Amiga 1200 HDD light orange and no boot

kernoman · 26 August 2009, 23:06

Hi,

I had some files on my Amiga 1200 hard drive and wanted to back them up to my pc so I popped the drive in my linux box and mounted it up and copied off the files i needed, however now I have reattached it back to the amiga and all that happens when i tun it on is the HDD orange light is constantly lit along with the power light, nothing else happens, no display etc.

If I remove the HDD the insert disk animation appears - any ideas?

I tried putting the drive back in my PC in case I had killed the drive however it worked fine in the PC!?

I have checked the cabling and its all inserted correctly but i hear no sound from the drive when i power it on, i did think it had no power getting to it but it has an inline splitter to the floppy power supply and the floppy is working fine!?

Any ideas appreciated

Cheers

K

prowler · 26 August 2009, 23:09

Hi kernoman,

It sounds like either you've replaced the 44-way IDE data cable upside down, or have it misaligned with the motherboard header so that only one row of pins is connected.

kernoman · 26 August 2009, 23:43

Its a 3.5" drive and the ide cable is definately plugged in correctly as it will only fit one way.

I did not remove the cable from the motherboard i only unplugged the ide cable from the rear of the drive and the power cable. I guess the next thing to try is to ensure there is definately power getting to the drive. The light remans lit even if unplug the power to the drive but leave the ide cable conected - is this normal?

Thanks

prowler · 26 August 2009, 23:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by kernoman

Its a 3.5" drive and the ide cable is definately plugged in correctly as it will only fit one way.

I'm sorry. My previous post is based on the only experience I have had with A1200 hard drive problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kernoman

I guess the next thing to try is to ensure there is definately power getting to the drive.

Yes, that's certainly worth checking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kernoman

The light remans lit even if unplug the power to the drive but leave the ide cable conected - is this normal?

It could be. It depends on how the HDD activity LED is wired.

rkauer · 27 August 2009, 01:11

The HD is validating.

Just wait for some time (depends on the size of the affected partition). A 40Mb one will re-validate in +/-20min on a 030 CPU. No accelerator? Oh, boy...

A huge partition (~1Gb) will take +/-8 hours(!) to re-validate...

thomas · 27 August 2009, 07:42

You would notice if it was validating. The drive would be working heavily, the read/write heads would move forth and back all the time and the HDD light would blink from time to time.

Also validating only starts after the boot process has begun, so you would definitely be able to enter the early startup menu and check whether the partitions are recognised. Once in the early startup menu, you can choose to boot without startup-sequence and enter the info command which tells you whether it really is validating or not.

Finally validation is a background process and booting will continue in parallel. The Workbench would appear after no longer than twice the time it used to need.

zipper · 27 August 2009, 09:13

Except there's waitforvalidate switch or similar tool (Val) in use - then it just waits until validated.

kernoman · 27 August 2009, 09:29

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, I will check that power is getting to the drive shortly however in the mean time I have left it on to rule out the validation issue - although if the drive was validating (i take it this will not affect any data on it?) would I not hear it spin up? its completely silent...

kernoman · 27 August 2009, 09:47

Ok I have checked the power to the drive and it appears to be getting some, i did a continuity test on teh wires as well and they are fine but the drive does not spin up, works fine if I pop it in to a pc though?

Jerry · 27 August 2009, 09:49

Does it spin up if you remove the ide cable? If so there's something wrong on that side.

kernoman · 27 August 2009, 09:52

OK I have found the problem, one of the pins on the power cable pushed back out of the way and was not making contact - noticed this after slowly pushing the connectors together - phew!

Thanks to all that gave suggestions

K

prowler · 27 August 2009, 17:42

Well done, kernoman!

It is essential that you don't panic in a situation like this if you are to avoid data loss or, more seriously, hardware damage, and it's good to hear that you didn't.

Knowing that the drive worked fine in your PC was obviously reassuring in this situation, and your exploits show that this is a useful thing to try in the event of Amiga hard drive failure, especially following removal and replacement of the drive.

Because you have now found and reported the cause of your Amiga's failure to boot from the hard drive, this thread will become a useful reference for other users looking for possible causes of hard drive failure.

Thanks for that.

kernoman · 27 August 2009, 18:30

No probs

26 August 2009, 23:06	#1
kernoman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Cornwall, UK Posts: 43	Amiga 1200 HDD light orange and no boot Hi, I had some files on my Amiga 1200 hard drive and wanted to back them up to my pc so I popped the drive in my linux box and mounted it up and copied off the files i needed, however now I have reattached it back to the amiga and all that happens when i tun it on is the HDD orange light is constantly lit along with the power light, nothing else happens, no display etc. If I remove the HDD the insert disk animation appears - any ideas? I tried putting the drive back in my PC in case I had killed the drive however it worked fine in the PC!? I have checked the cabling and its all inserted correctly but i hear no sound from the drive when i power it on, i did think it had no power getting to it but it has an inline splitter to the floppy power supply and the floppy is working fine!? Any ideas appreciated Cheers K

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26 August 2009, 23:09	#2
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Hi kernoman, It sounds like either you've replaced the 44-way IDE data cable upside down, or have it misaligned with the motherboard header so that only one row of pins is connected.

26 August 2009, 23:43	#3
kernoman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Cornwall, UK Posts: 43	Its a 3.5" drive and the ide cable is definately plugged in correctly as it will only fit one way. I did not remove the cable from the motherboard i only unplugged the ide cable from the rear of the drive and the power cable. I guess the next thing to try is to ensure there is definately power getting to the drive. The light remans lit even if unplug the power to the drive but leave the ide cable conected - is this normal? Thanks

27 August 2009, 01:11	#5
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	The HD is validating. Just wait for some time (depends on the size of the affected partition). A 40Mb one will re-validate in +/-20min on a 030 CPU. No accelerator? Oh, boy... A huge partition (~1Gb) will take +/-8 hours(!) to re-validate...

27 August 2009, 07:42	#6
thomas Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 7,025	You would notice if it was validating. The drive would be working heavily, the read/write heads would move forth and back all the time and the HDD light would blink from time to time. Also validating only starts after the boot process has begun, so you would definitely be able to enter the early startup menu and check whether the partitions are recognised. Once in the early startup menu, you can choose to boot without startup-sequence and enter the info command which tells you whether it really is validating or not. Finally validation is a background process and booting will continue in parallel. The Workbench would appear after no longer than twice the time it used to need.

27 August 2009, 09:13	#7
zipper Registered User Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: finland Posts: 1,841	Except there's waitforvalidate switch or similar tool (Val) in use - then it just waits until validated.

27 August 2009, 09:29	#8
kernoman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Cornwall, UK Posts: 43	Thanks for all the suggestions so far, I will check that power is getting to the drive shortly however in the mean time I have left it on to rule out the validation issue - although if the drive was validating (i take it this will not affect any data on it?) would I not hear it spin up? its completely silent...

27 August 2009, 09:47	#9
kernoman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Cornwall, UK Posts: 43	Ok I have checked the power to the drive and it appears to be getting some, i did a continuity test on teh wires as well and they are fine but the drive does not spin up, works fine if I pop it in to a pc though?

27 August 2009, 09:49	#10
Jerry Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Germany Age: 44 Posts: 210	Does it spin up if you remove the ide cable? If so there's something wrong on that side.

27 August 2009, 09:52	#11
kernoman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Cornwall, UK Posts: 43	OK I have found the problem, one of the pins on the power cable pushed back out of the way and was not making contact - noticed this after slowly pushing the connectors together - phew! Thanks to all that gave suggestions K

27 August 2009, 17:42	#12
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Well done, kernoman! It is essential that you don't panic in a situation like this if you are to avoid data loss or, more seriously, hardware damage, and it's good to hear that you didn't. Knowing that the drive worked fine in your PC was obviously reassuring in this situation, and your exploits show that this is a useful thing to try in the event of Amiga hard drive failure, especially following removal and replacement of the drive. Because you have now found and reported the cause of your Amiga's failure to boot from the hard drive, this thread will become a useful reference for other users looking for possible causes of hard drive failure. Thanks for that.

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27 August 2009, 18:30	#13
kernoman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Cornwall, UK Posts: 43	No probs