GVP HD(8)+ and external CD.

[Liqourice]

Gotten hold of an external SCSI CD that I plan to try connect to my GVP HD+, I just need the proper cable because the one that came with the drive doesn't have a DB25 in the other end, on the drive it's the big centronics connector.


Question is, will it work? If it won't the effort is pointless.


Back in the day when I ran a BBS on this setup I had 5 SCSI harddrives connected through a very long flat cable to an old tower with a PSU to power the drives and this worked just dandy. Just not sure if I remember how to terminate things correctly.


There is a terminator on the CD though so that shouldn't really be much of an issue. No jumpers or anything to set ID on it though.

[Jope]

It should work just fine.

Odd that it doesn't have externally settable ID. You're sure it is not a parallel port IDE CD drive? Maybe crack it open to see whether it is IDE or SCSI inside just to be sure.

[Liqourice]

Originally Posted by Jope

It should work just fine.

Odd that it doesn't have externally settable ID. You're sure it is not a parallel port IDE CD drive? Maybe crack it open to see whether it is IDE or SCSI inside just to be sure.

Not really sure, my friend that I borrowed it from was sure it was a SCSI but now that you mention it I'll have to check. The Centronics port on the drive is 50 pin which is typical for SCSI, the Parallell one only had 36 iirc.

[Liqourice]

No, it's a SCSI. I found a small hatch on the underside where I can see jumpers. Impossible to access though. As long as it's not set as 1 it should be ok. HDToolBox should find what number it's set as so I can configure the driver correctly.

It's a DEC DIGITAL RRD45-DA

[Jope]

Ah, I totally skimmed over where you said it had the 50 pin micro ribbon on the back.

So yeah, go for it.

[Liqourice]

Well, it seems my old GVP controller is on the fritz. Getting errors. Thought it was the drive but I've tried two other old drives and same thing so it's probably the controller.



So pointless to try with the CD unless I can fix this problem first.

[Kin Hell]

Just a thought with good old SCSI....

Is the Termination pack in the correct port on the box? It has to be the port on the end of the cable inside the box, (the though port for daisy chaining) otherwise you won't terminate the cable correctly & the CDROM will error on Status.

[Liqourice]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

Just a thought with good old SCSI....

Is the Termination pack in the correct port on the box? It has to be the port on the end of the cable inside the box, (the though port for daisy chaining) otherwise you won't terminate the cable correctly & the CDROM will error on Status.

As it is now I don't think anything will work since I get this error without the CD connected. There's something with the board, probably the ROM that's faulty somehow.

The harddrive worked just fine last night in an old PC with a PCI SCSI card and a Live Ubuntu. Made a backup of the drive just in case.

So, before I even attempt to connect the CD I need to find the fault of the controller so I at least know it works.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by Liqourice

As it is now I don't think anything will work since I get this error without the CD connected. There's something with the board, probably the ROM that's faulty somehow.

The harddrive worked just fine last night in an old PC with a PCI SCSI card and a Live Ubuntu. Made a backup of the drive just in case.

So, before I even attempt to connect the CD I need to find the fault of the controller so I at least know it works.

Re-seat the rom perhaps? - Creaky old affairs from what I recall.

Just so strange it appears to have lost "only" some of it's magic smoke?

[Liqourice]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

Re-seat the rom perhaps? - Creaky old affairs from what I recall.

Just so strange it appears to have lost "only" some of it's magic smoke?

I've done so a few times. Tried to clean everything up as much as I possibly can but still not working.

Thinking about dismantling completely to see if there's a broken solder somewhere.

Don't know if the onboard (soldered) resistor packs for termination can go bad and cause this issue. I just might connect the CD just to see if it makes everything work again since it is properly terminated.

But my bet is still on the Rom. Should really update that as well, it's 4.5 and as far as I know there's up to 4.15, if I can find the files.

[deladrevoc]

The rom image can be found here:

https://babel.de/amiga.html

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by Liqourice

I've done so a few times. Tried to clean everything up as much as I possibly can but still not working.

With our previous discussions, I kinda already knew you'd try that but just wanted to know if you had....

Originally Posted by Liqourice

Thinking about dismantling completely to see if there's a broken solder somewhere.

Hardcore....

Originally Posted by Liqourice

Don't know if the onboard (soldered) resistor packs for termination can go bad and cause this issue. I just might connect the CD just to see if it makes everything work again since it is properly terminated.

But my bet is still on the Rom. Should really update that as well, it's 4.5 and as far as I know there's up to 4.15, if I can find the files.

Rare for resistor packs to blow & not entirely sure if they are degradable through age. - Good luck with replacing the ROM for a resolution.

[Liqourice]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

With our previous discussions, I kinda already knew you'd try that but just wanted to know if you had....

Hardcore....

Rare for resistor packs to blow & not entirely sure if they are degradable through age. - Good luck with replacing the ROM for a resolution.

Not very hardcore. That's one of the easiest fixes to make.

I don't believe that's happened either so I'm pretty sure it must be the ROM. However, since the resistor packs are soldered there might be a broken solder there as well. Won't know until I've checked. The controller was connected when I cocked up the solder on my new 3.1 ROM and burned my original 500 so something may have happened there as well.

(Don't do critical soldering when your blood sugar is way way to low, brain doesn't work properly then and even the most illogical thing seems perfectly plausible)

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by Liqourice

<snip>
(Don't do critical soldering when your blood sugar is way way to low, brain doesn't work properly then and even the most illogical thing seems perfectly plausible)

Oopsies!

[Liqourice]

Just realised. I should check the PSU. It might have gone soft as well.

I know it can be powered directly from the Amiga but when I tried absolutely nothing happened so I wonder if there's a jumper or something I need to change. I have a new higher power PSU for the Amiga so that should be enough.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by Liqourice

Just realised. I should check the PSU. It might have gone soft as well.

I know it can be powered directly from the Amiga but when I tried absolutely nothing happened so I wonder if there's a jumper or something I need to change. I have a new higher power PSU for the Amiga so that should be enough.

And so many things elsewhere could be wrong. - Proper minefield with vintage systems.

Re-capped mobo? - Knowing you.... yes!

In fact & not wanting to blow any smoke up your ass (English phun Jope )

.... spect you have all bases covered already fella!

[Liqourice]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

And so many things elsewhere could be wrong. - Proper minefield with vintage systems.

Re-capped mobo? - Knowing you.... yes!

In fact & not wanting to blow any smoke up your ass (English phun Jope )

.... spect you have all bases covered already fella!

Well, I'm by nature very lazy so I tend to try the easy solutions first. But since that didn't work I'll need to put som effort in.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by Liqourice

Well, I'm by nature very lazy so I tend to try the easy solutions first. But since that didn't work I'll need to put som effort in.

Looking forward to hoping you have some success one way or another.

[Liqourice]

Checked the voltages from the PSU while running and I'm getting 5.00V on the 5V and 11.88 on the 12V so that seems ok even if it's a wee bit low on the 12V. Don't know how sensitive these things are.

[Kin Hell]

11.88 is a bit low tbh....

Doesn't SCSI pull from 3.3V or am I mistaken??