Release Note
WITE32 2.11
Importance of Release
All Guzik customers should install this release. It contains important bug fixes.
Introduction
Release 2.10 has been distributed to only a few Guzik customers. After WITE32 2.10 was made, a few bugs were found that caused Guzik to prepare the 2.11 release.
This Release Note addresses changes reflected in both WITE32 2.10 and WITE32 2.11 revisions, so that if you haven’t read the 2.10 release notes, you will have the information.
Because the release note covers both 2.10 and 2.11, all discussion of features and bugs in this document uses WITE32 2.00 as a baseline for comparison.
For important additional information, please refer to the WITE98 documents available on Guzik Web-site: ‘www.guzik.com’. WITE98 is the previous ‘code-name’ for the WITE32 releases.
New Features in WITE32 2.11
- The WITE dashboard now has a new look and feel:
- the number of test buttons is increased
- additional controls are added to the dashboard for the Servo option (only RWAs equipped with the Servo option can take advantage of the additional controls)
- the Mflux clock is displayed in the status window
- Beginning with the WITE32 2.10 and 2.11 releases, all tests can be run prior to spinning up the device, but the only tests that will benefit from this change is the Popcorn test.
In order to activate this option, a zone, with a special name, is introduced in this release.
In the production mode, if WITE32 encounters a zone with the name "_ZOutside" in the production sequence, all the tests in that zone will be executed before the
spinstand starts. This zone won't be selected again during the same production sequence.
- A special ‘base-line popcorn’ option has been added to the Popcorn test allowing for counting low-frequency bumps in the read-back signal.
- If a Head Amplifier is equipped with a Termination signal, the presence of the signal is automatically detected by WITE32.
The logical signal will switch On/Off (zero and 1), replicating Power switching On/Off. The feature should improve the handling of ESD-sensitive GMR heads.
- The error-managing feature described below has been added to the comparator error test:
The error manager operates with information stored in the internal Error File. The information can be presented in tabular or graphic form and written into a file in a simple format. The information about errors is available after the comparator test execution. To enable error analysis, one has to check the Dump error checkbox in the comparator test setup. In this case the Error manager form pops up upon test completion along with the result table. The Error manager form is shown on Figure 1.
Figure 1 shows a table/graph window, a menu, several control buttons, and an information line. The table/graph window represents the errors in one of three manners.
The Error Manager Window has three different possible modes: it can be a table of errors, a histogram of error distribution along the track, or an "Error vs. offset" plot for any sector in which errors occur. The table of errors is shown first after loading the form.
In case of an absence of errors, the table displays the message No errors reported. Otherwise, each error record has the Address and Data information. Address information includes Revolution, Sector, and Offset fields, where revolution is reserved for future modification (currently equal to 0), sector is a sector number (see Footnote 1 below), and offset is an offset in bytes from Address Marker. Data information includes Write, Read, and Error fields, where Write is a pattern byte written on the disk, Read is a read-back byte, and Error is the result of the XOR operation on the Read and Write data. The Error field indicates the position of the incorrect bits in the byte.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Footnote 1. The Sector box displays a real disk sector number, if working in true sector mode. Otherwise, it is a virtual sector with length equal to1/256 of the Read Gate length.
Footnote 2. The internal Error File FIFO capacity is limited. If the signal quality is poor, the FIFO gets full long before the end of the Read gate. In this case, sectors (real or virtual) with numbers larger then the last one written in FIFO are truncated.
The Sector button opens a menu, where the Sector # is a list of sectors with errors. The Draw button shows the "Errors vs. offset" plot for the specified sector. This plot can be generated from the error table.
Double click the left mouse button on any table item to get the plot of the sector where this error occurred. The Preferences menu allows one to change graph properties such as colors, line width, number of ticks, and so on. The Export command from the File menu allows one to save error records in a text file. The Print command from the File prints the graph window to the default printer.
Bugs fixed in WITE32 2.11
- WITE production hooks erroneously allow to include any tests before Device Start phase.
- After running Monitor Production test an error 'Object variable not set' shows up.
- In Calibration | TAA menu the amplitude value kept the red color even after 'Save' button was pressed.
- Calibration | MR_Impedance dialog received more suitable colors.
- Any attempt to change a value in Control | HeadAmplifier not in a ComboBox was causing error message " ... t_p.Validate Error ..."
- TAA calibration factor could change by itself if System | Clock was changed and the TAA calibration dialog was open.
- Grading results, failure results were missing in result ASCII export file.
- Subsequent runs of production test caused error message "Object invalid or no longer set" popped up if the result window was open.
- The third filter in RWA2550++ was not displayed nor it could be used while running TAA and any TAA-based tests.
- Comparator Error test did not work correctly in sector mode on RWA2550.
- WGMA test did not work (crashed) on RWA2550.
- On some slow computers TAA Calibration, Precomp Calibration could hang up.
Known Bugs in WITE32 2.11
This section contains all known bugs that you might find. Guzik is actively working to solve these bugs. If you encounter a problem not on this list, please report it to Guzik customer support.
- "Protected reference" option in the Product Selection dialog does not work.
- If a PRML channel chip pattern is selected, then the Control | System Write Source item displays the supporting module name instead of displaying the chip name.
- Sometimes previously registered fonts disappear after a WITE32 installation. To restore the fonts, go to the Windows Control Panel, up ‘Fonts’ and the invisible fonts will get re-registered again, and become visible.
- If an Error Manager plot is displayed, and there were no errors detected, and if the mouse is clicked on the plot, Error 13: runtime error is displayed, and WITE32 may hang, in which case you may have to reboot.
Important Additional Information
- Please note that the WITE32 2.10 and 2.11 releases are built using Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 (this includes Visual Basic and Visual C++).
According to Microsoft, applications that are built using Visual Studio (VS) 6.0 can cause some Windows incompatibility problems with other applications that have been built with VS 5.0 when a VS 6.0 application is installed.
To address such software incompatibility problems, Microsoft™ provides a Service Pack. If you experience problems with third party applications after installing WITE32 2.10 and 2.11, you might download the Service Pack available at:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/sp/default.asp
There is a discussion and FAQ section on the web site with more information to understand the issue.
WITE32 2.10 and 2.11 reported no problems on Windows with Service Pack 1, when tested at Guzik.
- The WITE32 documentation is still under construction although due to big similarity with its WITE 16-bit predecessor the old manuals can be helpful.
- Please note that RWA2550++ Rev.A is not supported by any 16-bit version WITE.
- Please note that RWA2550++ can work properly with new Host Adapter only.