Help: Setting up new A4000D system

[Calgor]

I installed the drive as 127.9Gb from HDToolBox, and I created 2 partitions.

The main boot partition is 7000 cylinders (1.7Gb) on the start of the drive, and the second partition is 7000 cylinders straight after that. First partition FFS international filesystem bootable priority 2, 2nd partition bootable priority 1.

Rest of hard disk is unused.

I have in the case: A4000D rev 9 buster, 2mb chip, 16mb fast, csppc 64mb 60ns, cvppc (without the ppc connector for a4000t!?), 160gb IDE hard drive (set to hdtoolbox read config max of 127.9Gb), 1.76Mb df0: internal floppy, IDE DVDRW.

[BarrySWE]

Boingbag 2 ROMUPDATE did'nt work greta on my Blizzard 1240 card.. everything was slow as standard amiga speed.

[DoctorQ]

@Calgor

Well, 1.7 GB for a boot partition is way to much if you ask me. The standard OS3.9 installation only occupies 25 MB. I only use 250 MB for my boot partition, but peoples preferences are different of course.

As for BoingBag 2, try to disable some of the updates in the ROM update. You can find out what the updates are called, by using RomUpdatesplit found in the BlizKick archive. I would try to disable scsi.device and/or exec.library update at first, but you might have to try out other combinations as well.

[thomas]

I would try to disable scsi.device

That would be a fatal mistake. Scsi.device is needed to access the big HDD, if you disable it, you won't see more than 4GB.

[Calgor]

thanks, but I had already tried the setpatch skipromupdates "exec.library,scsi.device" and "exec.library" and "scsi.device". All to no avail.

I am thinking I may need to check the flash version of both the csppc and cvppc. Anyone know how to do this?

Also are there particular versions of the DEVS: and LIBS: files (PowerPC.library, 68040.library, 68060.libary, cgxssystem.library, *.device) that I should be using because Amiga OS3.9BB2 may be buggy/incompatible? I am sure you guys must have copied over your drivers from the emergency disk and so maybe had no problems.

If anyone can give me version numbers of their LIBS and DEVS stuff related to CSPPC and CVPPC that might help - I can try those versions of the files in my system.

[thomas]

I got all PPC system software from http://powerup.amigaworld.de/

[Slayer]

ya all mad as maggots

as I touched on earlier... I have in both my A4000D/T a 60gig and a 120gig hd... both have zip drives, one to a 2091 and a guru gvp, the A4000T has a 16x DVD/RW and a 4gig UW Scsi connected to the Cyberstorm. This desktop has also an AriadneII connected to the net! woo woo both also have 128 Megs ram.

both run 3.9 bb2

the hdtools software automatically divides each drive into 8 gig partitions and remainer... I simply went through and removed and resized the ones I wanted too...

and yes, one of them has a 604e 233mhz...

never had any problems whatsoever on either machine...

and just to note... both my boot partitions on all my drives are at the end of the harddrives... not within the first 4gig... heh

both use the internal ide interface...

never in my entire life of owning Amigas have I ever created an emergency disk of any sort...

[thomas]

and just to note... both my boot partitions on all my drives are at the end of the harddrives... not within the first 4gig... heh

Well, the IDE driver of Kickstart 3.1 simply cannot access anything outside the first 4gig. That's a fact. If you say something else, you are wrong.

So it is clear that you either have something else in your machines, which adds a new IDE driver, for example a flash ROM card (eFlash, Romulus, Algor, Kickflash). Or you didn't upgrade the V40 FastFileSystem to V45 and thus are running a very dangerous setup which looks like using the entire disk but rather uses only the first 4gig for all partitions.

Please get Check4GB from Aminet and post its log here, so we can participate in your great setup.

[Slayer]

not too sure why ya on the defense there Thomas

I've always been a fan of your expertise!

I do not use anything out of the ordinary... I did say in both machines I simply use the ide interface...

my setups are strictly legal, just different...



people in general need to spend a bit of time learning about there machines... I suggest a few years in the shell without workbench...

[Slayer]

for curiosity sake I went and got the archives...

Name Volume Device Unit Size >4GB DosType Version
DH9 9 scsi.device 1 27.94 GB yes DOS\03 45.13 ok
DH8 8 scsi.device 1 27.94 GB yes DOS\03 45.13 ok
DH7 7 scsi.device 1 27.94 GB yes DOS\03 45.13 ok
DH6 6 scsi.device 1 27.94 GB yes DOS\03 45.13 ok
DH0 WORK scsi.device 0 1.26 GB yes DOS\03 45.13 ok
DF0 trackdisk.device 0 880 kB no DOS\00 45.13 ok
DF1 trackdisk.device 1 880 kB no DOS\00 45.13 ok
DH2 2 scsi.device 0 48.00 GB yes DOS\03 45.13 ok
DH1 1 scsi.device 0 8.00 GB yes DOS\03 45.13 ok

[Calgor]

Thanks for all the help, both slayer and thomas

I will be updating all the drivers to the latest versions as found on the website by thomas, since that has worked for him.

Unfortunately I do not have the Cybergrafx V4 CD so I will have to order that, as the person I got the A4000 off is not responding (only have old V4 on emergency disk, not latest).

Also, one other thing I just realised could be causing the problem - the BIOS settings in the Cyberstorm PPC!!!!! It patches things and theoretically could cause big problems.

****Could someone please send me their BIOS version number and what settings they have?**** The settings that can be set can be found in the latest BIOS archive here under the Flash section for CS PPC: http://powerup.amigaworld.de/index.php?lang=en&page=13

I would post mine, but I am interstate until weekend, so I would like to have all files versions ready apart from Cybergrafx (not needed cos I will prob take out the CVPPC card to try without it), and also BIOS settings ready to try on the weekend!

PS I spent a decade in the shell without workbench which I rarely used, just only from KS1.1-2.04 without a hard disk!

[Slayer]

>PS I spent a decade in the shell without workbench which I
>rarely used, just only from KS1.1-2.04 without a hard disk!

well that is great to know... good luck with your endevours

[thomas]

@Slayer:

I don't think, I am in a defense. Maybe it was a misunderstanding. But as I understand your post, you are telling that the 4GB-problem is non-existant and that all people having problems with HDDs bigger than 4GB are just fools. And I wonder where you could get this opinion from. You must have done something right by accident and don't know or see it. So I try to investigate what it could be.

Would you be so kind and repeat the Check4GB test. But this time please

- use the latest version of Check4GB from www.aminet.net (the one with a GUI).

- run the test twice: switch off the Amiga and when you switch it on again, immediately hold down both mouse buttons. In the early-startup menu write down all drives which are mentioned in the "select boot device" list, then choose "boot without startup-sequence". In the DOS window, enter Cd and write down the drive you are on. Then run Check4GB and save its log. After that reset the Amiga and boot as normal, then run Check4GB again and save the log again. Post all collected information here.

[Calgor]

Ok it looks like I have found the problem, but now I need another solution!

I used Setpatch QUIET SKIPROMUPDATES "scsi.device"

Now my system boots up and everything works (when i tried this command b4 ages ago first install of OS39BB2, must have been my CDROM driver or cybergrafx drivers that stopped it from working properly).

I think your setups are all working simply because you don't have a >4Gb drive on your IDE ports - you have them connected to the CSPPC instead. My scsi.device has regressed to 40.12 (K/S 3.1) from 43.35 (boingbag1?). I see slayer has 45.13 (boingbag2?).

What can I do now to get >4gb hard drive support? Note that my CDROM is not accessible due to skipping scsi.device.

Thanks.

[DoctorQ]

Try downloading BlizKick and play around with it. It has a tool to split up the ROM updates, so you can install each individual update with BlizKick.

I would install the ROM updates without scsi.device from BB2, and install the scsi.device from BB1. See the docs on how to do it (called something like "How to create a single reset OS3.5/OS3.9 setup")

[Calgor]

Thanks DoctorQ that was exactly what I was thinking of doing as I just downloaded BlizKick the other day - the "best" of BB2, with scsi.device from BB1 ROM Updates. Hate that extra reboot, just hope it doesn't cause any further incompatibilities with so many patches. Glad that someone has verified that this is possible.

btw, the real reason i found that it no longer boots up using BB2 scsi.device is that I have now installed the drive as 127.9Gb (HDToolBox with BB2) instead of 7.0Gb (HDToolBox with BB1). [Note that OS3.9 HDToolBox with no BB detects the drive as 7.8Gb]

Strange behaviour......... note that the crash at boot is a Guru 8000 0004 indicating unsupported instruction - maybe the further RISCed 68060 in CSPPC not having the right instruction? Or is it because 127.9Gb is too big and causes some overflow? Questions I am afraid may not be worth investigating further......

So the scsi.device could also have been causing the random crashes I had when the hard drive was installed as 7.0Gb, and booted successfully, but had crashes when accessing the hard drive sometimes thereafter.

[thomas]

I think your setups are all working simply because you don't have a >4Gb drive on your IDE ports

You can be sure that I have two A4000 with big drives on the internal IDE port and BB2 on them. I didn't lie on my previous post.

Note that OS3.9 HDToolBox with no BB detects the drive as 7.8Gb

That's a bug in reading the drive geometry. But if you enter the correct geometry manually, you can partition the entire drive without BB, too.

maybe the further RISCed 68060 in CSPPC not having the right instruction?

The 68060 on the CSPPC is the same as on any other accelerator. The one on my first CSPPC was taken from the CSMKII I had before.

Or is it because 127.9Gb is too big and causes some overflow?

I rather think that 160 GB is too big and causes overflow. No matter what you enter in HDToolbox, the drive is still identified on every reboot with its real size.

Crashes might also be caused by too few buffers. IIRC HDToolbox sets a default of 80 buffers for new partitions. This might be enough for 1GB partitions but for 100GB partitions this is a bit small. Try 300 or 500 buffers.

[Calgor]

Ok with the hard drive issues I decided I will live with os3.9+bb2 with only the os3.9 rom updates (bb1 didn't have any) - after all that's what amikit does and it doesn't work on some hardware. Thanks for all your help with that thomas, I will put that behind me and move on Maybe it was only the changes from scsi.device 43.35 (os3.9) to 43.43 (bb2) that caused the problem. Have used 128Gb so that is fine for me. If i want more than 128GB with IDE hard drive I will have to get the FastATA or scsi to ATA adapter.

As DoctorQ suggested on partition sizes, I have now changed my boot partition to 512Mb and I now have 7 boot partitions under 4Gb, for all this testing and backups, so convenient.

But with my super A4000D system, I have now installed the Picasso IV and Paloma IV. When I turn on the machine, it continually reboots - it doesn't even get to boot to the floppy or show any errors on either picasso IV or cybervision ppc screens. Only way to even pause it is to hold down the 3 key reset permanently. Both mouse buttons or esc key (for cybppc) don't stop it.

Only thing that stops it is either removing the Picasso IV or the cybervision ppc.

Interesting:
- If i let it the computer run for a while without cybervision ppc but with picasso iv, then turn it off, then put in cybervision ppc, then turn it on, it works with both graphics cards.

I am wondering if this is a power supply issue having both graphics cards in at same time. Have got the standard 145W A4000D power supply. Also, something seems to have reset the battery clock time to year 2053??

In the case:
- 145w power supply (+5V 18A, +12V 4A, -12V 0.4A)
- picasso iv + paloma iv
- cbm a2065 compatible network card
- toccata soundcard
- cyberstorm ppc
- cybervision ppc
- liteon dvdrw (5v 1.5A, 12v 1.5A)
- wd 160gb ide hard drive (5v 0.65A, 12v 0.90A)

If the cyberstorm and cybervision both use the 12v line, looks like the power supply might be struggling on startup of the computer? Anyone got a proper power supply for an amiga 4000 or know where I can get one that fits into the standard desktop case?

btw, picasso iv flicker fixer is awesome!

[Calgor]

UPDATE for those who are interested...

Well if it isn't one problem it's another!!!!! Finally figured out what the problem was why the Picasso IV would not work together with the Cybervision PPC, but they worked separately. It was the motherboard!!!! My other bad audio A4000 (buster 11) ran both graphics cards together flawlessly. My good audio A4000 (buster 9) can only rarely run both together, and the Picasso IV always has a guru meditation error on cold boot. It was a nightmare... tried different power supplies, everything different, you name it, and the only difference in end was motherboard.

I got the hint from reading somewhere on amiga.org that the cybervision 64/3d may have problems with buster 9. You know I can't believe commodore actually shipped it knowing it was crap without putting it in a socket!! Stupid!

So now to decide which graphics card to actually use in the system (cannot live without audio - the picasso iv audio out also picks up the bad audio).

I will go for the picasso iv because:
- it handles all OCS screenmodes and is a great flicker fixer
- i can have the tv card and video in too
- less heat generation inside desktop case
- although slower it is fast enough (with window dragging i can visibly see it is slower)
- can drag screens in the flicker fixed OCS modes
- if i want to play 3d games i will use my PC, or software emulation mode
- 800x600x24 bit is my preferred workbench resolution

If anyone has any compelling reasons why i should use cybervision ppc instead, let me know. Meanwhile, to send off the bad audio A4000 to get fixed....

[Slayer]

I can't think of one...

might as well sell it on to me...

what do you want for your cybervision ppc?

mail me if interested... and glad to see you got to the bottom of most annoyances!