Heya Boot_WB. Thanks for the information.
Boot_WB --> Is the scanner terminator add-on active or passive? Who knows - post some specs or a part number and someone will try to find out. Or just google it.
There are no numbers/specs on this device. The terminator came with the scanner, bought new. Instructions (can't find the manual at the moment) indicated that the scanner is to have this terminator installed if the scsi chain is being used. The scanner is last inline as there is only one scsi port on the unit. There is also a parallel and a serial port on the scanner.
Boot_WB --> Is the length of scsi external units too long? I don't know, but in my experience there aren't any hard and fast rules, just general guidelines. If it works, great. If not, reconfigure and try again.
I'm using the shortest scsi cables that I can find. Also swapped cables, cdrom and zip drive around dozens of times. with the zip and cdrom and cables, the cahin is 6ft. 2ft cables and 1 foot each device. Adding the scanner pushes the length to 9 feet.
Boot_WB --> Regarding your current issues I can see a couple of possibilities:
1) Perhaps the termination power is insufficient with so many devices attached. You could activate the TERMPWR jumper on your harddrive or you zip disk (probably a good idea anyway with so many devices attached.
Would have to tear the system down and check the HD. System works great without external devices attached and the external scsi port terminated with the block.
Boot_WB --> 2) Re-reading your original post, it sounds as if you haven't tried with just the scanner attached. Perhaps this will shed some light on the weak link in your scsi chain.
System works great with just the scanner on the external port.
Boot_WB --> It sounds as if this is not a terminator - there is no reason for a terminator to have a pass-through, as by definition the terminator marks the end of the chain. Perhaps it is just a centronics <> d-sub adapter, or a male <> female adapter
It is definetly a scsi terminator. It came with the scanner packaged in a bag labled scsi terminator.
Zac67--> Make sure there's not another terminator inside the device; double termination doesn't work well.
BTW: When the terminator doesn't say 'active' it's passive.
Terminator doesn't say anything.
Thanks for the input.
I'll be looking into the TERMPWR on the HD and try to locate even shorter scsi cables. For now I'll just have to swap out the cdrom/zip chain when I need to use the scanner. Also, this A3000 has a Warp engine in which I'll be eventually adding a scsiII drive to the warp scsi device. Will be hunting for an external scsi header and hopefully bypassing the stock A3000 scsi device all together.