External SCSI hard drive problem...

Adrian Cummings · 16 October 2009, 15:12

Hi there,

I've been attempting to get an external scsi drive hooked up to my Amiga again which has a GVP SCSI RAM board fitted. This board used to work fine with all scsi devices in the mid 90's with a toggle (on JP4) to turn the rom on and off to speed up boot if scsi not required etc.

The drive powers up ok, I switch on the Amiga with scsi rom enabled, the drive spins up and the drive led stays on and the Amiga hangs with black screen forever.

If I disconnect the external scsi drive and power up the amiga with scsi enabled, the Amiga powers up after a short (black screen) delay as expected or even quicker if I turn of the scsi rom via my toggle switch.

Therefore the drive appears to hang my machine?

I've set the device ID to 1, forced SE mode, and terminate the drive with an intellgent FPT terminator/sniffer (tried with and without that fitted and still no joy).

I can't even look in HDToolBox because the Amiga wont even boot for me to examine the scsi chain/devices of course.

I only just about know what I'm doing when it comes to scsi but now I'm totally lost

It used to work like this fine years ago with another external units, so not sure what is wrong other than it being an sca drive with sca 50 pin adapter.

I since tried with an old 18Gb DGHS IEC-950 50 pin drive and joined the TERM PWR pins also... I get further with this drive because the leds on my sniffer light, but as soon as I power on the Amiga the leds fade out slowly and the Amiga never boots as before and hangs with black screen.

I've mainly been using the jumpers on the actual drive and not the sca adapter but have tried that route also to no avail.

Sorry for the long post but can anyone shed some light on my problem perhaps?

[Edit: I recall the GVP board having a problem with PCMCIA cards mapped into the same area if fitted with 8Mb RAM etc. but my board is only fitted with 4Mb RAM so this should not be a problem.]

rkauer · 16 October 2009, 19:20

Did you enabled the termination power (TP) jumper on the HD or adaptor? IIRC, no +5V on the necessary wire will make the external terminator simply a decorative piece.

Adrian Cummings · 16 October 2009, 19:39

@rkauer: Hi, I have since enabled TP on the adapter only because there is no jumper for it on the actual drive. Still the Amiga hangs forever.

rkauer · 16 October 2009, 22:07

What's the size of the SCA driver? IIRC, anything over 8Gb on 4.15 GVP boards is no good as it can conflict.

Adrian Cummings · 16 October 2009, 22:37

The sca drive is 9.1Gb and the older 50 pin drive is 18Gb so perhaps that is it?

It's really odd how the leds on the scsi sniffer dim and go out when I power on the Amiga after the drive... That just seems wrong to me.

I might try a 4gb drive if i can get one soon.

Adrian Cummings · 17 October 2009, 14:48

This is my scsi board...

http://amiga.resource.cx/expde/searc...=1200&cat=scsi

rkauer · 17 October 2009, 16:39

Broken link. Just tell us what it is.

Adrian Cummings · 17 October 2009, 17:55

A1208 by gvp with fang rom

rkauer · 17 October 2009, 19:46

I never had experience with this particular SCSI controller. What version of gvpscsi.device is shown on Sysinfo or typing

Code:

Version gvpscsi.device

This is important.

Also did you try out with a smaller SCSI device?

Adrian Cummings · 18 October 2009, 09:31

@rkauer

Returns version 4.15.

I have just bought a cheap IBM DCAS-34330 4GB 50-PIN SCSI DRIVE but it wont be here for a few days.

Once I've tried it out I will report back with my findings.

Thanks so far for all your help.

As I said earlier it used to work fine with 4Gb external so I hold out some hope that it will work again when I try the smaller drive.

r.cade · 18 October 2009, 18:24

I know it's not your exact hardware, but my A3000 won't boot from one of my larger drives with a 68p-50p adapter and 3.1 roms, but boots fine with 2.04 roms. It's weird and somewhat frustrating.

Adrian Cummings · 19 October 2009, 10:46

@r.cade

Thanks for your input, that's also interesting concerning my own problem.

Adrian Cummings · 21 October 2009, 13:11

No

sadly it still won't work even with the 4Gb drive or any combo of jumper, device ID and termination settings.

I may try a new cable and another terminator soon, but I think the scsi interface part of my expansion board is perhaps dead as it never used to be this picky I recall.

Need to get a new/better expansion board with scsi/ram in that case if so.

Adrian Cummings · 27 October 2009, 14:51

In a last ditch attempt I tried a new active terminator on the drive today (with a green led on it) the led lights then goes out quickly when the scsi cable connecting the Amiga is plugged into the drive. I if I start the drive from cold and not plugged into the Amiga the terminator led stays on.

I think the the Amiga scsi expansion board is shorting out the scsi chain somehow?

I don't know... it did used to work but I conclude the board apart from the memory which works fine has gone tits up... oh well I guess that's that then.

Thanks for all your help.

Adrian Cummings · 02 November 2009, 14:30

Gave up and finally went the PCMCIA compact flash route which for me is a more elegant solution for my own Amiga data storage/transfer needs with all my main archives on the network server (so I don't loose them).

16 October 2009, 15:12	#1
Adrian Cummings Mutation/AmigaDweeb Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 804	External SCSI hard drive problem... Hi there, I've been attempting to get an external scsi drive hooked up to my Amiga again which has a GVP SCSI RAM board fitted. This board used to work fine with all scsi devices in the mid 90's with a toggle (on JP4) to turn the rom on and off to speed up boot if scsi not required etc. The drive powers up ok, I switch on the Amiga with scsi rom enabled, the drive spins up and the drive led stays on and the Amiga hangs with black screen forever. If I disconnect the external scsi drive and power up the amiga with scsi enabled, the Amiga powers up after a short (black screen) delay as expected or even quicker if I turn of the scsi rom via my toggle switch. Therefore the drive appears to hang my machine? I've set the device ID to 1, forced SE mode, and terminate the drive with an intellgent FPT terminator/sniffer (tried with and without that fitted and still no joy). I can't even look in HDToolBox because the Amiga wont even boot for me to examine the scsi chain/devices of course. I only just about know what I'm doing when it comes to scsi but now I'm totally lost It used to work like this fine years ago with another external units, so not sure what is wrong other than it being an sca drive with sca 50 pin adapter. I since tried with an old 18Gb DGHS IEC-950 50 pin drive and joined the TERM PWR pins also... I get further with this drive because the leds on my sniffer light, but as soon as I power on the Amiga the leds fade out slowly and the Amiga never boots as before and hangs with black screen. I've mainly been using the jumpers on the actual drive and not the sca adapter but have tried that route also to no avail. Sorry for the long post but can anyone shed some light on my problem perhaps? [Edit: I recall the GVP board having a problem with PCMCIA cards mapped into the same area if fitted with 8Mb RAM etc. but my board is only fitted with 4Mb RAM so this should not be a problem.] Last edited by Adrian Cummings; 24 October 2009 at 18:47.

17 October 2009, 19:46	#9
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	I never had experience with this particular SCSI controller. What version of gvpscsi.device is shown on Sysinfo or typing Code: Version gvpscsi.device This is important. Also did you try out with a smaller SCSI device?

18 October 2009, 09:31	#10
Adrian Cummings Mutation/AmigaDweeb Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 804	@rkauer Returns version 4.15. I have just bought a cheap IBM DCAS-34330 4GB 50-PIN SCSI DRIVE but it wont be here for a few days. Once I've tried it out I will report back with my findings. Thanks so far for all your help. As I said earlier it used to work fine with 4Gb external so I hold out some hope that it will work again when I try the smaller drive. Last edited by Adrian Cummings; 18 October 2009 at 09:36.

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16 October 2009, 19:20	#2
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	Did you enabled the termination power (TP) jumper on the HD or adaptor? IIRC, no +5V on the necessary wire will make the external terminator simply a decorative piece.

16 October 2009, 19:39	#3
Adrian Cummings Mutation/AmigaDweeb Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 804	@rkauer: Hi, I have since enabled TP on the adapter only because there is no jumper for it on the actual drive. Still the Amiga hangs forever.

16 October 2009, 22:07	#4
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	What's the size of the SCA driver? IIRC, anything over 8Gb on 4.15 GVP boards is no good as it can conflict.

16 October 2009, 22:37	#5
Adrian Cummings Mutation/AmigaDweeb Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 804	The sca drive is 9.1Gb and the older 50 pin drive is 18Gb so perhaps that is it? It's really odd how the leds on the scsi sniffer dim and go out when I power on the Amiga after the drive... That just seems wrong to me. I might try a 4gb drive if i can get one soon.

17 October 2009, 14:48	#6
Adrian Cummings Mutation/AmigaDweeb Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 804	This is my scsi board... http://amiga.resource.cx/expde/searc...=1200&cat=scsi

17 October 2009, 16:39	#7
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	Broken link. Just tell us what it is.

17 October 2009, 17:55	#8
Adrian Cummings Mutation/AmigaDweeb Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 804	A1208 by gvp with fang rom

18 October 2009, 18:24	#11
r.cade Registered User Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Augusta, Georgia, USA Posts: 548	I know it's not your exact hardware, but my A3000 won't boot from one of my larger drives with a 68p-50p adapter and 3.1 roms, but boots fine with 2.04 roms. It's weird and somewhat frustrating.

19 October 2009, 10:46	#12
Adrian Cummings Mutation/AmigaDweeb Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 804	@r.cade Thanks for your input, that's also interesting concerning my own problem.

21 October 2009, 13:11	#13
Adrian Cummings Mutation/AmigaDweeb Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 804	No sadly it still won't work even with the 4Gb drive or any combo of jumper, device ID and termination settings. I may try a new cable and another terminator soon, but I think the scsi interface part of my expansion board is perhaps dead as it never used to be this picky I recall. Need to get a new/better expansion board with scsi/ram in that case if so.

27 October 2009, 14:51	#14
Adrian Cummings Mutation/AmigaDweeb Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 804	In a last ditch attempt I tried a new active terminator on the drive today (with a green led on it) the led lights then goes out quickly when the scsi cable connecting the Amiga is plugged into the drive. I if I start the drive from cold and not plugged into the Amiga the terminator led stays on. I think the the Amiga scsi expansion board is shorting out the scsi chain somehow? I don't know... it did used to work but I conclude the board apart from the memory which works fine has gone tits up... oh well I guess that's that then. Thanks for all your help.

02 November 2009, 14:30	#15
Adrian Cummings Mutation/AmigaDweeb Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 804	Gave up and finally went the PCMCIA compact flash route which for me is a more elegant solution for my own Amiga data storage/transfer needs with all my main archives on the network server (so I don't loose them).

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