A600HD problems / solution ?

[hgrob]

I just got one A600HD and a regular A600.
Both are in very good condition, especially the A600HD
which looks almost new!

I have been enjoying testing both of them for a week now,
(to the annoyance of my girlfriend). But I ran into some problems
with the A600HD, as I can´t seem to access the build in HD.

This is the current set up of the machine;

Amiga 600HD
2.00 kickstart (rev 37.300)
30 mb HD

If I re-boot, sometimes I can hear the HD intalizing,
and the HD led on the keybord lights up. But when
I run the Install software the HD sounds and the Led light
will stop at some point... very annoying !

I have the following software for HD prep :

A600HD Install Disk 2.05
WB V 2.05
and Extras 2.05

I get various error messages, all from "no device" to "drivers not installed"
- From both the HDtools and the Install prep tools on the disks.
So, I opened it to have a look at the drive it self, It seems to be hooked
up correctly and everything inside the A600HD looks very good.

So, here is my questions, maybe its because I am using the Kick ROM V2.00 -
As I thought that all A600HD came with V2.05 Kick to access HD and other
expantions ? this is a bit confusing to me...

But Ok, I can accept that this 20+ years HD is acting up, so I am thinking of
replacing it. So my next question would be if I can successfully use the
4GB CF IDE HARD DISK in my Amiga ? and also if its
compatible with other modern stuff, like the EasyADF PCMCIA Compact Flash Transfer Kit ? - or something else ?

So, do I need to get a hold of a 2.05 kick rom (which looks impossible) to get A HD solution and other (modern) expansions going for this lovely little machine ?

Thanks for your time.

[fitzsteve]

Hi!

Firstly congrats on your purchases

Sadly these old 20-40mb HDD's are starting to fail, I have a few here and they're all on there last legs so to speak.

Best thing as you've already thought is to replace it with a CF card & CF-IDE adapter. These use less power and run cooler/quieter. Plus its much easier to set them up, use a CF card reader and WinUAE on your PeeCee to create the perfect workbench then drop it into the Amiga!

Your current Rom should be fine but some people have reported issues with larger CF cards on this Rom revision, a 37,350 or even 3.1 rom would be better.

If I were you I'd try with your current Rom and if you run into issues upgrade.

Steve.

[hgrob]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Hi!

Firstly congrats on your purchases

Sadly these old 20-40mb HDD's are starting to fail, I have a few here and they're all on there last legs so to speak.

Best thing as you've already thought is to replace it with a CF card & CF-IDE adapter. These use less power and run cooler/quieter. Plus its much easier to set them up, use a CF card reader and WinUAE on your PeeCee to create the perfect workbench then drop it into the Amiga!

Your current Rom should be fine but some people have reported issues with larger CF cards on this Rom revision, a 37,350 or even 3.1 rom would be better.

If I were you I'd try with your current Rom and if you run into issues upgrade.

Steve.

Thanks... I am very happy with my purchase, got It very cheap
and got thrown in a C64 for free too

Yes, I think CF card & CF-IDE adapter is the way to go.
It just seems that there are a lot of mixed information on whether
the 37.300 could do the job or not. I would really like to hear from
someone with the same KS Rom on A600HD and a CF card HD set up.
If I remember correctly, version 37.300 only supports up to 40 MB
- So if I would format it and partion it to 40 MB - would that not do the trick?

Thanks

[fitzsteve]

I'm pretty sure I've used 2gb or 4gb CF's on this Rom in the past without issues.

My A600 has 3.1 Rom now though.

Steve.

[hgrob]

Ok, without issues
How did you partion these CF´s then?
I don´t think I can get cards smaller than 4gb.

I thought that 3.xx was for A1200,
These should be easier to get than the 2.05 or so it seems.

Do you know if also my current KS is compatible with PCMCIA expansions (for transfers) ?
Never uses this side port for anything before...

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by hgrob

Ok, without issues
How did you partion these CF´s then?
I don´t think I can get cards smaller than 4gb.

I thought that 3.xx was for A1200,
These should be easier to get than the 2.05 or so it seems.

Do you know if also my current KS is compatible with PCMCIA expansions (for transfers) ?
Never uses this side port for anything before...

There is also 3.1 Rom available for A500/A600/A2000 so you can use Workbench 3.1 or even OS3.9 if you have a turbo board.

Yes 37,300 Rom working fine with PCMCIA transfers too, I set mine up under WinUAE with normal FFS (Fast File System) using WB 3.1 Install ADF.

I set three partitions:

DH0 (Sys) 250mb
DH1 (Work) 1.5gb
DH2 (Games) 1.8gb

I'd suggest keeping partitions under 2gb and a small boot partition like 250mb is perfect.

Steve.

[hgrob]

Ok, thanks... I will give it a try with this current KS version.
I only need to install WB and transfer some files like a few classic games
and programs etc. So hoping that it is enough.

Really, did you get up to 1.8GB under KS 2.00 running fine??
I would think that the WB partion (sys) would need to be max
40MB, but you were able to boot from 250MB.
See, its here I am a bit confused, some say you can´t and
some say you can. But only one way to find out...

Thanks for the pointers mate...

Oh BTW.
If I need to upgrade KS, can you recommend an online retailer ?

[AndyLandy]

It's rumoured that 37.300 doesn't support disks larger than about 40MB. In my personal experience, this is nonsense, I ran an 810MB disk on an A600 with 37.300 without any problems.

If you really do want a newer ROM, both Amigakit and Vesalia will sell you new Kickstart 3.1 ROMs for your A600.

You are correct that originally, Kickstart 3 was released to go with the AGA machines, A1200 and A4000, but subsequently, Kickstart 3.1 was released for all models of Amiga.

[hgrob]

Originally Posted by AndyLandy

It's rumoured that 37.300 doesn't support disks larger than about 40MB. In my personal experience, this is nonsense, I ran an 810MB disk on an A600 with 37.300 without any problems.

If you really do want a newer ROM, both Amigakit and Vesalia will sell you new Kickstart 3.1 ROMs for your A600.

You are correct that originally, Kickstart 3 was released to go with the AGA machines, A1200 and A4000, but subsequently, Kickstart 3.1 was released for all models of Amiga.

So its is only a rumor - and there is no truth to that?
As far as I can read 37.300 have some limits to hardware support,
but what are these limits then - if anyone knows?

I would prefer to keep my "original" KS chip in this machine,
its just that with theses CF card HD kits all the online shops
say its is only compatible with KS 2.05 and up... ?

[AndyLandy]

Kickstart 2.05 is what the A600 shipped with, the thing is, there are (at least) three different versions of 'Kickstart 2.05'

37.299 is the first release, allegedly it doesn't support IDE or PCMCIA. In fact, it sounds suspiciously like a rebranded version of 37.175 (Kickstart 2.04)

37.300 is the first 'full' release. It has these alleged problems with larger IDE disks, but I've never known anyone have those problems. I've only ever used 37.300 on my miggies and it's behaved just as expected.

37.350 is the final release of 2.05, allegedly fixing the alleged bugs in the earlier versions.

My advice: Try it! If you can't get it to work, you can always try and seek out a cheap 37.350 (They're not much money) or failing that, shell out for a 3.1 ROM from Amigakit or Vesalia. Newer OS, more features, fewer bugs.

[hgrob]

See, this is were I get kind of confused,
When I power up my A600HD its says Kickstart 2.00 (37.300)
So is it like the wrong KS I have in mine? if 2.05 is the one
that the machines was shipped with.... I am guessing that
It will not work with 2.00.

I will follow the advice given,
But also see if I can find a more updated KS chip.
Maybe a 3.1 as a final solution.

Originally Posted by AndyLandy

Kickstart 2.05 is what the A600 shipped with, the thing is, there are (at least) three different versions of 'Kickstart 2.05'

37.299 is the first release, allegedly it doesn't support IDE or PCMCIA. In fact, it sounds suspiciously like a rebranded version of 37.175 (Kickstart 2.04)

37.300 is the first 'full' release. It has these alleged problems with larger IDE disks, but I've never known anyone have those problems. I've only ever used 37.300 on my miggies and it's behaved just as expected.

37.350 is the final release of 2.05, allegedly fixing the alleged bugs in the earlier versions.

My advice: Try it! If you can't get it to work, you can always try and seek out a cheap 37.350 (They're not much money) or failing that, shell out for a 3.1 ROM from Amigakit or Vesalia. Newer OS, more features, fewer bugs.

[AndyLandy]

If it says 37.300. it's definitely a Kickstart 2.05. Sometimes that'll be shortened to 2.0. I've never seen it describe itself as 2.00, but who knows, Commodore weren't exactly renowned for their consistency. As I said above, try it and see, you might well find it Just Works™

Good luck!

[hgrob]

Originally Posted by AndyLandy

If it says 37.300. it's definitely a Kickstart 2.05. Sometimes that'll be shortened to 2.0. I've never seen it describe itself as 2.00, but who knows, Commodore weren't exactly renowned for their consistency. As I said above, try it and see, you might well find it Just Works™

Good luck!

Then its definitively version 2.05 ! and you are right, it says 2.0 for short, and not 2.00 like I incorrectly stated.

So, that is sorted out now - and I am a whole lot less confused concerning
these kickstarts roms !!
I will give it a try, I have a feeling it may just work out

Thanks!

[DC33]

Hello all fellow EAB members.

I have recently moved house and in the process found a bunch of A500/A600 & A1200's which I knew I had, but always thought I only had 2 or 3..... As it turns out I have about 6 A600's of which one has kickrom 37.350 - being the badged A600 HD model. The other ones are either 37.299 or 37.300.

Wanting to make them all HD compatible (HD / CF card or equivalent) I came across this post and some others on EAB which mention that Rom 37.300 handles up to 40Meg Drives, so I pulled the 40Meg out of the HD one and intalled it on both 37.300 machines without any luck. The HD is not recognised and the screen goes to the Rom 37.300 screen in both cold or hot boots.

I also exchanged the Roms between machines - using the same HD - and only the 37.350 seems to work on all 3 600's.

Any ideas lads?

Cheers.

[Jope]

Unfortunately no-one really has come forth with info on what changed in the scsi.device between 37.300 and 37.350, so we just have to go with empirical evidence, that not all drives work properly with 37.300.

The 40MB drive not working does not necessarily mean every other drive will also fail. :-)

[DC33]

Originally Posted by Jope

Unfortunately no-one really has come forth with info on what changed in the scsi.device between 37.300 and 37.350, so we just have to go with empirical evidence, that not all drives work properly with 37.300.

The 40MB drive not working does not necessarily mean every other drive will also fail. :-)

Yeah I hear you. However all MB's are of the same revision also...


Cheers

[Jope]

The motherboard revision doesn't have as much to do with hard drive compabitility as the scsi.device version does.

[DC33]

Originally Posted by Jope

The motherboard revision doesn't have as much to do with hard drive compabitility as the scsi.device version does.

I was under the understanding that the scsi.device version was software dependant rather than hardware... no?


Thanks for explaining.

[Jope]

Yes, scsi.device is software that comes rom the ROM on cold boot. The Amiga is a bit special since it is executing the OS from ROM at boot, so it's sort of firmware, but not quite like in modern times where the firmware is usually copied out into RAM first.

[DC33]

Originally Posted by Jope

Yes, scsi.device is software that comes rom the ROM on cold boot. The Amiga is a bit special since it is executing the OS from ROM at boot, so it's sort of firmware, but not quite like in modern times where the firmware is usually copied out into RAM first.

Thanks Jope, however and as much as I try to understand your reply, I am still at a loss.


All good as I think I will get some 37.350 roms in any case.


If anyone has one to spare, please PM me as I would love to get my hands on some.


Cheers Jope and all.