Seagate MARATHON 810 User manual

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Marathon 810 (ST9816AG)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ATA Interface Drive
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Installation Guide
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

©1996 Seagate Technology, Inc. All rights reserved
Publication Number: 36336-201, Rev. A, February 1996
Seagate, Seagate Technology, the Seagate logo, SeaFAX, SeaFONE
and SeaBOARD are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology, Inc.
SeaTDD is a trademark of Seagate Technology, Inc. Other product
names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their owners.
Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings
or specifications. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
form without written permission from Seagate Technology, Inc.
Contents
Read before you begin ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Hardware Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Configuring the drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Attaching cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Mounting the drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Software and system configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
About Disk Manager software . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Configuring your system BIOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Installing Disk Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Manual formatting and partitioning . . . . . . . . . . 10
Partitioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Installation troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
General troubleshooting procedures . . . . . . . . . 12
Specific Troubleshooting Procedures . . . . . . . . . 14
Compatibility notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Technical support services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Storing and shipping your drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Read before you begin ...
Note. To use the free Disk Manager software that is provided
on this drive, you need a bootable DOS system diskette
and a blank 1.4-Mbyte diskette.
Static discharge. Observe the following precautions:
•Before handling any components, put on a grounded wrist strap.
•Use antistatic padding on all work surfaces.
•Avoid static-inducing carpeted areas.
•Keep the drive inits static-shielded bag until youare ready to
completetheinstallation.Donotattachanycablestothedrive
while it is in its static-shielded bag.
•Handle the drive by its edges or frame.
•Do not touch the I/O connector pins or the circuit board.
Drive handling. The drive is extremely fragile—handle it with
care. Do not attach labels to any part of the drive.
Inspection. Observing the static-discharge and handling pre-
cautions listed above, inspect the drive. If it appears to be
damaged, call your distributor or dealer immediately.
Maintenance and repair. Seagate® drives do not require main-
tenance.Thehead/discassemblyissealed;ifyoubreaktheseal,
Caution. Donotpartitionorformatthisdrivebeforeremoving
thefreeDiskManagersoftwarethatisstoredonthe
drive.
Without this software your computer may not
be able to access the full capacity of the Marathon
810.
For details, see “About Disk Manager soft-
ware” on page 5.
Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996 1

you void the warranty. Seagate customer service centers are the
only facilities authorized to repair Seagate drives. Seagate does
not sanction any third-party repair facilities.
Warranty. See your authorized Seagate distributor or dealer.
With regard to Disk Manager and SEG32BIT.386software,there
are no warranties, express or implied, including warranties of
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. All such war-
ranties are expressly and specifically disclaimed.
Application. This drive uses the ATA interface and is designed
for IBM AT and compatible personal computers. It is intendedfor
use with UL-listed computers or similar products.
Hardware Configuration
Configuring the drive
1. Put on a grounded wrist strap. Wear the grounded wrist
strap throughout the installation procedure.
2. Installmaster/slavejumpers.Inatwo-drive system, youneed
to designate one drive as the master, or drive 0, and the other
driveastheslave,ordrive1.Todothis,installthemaster/slave
jumpers as shown in Figure 1. In a one-drive system, configure
the drive as a master (no jumpers installed).
Alternatively, you can configure the drive as a master or
slave using the cable select option. Cable selection re-
quires a special drive interface cable that grounds pin 28
(CSEL) on one of its two drive connectors. If you attach the
drive to the grounded CSEL connector, it becomes a mas-
ter. If you attach the drive to the ungrounded CSEL con-
nector, it becomes a slave. To use this option, the host
system and both drives must support cable select, andboth
drives must be configured for cable select. To configure a
2 Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996

Marathon 810 for cable select, install both master/slave
jumpers, as shown in Figure 1 on page 4.
Attaching cables
This driveis designed for a host computer that supplies interface
signals and +5V power through a single 44-pin connector and
cable. If your computer has a fixed connector that attaches
directly to thedrive, skip ahead tothe following section, “Mount-
ing the drive.” Otherwise, attach the interface/power cable
as described below.
1. Turn off the computer and remove the battery.
2. Put on a grounded wrist strap.
3. Open your computer case. See your system manual for
instructions.
Caution. Special training or tools may be needed to service
laptopandnotebookcomputers.Insomecases,open-
ing the case may void your warranty.
4. Connect the 44-pin interface/power cable. Match pin 1 of
the cable to pin 1 of the interface connectors on the drive and
on the computer. Pin 1 is usually denoted by a stripe along
one edge of the cable. The location of pin 1 on the drive
interface connector is shown inFigure 1 on page 4. The cable
should be no longer than 18 inches (0.457 meters).
Caution. The printed-circuit cables used in laptop computers
are very delicate. Be careful not to tear them.
Mounting the drive
Mount the drive securely in the computer using M3X0.5 metric
screws in the four bottom mounting holes or the four side mounting
holes. You can mount the drive in any orientation. Be careful not to
strain or crimp the interface/power cable.
Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996 3

Master/slave
configuration jumpers
Circuit board
Pin 1
Pin 20 removed for keying
Note. Drive is shown with
circuit board up.
B D
A C
Drive is master; slave may be detected using DASP– signal
Drive is master; Seagate slave drive present
Drive is slave; Seagate master drive present
Use CSEL pin grounding to differentiate master from slave

Figure 1. ATA interface connector and master/slave
configuration jumpers
4 Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996

Caution. To prevent damage to the drive while mounting, take
the following precautions:
•Be careful not to bend the drive connector pins, especially
when plugging the drive into a fixed connector.
•Use mounting screws of the correct size and length.
•Gently tighten the mounting screws—do not apply more than
3 inch-pounds of torque.
•Do not insert mounting screwsmore than 0.15 inches into the
mounting holes.
Note. This drive meets industry-standard MCC mounting speci-
fications. When installing this drive in a fixed-mounting
application, you must use MCC-compatible connectors
and mounting hardware. If the mounting holes in your
computer do not line up with the mounting holes on the
drive, your computer may not be MCC-compatible.
Software and system configuration
About Disk Manager software
Many DOS-based computers cannot access more than 528
Mbytes on a single drive unless the host system:
•supportsandisconfiguredforLBAaddressingorforextended
CHS addressing,
or
•contains a specialized drive controller,
or
•runs BIOS-translation software.
Seagate provides a BIOS-translation program, Ontrack Disk
Manager, with the Marathon 810. This software not only allows
older computers to access the full capacity of the drive, but can
be used to rapidly partition and format the drive, even on newer
computers that do not require BIOS-translation software.
Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996 5

Before you can run the Disk Managersoftware you must transfer
it from yournew hard disc onto a blank, bootablediskette in drive
Aof your computer (the program can only be run from drive A).
Creating a blank bootable diskette
1. Boot your computer using a bootable DOS system diskette
or bootable hard drive that contains the DOS program
FORMAT.COM.
Note. You must use a single version of DOS throughout the
installation and configuration process.
2. Type format a: /s then press ENTER.
3. Follow the instructions on the screen: Insert a new 1.4-Mbyte
diskette into drive A, and then press ENTER. The formatting
process may take several minutes.
Transferring the Disk Manager software
Note. Before you can transfer your Disk Manager software, you
must set all jumpers, attach all cables, and mount your
drive in thecomputer, as described on pages2 through5.
1. Reboot your computer using the blank, bootable diskette on
which you plan to store the Disk Manager software.
2. Run your computer’s system setup program (sometimes
called BIOS or CMOS setup). See your computer or mother-
board manual for system-specific instructions.
3. Within the system setup program, configure your new hard
drive as Drive Type 2, or enter the following values for a
user-definable drive type: 615 cylinders, 4 heads, and 17
sectors per track.
Note. These settings are temporary. They allow you to access
the drive-support software on your new hard disc.
6 Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996

4. Reboot your computer again using the blank, bootable diskette.
5. You should now be able to access the software on your new
hard disc. If your new hard driveis drive C, typec:\seamove
to transfer the disc support software. Use a different drive
letter if necessary.
TheSEAMOVEprogramtransfers thedrive-support filesfrom
your new harddisc to your blank, bootable diskette in drive A.
After all the files have been transferred, SEAMOVE deletes
all the files from the hard drive, along with the temporary
partitionthatheldthem.YoumustthenrunDiskManagerfrom
your bootable software diskette to access the full capacity of
your drive.
Configuring your system BIOS
1. Restart your computer (again!) from a bootable diskette, and
enter your system setup program as described previously.
2. Within the system setup program, make sure that the correct
drive type is listed for each ATA hard drive in your computer.
Some newer computers can automatically determine drive-
type characteristics if you select the
Auto drive-type setting.
If your computer does not provide this option, you must
manually enter the number of
cylinders , heads and sectors
per track
for your new drive, as shown in the table below.
Cylinders 1,571
Heads 16
Sectors per track 63
Total sectors 1,583,568
Bytes per sector 512
Capacity 810.7 million bytes
Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996 7

Note. The system setup program may request information on
thedrive’swriteprecomporlandingzone.Youdonotneed
to enter any values for these parameters because your
Seagate drive does not use them.
4. Save your drive-type settings, exit the systemsetup program,
and reboot your computer using the DOS diskette.
Installing Disk Manager
Note. If you do not want to use the Disk Manager software, turn
to “Manual Formatting and Partitioning” on page 10.
1. Insert your bootable software diskette in drive A.
2. At the DOS prompt, typea:\dm and press ENTER to start Disk
Manager.
3. Follow the instructions on your computer screen. From the
main menu, select
(E)asy Disk Installation and press ENTER.
4. At this point, Disk Manager lists all the ATA hard drives thatit
can recognize on your system. You should see your new
Seagate drive and your old hard drive (if any). If either hard
drive is not recognized, exit Disk Manager and turn off your
computer.Checkallcables,jumpersandBIOSsettings.Then
run Disk Manager again.
5. If Disk Manager recognizes all your drives, select the new
drive you want to install and pressENTER. Disk Manager now
formats and partitions your new drive.
6. Follow the instructions on the Disk Manager post-installation
screens.
7. You’re done!
8 Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996

Note. If Disk Manager installs software to help your computer
access a large hard drive, you will see a Disk Manager
message each time you boot your computer.
Booting from a diskette
If Disk Manager has installed software to help your computer
access a large hard drive, you must use the following procedure
any time you need to boot from a diskette (see the Disk Manager
online manual for details):
1. Start up your computer without a diskette in the drive.
2. WhenyouseetheDiskManagermessage,immediatelypress
the space bar.
3. Insert your boot diskette and press the space bar again to
finish booting from the diskette.
Disk Manager online manual
TheDiskManager programcontainsanextensiveonlinemanual,
with information on installation, troubleshooting, advanced Disk
Manager options (including how to install Disk Manager on
non-DOS computers) and reference information on many types
of hard discs. To use the online manual:
1. If you have not done so already, insert the Disk Manager
Diskette.
2. Type a:\DM /h and press ENTER.
Note. You can also view the help files from within Disk
Manager by selecting
(V)iew/Print Online Manual from
the main menu.
Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996 9

Manual formatting and partitioning
Note. This section is only for users who do not need to useDisk
Manager to access the full capacity of the Marathon 810.
Caution. Formatting or partitioning a drive that contains data
maydestroy alldata onthe drive. Before repartitioning
or reformatting a drive that contains data, make sure
all data on that drive has been safely backed up.
Seagate Technology assumes no liability for lost data.
Low-level formatting
Seagate ATA Interface drives are low-level formatted at the factory
and do not require additional low-level formatting before use.
Partitioning
The partitioning process subdivides a single disc drive into
partitions that behave as separate logical drives (labeled C, D,
E, etc.). You can also set up the entire disc as a single partition.
1. Restart your computer. Start the computer using a bootable
diskette that contains DOS system files and programs.
2. Run the FDISK program.At the DOS prompt, typefdisk and
pressENTER.Thenfollowthedirectionsonthescreentocreate
one or more partitions. See your DOS manual for details. If
you are partitioning a drive that will be used to boot the
computer, make sure that the primary partition is marked
active.
High-level formatting
High-level formatting verifies the information written by the low-
level format andcreates fileallocation tables used to catalog and
access files.
Caution. Make sure that you select the correct drive letter for
the partition you want to format. If you format a drive
10 Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996

that contains data, you may destroy all the data on
that drive.
1. Run the FORMAT program. Insert a DOS program diskette
that contains the FORMAT program into your diskette drive.
At the DOS prompt, type format, followed by the drive letter
for the first drive partition you want to format (for example,
format C:). Then, press ENTER. If necessary, repeat this
procedure to format other new drive partitions you have
created. Consult your DOS manual for FORMAT command
options.
Note. If you are formatting the drive partition that will be used to
boot your computer (the “C” drive), copy the DOS system
files to this drive. To do this, type /s after the format
command (for example, format C: /s)
2. Verify the drive capacity. After high-level formattinga drive,
you can verify the usable drive capacity by running the DOS
CHKDSK utility program.
Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996 11

Installation troubleshooting
Before calling Seagate Technical Support, please read and con-
sider all the possibilities discussed on the following pages. The
suggestions presented here address the vast majority of instal-
lation problems.
General troubleshooting procedures
The following is a list of general troubleshooting procedures. Solu-
tions for specific problems are provided on subsequent pages.
Warning. Always turn off the computer before changing jumpers,
moving cables or touching any internal components.
•Verify hardware compatibility. Check the documentation
foryourdrive,hostadapterandcomputer toconfirmthatthese
components are compatible.
•Verify your hardware configuration. Check the documen-
tation for your drive, host adapter and computer to confirm
that all jumpers are set appropriately.
•Check all cables. Make sure that all cables are securely
connected. Printed circuit and ribbon cables are quite fragile.
Check to see that they are not crimped or damaged. Make
sure that pin 1 of the interface cable is connected to pin 1 of
the interface connector on the drive and on the computer.
Most ribbon cables have a stripe down one side to designate
pin 1. The location of pin 1 on the drive interface connector is
shown in Figure 1 on page 4.
•Check all cards. If your computer has expansion cards,
check to see that they are inserted completely into their slots
on the motherboard and are secured with appropriate
mounting screws. Make sure that full-size (16-bit) cards are
not plugged into half-size (8-bit) slots.
12 Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996

•Verify the BIOS drive type. Make sure that you entered the
correct drive type or translation geometry in the BIOS setup
program. The drive capacity and number of sectors specified
in the BIOS must not exceed the specifications shown in the
table on page 7. If the drive type is incorrect, you must rerun
the system setup program. Then partition and high-level
format the drive again.
•Check for I/O address conflicts. To isolate an address
conflict, first verify that the drive and host adapter are com-
patiblewithyoursystembydisconnectingallotherperipherals
exceptthe videocard. Theninstall thedriveandhostadapter,
and test the system. Next, install the other peripherals, one at
a time,until the conflict reappears. After you have isolated the
source of the address conflicts, you can resolve the conflict
by changingthe I/O address of the peripheral that appears to
cause the conflict.
•Check the power supply. The output of your power supply
may not be sufficient to meet the power requirements of the
new devices you have installed. If you are not sure whether
your power supply meets your system requirements, consult
your computer dealer or distributor.
•Check your DOS version. You must use the same version
of DOS (we recommend MS-DOS Version 5.0 or later)
throughout all phases of building and configuring your com-
puter system.
•Check for viruses.
Use the latest version of a reliable virus-
checking program to scan your computer’s memory, hard
discs and any suspect diskettes for viruses. Run the virus-
checking program if you encounter inexplicable disc errors or
damage to disc partitions. Also, before installing any new
software, scan the installation diskettes for viruses.
Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996 13

Specific Troubleshooting Procedures
Methods for resolving specific drive installation problems are
listed on the following pages. These methods incorporate many
of the general troubleshooting techniques described in the pre-
vious section.
At startup, the computer does not recognize the presence
of the drive.
•Check all cables.
•Check jumper settings on all drives.
•Check the power supply.
•Rebootthecomputerandmakesurethedrivespinsup.Ifyour
drive is very quiet, you may not be able to hear it spin up. In
this case, check the drive activity LED if your computer has
one.Ifthedrivedoesnotspinup,checkthedrivecablesagain.
•Verify the BIOS drive type.
•Check for I/O address conflicts.
•Try a warm boot. Press CTRL, ALT and DELETE simultaneously
toreboot thecomputerwithoutturningoffthepower.Ifawarm
boot causes a previously unrecognized drive to become rec-
ognized,theremay be a timingproblemin whichthedrivefails
to become ready before the host completes its power-on
self-test.
One possible solution is to power up your computer with its
processor set at low speed (see your computer manual for
details on setting processor speed). After the computer is up
and running, return your processor to high speed or turbo
mode. Another option is to warm-boot your computer after
every power-on. You may also be able to solve this problem
by upgrading your system BIOS.
14 Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996

At startup, the message “HDD controller failure” appears.
•Check jumper settings on all drives.
•Check all cards and cables.
During the FDISK program, you get an error message warn-
ing of an attempt to write to track 0 or to the boot sector; the
message may also suggest that a virus is present.
•This occurs in systems that have a virus-protection scheme that
does not allow programs to modify the boot sector of the disc.
See your system manual for details. To avoid the problem, run
thesystemsetupprogramandturnoffthevirus-protectionoption.
Then exit system setup and run the FDISK and FORMAT
programs. After all drive partitions are formatted, use the system
setup program to turn virus protection on again.
During the FDISK program, the computer hangs or fails to
create or save the partition record.
•Check all cables.
•The FDISK program on your DOS utilities diskette may be
corrupted. Try running the program from a different diskette.
•Check to see whether you are using a version of MS-DOS
prior to Version 4.0. If so, upgrade to MS-DOS Version 5.0 or
later.
•Try another drive type or translation geometry. Sometimes the
hostBIOSdoesnotacceptaparticulartranslationgeometryeven
though that geometry is listed as an option during system setup.
•Make sure that the host adapter is not assigned an interrupt
that is already in use by another device. Modify the interrupt
jumpers if necessary.
Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996 15

During the FDISK program, the error message, “No Fixed
Disk Present,” appears.
•Check all cables.
•Check the power supply.
•Reboot the computer and make sure the drive spins up.
•Verify the BIOS drive type.
•Check for I/O address conflicts.
During high-level formatting, the drive keeps finding hard
errors and reporting the following message: “Attempting to
recover allocation units. . .”
•This is normal with some versions of DOS. The drive will format
normally. However, after formatting the drive, you may want to
run a third-party surface-scan program to check forbad sectors.
During high-level formatting, the drive does not format to
full usable capacity.
•Verify the BIOS drive type. Your drive’s formatted capacity is
limited to the capacity of the BIOS geometry you selected. If
your BIOS does not offer a geometry that takes advantage of
the full capacity of the drive, and a user-defined drive type is
not available, use a third-party partitioning utility.
•Run FDISK again and make the partitions smaller. Make sure
you are using MS-DOS Version 5.0 or later or equivalent.
Atstartup,themessages,“DiskBootFailure,”“Non-System
Disk,” or “No ROM Basic - SYSTEM HALTED,” appear.
•Run the FDISK program and make sure the primary partition
is marked active.
•Check all cables.
16 Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996

•Check your DOS version.
•Reinstall the DOS system files onto the hard disc using the
SYS command (see your DOS manual).
•Check for viruses.
During operation, the system error message, “Drive not
Ready,” appears.
•Check all cables.
•Check the power supply.
•Reboot the computer and make sure the drive spins up.
When you start Microsoft Windows 3.1, you see an error
message regarding 32-bit disc access.
•The 32-bit disc access driver supplied with Windows 3.1 does
not work with drive capacities greaterthan528 Mbytes. You may
havetodisablethisfeaturetorestartWindows.Seagateprovides
areplacement32-bitdriverforWindows(SEG32BIT.386),which
does support high-capacity disc drives. To install this driver:
1. Start Windows, then insert your software diskette into drive A.
2. From the Program Manager menu, select Run.
3. In the command line box, type a:\stsetup.exe.
4. Follow the instructions on the screen, then enable 32-bit
disk access within the Windows Control Panel:
a. Choose the 386 Enhanced icon.
b. Choose the Virtual Memory button.
c. Choose the Change>> button.
d. Select the 32-Bit Disk Access check box.
e. Choose the OK button.
f. Choose the Restart button to restart Windows.
Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996 17

Compatibility notes
•The Marathon 810 conforms to the ATA interface specifica-
tions.ThehostsystemBIOSmustprovidesupportfortheATA
interface command set. For a detailed description of the ATA
commandsimplementedbythisdrive,see the
SeagateMara-
thon 810 Product Manual
and the Draft Proposed ATA-2
Standard
.
•InaccordancewithATAspecifications,thesystemBIOSmust
reset any emulation/translation parameters after a hard reset.
•In some configurations, a Marathon 810 may supply up to 16
bytes of error-correction code (ECC) with theRead Long and
Write Long commands. Depending on the drive type, your
system BIOS may look for 4 bytes of ECC. If your system
BIOSexpects4bytesofECCandthedrivesuppliesadifferent
number of bytes, some drive diagnostic programs may fail,
typically resulting in time-out errors. Consult your computer
documentation or call your computer dealer or manufacturer
for information on configuring your computer to receive more
than 4 bytes of ECC.
•Some older drive diagnostic programs may incorrectly report
an ECC-detection failure when analyzing a Marathon 810.
This occurs because the drive hardware corrects the data
automatically, avoiding the error rather than reporting it. Such
a report does not indicate a drive malfunction.
18 Marathon 810 Installation Guide, February 1996