Zip100 CrossDOS issues?

[mdivancic]

I've got a Zip100 SCSI drive on my system (OS3.9) as Device 6. Works fine as an Amiga drive. I can format, read and write to the drive. I can not format any disk with DOS. It fails with a Error 254 (can't find anything on this error in my references). If I format on the PC (Windows XP) the disk are not readable on the amiga side (ghost icons).

Strange thing, I have some disk I formatted in the past with another Amiga and they work fine. I can read and write to them. However if I try and format them the give the same DOS Error 254.

Anyone seen this before?

[LoadWB]

Are you using the ZIC: device?  Are you using the same drive on the Amiga as on the PC?  If not, can the two be swapped for testing?  It's entirely possible that the Amiga drive has gone bad considering the age and the drive's susceptibility to failure.

[mdivancic]

Are you using the ZIC: device?

Yes.

Are you using the same drive on the Amiga as on the PC? If not, can the two be swapped for testing?

No, the PC drive is USB based. I do not have a SCSI interface on any of my PC's or Mac's.

It's entirely possible that the Amiga drive has gone bad considering the age and the drive's susceptibility to failure.

I don't think so because it works fine on Amiga formatted disks. I do have a IDE drive I can drop in tower to check it out. I may try that...

[mdivancic]

Quick update: Same problem with the IDE Zip. Anyone have any idea what Error 254 is?

Quick update #2: If formatted on the PC using the iomega Utility the disk can be used on the Amiga to read and write files. Still can't format.

[LoadWB]

That is weird.  So, everything worked before between Amiga and PC then stopped working, and Amiga to Amiga still works?  You haven't made any changes to your ZIC: device, or to your CrossDOS handler, correct?  I have had problems with Zip drives and CrossDOS before, but this particular issue is not familiar.  That you can read and write on the Amiga would indicate to me that it's not write-protected -- I don't believe Zips differentiate between writing and formatting.

[Piru]

It fails with a Error 254 (can't find anything on this error in my references).

That sounds like IOERR_ABORTED.

It's defined as -2, and if you interpret is as unsigned char you get 254.

[mdivancic]

That is weird.  So, everything worked before between Amiga and PC then stopped working, and Amiga to Amiga still works?  You haven't made any changes to your ZIC: device, or to your CrossDOS handler, correct?  I have had problems with Zip drives and CrossDOS before, but this particular issue is not familiar.  That you can read and write on the Amiga would indicate to me that it's not write-protected -- I don't believe Zips differentiate between writing and formatting.

Yep, its weird. I can't remember when I last tried to format a Zip disk as a PC disk on the Amiga. I't may have been before I switched the system from SCSI Disk to CF Flash. I did a clean install of OS 3.9. I've been slowly rebuilding my system since then, getting things working like the Tape Backup, etc. I did rename my ZIC to ZIC6 (the id of the drive). Would that have any effect on this?

I am at a stable point where I can use what I have as long as I format on the PC using the iomega Utilities. I just use the Zip to transfer files between the PC and Amiga.  I can live with that (other then the fact that it drives me crazy that it doesn't work).

[mdivancic]

That sounds like IOERR_ABORTED.

It's defined as -2, and if you interpret is as unsigned char you get 254.

So, what would cause that? Hardware of software?