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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Richter on August 18, 2004, 01:31:06 PM
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Hi.
I have built a small box contatining a 2 gb. HDD hooked up to a standard PC/ATX power supply. From this one i have a 2,5" to 3,5" IDE-cable running to the internal IDE-controller of my A1200.
The problem is, that when i plug it in, u could hear the HDD spinning and then stopping, then the A1200 boots to floppy, starts WB3.1 (wich is always mounted in my external DD) and then nothing more.
There is no HDD read-sound, nor any more spinning of the drive other than 1/5th of a second at the power up.
HDToolbox seems to find nothing... So i can´t format and/or partition.
The HDD LED on the Amiga is constantly lit, wich in my mind indicates a problem. Long time since i've done installations like this so i don´t remember what problem though.
The cable is connected with RED Pin1 down, and the 4 (empty) power-supply inputs up towards the back of the desktop case.
The other way around causes a lock-up (for obvious reasons).
Any suggestions?
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@Richter
Have you tried plugging the drive in to a PC or something to see if the drive is recognised?
I'm thinking it might be a cabling problem, fudging the communication between the Amiga's IDE interface and the drive.
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Hum,
how long is the IDE cable?
(Perhaps you could test a new cable.)
It`s not recognised when you hold down the two mouse buttons?
Have you tried connecting the HD to a PC to test?
You say the HDD LED on the Amiga is constantly lit up - how long have you left it to repair itself?
i should also mention that putting a cable in the `other way round` will sometimes blow a few chips on the HD ...
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Hmm, my only guess is that its a power issue.
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@Cyberus
hum,
you mean a PC/ATX or PC/AT issue?
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Ok. Now i've checked it and the PC recognizes the drive...
One strange thing i discovered just now is that now my mouse pointer will not move at all with the HDD plugged in.
It wasn´t like this before... When i first plugged it in...
Maybe cause i turned the unmarked cable around he wrong way in the IDE-slot once... But how could that affect mouse/kb-chips, if at all?
When i unplug the drive it works fine... However the mousebuttons work.
Somehow i am beggining to suspect my expansion board...
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I don't think its power...
I think its software (the controller), I've ran
into this type of problem a couple times myself.
I think its a controller command problem although
I have no idea how to fix it.
The command seems to tell the drive to stop instead
of start.
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Some pictures of the installation, just to double-check i made no errors:
http://hem.passagen.se/tofflan1/Amiga/
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Hum,
that`s strange,
i usually place the red wire (on IDE cable) the other way round (next to power in) on HD..
Double check red=pin one (on mobo as well)
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The red usually goes on the same side as power connector where pin1 is. If the drive has jumpers, doublecheck the jumper settings. Some IDE drives have a jumper for master/slave/single drive and won't work properly if the jumper is set wrong.
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Hum,
no jumpers set = master, for a quantum (i think)
so that looks ok...
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I also discovered it works a little more smooth if i grounded PS_ON (green) for the ATX power supply. More stable power. And MORE power to say the least.
But it doesn´t solve my problem...
However, if i install the cable in my Amiga IDE with the red cable on pin1 (furthest down?) and then twist it halfway around, so i get the red closest to the Power Input on the HDD wich i guess is what is suggested above(?), the mouse error disappears. But i the Amiga still doesn't find the disk...
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Possibly the drive isn't spinning up in time for AmigaOS to see it. That used to be a common problem in the 90s. AFAIR a fix included cutting one of the IDE cable wires...not that I would suggest that.
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OH, I would!
imagine your defusing a thermonuclear bomb...
now, CUT THE RED CABLE...
(but the HD should still be picked up when you do a soft reset though...)
the ide cable on the mobo should have the red stripe furthest away from RF output socket, (there`s a number `1` printed on mobo)...
And the red stripe on the ide cable entering the HD ,should be
closest to the power input
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Isn't it a bad idea using a cable that long connected directly to the 1200's IDE connector? I thought that without a buffered interface there would be too much interference or not enough current, or something, for anything to work properly.
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Hmm Your IDE ribbon is backwards on the Quantum drive. Red stripe always points to the power connector. That can be dangerous as the A1200 has all surface mounted devices (except one CIA I think...) and if one blows out you're kinda screwed. The only drives that do not always follow that rule are Floppy disk drives.
-Jamie
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Hi Richter,
Welcome to Amiga Org. What is the make and model of your 2.5" hard drive? Some 2.5" hard disk drives will not work with the Amiga 1200 or 600. If your Amiga 1200 is in a PC tower case then by all means use a standard 3.5" hard drive. For some reason the Amiga 1200 does not like some of the Seagate or Western Digital hard drives, so I would recommend using a Fujitsu or Quantum drive instead. I come across hard drives all the time that I could sell to you guys cheap. :-D
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@BoingBoss
Hmm, I think Richter is using a 3.5" hdd already and my guess is there's an issue with cabling (a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adaptor cable) from the Amiga to the drive.
I've used Western Digital drives in the past with my system and had no problems whatsoever, the same is true of Fujitsu drives too.
Back to O/T.
@Richter
Did you purchase the cable with the drive, separately or did you make it yourself?
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Well...
For starters it is a Quantum drive. And secondly it is an A1200 Desktop (as seen on pictures).
One thing i don´t get (been awhile since installing hardware for my amigas) is how u could fry a circuit simply by turning the cable around the wrong way, in my setup as is suggested above? If i had a y-connector with power going straight to the 2,5"-connector and then turned it the wrong way, i would understand if at least the IDE-interface could fry. But i am using an external power supply, hooked only to the HDD and for the HDD only, that way no dangerous currents would be able to run through the IDE-cable!? The 3,5" to 2,5" HDD would only be transporting DATA!?
However, i have turned the cable around the right way now, but it still doesn´t work.
I believe it is a power error, since i don´t hear any spinning of the disk after that initial spin. I guess it does only get power when you power on the PSU and then the PSU stops giving power?
As for the cable, i got it from someone i don´t remember at an Amiga-party a year ago or so, then it has been lying around.
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Ok. Power now works ok, thanks to a switch-connector and a little soldering.
Now the disk spins, and everything looks ok. The HDD-led lights up at boot and then goes blank in WB. Looks ok. No more constant LED.
But still HDTools cannot find the disk. Nor can i see it in bootmenu.
Can it be of any importance what's on the drive now? I believe it's an NTFS-partition on it... I still believe HDTools would "see" the drive and be able to low-level format right?
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Richter wrote:
Can it be of any importance what's on the drive now? I believe it's an NTFS-partition on it... I still believe HDTools would "see" the drive and be able to low-level format right?
@Richter,
At least you're up and running power wise and you can use your system now. Okay, next step.
The 2.5" IDE interface on the A1200 supplies power for a 2.5" drive to run without having to connect any additional leads (just like in any generic laptop). If you get the cable the wrong way around then +5v is going to be fed into the wrong pin somewhere.
You report the drive works perfectly okay in a PC? If so we've narrowed the problem down slightly.
You should see the drive showing in your HDTools menu as a SCSI device as the firmware on the drive will display the manufacturer information.
The link between the drive and the Amiga is the IDE cable and IDE interface. If a PC recognises the drive then one of these has to be playing up.
Oh, and one last thing. Whatever you do, don't run a low level format of the drive. You'll kill it!
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Red cable on IDE is placed on Pin1 on the internal Amiga IDE-controller. Right next to the number 1 on the motherboard. So that works ok.
And HDD-led lighting up at boot, is in my mind proof that the IDE-cable itself works?
I've tried the drive and another drive in 2 different A1200's to make sure the IDE-interface wasn't the problem. With no luck...
So it would seem that the cable is the problem somehow... Or something in the way my diskdrives are formatted before (when they where in an AT/PC)?
I recall something called the RDB, wich would be the counterpart of the PC-HDD's MBR? Could that be causing the problem?
I also remember there was a program to fix that called RDB-install or something?
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@Richter,
Regardless of whether the drive was fitted to a PC or whatever before, your Amiga should detect the drive in the early startup screen or when using the HDToolBox utility.
The drive's manufacturer etc is stored on some firmware on the drive that isn't related to the RDB (Rigid Disk Block).
The fact that you've unsucessfully tested two other drives reveals one of two culprits...
Either the IDE interface is blown or your cable is knackered.
If it's the former then it means a new Motherboard or the purchase of a Powerflyer interface which circumnavigates the A1200's IDE socket. If it's the latter then I'd either check the Aminet for schematic of a 2.5" to 3.5" cable or purchase one from Vesalia, Power Computing or Eyetech.
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Since i've tried it in two different A1200's, a fried IDE-interface should not be the case.
Then it would be the cable then... I have ordered a new one...
Keep your fingers crossed ppl...
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@Richter
Well fingers crossed here dude.
Do let usknow how you get on, hopefully you'll be up and running in no time.
BTW, you sound like you've loads of Amiga kit there... Keep up the good work!
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Well yeah... With three A1200's, one A500+ and an A4000 u could say i have my fair amount of Amigas.
That, and an AmigaONE coming in...
But that's about as far as i can take it, before my wife goes all berxerk on me considering i have loads of other retro-electronics stashed everywhere around the house :)
Thanks for the finger-crossing btw. Tomorrow we'll know.
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I managed to hook myself up with another IdeFix'97 Adaptor instead. Thanks to Robin, a good and loyal friend, who is not a member (yet) but reads these forums every now and then.
So now everything works ok. And as a bonus i connected an old CDRom as well.