Do I need to re-install GuruROM software?

[Jope]

There is an external 25 pin SCSI connector in the rear of the A3000.

Do you have a mount file for ZIP0 in your devs:dosdrivers or sys:storage/dosdrivers? Is it set up to match the correct SCSI driver (scsi.device for motherboard SCSI) and SCSI ID (unit number) of your zip drive? Does your mount file point to a filesystem handler that actually exists on your hard disk?

[garyg]

I'll check again but I don't think i saw a SCSI connector on the back of my A3000. I've used the Zip/J?z Tools for my Zip and Jaz disks.

As for the drivers I'll check where they are on my A4000.

Thanks for bringing this up.

[thomas]

Originally Posted by garyg

Diskmaster doesn't show a ZIP0: icon

Is there a mount file called ZIP0 in Sys:Devs/DosDrivers? If not, you have to make one.

If it is there, does it point to the correct device name and unit number?

The principle is the same as for CD0 above.

[Jope]

Originally Posted by garyg

I'll check again but I don't think i saw a SCSI connector on the back of my A3000.

https://i0.wp.com/oldcrap.org/wp-con.../dsc_4497.jpeg

Be careful, as the parallel port is just next to it and has an identical connector.

[garyg]

Originally Posted by garyg

I seem to have a useless SCSI card: the A3000 towered Mediator doesn't recognize a Zip drive attached to it. I bought the A4008 thinking this Amiga was an A4000 (it was given to me by someone in our user group).

There's a gvpscsi.device in the Expansion drawer, so I apparently installed the software at some point (is omniscsi.device only for GuruROM?). Anyway, how do I get it to work? Or do I need to buy a different SCSI controller? If so, what kind?

My towered A3000/Mediator. The SCSI port is just below the gray cord

[Jope]

Ok, this confirms that it is not an A3000. You have an A4000 desktop motherboard in a tower case, so the 4008 is indeed necessary.

So back to getting the 4008 working then. Is it set to autoboot? J4 on the GVP card closed.

[garyg]

Originally Posted by Jope

Ok, this confirms that it is not an A3000. You have an A4000 desktop motherboard in a tower case, so the 4008 is indeed necessary.

So back to getting the 4008 working then. Is it set to autoboot? J4 on the GVP card closed.

So it's not an A3000, as I've been told?

I was all set to open up the case last night when I realized that my screwdriver is in my car because I'll have to soon put license tags on my new car, then someone raised the question of whether I had a ZIP0: entry in Devs:
I'm hoping that's the only problem and that putting a ZIP0: file there where it might not currently exist will solve the problem, but putting a CD0: entry in Storage didn't get an external CD-ROM drive to be recognized, so I'm still concerned about the SCSI card

[Hedeon]

A3000 boards have a scan doubler switch and a vga connector for a quick recognition if built in a custom tower

[garyg]

Originally Posted by Jope

Ok, this confirms that it is not an A3000. You have an A4000 desktop motherboard in a tower case, so the 4008 is indeed necessary.

So back to getting the 4008 working then. Is it set to autoboot? J4 on the GVP card closed.

Utilities show that it has a 1Mb chip ram, so isn't it an A3000 after all?

[Jope]

The port layout at the back matches an A4000.

As for why you only have 1MB of chip, the chip SIMM socket could be a bit dirty, the SIMM could be faulty, or someone has installed a single sided SIMM in there which shows up as only 1MB.

Most A3000s out there were also configured to have 2MB of chip RAM, I'm yet to encounter one that was voluntarily only running 1MB.

I was all set to open up the case last night when I realized that my screwdriver is in my car because I'll have to soon put license tags on my new car, then someone raised the question of whether I had a ZIP0: entry in Devs:
I'm hoping that's the only problem and that putting a ZIP0: file there where it might not currently exist will solve the problem, but putting a CD0: entry in Storage didn't get an external CD-ROM drive to be recognized, so I'm still concerned about the SCSI card

First you talk about devs: then you talk about storage. I hope you mean devs:dosdrivers and storage/dosdrivers? There is a slight difference between the two. If you put your mount file in devs:dosdrivers, your startup-sequence (if no-one has meddled with it) will mount things from there automatically for you. If you put it in storage/dosdrivers, you must mount it manually from the shell or by double clicking the mount file's icon.

[garyg]

But the CD0: drive has to be in Storage for some reason, right?

[garyg]

Originally Posted by Jope

Ok, this confirms that it is not an A3000. You have an A4000 desktop motherboard in a tower case, so the 4008 is indeed necessary.

So back to getting the 4008 working then. Is it set to autoboot? J4 on the GVP card closed.

I'll have to check the jumper, but here's an image of the GuruROM.

[garyg]

Originally Posted by Jope

Ok, this confirms that it is not an A3000. You have an A4000 desktop motherboard in a tower case, so the 4008 is indeed necessary.

So back to getting the 4008 working then. Is it set to autoboot? J4 on the GVP card closed.

I did confirm that the J4 is closed (set to autoboot).

[Jope]

Originally Posted by garyg

But the CD0: drive has to be in Storage for some reason, right?

No.. You can put it in devs:dosdrivers to get it activated for you automatically during bootup.

If you don't want it to be automatically activated, keep it in sys:storage/dosdrivers.

Originally Posted by garyg

I did confirm that the J4 is closed (set to autoboot).

Ok, in this case you shouldn't have anything GVP related in sys:expansion. The driver will come from ROM.

When specifying device driver names in your mount files or in hdtoolbox, you should use omniscsi.device .. all lower case, this is one of the few case sensitive bits of AmigaOS.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by garyg

Utilities show that it has a 1Mb chip ram, so isn't it an A3000 after all?

A3000's can have 2MB of ChipRAM too. But yes this is an A4000.

The battery is right next to the RAM area and it is widely known that battery leaks can cause Chip/FastRAM problems. Best to take a look. Also A4000s were fitted with cheap sockets for SIMMs that can break and cause bad contacts as has already been noted.

So yes you have Guru ROM and as has been noted you should use omniscsi.device

You will still need an ASPI driver installed to make a Zip drive appear e.g. CDFS etc.

[Jope]

Originally Posted by alexh

You will still need an ASPI driver installed to make a Zip drive appear e.g. CDFS etc.

Ah, I think you're in a DOS/Windows mindset with ASPI?

But a filesystem driver that matches what is on the Zip disk is definitely needed. Usually Fat95 is an easy solution if the disks are PC formatted.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by Jope

Ah, I think you're in a DOS/Windows mindset with ASPI?

IIRC SCSI Zip drives behaved like CD-RW drives (in terms of their sector size and they had removable media) and required an additional driver above the SCSI block level driver? No?

For IDE interfaces such drivers were called ATAPI and for SCSI devices they were called ASPI.

I think these drivers are integrated into AmigaOS 3.1.4+

But I could be wrong. I only have parallel port ZIP drives left these days.

[Jope]

The IDE Zip drive is one of those ATAPI devices and requires some additional help under OS3.1 and older.

The SCSI models just look like any other SCSI removable device so you can just use it by specifying the correct unit.

[TjLaZer]

A Zip drive needs a DOS driver. Or you can use HDInstTools to find and mount it as a HD and call it ZIP: