Amiga A590 hard disk spins but does not load

[Sim085]

Hello, just received an A590. It came with an XT drive and what I believe is a dying power supply. When I turned it on the red light came on but nothing else happened. No sound from either the HDD or the fan. I changed the drive to a SCSI one (which I know works) and swapped the jumper, turned on, nothing happened either. I therefore applied the hack so that the A590 would suck power from the A500, turned it on. The HDD started to run and the fan started to run. So I moved the Power Supply aside.

That said the thing does not boot. The SCSI HD is 200MB in size and has Workbench 3.1 installed on it (the A500 has Kickstart 3.1). So I booted in Workbench 3.1 from floppy disks and then loaded SYSINFO. I can see the card is being listed under Boards;

$00E90000 64K ZORRO II A590 SCSI/XT COMMODORE 0

If I restart the A500 and hold the two mouse buttons and go under Expansion Boards once again I have the one board listed (manufecturer 512) with status Working. However under Boot options I only have 'DF0' listed.

I can confirm auto-boot switch is turned ON from the back and the delay switch (3rd) I have tried it with it both ON and OFF, just in case the drive was considered to be slow. I have also tried to boot from a CF card (also workbench 3.1) using a SCSI to CF adapter. But same behavior.

The A590 came with V4.6 ROMs. Now I read there are 7.0 ROMs; however, aren't the ROM there only for AUTOBOOT option? Even if the ROMs are old, shouldn't I have seen the HDD when I booted to Workbench using Floppy Disk? Or that is not the way it works?

Unfortunatly the A590 did not come with any FastRAM so I have to order some chips before I can test that.

In summary it is running, the HDD is spinning, the card is seen, but I cannot boot or see the hard disk.

Any advice is much appreciated.

[Matt_H]

The ROMs are indeed very old and could be the problem. To bypass in software, you need to both disable the autoboot feature and put the appropriate driver in SYS:Expansion. Commodore only released up to v6.6 in software, but someone here put together a v7.0. At least, that applies to the 2091, but I think even the software drivers are 100% compatible with the 590.

One other thing: use SysInfo to see if scsi.device is getting loaded and its version.

[Sim085]

Yes I have found an image of the 7.0 ROMs on this forum. So I just need to put the ROM images (2) in SYS:Expansion, set auto-boot to false, boot to Workbench, and that is it?

EDIT:

The files are the following;

a2091PDMA-07.U12
a2091PDMA-07.U13

Downloaded from here.

Originally Posted by Matt_H

The ROMs are indeed very old and could be the problem. To bypass in software, you need to both disable the autoboot feature and put the appropriate driver in SYS:Expansion. Commodore only released up to v6.6 in software, but someone here put together a v7.0. At least, that applies to the 2091, but I think even the software drivers are 100% compatible with the 590.

When loading Workbench from floppy disks no, however I am sure I saw it when I was booting from the CF card (using an internal card with IDE). I can copy the file/s from there. Where does this has to go?

One other thing: use SysInfo to see if scsi.device is getting loaded and its version.

[Vypr]

The drive heads may have seized up, pretty common for old drives. You might be able to coax some life out of it by taking the drive out, hold it vertically and give it a gentle tap on one corner. This sometimes releases the stuck heads.
It;s not a permanent fix but it may be enough to get some data off of it.
You might want to replacing it with a SCSI2SD board.

[Sim085]

The HD itself works fine, I did the setup on it on a Grand Slam before trying it on the A590. I also tried the A590 with a SCSI to CF adapter but does not boot either (also tested on the GrandSlam).

Originally Posted by Vypr

The drive heads may have seized up, pretty common for old drives. You might be able to coax some life out of it by taking the drive out, hold it vertically and give it a gentle tap on one corner. This sometimes releases the stuck heads.
It;s not a permanent fix but it may be enough to get some data off of it.
You might want to replacing it with a SCSI2SD board.

[thomas]

Originally Posted by Sim085

shouldn't I have seen the HDD when I booted to Workbench using Floppy Disk?

This might be nit-picking, but you never know what unexperienced people might expect: you will never see a harddrive on Workbench or in the early startup menu. You will only ever see partitions there. The only place where you can see harddrives is HDToolbox or a similar partitioning program. If the harddrive does not have at least one partition, it stays invisible until you create a partition in HDToolbox.

[Matt_H]

Originally Posted by Sim085

Yes I have found an image of the 7.0 ROMs on this forum. So I just need to put the ROM images (2) in SYS:Expansion, set auto-boot to false, boot to Workbench, and that is it?

EDIT:

The files are the following;

a2091PDMA-07.U12
a2091PDMA-07.U13

Downloaded from here.

Those are not the correct files. They're for for burning to real chips and/or WinUAE. You need the BindDrivers version from this thread. Otherwise your procedure is correct: disable autoboot on the 590, copy A2091V7HD_7 and its icon into SYS:Expansion on your boot disk, and power on.

Originally Posted by Sim085

When loading Workbench from floppy disks no, however I am sure I saw it when I was booting from the CF card (using an internal card with IDE). I can copy the file/s from there. Where does this has to go?

So the main boot device in the system is an IDE CF card? If both that and the 590 are connected (and the 590 drivers are getting loaded correctly) you'll want to look for 2nd.scsi.device.

[Sim085]

Yes, sorry, used wrong term, trhe partition does not show. The SCSI HD has a single partition with Workbench installed on it. When connected to the GrandSlam it boots ok and shows this partition.

Originally Posted by thomas

This might be nit-picking, but you never know what unexperienced people might expect: you will never see a harddrive on Workbench or in the early startup menu. You will only ever see partitions there. The only place where you can see harddrives is HDToolbox or a similar partitioning program. If the harddrive does not have at least one partition, it stays invisible until you create a partition in HDToolbox.

[Sim085]

Back home and came straight to test this. Setup is as follows; I made a copy of Workbench 3.1 and copied A2091V7HD_7 and its icon to the Expansion directory.

The A500 starts to boot from the floppy disk, then stops, then the green light on the A590 turns on and I can see some activity on the CF card adapter (I am using a SCSI to IDE to CF card adapter at the moment). However screen remains block and nothing shows up.

The information on the A2091V7HD_7 icon has the following entry;

PRODUCT=514/3I514/2

Do I need to modify this value in any way?

I assume the first figure must be the manufacturer as it matches the manufacturer value. However I do not understand what the other two values are.

Originally Posted by Matt_H

Those are not the correct files. They're for for burning to real chips and/or WinUAE. You need the BindDrivers version from this thread. Otherwise your procedure is correct: disable autoboot on the 590, copy A2091V7HD_7 and its icon into SYS:Expansion on your boot disk, and power on.

[Matt_H]

Ok, that's progress. I'd guess that the driver is getting loaded and it's attempting to mount the drive but it's getting stuck. Something on the bus is confusing it. Can you go back to the 200MB drive you mentioned initially? A SCSI to IDE to CF adapter introduces a lot of extra variables that it would be helpful to eliminate. Or boot with no drive just to see if (2nd.)scsi.device is in the system.

You do not need to modify the tooltypes in the driver icon.

What are your jumper/DIP settings? I think you want everything to be off.

[Sim085]

With the 200MB HD Drive the behavior is the same. It starts booting then stops. Without any Hard Disk connected it boots to Workbench (after a minor stop). When I open SYSINFO, under devices I can see scsi listed at the end, however I can also see xt listed. Not sure that makes sense. I have attached photos of SYSINFO.

Originally Posted by Matt_H

Ok, that's progress. I'd guess that the driver is getting loaded and it's attempting to mount the drive but it's getting stuck. Something on the bus is confusing it. Can you go back to the 200MB drive you mentioned initially? A SCSI to IDE to CF adapter introduces a lot of extra variables that it would be helpful to eliminate. Or boot with no drive just to see if (2nd.)scsi.device is in the system.

You do not need to modify the tooltypes in the driver icon.

What are your jumper/DIP settings? I think you want everything to be off.

[Sim085]

It worked. The chip 390398-01 was not properly seated.

Thanks for the help Matt_H, without pointing me to the drivers I would not known from where to start.

EDIT:

Auto-boot however still does not work. I suppose that is due to the old ROM chips (4.6).

I guess now it is a question on how to get 7.0 ROM chips for the A590 for auto-boot to work.

Anyone knows anyone who sells these?

I have ordered some FastRAM chips so hopefully I will be able to test that as well.

[Matt_H]

Ha, it's always the most obvious thing that ends up being the last thing to be checked. Probably should have thought to make sure all chips were seated earlier, but here we are. Glad it's working.

(Side note: I can't for the life of me find the chip you mentioned on the 590 - where on the board is it?)

The continued autoboot failure is almost certainly due to the 4.6 ROMs. Older versions aren't compatible with anything newer than OS1.3.

I see 2 listings for v7.0 ROMs on eBay at the moment. Not sure where you're located, but hopefully there are some available in your area.

[Sim085]

You can see it here to the left of the XT DRIVE header;
https://amiga.resource.cx/photos/pho...res=hi&lang=en

I saw some photos of the A590 without this chip installed. Not sure what it is responsable for.

Originally Posted by Matt_H

(Side note: I can't for the life of me find the chip you mentioned on the 590 - where on the board is it?)

[Sim085]

They must have gone very quickly as I have been searching since this morning and cannot find any

I am starting to consider buying a eprom burner...

Originally Posted by Matt_H

I see 2 listings for v7.0 ROMs on eBay at the moment. Not sure where you're located, but hopefully there are some available in your area.

[Matt_H]

Originally Posted by Sim085

You can see it here to the left of the XT DRIVE header;
https://amiga.resource.cx/photos/pho...res=hi&lang=en

I saw some photos of the A590 without this chip installed. Not sure what it is responsable for.

Interesting. Yeah, the photos I found didn't have it. And I looked up the part number and the results said it went into socket U101... which doesn't exist. Must be an error in the service manual.

They must have gone very quickly as I have been searching since this morning and cannot find any

I am starting to consider buying a eprom burner...

Still visible from my end. I'll PM you one of the links.

[Sim085]

Many thanks. Unfortunately doesn't ship to my country.

Will continue looking.

Originally Posted by Matt_H

Still visible from my end. I'll PM you one of the links.

[Sim085]

Just to confirm that it booted from a 2GB HDD with the 7.0 ROMs.

[Matt_H]

Originally Posted by Sim085

Just to confirm that it booted from a 2GB HDD with the 7.0 ROMs.

Hooray!

[drdoominator420]

is there any way you can get the 390398-01 dumped? i have a a590 with fried chips from a bad over volt, and this is the only file i cant find to replace the programmable chips.

Originally Posted by Sim085

It worked. The chip 390398-01 was not properly seated.

Thanks for the help Matt_H, without pointing me to the drivers I would not known from where to start.

EDIT:

Auto-boot however still does not work. I suppose that is due to the old ROM chips (4.6).

I guess now it is a question on how to get 7.0 ROM chips for the A590 for auto-boot to work.

Anyone knows anyone who sells these?

I have ordered some FastRAM chips so hopefully I will be able to test that as well.