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Author Topic: [SOLVED] A500 & Amiga Explorer  (Read 3057 times)

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Offline Super TWiTTopic starter

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[SOLVED] A500 & Amiga Explorer
« on: March 07, 2010, 03:23:30 PM »
Hey all,

I have an amiga 500 with an ICD Adspeed chip and wb 1.3
I am trying to connect it via serial to my pc which has a 9 pin serial adaptor. I bought a null-modem cable that has a female db9 end and a male db25 end (Used a gender changer to connect it to my amiga) I know these aren't suppost to be null-modem, but it says null-modem on the cable. Anyway, well tryin to use amiga explorer, I get to the point where it says "Type SER: to RAM:Setup" after typing that in I press return on the amiga and press ok on the dialog box. The amiga proceeds to exit the command before my computer says all the files are transfered and nothing ends up transfering. I have all the serial settings set correctly. Is my cable the problem? What should I get instead?
« Last Edit: March 11, 2010, 02:37:58 AM by Super TWiT »
Once there was a man and a boy in the woods.
 
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Offline lauri.lotvonen

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2010, 06:33:02 PM »
Hi, I had the same problem years ago. Have tested your WB disk(s) for viruses? I had something like a bytebandit/saddam virus on my old WB 1.3 disk, and that was blocking the serial.device. And for the cable, I bought a Belkin cable recommended on the AExplorer site, and a Belkin USB to Serial adapter, both work like a charm :).
A1200, Blizzard 1260 + 64mb, Indivision AGA, Subway USB, 8GB CF-HD, PCMCIA network card, OS 3.9.
And a couple of A600\'s :).
 

Offline Super TWiTTopic starter

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2010, 07:45:47 PM »
I have not checked it for viruses. I bought this disk off of ebay, so I am not sure what kind of condition its in. Is it very likely the sudden termination of my serial connection is caused by a virus? Or is it more than likely my cable? Also, I have a serial port on my computer but its db9. Is there anyway I can use that?
Once there was a man and a boy in the woods.
 
Boy: I\'m scared...
 
Man: Hah! What have you got to be afraid of? I\'m the one that\'s going to be coming back alone!
 

Offline Speelgoedmannetje

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2010, 08:20:23 PM »
Quote from: Super TWiT;546583
Or is it more than likely my cable? Also, I have a serial port on my computer but its db9. Is there anyway I can use that?
You can use the db9. You can even use an USB to serial cable. And I have not had any difficulties with some random serial cable I bought. But maybe you were just unlucky to have a broken cable (incompatible cable seems to me be very unlikely, since there is not much magic in null-modem serial cables which are built according to he RS232 standard).
I myself have a female-to-female 25 pins null modem cable with on one side a 25-to-9 pins converter.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2010, 08:26:50 PM by Speelgoedmannetje »
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Offline Super TWiTTopic starter

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2010, 08:21:54 PM »
So more than likely its my cable? I thought if it was my cable I would be getting error reading off of com port errors (had those when amiga wasn't on) And whats this buisness about the amiga serial port possibly frying pc serial port if the cable wasn't 7 wire claonto's talking about
Code: [Select]
The Amiga serial port also uses               non-standard signals (see the Amiga Forever documentation), which               may damage the equipment on the other side. This cannot happen               with a properly-wired null-modem cable.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2010, 08:26:13 PM by Super TWiT »
Once there was a man and a boy in the woods.
 
Boy: I\'m scared...
 
Man: Hah! What have you got to be afraid of? I\'m the one that\'s going to be coming back alone!
 

Offline Super TWiTTopic starter

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2010, 08:27:43 PM »
If its not my cable what is it? And whats this buisness about the amiga serial port possibly frying pc serial port if the cable wasn't 7 wire claonto's talking about
Quote
The Amiga serial port also uses               non-standard signals (see the Amiga Forever documentation), which               may damage the equipment on the other side. This cannot happen               with a properly-wired null-modem cable.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2010, 08:35:20 PM by Super TWiT »
Once there was a man and a boy in the woods.
 
Boy: I\'m scared...
 
Man: Hah! What have you got to be afraid of? I\'m the one that\'s going to be coming back alone!
 

Offline Speelgoedmannetje

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #6 on: March 07, 2010, 08:35:10 PM »
Quote from: Super TWiT;546590
So more than likely its my cable? I thought if it was my cable I would be getting error reading off of com port errors (had those when amiga wasn't on) And whats this buisness about the amiga serial port possibly frying pc serial port if the cable wasn't 7 wire claonto's talking about
Well, if you wire yourself a null modem (which is easy) and you accidently wire it wrong (with for instance having the schematics upside down or something like that) you could fry your port. IIRC the amiga has put MIDI pins on the serial port where the pins are unused according the RS232 standard. I just don't know whether it'd be a virus or not. If the floppy's are original and in read-only mode, and especially when the read/write slide has been removed by the manufacturer, I consider a virus to be impossible.
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Offline Speelgoedmannetje

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #7 on: March 07, 2010, 08:46:18 PM »
Correction; the Amiga has audio ports on pin 11 and 18,  and have (-)12 voltage levels on pin 9 and 10. Pins 11 and 18 are apparently not according to the RS232 standard. But I don't think any of these pins will be put on the db9. Many signal lines are not necessary, rxd (receive) and txd (transmit) and ground are the only essential pins (USB for instance has only these signals).
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Offline Super TWiTTopic starter

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #8 on: March 07, 2010, 08:48:20 PM »
You've been a really big help, thank you so much. I too don't think it is a virus. I am relatively new to amigas, so you know a lot more than I do. What do you think I should do next?
Once there was a man and a boy in the woods.
 
Boy: I\'m scared...
 
Man: Hah! What have you got to be afraid of? I\'m the one that\'s going to be coming back alone!
 

Offline Speelgoedmannetje

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #9 on: March 07, 2010, 08:51:20 PM »
Ergo, I don't really know what's wrong. You can check for the necessary pins to be connected properly (which I'm sure it is), and the non-standard (-12)V pins aren't connected to the ground (that would have your Amiga serial port fried I fear).
You can all check this with a bog standard multimeter.
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Offline Speelgoedmannetje

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2010, 08:54:10 PM »
Quote from: Super TWiT;546595
You've been a really big help, thank you so much. I too don't think it is a virus. I am relatively new to amigas, so you know a lot more than I do. What do you think I should do next?
Well, I just looked it up with the keyword 'pinout'. With that you can find almost all signal pins of any device. Another keyword is datasheet.
So I'm not an Amiga pro, I just have some experience soldering stuff for vintage computers. :)
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Offline Super TWiTTopic starter

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #11 on: March 07, 2010, 09:04:24 PM »
I ordered the belkin cable recommended by amiga explorer. I'll post back if it helps. Hope I didn't fry anything...

EDIT: With over 9000 posts you are considered an amiga pro.:)
« Last Edit: March 07, 2010, 09:06:27 PM by Super TWiT »
Once there was a man and a boy in the woods.
 
Boy: I\'m scared...
 
Man: Hah! What have you got to be afraid of? I\'m the one that\'s going to be coming back alone!
 

Offline lauri.lotvonen

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #12 on: March 07, 2010, 10:17:41 PM »
I'm glad you chose the Belkin cable, it has a lifetime warranty and it's really a quality product. So do you have a 9 pin serial port in your PC ? Or a USB to serial adapter ?
A1200, Blizzard 1260 + 64mb, Indivision AGA, Subway USB, 8GB CF-HD, PCMCIA network card, OS 3.9.
And a couple of A600\'s :).
 

Offline Super TWiTTopic starter

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2010, 12:55:56 AM »
Yeah, I have a 9 pin port. The belkin will convert it to db25 right? By the way, after looking at those schmatics, the worst that cable could have done was not transmit some of the data lines if it was a 3 wire cable. (e.g. the ports that hold the voltage on the amiga aren't even wired in the db25 standard anyway The only reason cloanto mentions that is if you built your own and foolishly wired them together.)

Thats a relief!
« Last Edit: March 08, 2010, 02:27:15 AM by Super TWiT »
Once there was a man and a boy in the woods.
 
Boy: I\'m scared...
 
Man: Hah! What have you got to be afraid of? I\'m the one that\'s going to be coming back alone!
 

Offline lauri.lotvonen

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Re: A500 & Amiga Explorer
« Reply #14 on: March 08, 2010, 04:43:02 PM »
Yes, installation of the cable is very straight forward, no adapters/sex changers reguired.
A1200, Blizzard 1260 + 64mb, Indivision AGA, Subway USB, 8GB CF-HD, PCMCIA network card, OS 3.9.
And a couple of A600\'s :).