Blizzard SCSI KIT IV and SCSI CD-ROM

[eva]

The issue was solved just by replacing the drive.

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Hi!

I am having some trouble setting-up the Blizzard SCSI KIT IV with a Blizzard IV accelerator to work with an external SCSI CD-ROM drive. I am also a quite confused...

The CD-ROM has an active terminator and is powered separately from the Amiga. It also has a display on the back showing the number "2" - is this the unit or ID number? Is there a difference between unit number and ID number? I plugged it in the Amiga's SCSI Kit's port and booted. If I issue:

version 1230scsi.device

I get the output:

1230scsi.device 8.5

I have installed the Blizzard SCSI tools and changed Devs/DosDrivers/CD0 to use 1230.device. During boot, the led flashes red for a few seconds, giving me the impression that the device is indeed accessed. When Workbench loads, no icon appears on the Workbench. I have also changed "UnitControl"s tooltype to say "DEVICE=1230scsi.device" If I launch "UnitControl", there are no devices detected as if the SCSI Kit cannot see the device.

Then, there is the manual confusion, in the Blizzard 1230 IV manual, it says:

If two modules are used (only with the SCSI-Kit) or if the access time of the SIMM is 70 ns the jumper has to be removed.

I have two 128MB modules, meaning that according to the Blizzard 1230 IV manual, I must remove the jumper. However, this seems to contradict the Blizzard SCSI KIT IV manual which says:

In case two SIMMs have been installed, the RAMSPEED-Jumper on the BLIZZARD Turbo Board must be switched to 70ns!

Meaning that the jumper must be set. So, I am wondering which way round this must be?

In any case, I have tried with different RAM sticks, in various combinations (jumper on, jumper off) and the result is still the same: UnitControl does not even see the CD-ROM.

Am I missing something obvious? Also, which of the manuals is correct? Do I really need to replace the two memory sticks with 70ns RAM?

Thanks!

[roy bates]

did you put unit 2 in the icon for cdo?
what filesystem are you using for the drive?

silly question,do you have a cd in the drive when accessing it?

[eva]

Hi Roy!

Originally Posted by roy bates

did you put unit 2 in the icon for cdo?

I did. Can try again...

Originally Posted by roy bates

what filesystem are you using for the drive?
silly question,do you have a cd in the drive when accessing it?

I have tried some regular older CDs (ISO9660 I think), some containing data (written on a PC) and I have also tried music CDs.

It makes no difference, "UnitControl" does not report any SCSI devices. The red light turns on during boot though...

[eva]

Here is the full configuration of CD0:

/* $VER: CD0 2.36 (22.08.96)
 *
 * CD-ROM filesystem mount entry
 */

Device		= 1230scsi.device
Unit		= 2
FileSystem	= L:AmiCDFS
Flags		= 0
BlocksPerTrack	= 32
BlockSize	= 2048
Reserved	= 0
LowCyl		= 0
HighCyl		= 11000
Surfaces	= 1
Buffers		= 64
BufMemType	= 1
Mask            = 0x7fffffff
GlobVec		= -1
Priority	= 10
DosType		= 0x43444653
StackSize	= 600
Mount		= 1

Control		= "LC BL=8 FB=32"

/* Control field template:
 *
 * LC=LOWERCASE/S,CS=CASESENSE/S,
 * HF=HFSFIRST/S,TD=TRACKDISK/S,
 * BL=BUFFERLINES/K/N,FB=FILEBUFFERS/K/N,
 * DC=DISKCHANGE/K/N,MT=MOTORTIME/K/N,
 * SD=STARTDELAY/K/N,TDC=TDCHANGE/S,
 * TOSHIBA/S,OLDMODE/S
 */

And CD0.info has the following tooltype settings:

ACTIVATE=1
DEVICE=1230scsi.device
UNIT=2
DONOTWAIT

"UnitControl" has the tooltype set: "DEVICE=1230scsi.device" and starting it shows this:


Typing:

mount CD0:

says:

ERROR: Device 'CD0:' is already mounted.

Although it may be completely useless, one time after or before installing the SCSI tools, there was an icon on workbench saying "CD:Unreadable" (or something like that). After I rebooted (and since then) no icon shows up anymore at all.

I have the SCSI tools installed as well as AmiCDFS and running on OS3.9

[eva]

One more clarification: when I restart the Amiga, the led on the CD-ROM drive goes to red from green for a little bit before BlizKick loads its stuff. Then, it does that again before workbench loads.

[eva]

Using Scout, I get the following info on 1230scsi.device:

[eva]

One more piece of information, I have tried to soft-kick the 8.1 SCSI rom instead of the 8.5 but I see exactly the same behaviour...

[zipper]

I think with some drive I had to set Oldmode into the CD0 control field.

[eva]

Originally Posted by zipper

I think with some drive I had to set Oldmode into the CD0 control field.

Hi! Tried adding "Oldmode" to CD0 and no dice. Actually setting "Oldmode" stops VINCed from working. If I set "Oldmode" to "1", after a reboot VINCed complains that VNC is unassigned. Not sure if it's related...

[Michael]

You have only CD connected to the scsi bus?
What type of cable you use and what type of CD drive ? 25-to-25 or 25-to-50
If it's the only device connected, it should be last on the cable and terminated.
The driver in the rom of scsi kit is enough to probe the device with any scsi tools (a bunch of nice one on aminet) SCSIBench, SCSIQuery are good

The LED flashes during reset since the drive is receiving a reset signal.
It would probably stay green if it identified/read the CD.
If it's always red/amber, probably a dead laser (or out of focus)
but if the firmware is alive you should still sense a device on a scsi chain.
If you don't see it, its either something is broken or setup wrong.
No need to use anything (avoid conflicts with some potential harmful patch), just a clean boot after power up should be enough.

[eva]

Hi Michael, thanks for the reply.

Originally Posted by Michael

You have only CD connected to the scsi bus?

Indeed, only one CD-ROM (CD-RW) connected to the Blizzard SCSI Kit.

Originally Posted by Michael

What type of cable you use and what type of CD drive ? 25-to-25 or 25-to-50

I believe it's a 25-to-50 - 25 connects to the SCSI Kit and 50 to the CD-ROM.

Originally Posted by Michael

If it's the only device connected, it should be last on the cable and terminated.

Yes, only one device connected to the CD-ROM and the CD-ROM has an active terminator plugged-in in one of the ports.

Originally Posted by Michael

The driver in the rom of scsi kit is enough to probe the device with any scsi tools (a bunch of nice one on aminet) SCSIBench, SCSIQuery are good

The output of:

SCSIQuery CD0:

is:

Warning: Required memory type for device not found.
Assuming MEMF_24BITDMA
SCSIQuery 1.33 (22.11.99) @ THOR
SCSIQuery failed: device (or volume) is not mounted

Originally Posted by Michael

The LED flashes during reset since the drive is receiving a reset signal.
It would probably stay green if it identified/read the CD.
If it's always red/amber, probably a dead laser (or out of focus)
but if the firmware is alive you should still sense a device on a scsi chain.

Yes, it flashes once and then stays green.

I assume that the output from SCSIQuery means I need 70ns RAM? Am I safe to assume that the SCSI Kit and the CD-ROM is not damaged?

[Michael]

Everything looks good at the moment.
You will not get a reply from CD0: before it is mounted properly.
You need to query the 1230 driver, and that should report the name of the drive manufacture on unit 2

[eva]

Originally Posted by Michael

Everything looks good at the moment.

Yay! \o/

Originally Posted by Michael

You will not get a reply from CD0: before it is mounted properly.

However:

mount CD0:

says it is already mounted...

Originally Posted by Michael

You need to query the 1230 driver, and that should report the name of the drive manufacture on unit 2

How would I do that? Also, I have opened up the enclosure to clean it in the meanwhile and switched to ID=0 (it has 3 positions ID=0, ID=1 and ID=2) so I placed it on ID=0.

It vaguely reminds me of this: [ Show youtube player ] so far...

[eva]

I have tried the command:

SCSIQuery DEVICE=1230scsi.device UNIT=0

and I get the same output. The same goes for UNIT 1, 2, 3... etc...

Even switching back and forth between units and changing the jumper at the back of the CD-ROM does not seem to have much effect.

I would be more curious to know whether the CD-ROM is dead or whether the SCSI Kit is dead, or what...

Perhaps there is some way to test? I could get another device, I suppose, just wondering what the problem is.

[Arnie]

I don't suppose you have a PC with a SCSI card?

If you have then you could test the CD-Rom on the PC and see if it gets recognized.

[Michael]

Have you used latest unit control ? 2.17 ?
And SCSIConfig 1.36 ?
From phase5 support disks, it should detect the board automatically.
And list your drive on the scsi chain if the cable is correct and working.

[eva]

Originally Posted by Arnie

I don't suppose you have a PC with a SCSI card?

If you have then you could test the CD-Rom on the PC and see if it gets recognized.

Would be cool, but I don't. I was thinking to buy some cheap 50-pin SCSI hard-drive and replace the CD-ROM in the enclosure to check whether that works. Unfortunately, they are all extremely expensive - stuff like 250MB at 50 quid.

Originally Posted by Michael

Have you used latest unit control ? 2.17 ?
And SCSIConfig 1.36 ?
From phase5 support disks, it should detect the board automatically.
And list your drive on the scsi chain if the cable is correct and working.

Yes. I posted the screenshot in the first post. It is the latest one from 2015 even downloaded from AmiNET. It does not detect anything as if it does not exist at all. Which is baffling though because during boot the CD-ROM does get reset and the light blinks...

[Michael]

Does SCSIConfig show a virtual board in the list ?
That's the SCSI board itself.
Also as you say Scout shows the 1230 driver in mem, so we can assume that the rom gets initialised correctly, I think with the scsi kit connected the boot flashing colours change
compared to when there is no scsi, so this can give some diagnostic info.

As for RAM, I have used all sorts of combinations in the past.
1 simm on the card or on the scsi or 2 simms of different sizes, made no difference.

[eva]

Originally Posted by Michael

Does SCSIConfig show a virtual board in the list ?
That's the SCSI board itself.
Also as you say Scout shows the 1230 driver in mem, so we can assume that the rom gets initialised correctly, I think with the scsi kit connected the boot flashing colours change
compared to when there is no scsi, so this can give some diagnostic info.

As for RAM, I have used all sorts of combinations in the past.
1 simm on the card or on the scsi or 2 simms of different sizes, made no difference.

SCSIConfig with:

Device=1230scsi.device

in its tooltypes gives the following:



Just to see that SCSIConfig is working I have set:

Device=scsi.device

after that and it does indeed pick-up my drives.

However, with:

Device=1230scsi.device

there is nothing displayed at all like in the screenshot.

[José]

Couple of things to try.
1- Are you powering on the CD Rom before powering on the Amiga ? If not try it.
2- Check what's the current ID (jumper settings on the drive) of the CD drive. The Blizzard kit itself is ID 7 so maybe the drive is also set to 7 and there is an ID conflict.
3- How long is the cable ? Do you have another one to try ?

... Can't remember anything else for now...