A1200 Hd Led

SexyWayne · 13 January 2005, 01:04

Hi, I've just installed a old 20gb 3.5" maxtor hd that I've had lying around using a 2.5 to 3.5 ide cable the drive is working fine apart from the old 4gb limit issue which I'll sort later, the problem is that the hd led is on all the time now but dimmer than usual, it flickers brighter when there is hd activity but never actually goes off, anyone else had this problem?

Amiga1992 · 13 January 2005, 01:24

Are you sure the power light is not the cause of this? The leds are not isolated enough, so the light from the power led affects the hdd led and the floppy led, the hdd light affects the floppy led and the floppy led affects the hdd led! it's all a mess

SexyWayne · 13 January 2005, 01:30

nope it's definately the hd causing this, it goes out if i unplug the hd, and also the hd spins continuously, is this normal???

alexh · 13 January 2005, 01:32

Yes it's normal for HD's to spin all the time in the Amiga. The OSD never powers them down... but you can get utils to do that.

I'm betting that the drive is trying to validate itself. Perhaps you've switched off and made the drive invalidated or something? Are you using the oridinary FFS?

SexyWayne · 13 January 2005, 01:44

yeah normal ffs, on a 500mb partition, with just wb 3.1 installed

edit: with only the ide cable plugged into the hd, and with no power applied the led still comes on

SexyWayne · 13 January 2005, 01:59

could i have a faulty cable??, do any of the wires need to be switched round??, the internal 2.5" drive works the led perfectly when the 3.5 is unplugged

edit: i've tried plugging the 40 pin cable into a cdrom drive and i get exactly the same result

Amiga1992 · 13 January 2005, 03:31

could be the cable
have yu got teh red cable unconnected?

SexyWayne · 13 January 2005, 04:02

tried disconnecting the red cable, no good, I'm gonna buy a new cable tomorrow and try it again

adolescent · 13 January 2005, 07:19

It's not the cable. This just happens with some HDs on the A1200. There is no problem running like this, but if it bothers you a buffered IDE splitter will fix it. (I added an Elbox 4xEIDE'99 and the light went away).

SexyWayne · 13 January 2005, 10:17

i've tried two different hd's, a dvd rom and a cd rom and they all do the same, and i keep getting disk activity errors when trying to format a floppy or write to a floppy

keropi · 13 January 2005, 11:02

I also had a maxtor 20GB connected to the a1200 with a 4x ide... hd led was always on, just dimmer, and when there was real activity, the led was bright.... using a seagate hd solved this "problem" ... it is just a maxtor thing+a1200 ide, something like a bug, the hd is not working all the time... now the very same maxtor is connected to the powerflyer and the hd behaves normal... do not worry!

Amiga1992 · 13 January 2005, 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by SexyWayne

i've tried two different hd's, a dvd rom and a cd rom and they all do the same, and i keep getting disk activity errors when trying to format a floppy or write to a floppy

You might be having power problems!

EmuChicken · 13 January 2005, 14:27

I know in pc's when you plug in the cable to a floppy drive the wrong way round, the LED never goes off and doesnt read... ... is that related?

unscrew all yer miggy and make sure its ALL plugged in right! :-)

SexyWayne · 13 January 2005, 19:41

@Akira, I shouldn't be having power problems, I'm running the hd from a old pc psu

@emuchicken, already checked the connections, lost count how many times

SexyWayne · 13 January 2005, 19:54

WOOHOO!!! Success at last, I've just installed a new ide cable & plugged in the 323mb 486 drive and it works perfectly, the maxtor still lights the led from the off, so it looks like you were right keropi

thanks for all your help fellas

keropi · 14 January 2005, 07:26

I was troubled too with the light, but since it worked ok, I got used to it

13 January 2005, 01:04	#1
SexyWayne Zone Friend Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: UK Posts: 56	A1200 Hd Led Hi, I've just installed a old 20gb 3.5" maxtor hd that I've had lying around using a 2.5 to 3.5 ide cable the drive is working fine apart from the old 4gb limit issue which I'll sort later, the problem is that the hd led is on all the time now but dimmer than usual, it flickers brighter when there is hd activity but never actually goes off, anyone else had this problem?

13 January 2005, 01:44	#5
SexyWayne Zone Friend Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: UK Posts: 56	yeah normal ffs, on a 500mb partition, with just wb 3.1 installed edit: with only the ide cable plugged into the hd, and with no power applied the led still comes on Last edited by SexyWayne; 13 January 2005 at 01:56.

13 January 2005, 01:59	#6
SexyWayne Zone Friend Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: UK Posts: 56	could i have a faulty cable??, do any of the wires need to be switched round??, the internal 2.5" drive works the led perfectly when the 3.5 is unplugged edit: i've tried plugging the 40 pin cable into a cdrom drive and i get exactly the same result Last edited by SexyWayne; 13 January 2005 at 02:20.

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13 January 2005, 01:24	#2
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,646	Are you sure the power light is not the cause of this? The leds are not isolated enough, so the light from the power led affects the hdd led and the floppy led, the hdd light affects the floppy led and the floppy led affects the hdd led! it's all a mess

13 January 2005, 01:30	#3
SexyWayne Zone Friend Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: UK Posts: 56	nope it's definately the hd causing this, it goes out if i unplug the hd, and also the hd spins continuously, is this normal???

13 January 2005, 01:32	#4
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,400	Yes it's normal for HD's to spin all the time in the Amiga. The OSD never powers them down... but you can get utils to do that. I'm betting that the drive is trying to validate itself. Perhaps you've switched off and made the drive invalidated or something? Are you using the oridinary FFS?

13 January 2005, 03:31	#7
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,646	could be the cable have yu got teh red cable unconnected?

13 January 2005, 04:02	#8
SexyWayne Zone Friend Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: UK Posts: 56	tried disconnecting the red cable, no good, I'm gonna buy a new cable tomorrow and try it again

13 January 2005, 07:19	#9
adolescent Powered by Motorola Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Redondo Beach, CA Age: 52 Posts: 1,065	It's not the cable. This just happens with some HDs on the A1200. There is no problem running like this, but if it bothers you a buffered IDE splitter will fix it. (I added an Elbox 4xEIDE'99 and the light went away).

13 January 2005, 10:17	#10
SexyWayne Zone Friend Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: UK Posts: 56	i've tried two different hd's, a dvd rom and a cd rom and they all do the same, and i keep getting disk activity errors when trying to format a floppy or write to a floppy

13 January 2005, 11:02	#11
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	I also had a maxtor 20GB connected to the a1200 with a 4x ide... hd led was always on, just dimmer, and when there was real activity, the led was bright.... using a seagate hd solved this "problem" ... it is just a maxtor thing+a1200 ide, something like a bug, the hd is not working all the time... now the very same maxtor is connected to the powerflyer and the hd behaves normal... do not worry!

13 January 2005, 14:27	#13
EmuChicken Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Nagoya, Japan (moved!) Age: 41 Posts: 746	I know in pc's when you plug in the cable to a floppy drive the wrong way round, the LED never goes off and doesnt read... ... is that related? unscrew all yer miggy and make sure its ALL plugged in right! :-)

13 January 2005, 19:41	#14
SexyWayne Zone Friend Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: UK Posts: 56	@Akira, I shouldn't be having power problems, I'm running the hd from a old pc psu @emuchicken, already checked the connections, lost count how many times

13 January 2005, 19:54	#15
SexyWayne Zone Friend Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: UK Posts: 56	WOOHOO!!! Success at last, I've just installed a new ide cable & plugged in the 323mb 486 drive and it works perfectly, the maxtor still lights the led from the off, so it looks like you were right keropi thanks for all your help fellas

14 January 2005, 07:26	#16
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	I was troubled too with the light, but since it worked ok, I got used to it

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