[sebhc] Z37 Diag

Mark Garlanger garlanger at gmail.com
Sat Jul 29 22:35:15 CDT 2006


It's me and my (never ending) computer problems again (you guys are probably
getting tired of these ;-)  )

So, I got my H17-3 cleaned up, loaded with high-density drives, and connected
to my 'questionable' soft-sectored controller.

I had received the Z37 diag disks (both hard & soft-sectored versions)
a little while
ago, but didn't realize what they were since they came with CP/M
2.2.04 distribution
disks and diag disks were labeled: "CP/M 2.2.04 Diagnostics & conversion" with
no mention of Z37 or soft-sectored.

I booted the hard-sectored version of the diag disk since the soft-sectored
version would not boot (nor any of the soft-sect CP/M dist. disks).
It starts up with
    "ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS Z37 SUPPORT SYSTEM"
Options include 1. Disk controller checkout, and
2. General drive/controller diagnostic.

Choosing option one - First it checks to see if the motors
are all spinning.. and that is fine.
Then it checks the drive select. That is also fine.

Then it gets to:
"VERIFYING HEAD POSITIONING SYSTEM. STAND BY..."

Displays the following error:
"NO TRACK ZERO INDICATION. CHECK HEAD MOVEMENT
AND INDICATOR OPERATION."

The manual provides this excellent piece of advance:
"If you receive this error, call Heath or Zenith Technical Consultation for
assistance."

Great advance in the mid-80s, not much help now ;-)

Even with that failure, I tried option 2, it didn't even get to the second
menu which is shown in the manual. When I select any of the three drives,
the proper drive light goes on for a little bit, prints "ERROR -" then
hard-sectored drive come back on and the system locks up.

This just may be failing with the same head positioning problem of the
first test.
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