Apower desktop PSU for A500/600/1200/cd32 are Back!

[mechy]

Could someone offer some advice here?

The SCSI card reader when attached to the Warp Engine in my A4000 reported the device as Unit 2 and a CF card directly inserted into the CF socket as being at Lun 2.  However, HDToolbox after detecting it would then hang the software.  Find Device would also report the card as being in Unit 2 at Lun 2.  I tried every combination of jumpers for the SCSI adapter on the Warp Engine and nothing allowed me to access the card to format it (always hanging after detecting it on Unit 2 Lun 2).  Using a CF adapter on my FastATA4000 I formatted the card, but the SCSI card reader still wouldn't mount it.

I then attached it to the SCSI adapter on my A2000's GVP G-Force 040 card... and it detected it at Unit 2 Lun 1 and promptly partitioned it, formatted it and mounted it on reboot.

Anyone got any ideas what I'm doing wrong with the A4000?

Cheer.

It is worth pointing out that the CF card on the SCSI card reader out-performs the SCSI hard drive on the same adapter and the CF Card mounted in an adapter attached to the Buddha:

IDE (Buddha) CF Card:  1,414,446 bytes/sec
SCSI Hard Drive:  1,601,694 bytes/sec
SCSI CF Card:  1,876,926 byes/sec

All using FFS.

Darrin,
 Your problem is very strange,as i have tested the readers on my own warpengine 040/40 and it worked flawless with both the card in the cf slot and using the pcmcia adapter to CF in the pcmcia slot. I doubt it has anything to do with it,but make sure mask and max transfer are set right for a scsi device,as some hdtoolbox defaults are not right.

Try using the warpengine  scsi tools from the warpengine floppy.Its on amiga resource if you dont have it.

If you have a active terminator,try using it at the end of the cable and unterminating the scsi reader.again doubtfull this is it.

Try using a different version of hdtoolbox ,there are a few versions known to be problematic.

last resort, you can get a pcmcia to cf adapter and use it in the pcmcia slot,this allows you to address the cf as just device "2" and no luns.

maybe try changing cf cards,not sure what cf card you use but i did the testing with the 2gb transcends i have here all was fine.


Mech

[mechy]

Hi Mechy,

Thnaks for the tips.  I'll keep on playing.  Just out of interest, how are your jumpers on your Warp Engine configured (H, J & K) and do you have the termination power enabled or disabled?

I didn't get the floppy with my used Warp Engine so I'll download it and try it.

The main card I'm using is a 2GB Transcend which I ordered from you.  I also ordered the PCMCIA adapter too, and it doesn't work with that.  I also ordered a round SCSI cable from you too which I'm using on the A4000 and I've tried it attached to different connectors.

The only differences between it working on the A2000 and not working on the A4000 are the CPU cards with teh SCSI adapters and the SCSI cables (I'm using a flat one on the A2000 and the round one on the A4000).  Now that you've mentioned cables, I'll try another cable on the A4000.  The A2000 and A4000 are both using the same Classic Workbench OS3.9 based install so they have the same HDToolbox.  Also, I have a really old Commodore 2091 SCSI card which I can shove in the A4000 and see whether that will place nice with the card reader.

If all else fails, I'm just going to leave it installed in the A2000's second floppy bay.  

Mine has:
jumper on K
NO jumper on J
jumper on H
this is for LUN scan 100ns synchronous operation with no boot delay.

you may need delays on these if the machines tries to boot before the card reader can initialize.so don't be afraid to experiment.You may try turning off synchronous operation also.

Termpower is on. the scsi card reader does not supply term power,so termination won't work without the termpower.

note on scsi, you always use the ends of the cable,never have a drive in the middle of the cable and the end hanging with free connectors. i.e. plug one end into the controller and the opposite end into the scsi device. termitate that end device.add any other devices in the middle of the cable.scsi device #'s don't matter much,as song as all devices have different #'s.

I suggest you install a clean os3.1 on the card . the 2091 would also be a good test if it has a reasonable newer rom rev. 6.6 or better i recommend,7 is best.Make sure 2091 jumpers are right..

I'm really thinking you have a mask/max transfer problem.Try the warpdrive scsi hdtools to partition and do a quick format and install a fresh wb3.1 (preferrably Commodores and not patched stuff like classicWb etc.). Check the warp engine ram also,a bad simm could cause these problems.a quick and dirty(but not gauranteed) way to check it is boot with your old setup,then copy stuff to ram just short of the 128MB(assuming u have 128MB on it). if it crashes before it gets to say 127MB you know some ram is flakey or not seated well.

[mechy]

darrin,
   did you ever find a solution to this trouble you were having??

[mechy]

It is my understanding that these SCSI card readers do not support "Hot Swapping" when installed in an Amiga.  They are still useful additions to most big box Amiga systems.  I have thought about getting one for my A4000D in Power Tower.

The PSU's that Mechy puts together are real nice.  I have one for my A600 w/ACA630 and thought about getting another for my A1200, but don't know if they output enough wattage for my Blizzard 1260 w/256mb RAM & SCSI-2 controller, plus IndivisionAGA & Subway USB controller.

Thanks for the psu cudos,i am out of them but there are some cd32 versions left. I also have 5 pin dins if you want to buy one of the cd32 psu's and a DIN connector and change the din yourself(its the same basic psu as the Apower 500/600/1200 ver) just with different a connector.


You shouldn't hotswap the card you booted from,but the other cards/slots can be hotswapped.All this depends on a scsi controller that can use reselection and has luns implemented properly. Some don't. Some only tolerate the card reader as device 0. the 2091 really needs rev7 roms to work flawless,but 6.6 does work for the most part.

mech

[mechy]

I tried the card reader on a DKB Spitfire SCSI controller card, and that combination supports hot swapping.

thanks for the report. good to know.. i wish i had time to keep a list of all tested Boards.

I tried the readers myself on a host of interfaces and accelerators before i put them out in the world..

I personally tested these under kickstart 3.1 in all cases! The list goes:

Warp engine
Cyberstorm MKII
cyberstorm MKIII(uw to 50 pin adapted)
Cyberstorm PPC (uw to 50 pin adapted)
A590 - works fine,see 2091 notes on recommended roms/jumpers.
2091 (set option jumpers for LUNS enabled) (add 1MB ram to speed 2091 up-its horrible without ram)-rev 7 roms recommended but works on 6.6
icd A2000 scsi(worked with pcmcia to cf adapter/lun 0 but buggy with luns-very old card so its probabaly the rom revision).ok when used as a HD
GVP A530 works flawless here, can boot off any lun V4.15 rom
GVP hcII+8 works fine v4.15 rom
GVP Gforce 030 - works fine 4.15 rom
Amiga 3000 works fine even with rev4 proto.NOTE:WD -04 can have trouble with multiple drives on the chain,if so upgrade to -08!
Amiga 3000T - works fine (rev -08 WD chip)-u need a working clock battery. luns must be set on in the 3000/3000t with a utility like setbatt.lha. the clock battery powers the NVram where the scsi settings are stored.
Amiga 4000T works flawless(set dip switches for luns on)
4091 scsi works fine-latest rev 7 roms recommended-set dip switches for luns on)
Dkb cobra 030 for A1200 - external scsi case to dkb external scsi,works fine.
Blizzard 1230IV scsi works fine
Blizzard 1260 scsi works fine
IVS Vector for A2000(i use 3,1 amiga roms) - works fine
IVS trumpcard/pro - worked,but i cant recall if luns did,lost my notes ;(

Other Notes:
Its a tight fit in some of the A500 sidecars like gvp 530,590,etc! since these have screw holes that line up with floppy mountings,only 2 can be used in the A530 to mount it.The A530 fan may interfere with the pcd-50B.
the pcd-50B top cover can be popped off and may give enough clearance.

If you have the scsi controllers set correct for luns,but you aren't seeing them,HDtoolbox is probably the culprit.Go into the Icon info and make sure these tool types are set:
SCSI_DEVICE_NAME=
SCSI_MAX_ADDRESS=6
SCSI_MAX_LUN=4

some cases you may need to add:

XT_NAME=SCSI

This enables HDtoolBox to look for all LUNS(logical unit numbers).Luns are used to map the other 4 card slots under the same scsi ID instead of taking up all your available scsi id's.

Those of you who had to set the pcd-50b reader to device 0 to make it work are finding this out. in many cases,if you also have a HD in the system,that hard drive was setup with hdtoolbox and its old default tool type settings(only scan to device 2 and no luns). HDtools has set that particular drive to say it was the last device on the chain-the reason for this is faster booting..When that happens if the HD is a scsi ID before the pcd-50b it will not scan past your hard drive.To fix this set hdtools tooltypes as above,and go in and load the HD partition,the resave it and it should fix this( it now says scan to device 6 and lun5). If you have the pocd as device 0 and the hd as say device 2,then this does not happen,because the pcd-50b is scanned before the HD.

I hope this makes sense and doesn't cause more confusion

It took a bit of head scratching to figure out why the heck that was happening.

Mech

[mechy]

:furious::furious::furious: Don't even has how many times i did that in the ~200 odd psu's i soldered .:furious::furious::furious:

good thing no one was around to hear me cussing.

btw, theres 1 more cd32 psu on the cart. i didn't realize i had it..

i have kept 10 unmodded ones back for me and for any warranty purposes.

sorry to hear you had trouble with the connector melting, theres a fine line there.. use a 25W iron or less and just barely tin your leads with solder, it will make it go better, if you have a flux pen add a bit to the din sockets.work fast but make sure u have a good connection, especially on the 5v one!

Mech

[mechy]

I'll get it shipped out to you Monday morning nate

thanks,
 Mech

[mechy]

Link to buy not working

sorry, these have long been sold out never to be made again

i do have a few of the ApowerII cd-32 psu's left however. $69+sh.
Unfortunately Europe/UK shipping has gotten pretty expensive.
Mech