Hooking Up Amiga 2000 Disk Drives (Help!)

[Tempest 2084]

I had a ribbon cable in my 2000 go bad on me (one of the connectors literally ripped out), so I found a spare IDE cable at work that I believe will do the job. But in my haste to get the old one out, I didn't pay attention to the way the cables were connected. So can someone tell me:

1. Which way the red stripe on the ribbon cable goes when connecting it to the mother board. I believe the stripe goes to pin 1.

2. Which way the red stripe on the ribbon cable goes when looking at the drives from the front of the case (standing in front of the name plate).

3. Which way the power cable to the drives goes

4. Which way the jumpers should be set if I want the left disk drive to be the first one and the right disk drive to be the second. I think I have these set right (they were reversed when I got it), but I want to be 100% sure.

I tried the orientations mentioned in the 2010 installation guide http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/am...structions.pdf (stripe left and orange power wire left) but they didn't work. I get DF0: BAD and DF1: BAD.

Hopefully I didn't fry my drives or anything. Maybe the ribbon cable I'm using is also bad? I also hope that missing pin on the mother board connector (pin 3) really IS supposed to be there? I'm bit worried that I screwed something up. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

[cpiac64]

the wire red is number one, in the mobo is near retro of a2000
most floppy have number one of flat near connector psu
the psu connector cannot insert revers
the cable have 3 wire rotate, but the flat for pc have more wire rotate, you can only use the flat not rotate for one floppy and i suppose you need change ds0 to ds1

[Tempest 2084]

Originally Posted by cpiac64

the psu connector cannot insert reverse

Good to know. So is it orange or yellow wire to the left then?

Originally Posted by cpiac64

the cable have 3 wire rotate, but the flat for pc have more wire rotate, you can only use the flat not rotate for one floppy and i suppose you need change ds0 to ds1

You're right, I just noticed that! So the Amiga ribbon cable is special after all. Anyone got a spare cable they can sell me?

Oh and does the twisted part of the cable go to the second disk drive or the mother board?

[cpiac64]

you can open the last connector of flat, rotate the right wire and reinsert the connector and closed with a clamp


twisted are near floppy df0:

[bdb]

You may not be able to swap a PC 34-pin "IDE" floppy cable for an Amiga one; check the twisted wires near the end of the cable (that connects to drive zero -- DF0:) usually on the right hand side (nearest to outside) on an A2000 while facing it. These twists may be different, but you must match them up for it to work. I've done this at least twice by gently prying open the end connector, gently lifting the wires out, twisting the correct ones (so they match the original cable) and putting them back in place, then closing the connector back plate into place (with a drop of super-glue on each end).

As stated, the floppy power connector is "keyed" so that the flat part inserts easily onto the pins; for a Chinon drive this means Orange to Outside, Yellow to the inside. The yellow wire will be closest to pin # 1 of the drive 34-pin connector.

In summary, Motherboard connector: normal/no-twist with red stripe (# 1) closest to rear (and there will be a missing pin at # 3). The Amiga cable has a blocked pin in the socket to assure proper keying; the PC will not. Second straight connector would go to DF1: if present. The end of the cable with twist to DF0: ~ the boot floppy.

To confuse the issue, other brands of compatible floppy drives may have a diffent twist or none at all.

[Tempest 2084]

A little weirdness on my 2000. The way the power plugs are 'keyed' makes them naturally want to go in with the yellow wire to the left (closest to the outside) and the orange to the right (if looking down on the plug from the front of the Amiga). What's up with that? I'll try and get a picture of it.

Is pin one on the floppy cable to the far right of the floppy (if facing it from the front)? This picture seems to indicate so: http://tizeta2.altervista.org/amiga/...ive/fb354.html So that means the red ribbon goes on the outside rather than the inside correct?

[Tempest 2084]

So this is the wrong way?



Here's a very bad picture of the connector:

[Tempest 2084]

The more I look at it, I think I just need a new cable. Anyone got one they can sell me?

[bdb]

The pin-1 (red stripe) tends to be always on the left side when facing the back of the floppy drive, as it is with a standard Chinon floppy drive; to the best of my knowledge, not all manufacturers follow this and it is best to look for a printed "1" if present to make sure. Some cables and drives have a secondard key -- a rectangular chunk of plastic on one side of the connector in the middle, this corresponds to a similar rectangular hole on the drive: if you have that chunk of plastic facing upward, then the red stripe is on the right. I believe on the Chinon the Keyhole is on the bottom, so the red stripe is to the left facing the back of the drive
____________
|_____[]_____|

Pin 1 -------|~~Here

A third way of checking is to look at the PCB's pin soldering pads; on one side should by a square pad with the others round; the square pad (it is tiny) should be pin "1" and the others are not. BUT no one makes a manufacturer follow this.

With an Amiga floppy, there is no power in the data (34-wire) connector and a cable inserted the wrong way turns the drive light on all the time. You can't screw anything up if the Data cable is backwards (it won't work), with the power cable, the two inside wires are ground so a reversal swaps 5 for 12 volt (won't work and might cause problems with 12 volts on a 5 volt lead. There is a difference in a power connector that easily slides on and one you have to force on by damn-near bending the pins upwards -- hint, don't do that.

In your picture the drive does need the Orange on the left side closest to connector. Maybe there is a rule of "Orange / 12V" always to the left while facing the back of the drive. I don't know. Next time do what I do, take a picture of your connectors before taking apart your computer -- much easier with cell phone cameras.

[bdb]

But on my iPhone it falls somewhere in the mid-right side.

You may be able to buy a matching cable from someone, but have them send you a picture to make sure the twist is correct. This is why I've made my own. Of the 3 current Amiga's I have, all have a different floppy drive and a different cable. You can of course buy a new drive and cable from Amigakit and have them make sure it will work in a standard A2000.

[Tempest 2084]

Interestingly the cable Amigakit sells says the twisted one goes to DF1 and the straight goes to DF0:

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=647

[bdb]

Originally Posted by Tempest 2084

Interestingly the cable Amigakit sells says the twisted one goes to DF1 and the straight goes to DF0:

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...roducts_id=647

Again, it is a difference in the disk drive, the computer, and the correct cable orientation. They sell a new, non-Chinon, floppy drive so the cable has to correct for it and the motherboard. That is why I said get the floppy+cable+information from them to be sure. I believe that for DF1: from Amigakit you have to tell them that when you order it. Not all floppy drives work with all cables and all motherboards.

[Supamax]

Off-topic (sorry Tempest 2084 ):

if I connect one of these cables to the mainboard of an Amiga 500/600, will the Amiga work with 2 'internal' drives (recognizing them as 2 different drives)?
Of course I would have to provide proper power to them, but I'm curious about the A2000 cable... I wonder if it was specific for it, or if the swapped cables in the flat cable are working for all Amigas.

[Tempest 2084]

Originally Posted by bdb

Again, it is a difference in the disk drive, the computer, and the correct cable orientation. They sell a new, non-Chinon, floppy drive so the cable has to correct for it and the motherboard. That is why I said get the floppy+cable+information from them to be sure. I believe that for DF1: from Amigakit you have to tell them that when you order it. Not all floppy drives work with all cables and all motherboards.

Gotcha. Mine are the original Chinon drives so the twist is to DF0.

[prowler]

Originally Posted by Supamax

if I connect one of these cables to the mainboard of an Amiga 500/600, will the Amiga work with 2 'internal' drives (recognizing them as 2 different drives)?

Not withou hacking, because the DS1 (Drive Select 1) signal is connected to the external floppy drive connector only; not to the internal floppy drive header.

Originally Posted by Supamax

...but I'm curious about the A2000 cable... I wonder if it was specific for it, or if the swapped cables in the flat cable are working for all Amigas.

It is only possible to connect two floppy drives in that way to big box Amigas (A4000, A2000, etc.), whose motherboards have floppy drive headers with both DS0 and DS1 signals connected.

[Tempest 2084]

If I had accidentally plugged the power cables in backwards, could I have fried my drives? I think they still work (the lights stayed on constantly when I put the IDE cable in backwards), but I can't be sure until I get a new cable.

[bdb]

Originally Posted by Tempest 2084

If I had accidentally plugged the power cables in backwards, could I have fried my drives? I think they still work (the lights stayed on constantly when I put the IDE cable in backwards), but I can't be sure until I get a new cable.

The other way around: a "backwards" data cable means drive light always on, a backward power cable, who the f--- knows, I've never done it. Don't be daunted into not fixing a PC data cable into an Amiga one; if a "blanking" machine can do it, you can too. I've even messed with 50-pin SCSI cables making one into a 'T-connection' to settle a problem. Amigas teach us these things when the manufacturers, dealers, and service shops rolled up their sidewalks and went home, it left the heartless, brain-dead users to fend for themselves using an old BA from a liberal arts college and a pair of pliers your mother she used to use on Mason jars!

[Jope]

The twist in a PC style cable calls for both drives to be set to the same DS. So both either to DS0 or to DS1. The twist is only for the drive select signals.

The twist in an Amiga style cable calls for one drive to be set to DS0 and the other to DS1, the twist is only for the activity LED signal.

[orange]

Originally Posted by Tempest 2084

If I had accidentally plugged the power cables in backwards, could I have fried my drives? I think they still work (the lights stayed on constantly when I put the IDE cable in backwards), but I can't be sure until I get a new cable.

unfortunately, yes, its possible. electronics don't like too high or low voltage (about +-10% should be ok). I had swapped +12 and +5V once in A590, but luckily, only few RAM chips broke.

[Tempest 2084]

Hopefully I can either get a new cable or hack a PC one. I suppose in the mean time I can test the drives individually to see if they still work. What has to be done to set the Amiga to single drive mode? I think there's a jumper somewhere that need to be set IIRC.

If I fired my poor drives, where's the best place to get replacements?