Install cdrom in A4000

[haribootje]

After finally having my A1200 running flawlessly, i am now reanimating an old A4000/040 I recently got at my work for free.

I am trying to install an old 12x pc cdrom into this Amiga 4000.

Is it possible ? And what do I have to do to get it running ?? Cause I tried connecting it to the IDE cable as slave, but all that happens is the insert disk anim showing up and no harddisk booting anymore.

I really would like to have some help here !!

Thanx in advance !!

[Severin]

Sounds like you have a conflict with your harddrive, check that it's set to master, some have single / master / slave options... I might be set to single...

option 2, the cdrom drive is ferked, try another one (even buy a new one for it, they're only £15 or for £20 get a CDRW)

option 2a, chuck £10 or 20e in the post and I'll send you a known working drive, your choice of 4 / 8 / 12 / 36 / 40 / 50 / 52x, I think a couple of them might even be scsi.

option 3, try another ide cable

to actually read a CD you will need a CDFilesystem of some sort 3.1+ have one built in, but get CacheCDFS from OS3.9 or IDEFIX, it's much better. the you will need a dosdriver, you'll probably have one in storage/dosdrivers...

[adolescent]

Actually, you'll need IDEFIX either way. CacheCDFS is just the CD filesystem, not an actual device driver (IDEFIX 97 includes CacheCDFS though). IDEFIX has the ATAPI.DEVICE you need.

[haribootje]

So, when i am understanding it right I have to install IDEFIX first to actually let the A4000 recognize the cdrom at startup ??

Is there any step by step guide somewhere for installing a cdrom and getting it to work ??

[manicx]

STEP 1: Install the hardware and set the jumpers. Do not close the case and do not screw the CD-ROM yet (too little space in there to check for possible mistakes.

STEP 2: Find a registered version of IDEFix and install (piece 'o cake installation, CD-ROM is unit 1 [0 is for the HD])

STEP 3: Boot miggy. Insert a CD and make sure the icon displays on desktop.

STEP 4. Screw CD-ROM nad put back the case.

[th4t1guy]

Would he really need IDEFix? It's a 12x cd-rom after all.

[Severin]

No he won't need idefix CacheCDFS DOES NOT need atapi.device, it will work with scsi.device the ONLY time you need it would be with a 4-way adaptor and then only for devices 2 and 3 if your using < OS3.9 or for a CDRW...

but install it anyway, then it's there for a future upgrades

[thomas]

He does need an ATAPI driver when running Kickstart 3.1 or below.

IDEfix contains an ATAPI driver and OS3.5 or 3.9 contain an ATAPI driver, too.

With IDEfix scsi.device is patched to recognise ATAPI drives and you get a seperate atapi.device which only recognises ATAPI drives. In addition you get the ability to handle a 4-way adapter as well as LS120 drives and CD-ROM changers.

IDEfix can still be registered here: http://shareit1.element5.com/product...oductid=106332

With OS3.5/3.9 only the scsi.device is patched to recognise ATAPI drives.

[adolescent]

Originally posted by Severin
No he won't need idefix CacheCDFS DOES NOT need atapi.device, it will work with scsi.device the ONLY time you need it would be with a 4-way adaptor and then only for devices 2 and 3 if your using < OS3.9 or for a CDRW...

but install it anyway, then it's there for a future upgrades

No, it is required when trying to run the HD and CD-ROM on the internal IDE. The old SCSI.device doesn't support ATAPI devices (as stated above).

Without IDEFix

scsi.device unit 0 = HD
scsi.device unit 1 = N/A

With IDEFix

scsi.device unit 0 = HD
atapi.device unit 1 = CD-ROM

[Severin]

hmmm, weird, my 52x cdrom works fine using scsi.device as unit 1, maybe it's down to the make of the drive...

[haribootje]

Well I tried the IDEfix way. Installed it and hey presto, it is working like a charm.

Thanx guys for the help !!

Only thing happening now is that I get the insert disk screen, when starting the a4000. After a few tries it finally boots the harddisk then.

[manicx]

I was getting the boot screen too, but since I installed the 3.1 ROMS, I don't get it anymore.

[adolescent]

Not sure if it's just in my head, but after popping in the KS3.1 ROMS I think the boot time slowed a bit. On the A3000 you could set a value to allow for a long spinup time, but I don't see this option on the A4000. With the KS3.0 ROM and the old 1.2G Quantum Fireball IDE I had in the A4000 I'd get the disk requester once in a while. Now that I've swapped the KS3.1 and a new(er) WD 8G IDE I don't seem to have the problem.

[Jope]

Originally posted by haribootje
Only thing happening now is that I get the insert disk screen, when starting the a4000. After a few tries it finally boots the harddisk then.

You might want to get another 40pin ide cable and cut or peel up the pin1 wire from the motherboard connector. This is the reset signal, so if your drive takes too long to reset, it will stop it from resetting twice on cold boots.

[manicx]

Cutting down the mobo is not recommended. Better cut the cable!

[Jope]

Originally posted by manicx
Cutting down the mobo is not recommended. Better cut the cable!

Ok I was not clear at all with my post. Here is my attempt to be more precise. (btw, why would I suggest getting another cable if I was about to ask the poster to do modifications to the motherboard?-)

Here we have an ascii-art illustration of the IDE cable:

#==============#=====#

legend:
# - connector
= - cable

The # on the left goes to the motherboard. You can identify it quite easily, as it has a longer piece of cable between it and the next connector. Carefully take the connector apart (those clips break very easily if you use too much force in the wrong direction). Peel the wire that's connected to pin 1 from this connector and put it back together again.

You can easily identify wire 1, as it is usually coloured with a red or blue stripe.

Don't touch the motherboard whatever you do. Ground yourself before working with the innards of the computer. Unplug the computer before you set to work. Don't drop your screwdriver inside, you might break some traces.

Hope I didn't forget anything this time, I was in my usual "everyone knows this"-mode before. Sorry.

[Severin]

Seems like a lot of faffing about to me, just cut a 5mm section out of the coloured wire...

the reason for 5mm is it's fairly easy to poke a stiff bit of wire into the the two bare ends of the cable if you need line 1 working again, I've had to do it a few times (usually because I'd sold the 'test' cable) for some harddrives that wouldn't spin up without an initial reset...

[th4t1guy]

If you remove the reset wire, how would this affect your IDE CD-ROM devices using this? Don't certain drives (CDRW) require this?

[Severin]

hmmm, not sure about this, there weren't any CDRW drives when I was doing this mod

best bet is to either put the HD on the end and cut line 1 there, or carefully pull apart the middle connector and pull off / out line 1 as a bypass...

[Syko]

Personaly I'd go for the first option, as it gives best performance for both drives to have the master at the end of the cable. Also the other advantage of having IDEfix is that it will speed up the transfer rates as well