Original question:
> Question:
>
> I've stuffed my SPARCstation 1+ to the roof. It now contains 2 Maxtor
> LXT200 drives and 3 s-bus cards.
> First card is the color board, second is a SUN 2nd SCSI controller, the 3d
> is a Puzzle Systems Synergy 386DX procesor board with 80387, which is a
> double (sandwich) board. (Fantastic product, by the way)
>
> I've heard horror stories from hearsay, about overheating with even two
> disks and no S-bus slots occupied. Anybody knows the real story?
>
>> Thanx.
The general problem seams to be temperature rather than total power. The
power supply of either SS1 or SS2 are sufficient to handle almost anything.
The problems are mainly caused by the 'older' Maxtor LXT 200 or Quantum
prodrives. These drives get quite hot, so that in case two of these are used,
local hot-spots may exist.
Some recommendations:
- Extra fan where the beeper is (thanx, rhaddick@us.oracle.com )
- Don't install 2 drives when one or more Maxtor LXT 200 or Quatum
prodrives are involved.
Furthermore, there was quite a lot of interest for the Puzzle systems 80386
board. I sent some detailed info to all requestors, let me know if anybody
wants more info.
Thanx to:
ariron@stekt.oulu.fi
benson@odi.com
ron@drd.com (Ron Madurski)
bernards@ECN.NL (Marcel Bernards)
keves@meaddata.com (Brian Keves - Consultant)
morrow@cns.ucalgary.ca (Bill Morrow)
Dan Razzell <razzell@cs.ubc.ca>
rick%pgt1@Princeton.EDU (Rick Mott)
kwz@zabriskie.berkeley.edu (Kevin Zimmerman)
Robert Haddick <rhaddick@us.oracle.com>
ron%arfalas.horizon.com@Sdsc.BITnet (Ron McDaniels)
-- Michiel Steltman email:mist@source.nl Phone (+31)-79-615511 ============= Source Information Technology ================Summary extract: ______________________________________________________________________
(Sorry, Marcel Bernards, I deleted your stuff because it was in Dutch)
From: keves@meaddata.com (Brian Keves - Consultant)
Supposively the new 204 MB drives produce too much heat for the SS1(+) pizza boxes to handle. If you have 107 MB drives it should be ok.
From: morrow@cns.ucalgary.ca (Bill Morrow)
We have 2 104 Mb Sun drives, video, and an extra Ethernet card in a SS1, and have had no problems in 2 years. Your 386 board is the big power user I would guess. Could you please summarize to the list? I am considering adding another internal drive to one of our SS1+, and would like to insert the largest capacity drive possible. A Maxtor LXT200 is 200Mb?
From: Dan Razzell <razzell@cs.ubc.ca>
The Maxtor LXT-200S produces a remarkable amount of heat. In a Sparcstation it is uncomfortably warm to the touch, and is noticeably hotter than the 205 supplied by Sun. The 205 is not supposed to be installed in a Sparc 1 chassis because of heat and power supply problems.
From: kwz@zabriskie.berkeley.edu (Kevin Zimmerman)
concern when a configuration of 2 - 207M Maxtor internal drives is proposed.
I find that two 424M internal disk are a supported option for the SPARCstation2 in the Jul 22 '91 SPARC end user catalog. The SPARCstation2 CPU draws 23.0 watts as opposed to ` the SPARCstation1+'s 20.0 watts.
The Sun Field Engineer's handbook gives the same part number for the power supplies for both these machines, and I have physically verified this to be true.
Same goes for the fans. The 424M option 520 drives can draw as much as 16 watts apiece, so why all the fuss about the Maxtor which only pulls 10.2 watts? The best information I could dig up was from someone who said his internal contacts at Sun indicated that the problem with the those drives was some sort of hot-spotting which made using two of them together a problem. Using one Maxtor and one of any other drive was deemed OK. I presume that advice pertains to all of the full size desktop workstation models since all other factors are similiar.
From: Robert Haddick <rhaddick@us.oracle.com>
get one of the small fans they use in the Sparc2's and install it where the bell lives, and move the bell over.(Like the Sparc2's) If you don't you WILL cook those disks! Hardware design problem with the 4/60 4/65 that Sun does not want to admit to, but fixed with the Sparc2's.Also, set the cpu on the floor(Leaning next to your desk or whatever) with the power supply fan facing up. This will help the heat to rise away from the disks, and eventually pushed out by the power supply fan. And no, it make no difference to the disks, upside down, sideways, etc... I have about 300 of these things sitting the same exact way with no problems..... Ever wonder why the Quantums die so frequently? Yep! That's the reason!!! Too much heat by the disks and no ventilation! Good luck,Take my advise, and DO NOT fry your disks. :-)
From: ron%arfalas.horizon.com@Sdsc.BITnet (Ron McDaniels)
Those MAXTOR drives get *hot*. So hot that I have removed *both* of them. I was getting mmu panics with them installed. I will allow that there is probably a temp sensitive part on the cpu card. The machine in question has had both internal drives disconnected and has been Running with a 2Gig external disk farm so we didn't see the temp problem. We are now putting the machine in a field office and the disk farm is staying behind. I started having the problems last night when I was installing SunOS. As soon as I took the cover off (actually, about 15 minutes after :-), the problem went away. I marvel at the amount of heat the MAXTOR drives generate.
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