Hard disk problem with A1200

[Hideki]

Hihi

Discovered 2GB isn't enough given the quantity of stuff out there and got a 40GB disk for the A1200

However, it's not having it, it only detects some of the time, when it does detect it detects as 8GB (16383/16/63)

It tends to like to sit there with the drive permanently on, it was working fine in the windows laptop it came out of

It did at one point work long enough for me to partition and format it (as 8GB) but it just isn't detecting reliably

It's a Toshiba disk, MK4026GAX or HDD2193 F ZE01 S (it's not clear which of those is the model)

Using the tools that came with Workbench 3.1 incidentally since that's all I have to hand, I do have os3.9 lurking around in an archive somewhere if you think I might have more luck with the utilities that came with that...

Any thoughts on how to work around this would be helpful -.o;


Thanks

[cooldude]

Hi Hideki!

Try running the program MOUNTER if it fails to detect the HD.

Should be in the Tools Directory.

You need OS3.9 to use HDs >8gb. I'm using two 80gb Western Digital

HDs (One Laptop drive through USB)

When SETPATCH runs in startup sequence it does a reset and

then HDToolbox recognises whole HD.

Apparently IDEfix also works but I've never used it.

Cheers

[Hideki]

Hihi

Well, that'd solve one problem, but it won't even detect as 8GB some of the time, seems to randomly come on or not when I turn it on so there'd be no way for me to run setpatch or mounter -.-

I'd be happy enough to have it working as 8GB, it'd still be four times what I have but I can't get that even -.-

Curiously once working, it stays working, but as soon as I three key it it tends to disappear, requiring another power cycle to (maybe) get it back

It also sits for quite some time (30 seconds or more) with the HDD light on trying to detect it...

Incidentally, is changing the number of heads manually a good idea? I changed mine from 16 to 64 and I'm now attempting to (full) format the first 3 4GB partitions to see if anything disappears on me, if that works I'll have a go at installing workbench but I get the feeling it can't be that easy...

[edit]Okay, it wasn't that easy, lol, first partition vanished after I formatted second one[/edit]

Incidentally, if it's powered up from cold it starts every time, if it's three keyed it never starts, hdtoolbox seems to send the same command that hangs it when scanning the bus too...

Is this hard disk just a dead loss?

[thomas]

if it's powered up from cold it starts every time, if it's three keyed it never starts

That's a known problem. Cut the reset line from the IDE cable, then this won't happen again.

first partition vanished after I formatted second one

Of course. You cannot use more than the first 4GB of the drive without some software patches.

Needed patches are included in OS3.5 and 3.9, but they are also available for 2.0 - 3.1:

http://os.amigaworld.de/index.php?lang=en&page=37
http://aminet.net/package/util/sys/patchstrip
http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/FFS43.19_patch
http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/LoadModule

[Hideki]

Originally Posted by thomas

That's a known problem. Cut the reset line from the IDE cable, then this won't happen again.

Unforunately this has already been cut on my cable yet it's still not working

Incidentally, a 100MB, 170MB and 2GB disk all work fine without this hanging, it's just this 40GB Toshiba I got yesterday that is having problems :/

Originally Posted by thomas

Of course. You cannot use more than the first 4GB of the drive without some software patches.

Needed patches are included in OS3.5 and 3.9, but they are also available for 2.0 - 3.1:

http://os.amigaworld.de/index.php?lang=en&page=37
http://aminet.net/package/util/sys/patchstrip
http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/FFS43.19_patch
http://aminet.net/package/util/boot/LoadModule

ahh o.o, well those will certainly be worth a look should I get it detecting reliably, thanks ;p

[Bamiga2002]

Useful (?) links:

http://www.youngmonkey.ca/nose/artic...aInMotion.html
http://www.siliconsonic.de/t/bin/howto/etd64.htm

[Hideki]

Hihi

Thanks, those do make using the extra capacity quite a bit clearer (although my hdtoolbox stubbornly refuses to detect larger than 16383/16/63)

However, the main problem I'm having is with the IDE detection at power up and after a soft boot (Ctrl-Amiga-Amiga) - when I power up initially, it sits for around 30 seconds doing nothing then (eventually) boots normally

If I three key it it sits for about 30 seconds doing nothing then tries to boot from floppy having detected no hard disk and only a power cycle will fix it...

Pin 1 is cut on the cable, this has no effect that I can see, also tried a cable without pin 1 cut and tried the cable the other way just in case with teh cut cable (apparently the last pin is reserved anyway so I'd assume that's safe)

None of this affects the delay on power up :-(

Thoughts on this particular problem would be good -.-, once it's detecting reliably I can play with ffs updates, sfs and all that good stuff

(edit) Ah, when I run hdtoolbox the drive light flashes for a fraction of a second then comes on for 30 seconds or so with the message Checking scsi.device address 0 unit 0...(/edit)