Problems with a DEC RL-01 drive on a PDP-8/A

I have a PDP-8/A with an RL-01 drive which does not want to boot and am looking for advice ... The machine (outlined at http://www.technology.niagarac.on.ca/staff/mcsele/pdp8a.html) is functioning properly but 'hangs' when the bootstrap is exectured for the RL-01 drive (the FAULT light blinking briefly then extinguishing). The RL-01 disks were last booted about 10 years ago and were supposedly bootable then (presumably with OS/8). Stepping-through the bootsrtap code, the program hands on the READ HEADER function. A diagnostic program was written to do a READ ERROR at that point and apparently a DCRC error is occurring (AC=4401 in response to the RRER instruction). A GET STATUS was also run and the drive operation verified, but apparently there is still a CRC error. I have outlined all tests perfromed on that web page above (including status words in the silo after the GET STATUS command). If anyone has experience with such a drive I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! I have tried two supposedly bootable cartridges and received the same results. Thanks ... Mark Professor Mark Csele Niagara College, Canada 300 Woodlawn Rd., L-8 Welland, ON, L3C 7L3 (905) 735-2211 x.7629 E-Mail: mcsele at niagarac.on.ca URL: http://technology.niagarac.on.ca/people/mcsele Author of "Fundamentals of Light Sources and Lasers", Wiley, 2004