4000T with Cyberstorm

[Viserion]

Just got myself a A4000T with the Cyberstorm and Mediator that I got locally.

I have a few questions regarding this wonderful machine.

It orginnally came with OS 3.5 using the internal SCSI connector of the A4000T.

Why previous owner didn't use the Cyberstorm SCSI connector I don't know.

To be certain I have a working system I have taken the SCSI HDDs out, and installed one of my own,together with a SCSI 68 pin cd-rom.

I used this guide to install OS 4.1

It's a 300GB 80 pin Compaq(don't remember actual brand) that I have a 80 pin to 68 pin connector to.

I have 2 of these, and have tried both. Same result.

The termination should be correct as it's terminated in one end before connected to the Cyberstorm. Then comes the cd-rom, and then the HDD. The last in the chain is another terminator.

I can ready the HDDs, install OS 4.1, reboot, and it works fine with the Voodoo 3 that followed the machine.

The problem occurs with shutting it down completely(AT power supply). When doing a cold boot I see the kick start screen.

I have tried given access to the first few bytes, that is an option during OS 4.1 install. It makes no difference.

I also tried a 68 pin 18.6GB Fujitsu drive, but I never got past OS 4.1 start up screen with that one.

This is rather annoying as I previously have tried to install it in a A1200 with a Blizzard without success.

I'm so close, but yet so far away for having a usable system with OS 4.1.


I have a RTL8029AS based card, that came with the machine, but it's only 10Mbit, as far as I can tell. Haven't had a chance to test it yet.

Is this the only PCI card working on classic Amiga 4.1?

Is the X-surf 100 compatible, and will the USB addon card work in OS 4.1.

I've seen it said it works with OS 3.9, but no mention of OS4.1.

If yes, it would be worth getting, as USB is very useful to have.

While going trough various forums, and posts, it says I should be able to enter a menu of the Cyberstorm, as I can with the Blizzard I have.

I can't, so I probably have an old firmware that never been upgraded, but I'm a bit nervous trying in case it won't work any more.

How much of a risk is there, and is it possible to use a programmer to save the card should the upgrade go wrong.

On the a1k.org there are several possibilities. There is the last official, and two "private" upgrades. Which one should I go for. The latest?

It's fully equip with ram(144mb), but still think more would be nice. I can't seem to order ZorRAM from Amigakit, even if it says 'In stock'. Tried both 128 and 256 MB version.

There is no problem adding other items to the cart.

So hope somebody can answer all my questions, so I can have this baby up an running

[bdb]

The Hyperion forums have a lot of installation help posts for OS4.1 U2; the developers answer question there too. The x-surf 100 works fine, but the Mediator does grab a hunk of auto address space. The PCI cards that work are listed in the online compatibility guide, but drivers were written for the supported cards by the OS4.1 team, not Elbox and includes sound, sata, Radeon/Voodoo, and such. No DMA other than the CSPPCs UWSCSI is supported, this kicks out the A4Ts SCSI.device, the spider.device and others.

A minor hardware issue can prevent OS4.1 from installing (like leaving the CSPPC maprom option on, or resident modules in a Deneb ROM).

Please leave a more detailed picture of what is installed and what option are set for better help.

[Ami_GFX]

The problem occurs with shutting it down completely(AT power supply). When doing a cold boot I see the kick start screen.

This is more than likely caused by having the autospin jumper enabled on the HD. When autospin is enabled, the disk starts up when power is turned on doesn't synchronize properly with the Amiga rom startup routine. When it is disabled, the disk waits for a signal from the controller before it starts spinning and syncs with the Amiga.

[bdb]

Hold Down the ESC key during a boot; you should after a while see the 4-block boot screen and set options there. Also check the jumper settings to see if you can set a boot delay on the hard drive until it comes up to speed. My favorite HDDs for the CSPPC are the Maxtor Atlas series; they a reliable, fast, and are rarely locked to a Unix server mode.

[Viserion]

The cards that I have installed is the Voodoo, RTL8029AS based network card and a SB 128 sound card.

The HDDs has apparently a SCA interface that can be seen around the middle of linked thread.

I use a 68 pin to SCA adapter where none of the pins are shorted.

The selections of pins that can be shorted is from top to bottom:

- LED
-SYN
-DLY
-MTR
-ID3
-ID2
-ID1
-ID0

I've tried to shortened ID0, but makes no difference.

So I should maybe shortened DLY and SYN, if they stand for delay and synchronise

My keyboard is a CDTV one, and when I tried again to press ESC no menu of the CSPPC appears, but it continues with the boot process.

When searching I think I saw a post mentioning that early versions didn't have the menu but needs an update. Can't find it again.


Good to hear that the X-100 is supported, but has anyone tried the RapidRoad USB addon yet?

I'll ask Schoenfeld if it is supported in the news thread a little later on.

I will try shortening DLY and SYN, and report back, if that worked or not.

[Viserion]

That made no difference at all. Still kick start screen when turning the thing off.

[Ami_GFX]

The SCA drives are definitely for server applications.

I am using a COMPAQ 334137-001 DDRS-34560 4GB 68 pin SCSI drive. I had the same problem when I installed it and that was resolved when I took out the Autospin jumper. I had to try several drives to find one that was compatible with the Cyberstorm SCSI. I choose this one because it also has a very modest power draw which is important to me in an A4000D. Power draw and heat generated by the drive are not such a big deal in the A4000T.

And I just looked up the -MTR jumper. I think it is the one you want to set. Here is the description:

"MTR- when set to off, allows the drive to spin up as soon as it recieves power. when set to on, the drive will spin up when it recieves a signal from your controller."

Sounds like the same function as Autospin on my drive. According to this description, you need to put a jumper on these pins to make the drive wait for the controller.

-SYN is not for enabling synchronous transfer as I originally assumed. I edited my original post to reflect this.

[DarrenHD]

Originally Posted by Viserion

Just got myself a A4000T with the Cyberstorm and Mediator that I got locally.

I have a few questions regarding this wonderful machine.

It orginnally came with OS 3.5 using the internal SCSI connector of the A4000T.

Why previous owner didn't use the Cyberstorm SCSI connector I don't know.

To be certain I have a working system I have taken the SCSI HDDs out, and installed one of my own,together with a SCSI 68 pin cd-rom.

I used this guide to install OS 4.1

It's a 300GB 80 pin Compaq(don't remember actual brand) that I have a 80 pin to 68 pin connector to.

I have 2 of these, and have tried both. Same result.

The termination should be correct as it's terminated in one end before connected to the Cyberstorm. Then comes the cd-rom, and then the HDD. The last in the chain is another terminator.

I can ready the HDDs, install OS 4.1, reboot, and it works fine with the Voodoo 3 that followed the machine.

The problem occurs with shutting it down completely(AT power supply). When doing a cold boot I see the kick start screen.

I have tried given access to the first few bytes, that is an option during OS 4.1 install. It makes no difference.

I also tried a 68 pin 18.6GB Fujitsu drive, but I never got past OS 4.1 start up screen with that one.

This is rather annoying as I previously have tried to install it in a A1200 with a Blizzard without success.

I'm so close, but yet so far away for having a usable system with OS 4.1.


I have a RTL8029AS based card, that came with the machine, but it's only 10Mbit, as far as I can tell. Haven't had a chance to test it yet.

Is this the only PCI card working on classic Amiga 4.1?

Is the X-surf 100 compatible, and will the USB addon card work in OS 4.1.

I've seen it said it works with OS 3.9, but no mention of OS4.1.

If yes, it would be worth getting, as USB is very useful to have.

While going trough various forums, and posts, it says I should be able to enter a menu of the Cyberstorm, as I can with the Blizzard I have.

I can't, so I probably have an old firmware that never been upgraded, but I'm a bit nervous trying in case it won't work any more.

How much of a risk is there, and is it possible to use a programmer to save the card should the upgrade go wrong.

On the a1k.org there are several possibilities. There is the last official, and two "private" upgrades. Which one should I go for. The latest?

It's fully equip with ram(144mb), but still think more would be nice. I can't seem to order ZorRAM from Amigakit, even if it says 'In stock'. Tried both 128 and 256 MB version.

There is no problem adding other items to the cart.

So hope somebody can answer all my questions, so I can have this baby up an running

Did you try increasing the delay settings in the CS PPC menu? Hold down ESC and go into SCSI and double click the controller, there are options there to adjust the scsi reset delay. Try increasing the values.

I would also suggest to install OS 3.9 to see if it works properly from a cold reboot. BTW, I wrote that blog entry You also have to absolutely make sure that SFS (or FFS, whatever you picked) is in the RDB otherwise it won't boot, and set with the correct DosType as per the blog entry.

On the Mediator OS 4.1 Classic (and FE) supports the RTL8029, Ess Solo-1 sound card, various SATA cards (must be a 5V card), Voodoo 3/4, and the Radeon 9250 up to 256MB of VRAM (again 5V compatible Radeon - the Sapphire PCI Radeon's work, or the Radeon from Elbox).

Darren

[Viserion]

Ami_GFX: Don't think that one is the correct one to set.

The result was that under Media toolbox the status of the HDD was set to 'unknown' and it was not possible to do anything with it. Remove the MTR jumper, an it status changes to 'ready'.

DarrenHD: Then I will take the opportunity to thank you for that guide. Was very useful

As I wrote earlier I'm unable to get into any CSPPC menu.

I have a Blizzard PPC as well, and there I have no problem getting into the Blizzard menu.

I even tried hitting ESC several times, as I read that not all keyboards will register a key that is continuously pressed.

No go with that method as well. That is why I asked about the upgrade.

Will try with OS 3.9 tomorrow, as I've had enough of frustrations today

[bdb]

You can do the upgrade without the CSPPC menu by running the program from floppy (found on a1k.org under the Phase5 listings) but you will need access to that menu at some point. The SCA drives may not work without killing the rdb or Rigid Disk Block, as some server drives have this locked (see the Hyperion forums). The DLY is the delay jumper, but I doubt that is the issue. Also the SB128 pci card will work kinda; it is in the forums.

Since this seems a hard drive issue, have you tried another one (the CSPPC loves the Atlas series!)

[Ami_GFX]

I agree, try another drive. SCSI drives are cheap these days. A 68 pin drive that has an autospin jumper would be one to try. I think the Amiga rom startup is much slower than a 16 bit SCSI III drive and the drive has to be able to wait for the Amiga to be ready to avoid the insert disk screen.

It actually took me quite some time to find a drive that was compatible with the Cyberstorm.

[ancalimon]

Originally Posted by bdb

You can do the upgrade without the CSPPC menu by running the program from floppy (found on a1k.org under the Phase5 listings) but you will need access to that menu at some point. The SCA drives may not work without killing the rdb or Rigid Disk Block, as some server drives have this locked (see the Hyperion forums). The DLY is the delay jumper, but I doubt that is the issue. Also the SB128 pci card will work kinda; it is in the forums.

Since this seems a hard drive issue, have you tried another one (the CSPPC loves the Atlas series!)

Actually, the readme strictly tells you to do the update from a floppy disk after disabling the scsi.

[bdb]

Actually it doesn't matter if the hard drives are connected or not; and you can do this in the KS3.1 menu with its disable command so if the firmware goes awry it does not write to your hard drive, but then why would it?

Do NOT lose power during an upgrade as the only way to fix it is to remove the eprom from the board and reprogram it.

[voyager_1701e]

Originally Posted by Viserion

Ami_GFX: Don't think that one is the correct one to set.

The result was that under Media toolbox the status of the HDD was set to 'unknown' and it was not possible to do anything with it. Remove the MTR jumper, an it status changes to 'ready'.

DarrenHD: Then I will take the opportunity to thank you for that guide. Was very useful

As I wrote earlier I'm unable to get into any CSPPC menu.

I have a Blizzard PPC as well, and there I have no problem getting into the Blizzard menu.

I even tried hitting ESC several times, as I read that not all keyboards will register a key that is continuously pressed.

No go with that method as well. That is why I asked about the upgrade.

Will try with OS 3.9 tomorrow, as I've had enough of frustrations today

Are you using a PC keyboard via and adapter like Lyra? My CSPPC wont boot into the menu via PC KB and Lyra...but it will with a real A4k keyboard.

Also, there is a way to check a version of the firmware in the CS...as I understand some versions dont have the boot menu. Some other members may be able to validate / help further with this info.....

[Viserion]

bdb: Dug out my old, and very noisy 68 pin IBM 8GB drive. This have the auto start option, but when removing it, the drive has status unknown, and all options are greyed out, just like removing the MTR option on the other drive.

It still is the kick start screen, and I have tried installing with auto start on, and removing it afterwards.

I may have to get an Atlas after all, but that means a few weeks waiting again.

I've tried to install OS 3.9, but got an error telling it can't find scsi.device on 1.

Is there anyway to change that. Used an old cd-rom drive set up as slave on the ide interface, but still got the same error. Anyway to change that on the boot disk?

When booting from OS 3.1 disk I only got a blank grey screen and nothing more.

Did try and search for RDB on Hyperion forums, but couldn't find anything. Didn't search that hard however.

voyager_1701e: I have a CDTV keyboard connected.

I have a Opensuse machine with a SCSI controller, so can do stuff there if needed.

Not tried to upgrade the CS yet. Will try when I have a bit more time on hand.

[bdb]

IF is was MY machine, I would do the install on the IDE port, order an Atlas drive, update the CSPPC firmware, and try a regular A2000/3000 keyboard. If it works, then when the new Atlas (up to 146 GB @ 15k) arrives, try to setup the drive and copy your IDE drive to the UWSCSI Atlas. I don't really think a CDTV keyboard is different from a regular one, BUT this is an Amiga after all, and weird sh*t happens!

I do use the IDE port on my T for CF card access, but that 30+ MB/s CSPPC transfer rate is at least 3 times faster than any other Amiga device.

[Viserion]

Don't have a regular keyboard. All other I have is a PC ps/2 ones. So this is the best one I got.

Ordered a Maxtor Atlas 10K IV 73GB 10K RPM SCSI Hard Drive from ebay. I might as well try the IDE method while waiting.

[bdb]

Well if it wasn't for the postal service holding Amiga users hostage, this would be easier, however your current keyboard should work. Failing that, current A2000 keyboards run in the $50 USD range and that is not unreasonable.

Do the floppy upgrade; it's easy and takes only a minute, then see if you can access the menu from the ESC key. I've done the flashing a dozen times or more (I have had several boards). The default setting work ok for OS4.1 although there are some tweaks to let you boot from a SCSI CD drive, and stuff.

I only blew one upgrade and had to have Stan Sedlak (God Bless him) repair it -- lost power prior to finish flash

[bdb]

As a post script, how many IBM engineers does it take to change a light bulb? One, but he changes the standard for darkness and then "upgrades the customer."

IBM "branded" crappy hard drives (often they were Hitachi); now they dropped that line of b.s..

[Ami_GFX]

Originally Posted by Viserion

When booting from OS 3.1 disk I only got a blank grey screen and nothing more.

A stock OS3.1 install disk won't work with an A4000T and 060 accelerator. The A4000T requires "workbench.library" to be in the Libs directory and the 060 requires 060 libraries to be in that folder. You have to copy these files into the libs directory of the 3.1 install disk to make it work. You will have to delete a few files to make room for these files.