English Amiga Board - View Single Post - Help needed getting Fastlane Z3 SCSI card & BlueSCSIv2 work together

Tchucolate · 15 April 2024, 21:47

I have bought a Fastlane Z3 SCSI2 adapter, and I'm trying to use it with an Amiga 4000.
So far, its not quite working, its still quite a ways off from being of any use.
It was bought as not known working, because the vendor said they had not used it in 5 years.
But, last time they had, they said it was fully functional.

Here are some photos of my device
Fastland Z3 - Front View
Fastland Z3 - Rear View

So, the situation…
When I plug in a serial connection into my BlueSCSIv2, and turn it on, it appears to be functioning as expected.
Further to this, I have already used THIS BSv2 with a GVP SCSI sidecar and it was working as expected.
So, I think its assembly is ok.

In the Z3 card, it sees the BSv2, as ID0 or whatever you configure it as, and you can select it, and try to configure it.
I have done this with both HDTools using z3scsi.device and also with its own native toolset from Phase 5 (unitControl2 and SCSIControl3).

Both tools see the drive. However, it is a little unreliable. For instance, when reading its details in HDToolbox, it sometimes reads the manufacturer information verbatim, but sometimes its characters are garbled, same goes for drive name, and version.

When I partition the drive, this works ok. However, post that, quitting the tool, the drive is not always mounted and shown on the desktop. Mostly, it is not, about 90% of the time, it does not appear, even after a reboot.

When it DOES appear, you can select it, and then format the drive, and this appears to work as expected. It's name changes, and you can open the disk, and it reports the correct size. However, when you try to write ANYTHING to it, it reports checksum errors, and data, never seems to stick, no files appear on the disk.

When using the unitControl2 tool to set the drives properties, it also sometimes reports a checksum error. Also, on occasion it will state that the drive's size is not divisible by the number of cylinders (or similar)

I am not sure if this is a hardware problem with the Z3. Oddly, in the the BSv2 serial logging, everything looks ok.
Or, is this a configuration/software problem, something needed somewhere with MASK values, sector values etc.

If anyone here also has a Fastlane Z3 that would be especially useful. Sadly, I do not have a REAL SCSI hard disk to test with. I'm not into using them as they are so unreliable now.

I may start, as a simple precaution to replace the cards caps. There are only 3, but who knows, maybe the power delivery is a bit off or dirty. I guess there could be an issue with the cards chips, which are mostly GALS or PALS (heat-sinks on all) but as it kind of works, I don't think it this. Usually ROM corruption or chip fails lead to more drastically bad behaviour.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on it right now. All help appreciated.

15 April 2024, 21:47	#1
Tchucolate Retronaut Join Date: Sep 2022 Location: Surbiton Posts: 27	Help needed getting Fastlane Z3 SCSI card & BlueSCSIv2 work together I have bought a Fastlane Z3 SCSI2 adapter, and I'm trying to use it with an Amiga 4000. So far, its not quite working, its still quite a ways off from being of any use. It was bought as not known working, because the vendor said they had not used it in 5 years. But, last time they had, they said it was fully functional. Here are some photos of my device Fastland Z3 - Front View Fastland Z3 - Rear View So, the situation… When I plug in a serial connection into my BlueSCSIv2, and turn it on, it appears to be functioning as expected. Further to this, I have already used THIS BSv2 with a GVP SCSI sidecar and it was working as expected. So, I think its assembly is ok. In the Z3 card, it sees the BSv2, as ID0 or whatever you configure it as, and you can select it, and try to configure it. I have done this with both HDTools using z3scsi.device and also with its own native toolset from Phase 5 (unitControl2 and SCSIControl3). Both tools see the drive. However, it is a little unreliable. For instance, when reading its details in HDToolbox, it sometimes reads the manufacturer information verbatim, but sometimes its characters are garbled, same goes for drive name, and version. When I partition the drive, this works ok. However, post that, quitting the tool, the drive is not always mounted and shown on the desktop. Mostly, it is not, about 90% of the time, it does not appear, even after a reboot. When it DOES appear, you can select it, and then format the drive, and this appears to work as expected. It's name changes, and you can open the disk, and it reports the correct size. However, when you try to write ANYTHING to it, it reports checksum errors, and data, never seems to stick, no files appear on the disk. When using the unitControl2 tool to set the drives properties, it also sometimes reports a checksum error. Also, on occasion it will state that the drive's size is not divisible by the number of cylinders (or similar) I am not sure if this is a hardware problem with the Z3. Oddly, in the the BSv2 serial logging, everything looks ok. Or, is this a configuration/software problem, something needed somewhere with MASK values, sector values etc. If anyone here also has a Fastlane Z3 that would be especially useful. Sadly, I do not have a REAL SCSI hard disk to test with. I'm not into using them as they are so unreliable now. I may start, as a simple precaution to replace the cards caps. There are only 3, but who knows, maybe the power delivery is a bit off or dirty. I guess there could be an issue with the cards chips, which are mostly GALS or PALS (heat-sinks on all) but as it kind of works, I don't think it this. Usually ROM corruption or chip fails lead to more drastically bad behaviour. Anyway, those are my thoughts on it right now. All help appreciated. Last edited by Tchucolate; 16 April 2024 at 17:09.