External HD problems

Carthag · 10-25-2005, 08:29 AM

I've had two external Argosy enclosures for about a year now. They've been working fine with my (ancient!) B&W G3 Yosemite, using the firewire ports.

I got a Mac Mini this summer, but since then there have been problems, regardless of whether I use the FW or USB2.0 ports. The problem occurs when copying data to the drives. Disk Utility tells me there is nothing wrong with the drives.

When copying, I get the spinning beach ball, often within copying the first 10-20 megabytes, but rarely it manages to complete a transaction with no problems.

My system.log contains the following, with roughly 30 second intervals, from the start of the beach ball till I turn off the drive and remount it:

Oct 25 14:26:12 Minimong kernel[0]: USBF: 1167759.413 AppleUSBEHCI[0x1d82800]::Found a transaction past the completion deadline on bus 91, timing out!

Is this anything you've seen before? I've tried googling on the error but haven't found any solution as of yet.

voldenuit · 10-25-2005, 08:37 AM

You'll need to figure out what chipset those drives are using and make sure the firmware is up to date.
Hopefully the vendor will be able to assist you, otherwise you'll need serious www-searching skills...

Carthag · 10-25-2005, 08:51 AM

The enclosure is Argosy HD 360C. Googling tells me it has the Prolific PL-3507 chipset.

I've found this firmware updater that helped this guy. Maybe I should try that. Do you think it could be the problem?

Carthag · 10-25-2005, 09:15 AM

hm the updater is for windows so that will have to wait. In the meantime I'll keep looking unless you guys find something that'll help me out.

voldenuit · 10-25-2005, 10:12 AM

Try the prolific website directly, there has been a thread about serial drivers (with Mac OS X installers) including a link to them.

And take the disk out of the FW-adapter while flashing unless you have a complete backup.

Carthag · 10-25-2005, 10:58 AM

FW-adapter? As in take the disk out of the enclosure and flash the empty enclosure?

JDV · 10-25-2005, 11:44 AM

As he invariably gives credible advice, I have to think he has something significant in mind, but I can't quite understand this piece of advice either. How could the drive be flashed if it is NOT attached via FireWire? However, as in all cases of firmware updates, be VERY CAREFUL about power issues in the process. If your computer loses power during the flash process, the drive will become unusable.

Joe VanZandt

Carthag · 10-25-2005, 12:06 PM

Well the enclosure is just that, I bought the HDs separate, so it is quite easy to take the HD out (only 2 screws). I just want to be sure before I do anything.

I cannot access http://tech.prolific.com.tw to download the firmware, by the way.

voldenuit · 10-25-2005, 12:20 PM

It looks like they're in the middle of re-looking their website, the new support part is here:

http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/support.asp

and waiting a couple of days for the dust to settle might be advisable if you can't find what you need right now.

Thanks to JDV for the nice words.
Actually, when reading documentation to flash Oxford FW chips, they strongly advised to make sure that there was no running HD attached while flashing, to make sure nothing can be written to the disk during the flash process. That sounds like a reasonable precaution to me.

Even just disconnecting the Molex 5/12V connector from the HD itself would cut it.

Las_Vegas · 10-25-2005, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carthag


	hm the updater is for windows so that will have to wait. In the meantime I'll keep looking unless you guys find something that'll help me out.

You can install the update through VirtualPC if you have it. Be sure that the drive is connected to USB and don't turn it on until after VPC is up and running. This way the Mac ignores the enclosure and the PC will see it. Since it's probably formatted for the Mac, it won't mount, but this shouldn't interfere with installing the Bridge firmware update. This technique will not work through the Firewire port.

Carthag · 11-02-2005, 10:35 AM

I updated to 10.4.3 and decided to give it another shot. It appears to work flawlessly now. I'm reading through the release notes to see if there's anything related to the update that's fixed my problem.

10-25-2005, 08:29 AM	#1
Carthag Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 13	External HD problems I've had two external Argosy enclosures for about a year now. They've been working fine with my (ancient!) B&W G3 Yosemite, using the firewire ports. I got a Mac Mini this summer, but since then there have been problems, regardless of whether I use the FW or USB2.0 ports. The problem occurs when copying data to the drives. Disk Utility tells me there is nothing wrong with the drives. When copying, I get the spinning beach ball, often within copying the first 10-20 megabytes, but rarely it manages to complete a transaction with no problems. My system.log contains the following, with roughly 30 second intervals, from the start of the beach ball till I turn off the drive and remount it: Oct 25 14:26:12 Minimong kernel[0]: USBF: 1167759.413 AppleUSBEHCI[0x1d82800]::Found a transaction past the completion deadline on bus 91, timing out! Is this anything you've seen before? I've tried googling on the error but haven't found any solution as of yet.

10-25-2005, 11:44 AM	#7
JDV Hall of Famer Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Chicago, Illinois Posts: 3,191	I'm not quite sure I understand Voldenuit here, either... As he invariably gives credible advice, I have to think he has something significant in mind, but I can't quite understand this piece of advice either. How could the drive be flashed if it is NOT attached via FireWire? However, as in all cases of firmware updates, be VERY CAREFUL about power issues in the process. If your computer loses power during the flash process, the drive will become unusable. Joe VanZandt

10-25-2005, 08:37 AM	#2
voldenuit League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Old Europe Posts: 5,146	You'll need to figure out what chipset those drives are using and make sure the firmware is up to date. Hopefully the vendor will be able to assist you, otherwise you'll need serious www-searching skills...

10-25-2005, 08:51 AM	#3
Carthag Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 13	The enclosure is Argosy HD 360C. Googling tells me it has the Prolific PL-3507 chipset. I've found this firmware updater that helped this guy. Maybe I should try that. Do you think it could be the problem?

10-25-2005, 09:15 AM	#4
Carthag Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 13	hm the updater is for windows so that will have to wait. In the meantime I'll keep looking unless you guys find something that'll help me out.

10-25-2005, 10:12 AM	#5
voldenuit League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Old Europe Posts: 5,146	Try the prolific website directly, there has been a thread about serial drivers (with Mac OS X installers) including a link to them. And take the disk out of the FW-adapter while flashing unless you have a complete backup.

10-25-2005, 10:58 AM	#6
Carthag Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 13	FW-adapter? As in take the disk out of the enclosure and flash the empty enclosure?

10-25-2005, 12:06 PM	#8
Carthag Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 13	Well the enclosure is just that, I bought the HDs separate, so it is quite easy to take the HD out (only 2 screws). I just want to be sure before I do anything. I cannot access http://tech.prolific.com.tw to download the firmware, by the way.

10-25-2005, 12:20 PM	#9
voldenuit League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Old Europe Posts: 5,146	It looks like they're in the middle of re-looking their website, the new support part is here: http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/support.asp and waiting a couple of days for the dust to settle might be advisable if you can't find what you need right now. Thanks to JDV for the nice words. Actually, when reading documentation to flash Oxford FW chips, they strongly advised to make sure that there was no running HD attached while flashing, to make sure nothing can be written to the disk during the flash process. That sounds like a reasonable precaution to me. Even just disconnecting the Molex 5/12V connector from the HD itself would cut it.

11-02-2005, 10:35 AM	#11
Carthag Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 13	I updated to 10.4.3 and decided to give it another shot. It appears to work flawlessly now. I'm reading through the release notes to see if there's anything related to the update that's fixed my problem.