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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Super TWiT on March 07, 2010, 03:23:30 PM
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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?
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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 :).
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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?
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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.
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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
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.
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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
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.
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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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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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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?
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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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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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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.:)
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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 ?
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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!
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Yes, installation of the cable is very straight forward, no adapters/sex changers reguired.
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Yep, that was it all right. Put in the new cable and it worked like a charm. Amiga explorer is a wonderful piece of software. Now, I have a new problem, my icd adspeed only seems to have one setting, and a hardware switch is installed and appears to be jumpered correctly. My new thread for that is here (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?p=547115). Thanks for your help... Amiga Forever!
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Do you use the original serial.device with the AExplorer?
I recommend something like artser.device with it, speeds up the file transfers and adf writing alot.