SCSI Termination and External Hard Drives



I am having some problems with my Apple 160MB hard drive. I have a
Macintosh IIci, two monitors, an internal HD, and a SCSI cable (which is
about four feet long with one SCSI extender) with a SCSI terminator
attached.

When the system is set up without the external 160MB drive, it works fine.
But when I attach the drive, the Macintosh IIci won't start up. I've
replaced terminators and swapped some SCSI cables. However, if I put an
Apple 40MB hard drive in place of the 160MB drive, it works.

SCSI termination problems are difficult to diagnose. Besides the suggestions
below, there are a number of other articles that may be of help by searching
under "SCSI" and "termination".

1) Make sure the external drive is turned on before the Macintosh is.

2) Make sure the SCSI ID on the external drive is not set to zero. It should
be between 1 and 6.

3) Try the 160MB drive on another machine, preferably without an internal
hard disk. If it has problems it could be the cable or the hard disk.

4) Swap the cable and the terminator if neccesary.


Published Date: Feb 18, 2012