A2000 SCSI Card Reader

[k4lmp]

Ok, so I have one of the Mechware SCSI CF readers.  I got it to work fine with my A2091.  It will even work with LUNs enabled, as I have had a CF plugged directly into the CF slot, and the bootable one in the PCMCIA slot.  I can go in and partition, and do everything to the one in the CF slot, no problem.  Just another drive.  So, here is my question,  my A2000 has had the battery taken out.  So, if, when I enable LUNs on the A2091, if I go into HDtools and do a save changes on the drive, it has to scan the bus EVERY time I boot up.  Could it be a no battery issue, or the fact that nothing is plugged into the slot itself, hence showing up "unknown"?  I just wonder, if you had an actual media card of the correct type in each slot on the reader, each was recognized, and did a save changes in HDtoolbox, if it would boot up without scanning the bus every time.  Or, is it the fact that I don't have a battery?  I have really learned a lot about SCSI in the last little bit, but it is fun.

Jeff

One more thing, it WILL boot from the regular CF slot just fine, with nothing in the PCMCIA slot, the only thing is it has to scan the bus every time, so it takes forever to boot.  At least it will on my machine.

[Darrin]

It shouldn't be a battery issue, that only applies to the SCSI settings on the A3000's built-in SCSI.

It is more likely an issue with the old SCSI card as the built-in SCSI on my A2000's CPU card boots like a greased whippet.

Here's some jumper settings:

JP1: Memory Size
 0K: Set for no memory.
 512K: Set for 512K of RAM.
 1M: Set for 1M of RAM.
 2M: Set for 2M of RAM.

JP2: Autoboot Enable
 AUTO: Set to enable autobooting from the A2091.
 DIS: Set to disable autobooting from the A2091.

JP3: Interrupt Select
 INT6: Select interrupt 6.
 INT2: Select interrupt 2.

JP5: Options
 Option 1: LUN Enable. When jumpered, enables scanning for Logical
 Unit Numbers numbers at each physical SCSI address.
 Default value: Off.
 Option 2: Time-Out Length. When jumpered, enables longer time-out
 for slow-starting drives. Default: Off. (Note: When on,
 this jumper disables parity during the message in phase.)
 Option 3: Reserved. Factory default: Off.

JP201: Factory use only.



Note the JP5 option 2 "Time Out Length".  Try changing that.


.

[Matt_H]

I've got the same issue on my 2000/2091. It polls all seven unit numbers and all 7 LUNs on each unit. Just takes forever to get through! I think setting the long-spin-up time jumper will make it take ever longer.

[mechy]

Ok, so I have one of the Mechware SCSI CF readers.  I got it to work fine with my A2091.  It will even work with LUNs enabled, as I have had a CF plugged directly into the CF slot, and the bootable one in the PCMCIA slot.  I can go in and partition, and do everything to the one in the CF slot, no problem.  Just another drive.  So, here is my question,  my A2000 has had the battery taken out.  So, if, when I enable LUNs on the A2091, if I go into HDtools and do a save changes on the drive, it has to scan the bus EVERY time I boot up.  Could it be a no battery issue, or the fact that nothing is plugged into the slot itself, hence showing up "unknown"?  I just wonder, if you had an actual media card of the correct type in each slot on the reader, each was recognized, and did a save changes in HDtoolbox, if it would boot up without scanning the bus every time.  Or, is it the fact that I don't have a battery?  I have really learned a lot about SCSI in the last little bit, but it is fun.

Jeff

One more thing, it WILL boot from the regular CF slot just fine, with nothing in the PCMCIA slot, the only thing is it has to scan the bus every time, so it takes forever to boot.  At least it will on my machine.

This is a sad tradeoff with the old 2091. It is not the most intelligent card. the only way to probably get around this is to use the pcmcia adapter with a CD card in the PCMCIA slot and turn luns off. You will have only this 1 slot useable this way. Not ideal,but good enough if you want a quick hard drive.

You might try a old gvp hcII+8 card if you have one.it may be slightly better if the gvp rom is 4.15 or so..

Most good(i.e. probabaly not apollo products) scsi on accelerators will not suffer from these problems.

There may be a way to set a "last drive" tag in the rdb of the last drive in the chain but im not sure how.. iirc os3.9 hd tools can do this,but forgive me if my memory is wrong and i am think of classic os4.x hdtoolbox. If you can set last ID it may then only scan luns to the last drive(say ID #2) and then boot instead of having to go thru them all.

Using SmartFileSystem is usually also a bit quicker(anything but ffs .

Just a hint, always set all your scsi devices starting from 0. the scsi bus scans from 0-up.

[mechy]

option 1 jumper should be set only. The pcd-50B is a parity device so do not jumper option 2. The card reader needs parity. This jumper would have no bearing with the problem he is seeing.

mech

[Darrin]

option 1 jumper should be set only. The pcd-50B is a parity device so do not jumper option 2. The card reader needs parity. This jumper would have no bearing with the problem he is seeing.

mech

Cheers.  That will teach me to guess.