This wiki is not maintained! Do not use this when setting up AuScope experiments!

After disk modules arrive at the stations, they should be conditioned before use. Conditioning performs a read/write cycle over the set of disks and identifies and isolates bad sectors.

To Condition a module:

Place the module in Bank A (Leave Bank B empty or unlocked).

On a terminal window on the ops1xx pc enter:

ssh oper@mk5xx 

to log onto the Mark5B where xx = yg, ke or hb. Then ensure Dimino is not running by typing:

Enddim 

Start the conditioning program:

./condition "logfile" 

where “logfile” is the output log file for SSErase - usually use the modules vsn for the logfile name. eg: ./condition HOB+0061. The logfile will be placed in ./scripts/.

The program will mention this is going to take a long time (see Conditioning times ) and ask you if you are sure you want to do this but it won't wait for an answer - it will start automatically.

After many seconds, you should see the program output its first line of info.

When the routine completes , it will say how many seconds it took - note this, to write on the side of the module. Ensure the time taken is close to normal for that size module - if it is radically different - try conditioning the module again.

If the script gets in a real tangle, you can usually ctrl-c it and then reset the Mark5 with:

 SSReset 

and try again.

It is a good idea to do some post conditioning checks

Mark5B manual is here : http://www.haystack.mit.edu/tech/vlbi/mark5/docs/Mark%205B%20users%20manual.pdf