QD21 ESDI

Hi, I just got an Emulex QD21 (thanks iseldure! I've got $10 here for you for postage) and I've been playing with it, with some Maxtor XT-4380E drives. I'm managing alright to a point. I downloaded docs for the QD21, set dip switches and I can get into the controller's firmware. The problem arises when it comes to do things with the disks. If I tell the controller the disk is type 2, then it picks up settings from the drive fine (and they even co-relate with the drive), but any operations I perform on the drive after that (even "Show known devices") times out. I tried selecting the format option. If I set the drive as type 2 and let it pick up setting from the drive, it times out the operation before reading the media defect list. If I set the drive as type 1, and punch in the settings from the QD21 docs for the Maxtor XT-4380E, then it starts formatting, then after a couple of minutes of activity, the drive makes some noises (which I don't think sound healthy) then times out again. I only have one data cable, and if I just use the one drive (which appears to be terminated) then nothing appears to work - things just time out. If I hook up another drive and change drive IDs, then I can perform the format operation as defined above. Needless to say, I'm a little stumped. The controller is in an MV3300, but I've not got VMS working on there ATM, so I'm not sure about configuring an interupt vector for it. If it's any help to people, I can get listings from the console, it's just not particularly easy as I don't have a serial cable to hook the vax to my PC with me, only the vt420. I don't really know ESDI, and I'm not that familiar with QBus - only some details, ordering of cards, etc. Any thoughts welcome :&) --Matt