The P1022 SOC Only has 6 SERDES lanes.  4 are used for the PCIe slot and the other 2 are used for the SATA ports.  Additional hardware devices would have to connect to USB or the onboard headers for I2C, SPI and so on.

Hmmm. If you already eliminated Kickstart 1.2 as a possible cause then I agree you're probably looking at a hardware issue. The next question is whether it's a hardware fault (i.e., something broken due to age) or a hardware bug (my understanding is that the rev. 3 500 is pretty buggy).

Yeah, I'll bet they are fairly buggy. Plus, it's hard to dig up relevant information on the Rev3 machines these day as most people have probably dropped them to the wayside, except for maybe collectors. I've owned the Rev3 for 15 years and other than floppy based use, this is the first time really digging into it.

Just to make sure you're not overlooking the obvious, is the drive known to be 100% good?

As old as it is, I seems to be healthy. Another thought I had, and I've seen this before, is that the controller on the hard drive may have been replaced from another drive that does not have the same geometry as the Conner CP3500 platters - however, I doubt it. 

DMAC is worth looking into, as you say. Big Book of Amiga Hardware says the 590 typically shipped with DMAC -01, but it can't hurt to try DMAC -02.

Yeah, I might try that too just for fun. But, like you said, maybe it's just what it is and I probably should take what I can get - 80MB that is. I think I'll also try another SCSI drive and repeat the small partition process and see what happens - that might expose or eliminate the Conner drive as a suspect.

To close the book on possible software issues, give the 2091 v1.30 disk a try if you haven't already, along with 7.0 ROMs if you have them (or track down the disk-based version if you don't).

Thanks for A2091 hint Matt. I located that SW and DL'ed it today. Will for sure try that 1st thing. . Yes, I've been using V7.0 ROMS except for one test of swapping in the V6.6 ROMs. BTW, did Commodore put out official V7.0 ROMs? The ones I have were burned that I got off ebay at least a decade ago.



I'll get back to this in a couple of days now that I can perform some compatibility tests much quicker. I did quit a bit of research on the DMAC today but didn't really find a reason why I should have them. Update to follow - hopefully won't be so long winded! 

Depends on my mood. Both of mine are 2007 Kawasaki's. Ninja 650R if I want a nice comfortable zippy ride, or Ninja ZX6R if I'm feeling competitive.

Here in Southern California, we've got PLENTY of twisties and mountains to ride.

Hmmm. If you already eliminated Kickstart 1.2 as a possible cause then I agree you're probably looking at a hardware issue. The next question is whether it's a hardware fault (i.e., something broken due to age) or a hardware bug (my understanding is that the rev. 3 500 is pretty buggy).

Just to make sure you're not overlooking the obvious, is the drive known to be 100% good?

DMAC is worth looking into, as you say. Big Book of Amiga Hardware says the 590 typically shipped with DMAC -01, but it can't hurt to try DMAC -02.

To close the book on possible software issues, give the 2091 v1.30 disk a try if you haven't already, along with 7.0 ROMs if you have them (or track down the disk-based version if you don't).

Spent the money and bought a complete machine from Brian... Done!