Amiga 2000

[mrmoonlight]

i have been following along and just wanted to make sure of one thing.

Mrmoonlight, check for a jumper that says AUTO and DIS by it, it may not be easy to pick out in the picture. make sure the jumper block is set to auto side. if it is not the scsi device wont be loaded from rom and you wont be able to use the hd.

Another important thing, on scsi cables, always use the 2 end connectors, never leave a part of the cable hanging loose not connected to anything.

I am confident we can get this working without you having to buy more hardware(unless hardware is dead). scsi is really superb on lesser powered systems.

 
With the above correct, do you have a way to load sysinfo from a floppy and look in DEVICES to see if scsi.device is there?

Hi if I move the jumper from DIS which is what it was set at,to Auto then the floppy drives don't work and the screen is blank but I can hear the HD

[mrmoonlight]

I didn't say anything original. I just don't want him to loose hope. The A2091 really is one of the better peripheral interfaces and it is a Commodore original, if that's important.

I started out with A500s and then A3000. When I later began updating my first A2000, I was put off by the fact that there was a Kickstart rom AND scsi controller (A2091) rom that had to be considered (usually non-issues with 500s and 3000s). After getting up to speed, the A2000s may now be my favorite everything-in-one box Amiga. My A500 and 3000 have sidecars, auxiliary boxes, and lots of cables and PSes to make complete systems.

Hi have no fear my friend ,it took me 5yrs to get my A1200 and A600 working well and surfing the net and they are now both magnificent machines to use and a great joy ,so I cant let the A2000 get away .,best wishes Brian.

[mrmoonlight]

The jumper should be on Auto. I suspect it was on DIS because the previous owner it was mentioned had an accelerator in there that the drives were connected to. I assume they disabled the SCSI boot function on the A2091 and were just using it as a ram expansion, or something.

Flip it to Auto and power up with no drives connected. It might take a while because it's attempting to scan the SCSI bus, but eventually you should get a "Insert Workbench disk" screen.

Also try accessing the "both mouse buttons" early startup menu - just to make sure it's showing up there, and reported as working correctly.

Hi with no drives attached and the jumper  on AUTO the insert  workbench screen comes up and if I go into boot options it said DFO Enabled ,and DF1 Enabled

[mrmoonlight]

This machine has Kickstart 3.1 ROM, correct? What does it say under "Expansion Board Diagnostic" in the early startup menu?

Also, what ROM version is on the A2091? (two chips, near the top, labeled BOOT ROMS U12 & U13)

u12 v.592 288.c 390508-02

u13 v.5 92 390508-02
and Diagnostic both working
 and 3.1 roms

[mrmoonlight]

What happens when you set the board to auto with the hard drive and cable disconnected (nothing attached to the board)?

Hi the workbench  screen comes up

[mrmoonlight]

Brian, just for the heck of it, if you're a member over at EAB, you can download and create a bootable ADF of SysInfo v3.24 from the Zone - you have to logon to get the file. It may help since your floppys are working.

Just asking again... what ROM version is on the A2091? Sorry if you already answered.

u 12 v.592 288c
 39050902
 
 u13    39050802

[mrmoonlight]

Okay, so, the 5.92 ROM's in the A2091 are pretty old. I can't remember the exact details, but it may be that they don't work with Kickstart 3.1. It sounds like the card itself is working, though, since it shows up in the Early Startup menu, correct?

You can get a set of the latest 7.0 boot ROM's over on Amibay for around $20, or they show up on ebay pretty frequently. Might not hurt to have "the latest and greatest".

Like the others have suggested though, download a copy of SysInfo and try running that. It might help avoid ambiguity if you're able to post pics of some screenshots (even just point a camera phone at the screen might help, LOL).

Ok thank you

[mrmoonlight]

Man, I wish you still had your webpage. I needed some Rev. 7 ROM's for another project and had to order them all the way from Europe. Got anything else you're holding back on? lol

After 7 pages of comments on this thread I can't seem to get away from, I think we've hit the nail on the head. I don't recall Brian posting what model or size hard drive he's trying to use, but putting my Sherlock Holmes hat on, I'd say that that's maybe why the 2091 isn't seeing the drive attached to it now. It's old ROM version isn't working with a more modern drive? I bet you get these upgrade ROM's might just solve your problems!

Hi I hope you are right but I do have a harddrive that was fitted when I bought the A2000 which is spinning up ,but I am afraid that does not show up, and that one is a DSAS-3360 350MB Its the one that appeared dead but came back to life probably because the jumpers were not right ,best wishes Brian. ps I have pm mechy

[mrmoonlight]

I haven't searched for the revision history of your version 5.92 rom for the A2091 (you can probably find it!), but, I'd be willing to bet that it dates back to the early days of hard drives, before 2.1Gig or maybe even before 350MB sizes were available or common. Remember, it took V7.0 to allow enough address range to access drives larger than 1Gig (1000MB). Besides, you described the drive as "IBM DSAS-3540 84G8396 Apple ROM 350MB 3.5 50 Pin SCSI Hard Drive". It appears that drive was latter brought over from a Mac (and interfaced to the accelerator?) by the previous owner. I really doubt it was the drive originally sold with the A2091.

On the bright side, after you get the new roms, you will have 2 drives that can be run in your A2000 (if there is space in the machine, and, you jumper each to unique SCSI addresses). Also, don't be too fast to reformat that 350MB drive, it probably has some applications that you don't already have.

Just for grins, did you get an accelerator with this A2000? Which one? Do you intend to re-install CD drive? What other cards, peripherals came with it?

Hi and no the Accelerator did not come with it and I want to reconnect the cd player ,and that should be fun lol  and no other boards present but if she will run I will start building her up with extra accessories and mem ,and maybe a nice accelerator lol  and a huge thank you to everyone for there help I truly appreciate it ,very best wishes Brian.:laughing::laughing:

[mrmoonlight]

Hi,well I have got my roms on the way from mechy,i also have a TrueIDE  from Amigakit bescause I am still toying with the idea of the Buddha when ones available ,I have CF card drives in both My A1200 and A600 and they both are extremely fast,just need to make my mind up
                          and a huge thank you to every one for there help ,I am truly grateful to you all ,very best wishes Brian.

[mrmoonlight]

if you need rev. 7 roms i have some.

Hi received Roms safely thank you so much ,I have not fitted them yet ,but I will in a few days time when I finish work for the Christmas  holidays .so thanks again very best wishes Brian.

[mrmoonlight]

Hey Brian.... what's going on with your A2K? Need us to send over some techs?

Hi ,lol not yet my friend ,just that I have to break off for a short while to repair the plumbing that I keep putting off lol I hate plumbing which is strange really as I have been a Heating engineer for a few years ,but back to my A2000 shortly ,so I will be sure to let you all know ,thanks for the offer of techs ,lol but I am sure I must be moving up the ranks with all the knowledge you guys have passed on to me lol ,best wishes Brian.  ps Dig the pic lol lol

[mrmoonlight]

Hi just a quick update ,whilst I take a break from plumbing ,I managed to fit the roms ok ,and booted up with just the harddrive and one floppy connected and I am afraid no drive showed up ,I even tried just the harddrive as that has os 3.5 but nothing again only the floppy screen ,so I think I will buy a Buddha from Amigakit  as I already have a new TrueIDE and loads of cf cards which I would prefer ,giving the noise that one of the other drives makes which is being returned ,I am not sure this option is the best one, but both my A1200 and A600 run off cf cards and they run wonderfully well ,so as soon as Amigakit have sorted me a Buddha out ,I will buy one ,best wishes Brian:)

[mrmoonlight]

I haven't been following this thread closely, but I wouldn't be giving up so easily on your SCSI setup. SCSI is a faster solution for slow computers, and your A2000 definitely falls into this category. Plus, learning all this stuff will become useful to you, and it's all part of the experience.
There's plenty of people here to help you, so there's no need to worry about getting stuck on anything.

Hi thanks for your reply ,and you are right I have had loads of help which I appreciate and I have learned quite a lot along the way and enjoyed it no end ,but its not a case of giving up ,I really would like a Buddha to go with my new TrueIDE from Amigakit  and that would still leave me with options ,as I still need an accelerator ,which reminds me you helped me no end with setting the accelerator up on my Amiga 600 which I was so grateful for and she sure is quick now and works a treat ,best wishes Brian.

[mrmoonlight]

An IDE interface decreases the skill set required to get a storage drive (CF or HDD) working on an Amiga, but it is in no way the "Magic Bullet." I would suggest that once you have a working A2000, go back and revisit the SCSI issue; retro computers are also a way of learning something new from something old (and please, in that line, the space comes after the comma -- some of us have OCD).

 Hi I have every intention at having another go at the SCSI issue; but having purchased one  SCSI  drive which was extremely expensive and the other came with the A 2000 as being both very noisy, I feel that my way forward may be with the Cf card, and after seeing how new technology turned my A12. and A600 in to two beautiful joy to use retro computers whilst still retaining the retro and keeping the Amiga alive, I don't see this as a cop out but a means of continuing a wonderful hobby even with limited knowledge, as you must agree , I certainly have, so a Magic bullet I don't look for but the Magic of using all my Amiga's is more than I could ever have expected when I first started off, and I owe a huge thanks to folk on this forum for that, so on we go, very best wishes Brian.