A4000D On-Board IDE Controller

merlin1968 · 17 July 2012, 00:20

Hi All,

I have a rev B board and I'm attempting to connect a hard drive and DVD Rom to the internal controller.

Hard drive is master and DVD is Slave

When they're connected on the same cable I cant see the DVD Rom in HDSETUP - should I be able to?

If I use an Amigakit ide adapter which should give me two IDE ports. The HD is on port0 and if the DVD is on port1 the amiga won't boot. Remove the DVD and its fine.

Questions:
Should the internal IDE support two devices and should the DVD show up in HD Setup?

I also have an mediator daughterboard in the 4000D and if I try to use my Buddha i/f, the amiga keeps re-booting itself. Should the Buddha be compatible with the Mediator?

The HD is an 80Gb IBM but I've only used the first 3gb for WB. The DVD is SONY. I have no reason to think either the Bubbha, Mediator Drive or DVD is faulty. The m/b has only recently been returned from Anthony Hoffman who did a great job fixing the Clock/Battery. It was given a full 'MOT', clean and a full bill of health.

Hope somebody can suggest something.

Thanks in advance.

fitzsteve · 17 July 2012, 00:24

My advice is to try another CD/DVD some can give nothing but a headache in the Amiga on normal IDE.

The only time I found all DVD's tested to work is with the FastATA, but this is an expensive option.

merlin1968 · 17 July 2012, 00:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

My advice is to try another CD/DVD some can give nothing but a headache in the Amiga on normal IDE.

The only time I found all DVD's tested to work is with the FastATA, but this is an expensive option.

I'll try that, so if the DVD works in my PC, theres no guarantee it works in an Amiga?

fitzsteve · 17 July 2012, 00:35

That's right, plus dvd drives are especially troublesome.

Oh if you're using the dvd on its own on the second channel of a 4 way ide adapter it must be set to master or in some cases the Amiga won't boot. :-)

merlin1968 · 17 July 2012, 01:41

OK. Thanks. I'll give it a go with a CD Rom. Should I be able to connect both to the single internal IDE connector?

bdb · 17 July 2012, 04:58

Have you tried IDEFix? It will get a lot of CD/DVD Drives working that normally don't; you download the FreeBee version off Aminet or get the registered from the "Amiga Forever" CD

thomas · 17 July 2012, 08:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by merlin1968

Questions:
Should the internal IDE support two devices and should the DVD show up in HD Setup?

The internal IDE controller supports two devices, but the driver does not support ATAPI devices (like CD/DVD drives). You need a replacement driver like IDEfix or the one which comes with OS 3.9.

merlin1968 · 17 July 2012, 10:43

Thanks guys.

I'll give IDEfix a go.

bdb · 18 July 2012, 10:17

To clarify: the ATAPI interface for removable devices is a Superset of the ATA interface; it is able to send commands to the device that are essentially SCSI commands that plain hard drives don't need; the ATAPI devices include tape drives, CD/DVD multidisk devices, etc. The ATA sends a read from sector or write to sector, but has no command for rewinding tape or eject CD disk. An ATAPI-able controller can easily handle hard drives but has those extra instructions. These commands can be added to a plain ATA controller via software (IDEFix)

merlin1968 · 19 July 2012, 01:08

OK. I have the CD working on A4000 - I think it was an issue with the CF so I re-formatted it and shrank the partition for DH0 < 1.5gb. 'Avail' now gives a sensible number for dh0:, dh1: is another matter entirely.

This board (Rev B) has been serviced recently and RTC fixed - was given a full bill of health.

There was also a problem with the Buddha - When its inserted into the mediator all the way it seems like there's a bad connection. Pull it out slightly and it burst into life... Strange...

Now, when I attempt to install 3.9 and create the boot floppy it can't format the disk . Tried multiple blank new disks but no joy, and they can all be formatted on my other 4000 (Rev D).

It seems that the internal floppy drives keep dissapearing from workbench and then re-appearing. This happens with both internal floppies, which are brand new and new ribbon cable courtesy of Amiga Kit.

I did notice J351 was open so I closed it but it still does the same.

If I just install 3.9 and dont create the Emergency-Floppy it installs, but then the amiga wont boot afterwards - I just get software failures continually.

I'm at the stage now where I'm thinking 'is it worth the hassle'.

I did notice that if I used an external floppy before I put in the two new floppy drives, it wouldn't work at all, not even a click. Its as if its not getting any power. And again, the external drive works fine on my other 4000 (Rev D).

I have yet another 4000 (Rev B) which is away for RTC repair and general spruce up at the moment, and that too wouldn't access an external floppy drive. Same issue.

Any suggestions before I drown in my own tears.

fitzsteve · 19 July 2012, 01:19

Hi!

Send me your CF and I will put a fully working CWB 3.9 on it for you

PM me

Steve.

bdb · 19 July 2012, 06:32

I believe you said both were new and from AmigaKit? These should work fine as original drives. The new cable may not. Do you have the original cable with the small twist before Df0? Can you borrow a cable and drive to test the interface?

The floppy drive DF0: is set to be the only boot floppy (without a hardware modification). You can't boot from an external. The "even" CIA chip control the floppy drive; could it be at fault? I have two Escom A4000T's and each one had a different floppy drive (one Chinon the other Sony) with different cables. Don't know about the A4000D's.

Steve will sort the HDD issue with CF card.

duga · 19 July 2012, 11:25

Disconnect DF1: internally and the same with any external diskdrive. Try to get just DF0: to work to begin with.

merlin1968 · 20 July 2012, 14:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by duga

Disconnect DF1: internally and the same with any external diskdrive. Try to get just DF0: to work to begin with.

Yep, got df0 to work reliable now - been able to create 3.9 emergency disk.

Will investigae df1 at a later date.

Thanks.

merlin1968 · 20 July 2012, 14:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by bdb

I believe you said both were new and from AmigaKit? These should work fine as original drives. The new cable may not. Do you have the original cable with the small twist before Df0? Can you borrow a cable and drive to test the interface?

The floppy drive DF0: is set to be the only boot floppy (without a hardware modification). You can't boot from an external. The "even" CIA chip control the floppy drive; could it be at fault? I have two Escom A4000T's and each one had a different floppy drive (one Chinon the other Sony) with different cables. Don't know about the A4000D's.

Steve will sort the HDD issue with CF card.

The original cable I had with the machine only has 1 floppy connector on it. I have some of some A2000's lurking about. I assume these should work just as well and another new cable from Amigakit I will try.

I'll get there in the end

Thanks

duga · 20 July 2012, 14:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by merlin1968

Yep, got df0 to work reliable now - been able to create 3.9 emergency disk.

Will investigae df1 at a later date.

Thanks.

Good to hear that.

bdb · 20 July 2012, 16:46

I had the same cable as you with 1 floppy connector; I took a standard PC floppy cable with 2 connectors and made an identical "twist" in it by carefully undoing the connector from the ribbon and it worked fine with 2 drives. I later realized that 1 floppy is enough and put in a CD-R/W ( then a DVD-R/W ) and then a SCSI Cf card reader from "Mech"

17 July 2012, 00:20	#1
merlin1968 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Derby, UK Age: 55 Posts: 55	A4000D On-Board IDE Controller Hi All, I have a rev B board and I'm attempting to connect a hard drive and DVD Rom to the internal controller. Hard drive is master and DVD is Slave When they're connected on the same cable I cant see the DVD Rom in HDSETUP - should I be able to? If I use an Amigakit ide adapter which should give me two IDE ports. The HD is on port0 and if the DVD is on port1 the amiga won't boot. Remove the DVD and its fine. Questions: Should the internal IDE support two devices and should the DVD show up in HD Setup? I also have an mediator daughterboard in the 4000D and if I try to use my Buddha i/f, the amiga keeps re-booting itself. Should the Buddha be compatible with the Mediator? The HD is an 80Gb IBM but I've only used the first 3gb for WB. The DVD is SONY. I have no reason to think either the Bubbha, Mediator Drive or DVD is faulty. The m/b has only recently been returned from Anthony Hoffman who did a great job fixing the Clock/Battery. It was given a full 'MOT', clean and a full bill of health. Hope somebody can suggest something. Thanks in advance.

17 July 2012, 00:35	#4
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	That's right, plus dvd drives are especially troublesome. Oh if you're using the dvd on its own on the second channel of a 4 way ide adapter it must be set to master or in some cases the Amiga won't boot. :-) Last edited by prowler; 17 July 2012 at 22:29. Reason: Back-to-back posts merged.

17 July 2012, 04:58	#6
bdb Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: USA Posts: 239	IDEFix Have you tried IDEFix? It will get a lot of CD/DVD Drives working that normally don't; you download the FreeBee version off Aminet or get the registered from the "Amiga Forever" CD

19 July 2012, 06:32	#12
bdb Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: USA Posts: 239	Floppy Drives I believe you said both were new and from AmigaKit? These should work fine as original drives. The new cable may not. Do you have the original cable with the small twist before Df0? Can you borrow a cable and drive to test the interface? The floppy drive DF0: is set to be the only boot floppy (without a hardware modification). You can't boot from an external. The "even" CIA chip control the floppy drive; could it be at fault? I have two Escom A4000T's and each one had a different floppy drive (one Chinon the other Sony) with different cables. Don't know about the A4000D's. Steve will sort the HDD issue with CF card.

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17 July 2012, 00:24	#2
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	My advice is to try another CD/DVD some can give nothing but a headache in the Amiga on normal IDE. The only time I found all DVD's tested to work is with the FastATA, but this is an expensive option.

17 July 2012, 01:41	#5
merlin1968 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Derby, UK Age: 55 Posts: 55	OK. Thanks. I'll give it a go with a CD Rom. Should I be able to connect both to the single internal IDE connector?

17 July 2012, 10:43	#8
merlin1968 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Derby, UK Age: 55 Posts: 55	Thanks guys. I'll give IDEfix a go.

18 July 2012, 10:17	#9
bdb Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: USA Posts: 239	To clarify: the ATAPI interface for removable devices is a Superset of the ATA interface; it is able to send commands to the device that are essentially SCSI commands that plain hard drives don't need; the ATAPI devices include tape drives, CD/DVD multidisk devices, etc. The ATA sends a read from sector or write to sector, but has no command for rewinding tape or eject CD disk. An ATAPI-able controller can easily handle hard drives but has those extra instructions. These commands can be added to a plain ATA controller via software (IDEFix)

19 July 2012, 01:08	#10
merlin1968 Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Derby, UK Age: 55 Posts: 55	OK. I have the CD working on A4000 - I think it was an issue with the CF so I re-formatted it and shrank the partition for DH0 < 1.5gb. 'Avail' now gives a sensible number for dh0:, dh1: is another matter entirely. This board (Rev B) has been serviced recently and RTC fixed - was given a full bill of health. There was also a problem with the Buddha - When its inserted into the mediator all the way it seems like there's a bad connection. Pull it out slightly and it burst into life... Strange... Now, when I attempt to install 3.9 and create the boot floppy it can't format the disk . Tried multiple blank new disks but no joy, and they can all be formatted on my other 4000 (Rev D). It seems that the internal floppy drives keep dissapearing from workbench and then re-appearing. This happens with both internal floppies, which are brand new and new ribbon cable courtesy of Amiga Kit. I did notice J351 was open so I closed it but it still does the same. If I just install 3.9 and dont create the Emergency-Floppy it installs, but then the amiga wont boot afterwards - I just get software failures continually. I'm at the stage now where I'm thinking 'is it worth the hassle'. I did notice that if I used an external floppy before I put in the two new floppy drives, it wouldn't work at all, not even a click. Its as if its not getting any power. And again, the external drive works fine on my other 4000 (Rev D). I have yet another 4000 (Rev B) which is away for RTC repair and general spruce up at the moment, and that too wouldn't access an external floppy drive. Same issue. Any suggestions before I drown in my own tears.

19 July 2012, 01:19	#11
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	Hi! Send me your CF and I will put a fully working CWB 3.9 on it for you PM me Steve.

19 July 2012, 11:25	#13
duga Registered User Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Sweden Posts: 528	Disconnect DF1: internally and the same with any external diskdrive. Try to get just DF0: to work to begin with.

20 July 2012, 16:46	#17
bdb Registered User Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: USA Posts: 239	I had the same cable as you with 1 floppy connector; I took a standard PC floppy cable with 2 connectors and made an identical "twist" in it by carefully undoing the connector from the ribbon and it worked fine with 2 drives. I later realized that 1 floppy is enough and put in a CD-R/W ( then a DVD-R/W ) and then a SCSI Cf card reader from "Mech"

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