HDD (SD Card) stopped working

[Planetinfinity]

Hello,

a couple of month ago I bought a SD Card Adapter from Sordan and I used it until 4weeks ago without any problems. The problem began when I switched the kickstart rom from 3.1.4 to 3.2 and I tried to install Amiga OS 3.2. When I started HD Toolbox my Amiga 1200 did not find any HDD, so I though this was an suspect issue with Amiga OS 3.2 but unfortunately it wasn't. Even when I switched back to Amiga OS 3.1.4 i was not able to boot from the SD card (I used before) and I was even not able to find and device when I tried to reinstall Amiga OS 3.1.4.

I alredy replaced the IDE SD Card Adapter but I am not able to find any harddisk with Amiga OS 3.1.4. and kickstart 3.1.4.

Does anyone have an idea how I could fix this or check if there is another defect on the Amiga 1200.

I am happy for every hint

BR Planetinfinity

[Daedalus]

It might be worth adding the SD card to a WinUAE installation using a card reader and see if you have any more luck detecting it there (remember to run WinUAE in administrator mode).

Is it a decent SD card from a legitimate source? Sometimes counterfeit cards work well for a time, only to become corrupted once a certain capacity is exceeded.

[Planetinfinity]

One learning question. The Filesystem is a Amiga specific filesystem, therefore does WinUAE (in my case FS-UAE) be detected by the Amiga Emulator, because I thought that the Filesystem must first be detected my the OS like Win or Linux.

I added a new SD card (I assume it is formated with FAT32) but the HD Toolbox is still running through the scsi devices and did not find any device.

[Jpor]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

One learning question. The Filesystem is a Amiga specific filesystem, therefore does WinUAE (in my case FS-UAE) be detected by the Amiga Emulator, because I thought that the Filesystem must first be detected my the OS like Win or Linux.

I added a new SD card (I assume it is formated with FAT32) but the HD Toolbox is still running through the scsi devices and did not find any device.

WinUAE (FS-UAE) is an emulator therefore it will read Amiga specific file systems such as Fastfilesystem, PFS etc.. when you plug in the card then LINUX or Windows will complain it can’t be read as it’s NOT FAT32, NTFS, EXT3 etc.. This is normal. You cancel the error messages then start up WinUAE or FS-UAE and select the SD card from a list. In turn this maybe identified as a UAEHD.device or similar as this is normal. Make sure you pick the right ROM, Amiga, RAM etc.. before starting up.

Note: Amigas don’t use Windows FAT32, NTFS or extFAT file systems as it’s not the native file system for AmigaOS (Workbench). fastFilesystem is native. But you can use other ones Like Professional File System (PFS) etc..

[Planetinfinity]

Hello Jpor,

thank you for the detailed description. I was able to start Amiga OS 3.1.4 via SD card in Windows 10 WinUAE (even when I only saw the workbench and no icons).

More me it looks like a hardware issue ?
Is there any test / testtool I could you in order to see what is defect ?

-- edit

Afterwards I opened my Amiga 1200 again. I noticed that the SD Adapter seems to have a red and a yellow led. The red LED is always on during the whole time. The yellow LED flashes short around 1 to 2 seconds after start the Amiga before the floppy starts working. I unplugged the power cable of the floppy drive in order to avoid an issue with the boot order but the SD is still not booting.


BR Planetinfinity

[Jpor]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

Hello Jpor,

thank you for the detailed description. I was able to start Amiga OS 3.1.4 via SD card in Windows 10 WinUAE (even when I only saw the workbench and no icons).

More me it looks like a hardware issue ?
Is there any test / testtool I could you in order to see what is defect ?

-- edit

Afterwards I opened my Amiga 1200 again. I noticed that the SD Adapter seems to have a red and a yellow led. The red LED is always on during the whole time. The yellow LED flashes short around 1 to 2 seconds after start the Amiga before the floppy starts working. I unplugged the power cable of the floppy drive in order to avoid an issue with the boot order but the SD is still not booting.


BR Planetinfinity

Your best bet is to hold the 2 mouse buttons together on power up and check if it sees a DH0: under the “Boot Option” button at the top, if you can only see DF0: CC0: then kickstart hasn’t detected the SD card properly.
What SD card make are you using?

The red light on the SD2IDe reader/writer is normal as it has power going to it off the 44pin IDE connector. If you see a yellow flashing light then the Amiga kickstart has seen the SD2IDe adapter and has attempted to read from the SD card.

[Planetinfinity]

I am only able to see DF0: and CC0:. I don't see DH0 at all in the Boot Option menu.
Does this mean the BIOS or something else is defekt or did I destroy something when I changed the kickstart in the first place.

[Jpor]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

I am only able to see DF0: and CC0:. I don't see DH0 at all in the Boot Option menu.
Does this mean the BIOS or something else is defekt or did I destroy something when I changed the kickstart in the first place.

Amigas don’t have BIOS or EFI They use Kickstart

And no the kickstart isn’t defective. It means that the SD card is not being seen. Like in Windows you have a Boot sector, in Amiga land it’s known as a RDB (Rigid Disk Block).

It’s either 1 or 3 things:

1).. The SD IDE reader is defective or has a loose connection. Make sure that the red wire is connected to pin 1 on the IDE connector on the Amiga/ you have the connection firmly in place.

2).. The make/Manufacturer of your SD card is NOT compatible. Believe it or not Amigas can be picky. If you are using a specific Expansion Board then this could be causing you issues. I tend to use Sandisk or Kingston manufactured SD cards. There are others that should work.

3)… Try pushing out the SD card and try pushing it back in firmly with the Amiga switched off. I have had this issue before where I thought IDE put the card I. Properly, but I had ‘t.

Good luck.

[Planetinfinity]

Thank you very much again for your reply

Originally Posted by Jpor

1).. The SD IDE reader is defective or has a loose connection. Make sure that the red wire is connected to pin 1 on the IDE connector on the Amiga/ you have the connection firmly in place.

From my point of view all pins are connected. Please have a look at the pictures. https://my.hidrive.com/share/oy27jdpe92. For sure I push the two part after I took the picture.

Originally Posted by Jpor

2).. The make/Manufacturer of your SD card is NOT compatible. Believe it or not Amigas can be picky. If you are using a specific Expansion Board then this could be causing you issues. I tend to use Sandisk or Kingston manufactured SD cards. There are others that should work.

What would the the correct way and SD card (type and vendor) in order to format the devices with the correct file system ?

Originally Posted by Jpor

3)… Try pushing out the SD card and try pushing it back in firmly with the Amiga switched off. I have had this issue before where I thought IDE put the card I. Properly, but I had ‘t.

I did this a couple of times without success, with the old adapter and the new one but without success.

BR Planetinfinity

[Jpor]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

Thank you very much again for your reply

From my point of view all pins are connected. Please have a look at the pictures. https://my.hidrive.com/share/oy27jdpe92. For sure I push the two part after I took the picture.

What would the the correct way and SD card (type and vendor) in order to format the devices with the correct file system ?

I did this a couple of times without success, with the old adapter and the new one but without success.

BR Planetinfinity

On picture 1, I take it you were demonstrating you were putting in the adapter the correct way round? As the adapter was looking like it wasn’t pushed in properly.

So you are using a Sandisk 32GB card? Good choice

Looks like it’s in properly.

Which kickstart ROMs are you currently using? 3.1.4 or 3.2?

When testing this in WinUAE what settings were you using? To get the Card to be seen and booted?

My only thinking here is that the RDB is being seen on the Amiga but won’t boot. But it’s being booted successfully in the emulator.

What revision Amiga 1200 board are you using? Has it been recapped? And have you tried a different Power Supply?

Also I’ve noticed you still use the top shielding? Have you tried removing this just in case you are shorting something?

Are you using an Amiga 1200 FastRAM expansion or accelerator card? Which one are you using if any.

Apart from that I’ve run out of answers for now

[Planetinfinity]

Which kickstart ROMs are you currently using? 3.1.4 or 3.2?

The issues started after I switched the ROMs from 3.1.4 to 3.2. Right now I am back to 3.1.4.

When testing this in WinUAE what settings were you using? To get the Card to be seen and booted?

I only used the default setting for A1200 and added the SD card

My only thinking here is that the RDB is being seen on the Amiga but won’t boot. But it’s being booted successfully in the emulator.

This might be the case but I still don't understand why I really need a Filesystem in order to detect the device via HDTool App.

What revision Amiga 1200 board are you using? Has it been recapped? And have you tried a different Power Supply?

No I haven't but ne powersuppy is around 1 year old and yes it was recapped at around the same time.

Are you using an Amiga 1200 FastRAM expansion or accelerator card? Which one are you using if any.

Yes, I use a icomp TurboCard

Maybe it is not important but I tried my old CF Card Adapter with an CF Card that is not formated correctly (it is the card for my vampire v4) but when I remove the card the boot screen need 3 times longer to be displayed that when the card is insert. For my SD Card Adapter this is not the case.

[Jpor]

I only used the default setting for A1200 and added the SD card.

Okay so default for A1200 on WinUAE is normally

ROM = 3.0
RAM = 2MB CHIP ONLY

So I take it you changed these to:

ROM = 3.1.4
RAM = 2MB CHIP with 4 or 8MB FastRAM
?

As for HDToolbox On a real Amiga needing a Filesystem to see the SD card. Then yes it should still detect the card under scsi.device. But as you told me when doing the 2 mouse hold down no DH0: was not being seen.
When using a blank SD card you tend to see at least something appear in HDToolbox as either unchanged with no partition etc…

If using HDToolbox on WinUAE, don’t forget the scsi.Device isn’t used as it defaults to uaehf.device. Which you have to set the icon information of HDToolbox.

A lot of these ready made SD cards are done on WinUAE for transfer to real Amigas.

You mention you use a I mop Turbocarc? Is this a ACA type one?
Have you tried removing the turbo cArd with the Amiga switched off? Then trying to see if you can see DH0: appear on power up with the 2 mouse buttons?

Have you also checked you have the kickstart ROM chips seated correctly? You don’t have any of the chip pins bent and not socketed correctly?

[Planetinfinity]

You mention you use a I mop Turbocarc? Is this a ACA type one?
Have you tried removing the turbo cArd with the Amiga switched off? Then trying to see if you can see DH0: appear on power up with the 2 mouse buttons?

I completely removed the icomp ACA1233n without any changes. DH0: does not appear in the boot menu.

Have you also checked you have the kickstart ROM chips seated correctly? You don’t have any of the chip pins bent and not socketed correctly?

As you ask it, I remembered one thing ... maybe this is something that helps. On both ROMS there are two pins less that holes on the Amiga Board. I noticed it at the time I already replaced the 3.1.4 ROM.

Afterwards I searched in the internet and found out that the ROM needs to be placed right-justified. I was told to not place it left-justified because otherwise I would destroy the Amiga.

In order to describe it in a better way I removed the ROM and placed it at the position it was placed before. Maybe I did something wrong.

[Planetinfinity]

I looked again for the ROM orientation and it seems to be that right-justified is correct.

I additionally replaced the SD card adapter with the CF Card Adapter I had before but I am still not able to see anything in the boot menu (only CC0 and DF0). The only differences is that the menu needs more time to show up because the SD slot was empty.

[Jpor]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

I looked again for the ROM orientation and it seems to be that right-justified is correct.

I additionally replaced the SD card adapter with the CF Card Adapter I had before but I am still not able to see anything in the boot menu (only CC0 and DF0). The only differences is that the menu needs more time to show up because the SD slot was empty.

Okay. So as you had at least something working with the SD card with WinUAE on a PC and you have tried a different adapter with a CF card. Then my only conclusion is you have a problem with the onboard IDE

You’ve removed the ACA turbo card and gone back to basics and still nothing.

The only and last recommendation I have for you is to remove the top metal shield off the Amiga board just in case you are shorting something.

If it still doesn’t work after that, the. Something has failed on the motherboard that’s preventing the IDE to work.

I don’t think you’ve broken your Amiga with the ROMs.

[sneeker]

What happens if you put the cd card into a card reader on your pc, run diskpart and list disks, does it show up, if so, use select (disk number) and then clean, make sure its the sd card as it wipes it totally blank, then run uae and add the now blank card as A1200 scsi and run hdtoolbox, making sure its tooltypes are set to use scsi.device and see if it appears?

[Planetinfinity]

The only and last recommendation I have for you is to remove the top metal shield off the Amiga board just in case you are shorting something.

Unfortunately removing the metal shield does not help to solve the issue.

Originally Posted by sneeker

What happens if you put the cd card into a card reader on your pc, run diskpart and list disks, does it show up, if so, use select (disk number) and then clean, make sure its the sd card as it wipes it totally blank, then run uae and add the now blank card as A1200 scsi and run hdtoolbox, making sure its tooltypes are set to use scsi.device and see if it appears?

I am complete confused with the situation right now. I used WinUAE and booted with the Amiga Install adf file for Amiga OS 3.2. I am able to see the Drive "Work" directly on the workbench but I am not able to see when I start the HDTool. When I check the information for the HDTool I am able to see that the device is set to scsi.device.

Does this make sense ?

[Jpor]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

Unfortunately removing the metal shield does not help to solve the issue.



I am complete confused with the situation right now. I used WinUAE and booted with the Amiga Install adf file for Amiga OS 3.2. I am able to see the Drive "Work" directly on the workbench but I am not able to see when I start the HDTool. When I check the information for the HDTool I am able to see that the device is set to scsi.device.

Does this make sense ?

Okay so you are saying you are now using WinUAE on a PC and have connected the SD card via a SD card reader?
You have set up WinUAE by using 3.1.4 ROMS via an Amiga A1200 configuration with 2MB Chip RAM and added fastRAM at 4 to 8MB?

You are now booting up via 3.1.4 ADF disk images on WinUAE?

Before you started HDToolBox from the install3.1.4 adf disk did you right click on the icon HDToolBox” go to the top menu in workbench, chose Icon then Information and changed the following line from “Device=scsi.device” to “Device=uaehf.device” then clicked save?

Then double clicked HDToolBox to run which then should see your SD card

[Planetinfinity]

Then double clicked HDToolBox to run which then should see your SD card

I am sorry for the late reply. I did this on WinUAE. I added the RAM to the configuration, I booted from adf file for 3.1.4 Workbench Install. Changed the Device type to uaehf.device and I was able to see the sd card within the HDToolBox. ... I am able to see a complete new card I bought and I am able to see the card I used because everything messed up.

But am I correct that the uaehd.device does setting does not help me with with my real amiga ?

[Jpor]

Originally Posted by Planetinfinity

I am sorry for the late reply. I did this on WinUAE. I added the RAM to the configuration, I booted from adf file for 3.1.4 Workbench Install. Changed the Device type to uaehf.device and I was able to see the sd card within the HDToolBox. ... I am able to see a complete new card I bought and I am able to see the card I used because everything messed up.

But am I correct that the uaehd.device does setting does not help me with with my real amiga ?

The real Amiga as standard uses SCSI.Device. What you have proved on the WinUAE is that the SD card is being seen. Therefore the problem is on the Real Amiga hardware.
Just out of a matter of interest. When you say you have changed the SD2IDE reader on your real Amiga. Does that also include the KA47 adapter you are using to plug the SD2IDe card reader as well? What I’m eluding to is that have you just tried a 44-pin IDE cable to SD2IDE adapter?
I’ve had a malfunctioning KA60 ( the one with the extra 40 pin port for CD ROM connectivity) which caused something similar.

Apart from that, it appears you have got a problem in the main A1200 board.