back to top
Folkert Rienstra
Guest





PostPosted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 10:21 pm    Post subject: Re: I fixed Windows Delayed Write error....how? Reply with quote

"Michael Baeuerle" <michael.baeuerle@stz-e.de> wrote in message news:k98br3-j6t.ln1@micha.freeshell.org
Quote:
Dennis Gordon wrote:

[...]
The 2nd drive (73G) never
installed correctly. I got lots of Windows Delayed Write and Device Not
Found errors. The drive seemed to be failing.
[...]
then I tried reversing the SCSI chain, putting the terminator
right after the new drive rather than after the LSI adapter. That fixed it,
so I swapped the original "failing" Fujitsu back in. No more errors. Fast as
could be.

There must always be two terminators, where is the second one?

On the scsi controller card, maybe? Just a lucky guess.

Quote:

[...]
Why did changing ther termination position fix it?

Most likely because it was in the wrong position before.

The SCSI bus must be a linear sequence of one or multiple cables with a
terminator on each end.

The terminators "terminate" any signal that runs into them -

by converting its energy to heat -

Never heard it explained like that.
Pity reflections are frequency/impedance dependent and not energy related.

Quote:
preventing it from being reflected at the end of the cable

The popular explanation is that a terminator mimics the impedance of the
cable, making it appear as if the cable is endless and so no reflections
do appear. It also functions to supply the signalling voltage to the bus.

Quote:
(reflected signals can lead to the situation that
a device detects the same signal multiple times).

This means the terminators must be placed on the two _physical_ ends
of the bus (regardless where the devices are placed between them).
Note that a hostadapter counts as a device like e.g. a disk.

The devices should be uniformly distributed across the bus

Nope.
Pity that is usually completely impossible with both internal and external
devices on the bus.

Quote:
for best electrical characteristics

and should have a distance of 30cm from each-other if possible.

Actually the distance is dependent on the stub length of the devices
(conductor length from cable connector to device controller chip).
The 30cm is based on the max allowed stublength.
The (minimum) requirements are actually different for SE and LVD.

Quote:
A minimum distance between the terminators and devices is not required

Yes it is.
It's either within a short distance (stub) or the minimum spacing distance.

Quote:
(therefore it is possible to integrate terminators into devices).

For your configuration this might look like this:

+---------+ +-------+ +------T
| \ / \ /
+--O--+ +--O--+ +--O--+
| T | | | | |
| | | | | |
+-----+ +-----+ +-----+
Hostadapter Disk1 Disk2

(T: Terminator)


Micha

Are you trying to become the resident babblemouth, Micha.
Back to top
Jeremy Boden
Guest





PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 2:13 am    Post subject: Re: I fixed Windows Delayed Write error....how? Reply with quote

On Wed, 2006-08-16 at 19:21 +0200, Folkert Rienstra wrote:
Quote:
"Michael Baeuerle" <michael.baeuerle@stz-e.de> wrote in message news:k98br3-j6t.ln1@micha.freeshell.org

[snip]

Quote:
Are you trying to become the resident babblemouth, Micha.

Are you afraid he's after your job, Folkert?

--
Jeremy Boden
Back to top
Charles C.
Guest





PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 5:02 am    Post subject: Re: I fixed Windows Delayed Write error....how? Reply with quote

Dennis Gordon wrote:
Quote:
I have a new X2 build. 2-15K Fujitsu drives. The 2nd drive (73G) never
installed correctly. I got lots of Windows Delayed Write and Device Not
Found errors. The drive seemed to be failing.

Tonight I replaced it with another 73G drive; which immediately gave me
problems. The machine wouldn't boot with it attached. Fiddled around a bit
to no avail; then I tried reversing the SCSI chain, putting the terminator
right after the new drive rather than after the LSI adapter. That fixed it,
so I swapped the original "failing" Fujitsu back in. No more errors. Fast as
could be.

Hi

You seem to be suggesting you had the terminator in between the adapter
(LSI) and the first or second disk. You should have the terminator
right at the end of the cable (last connector of the cable).

If it helps a little

Regards
Charles

Quote:

I've set up half a dozen scsi installations before and never came across
this problem. Sometimes the machine won't boot until I rearrange things, but
I've never had a machine that ran, but with constant errors.

Why did changing ther termination position fix it? I'd like to find a little
practical knowledge here, as opposed to my usual fumbling upon the solution
way of doing things. Thanks...




--
Please remove _removeme_ to reply.
Back to top
Michael Baeuerle
Guest





PostPosted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 11:11 am    Post subject: Re: I fixed Windows Delayed Write error....how? Reply with quote

Folkert Rienstra wrote:
Quote:

Michael Baeuerle wrote:

[...]
The terminators "terminate" any signal that runs into them -
by converting its energy to heat -

Never heard it explained like that.
Pity reflections are frequency/impedance dependent and not energy related.

The physical principle of energy conservation say that energy cannot
disappear. If the signal hits the unterminated end of the cable it must
be reflected otherwise this principle would be violated. This is the
physical cause for reflections.

How much of the energy is reflected depends on the impedance mismatch.
This means if your terminator has not the same impedance as the cable it
cannot convert all of the signals energy (the rest is reflected). This
is also the case if you place a correctly matching terminator in the
middle of a long cable: A signal reaching the terminator will see the
terminators impedance and the cable impedance (from the rest of the
cable) in parallel. This is an impedance mismatch creating a reflection
(of nominal 1/3 of the energy).

Quote:
preventing it from being reflected at the end of the cable

The popular explanation is that a terminator mimics the impedance of the
cable, making it appear as if the cable is endless and so no reflections
do appear.

I know. But IMHO this do not explain what terminators _physically_ do -
they have to convert the signal energy, otherwise they have no effect.
The "endless cable" is nothing else than a virtual energy storage
facility with infinite size.

Quote:
It also functions to supply the signalling voltage to the bus.

Yes, but this job is always done if at least one terminator is present
(even if it is at the wrong position).

Quote:
[...]
The devices should be uniformly distributed across the bus

Nope.
Pity that is usually completely impossible with both internal and external
devices on the bus.

I have written "should". It is the ideal case because every device
creates some impedance distortion that should not be lumped (instead it
should be distributed as best as possible).

Quote:
and should have a distance of 30cm from each-other if possible.

Actually the distance is dependent on the stub length of the devices
(conductor length from cable connector to device controller chip).

... and the input capacitance of the chip.

Quote:
The 30cm is based on the max allowed stublength.
The (minimum) requirements are actually different for SE and LVD.

Yes, but stub length and capacitance are unknown in nearly all cases. So
one should try to use 30cm if possible to be on the save side.

Quote:
[...]
Are you trying to become the resident babblemouth, Micha.

Maybe :-) But I can be more quiet if the people here have a problem with
it and think my postings contain no useful information ...


Micha
Back to top
Charles C.
Guest





PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 1:45 am    Post subject: Re: I fixed Windows Delayed Write error....how? Reply with quote

Folkert Rienstra wrote:
Quote:
"Michael Baeuerle" <michael.baeuerle@stz-e.de> wrote in message news:b5pdr3-v3v.ln1@micha.freeshell.org

<heavy snip>

Quote:

But IMHO this do not explain what terminators _physically_ do -

Who cares. They avoid reflections occurring.

...^^^^^^^^^

<snip>

Quote:
[...]
Are you trying to become the resident babblemouth, Micha.
Maybe :-)
But I can be more quiet if the people here have a problem with
it and think my postings contain

no useful information ...

Depends on the usefulness and correctness.

as you can see you too may choose to avoid correctness. Usefulness is
important even if it is not perfectly correctly explained. You could
make yourself more useful by giving useful answers as opposed to picking
on those that are not always correct but may still be useful.

Regards
Charles

--
Please remove _removeme_ to reply.
Back to top
Folkert Rienstra
Guest





PostPosted: Fri Aug 18, 2006 1:45 am    Post subject: Re: I fixed Windows Delayed Write error....how? Reply with quote

"Michael Baeuerle" <michael.baeuerle@stz-e.de> wrote in message news:b5pdr3-v3v.ln1@micha.freeshell.org
Quote:
Folkert Rienstra wrote:
Michael Baeuerle wrote:

[...]
The terminators "terminate" any signal that runs into them -
by converting its energy to heat -

Never heard it explained like that.
Pity reflections are frequency/impedance dependent and not energy related.

[snip]

Quote:
preventing it from being reflected at the end of the cable

The popular explanation is that a terminator mimics the impedance of the
cable, making it appear as if the cable is endless and so no reflections
do appear.

I know.

Then why not keep it at that.
Why explain it differently and stirr up controversy.

Quote:
But IMHO this do not explain what terminators _physically_ do -

Who cares. They avoid reflections occurring.

Quote:
they have to convert the signal energy, otherwise they have no effect.

The "endless cable" is nothing else than a virtual energy storage
facility with infinite size.

Which is good enough for me and far more appealing.

Quote:

It also functions to supply the signalling voltage to the bus.

Yes, but this job is always done if at least one terminator is present
(even if it is at the wrong position).

[...]
The devices should be uniformly distributed across the bus

Nope.
Pity that is usually completely impossible with both internal and external
devices on the bus.

I have written "should". It is the ideal case because every device
creates some impedance distortion that should not be lumped (instead it
should be distributed as best as possible).

and should have a distance of 30cm from each-other if possible.

Actually the distance is dependent on the stub length of the devices
(conductor length from cable connector to device controller chip).

.. and the input capacitance of the chip.

Nope, not in the SE specs. Capacitance plays a role in the LVD specs.
With SE it is just spacing distance to stublength is 5:1
With a 6cm maximum for stub length that makes 30cm a safe distance.

Quote:

The 30cm is based on the max allowed stublength.
The (minimum) requirements are actually different for SE and LVD.

Yes, but stub length and capacitance are unknown in nearly all cases.
So one should try to use 30cm if possible to be on the save side.

[...]
Are you trying to become the resident babblemouth, Micha.

Maybe :-)
But I can be more quiet if the people here have a problem with
it and think my postings contain

no useful information ...

Depends on the usefulness and correctness.

Quote:


Micha
Back to top
Dennis Gordon
Guest





PostPosted: Mon Aug 21, 2006 3:51 am    Post subject: Re: I fixed Windows Delayed Write error....how? Reply with quote

Thanks for the explanations and...ummm entertiaing banter. As I checked the
other machines I've set up I see that I'd done it correctly on the other
three, but it was a long time ago and I just didn't think things through
this time. What confused me was, in the past, when I had impropery cabled
the drives, one of them simply wouldn't show up. I'd not seen the delayed
write error before, so it took a day for my small brain to catch on.


"Charles C." <c.k.christacopoulos.removeme.@dundee.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:44e3b700$0$1390$db0fefd9@news.zen.co.uk...
Quote:
Dennis Gordon wrote:
I have a new X2 build. 2-15K Fujitsu drives. The 2nd drive (73G) never
installed correctly. I got lots of Windows Delayed Write and Device Not
Found errors. The drive seemed to be failing.

Tonight I replaced it with another 73G drive; which immediately gave me
problems. The machine wouldn't boot with it attached. Fiddled around a
bit
to no avail; then I tried reversing the SCSI chain, putting the
terminator
right after the new drive rather than after the LSI adapter. That fixed
it,
so I swapped the original "failing" Fujitsu back in. No more errors. Fast
as
could be.

Hi

You seem to be suggesting you had the terminator in between the adapter
(LSI) and the first or second disk. You should have the terminator
right at the end of the cable (last connector of the cable).

If it helps a little

Regards
Charles


I've set up half a dozen scsi installations before and never came across
this problem. Sometimes the machine won't boot until I rearrange things,
but
I've never had a machine that ran, but with constant errors.

Why did changing ther termination position fix it? I'd like to find a
little
practical knowledge here, as opposed to my usual fumbling upon the
solution
way of doing things. Thanks...




--
Please remove _removeme_ to reply.
Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Index -> SCSI All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 

 MemberlistMemberlist  UsergroupsUsergroups



Powered by p|-|pBB

Featured Sites: DIY Projects