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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: cv643d on July 23, 2007, 11:57:41 AM

Title: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: cv643d on July 23, 2007, 11:57:41 AM
Hi guys.

I got this A4000 last week chock full of problems! The latest problem I was going to fix is that no floppy drives work on the computer. DF0: shows up on the desktop as "df0:???" even if the floppy drive is removed or connected. Any external drives do not work at all as they do not show up on the desktop.

I was told the 8520 chips where burnt and I got replacements from Vesalia today which clipped in the sockets easily however the problem is the same! So is there any other chip that needs to be replaced or can the floppy drive be disabled completely to remove the annoying df0:??? on the desktop?

Thanks!
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: motorollin on July 23, 2007, 11:58:59 AM
Floppy cable in backwards? Other than that not sure. If you just want to hide it you can do this in 3.9, or if you want to use 3.1 use GhostBuster from Aminet.

--
moto
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: cv643d on July 23, 2007, 12:04:27 PM
No the floppy cable is connected the right way, very weird. Whats the point of having an Amiga if you can not add four floppy drives?  :lol:
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: amiga92570 on July 23, 2007, 02:34:51 PM
what cable are you using? Try drive jumpered to df0 on the connector without the twisted cable and j351 jumpered.
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: cv643d on July 23, 2007, 05:06:14 PM
I am using a straight cable without twist and it is jumpered as df0.

Strange.
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: Matt_H on July 23, 2007, 06:24:35 PM
Try a different floppy cable.
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: gdanko on July 23, 2007, 06:26:40 PM
On the 4000 you have to use the middle connector.. I think... Try using the other connector end. I had a similar problem on my 4000. Swapping the cable connector resolved it for me.
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: CLS2086 on July 23, 2007, 06:43:30 PM
Hum, i had a bad patch in the os on my a1200 that give me a similar problem !
So can you boot with your floppy drive when all harddrive are disconnected ?
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: cv643d on July 23, 2007, 09:06:40 PM
Aha, that may be the problem since I do not have the original floppy cable, I am using a PC one as a substitute.

No the floppy is completely dead with or without HD connected. And it shows up as "???" on the desktop if it is connected or not.

I am going to try new cable tomorrow, I have had so much problem with this Amiga, I think it is a good idea if people do not store expensive A4000 towers with PPC cards in a moist cellar :cry:  :-)
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: A4000_Mad on July 23, 2007, 09:33:24 PM
Hmmm...Well I've just pulled the cable off of my internal floppy drive and got DF0:???? on the screen. So it looks like you could have a faulty cable, a wrongly connected cable or a faulty floppy drive. It is easy to connect the cable wrongly by having it too far to the left or right and missing some pins. Likewise, you can have the cable too low and miss a whole row of pins.

In normal use jumper J352 is set to INT and jumper J351 has no jumper on it. An external floppy drive connected to the position labelled FLOPPY at the rear of the A4000 works fine, even if I do not have the lead connected to my internal floppy drive. The external drive on the position FLOPPY is DF2 by the way.

DF1 is a second internal drive connected to the same lead as DF0: and you adjust the jumpers accordingly. You put a jumper on J351 if your second internal floppy drive is 880K, but leave the jumper off if it is 1.76MB

Yeah I'm also looking at the A4000 User's Guide for that last bit :-D
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: cv643d on July 23, 2007, 10:10:47 PM
Cool!

Thanks I am going to post my results here when I am finished testing!
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: A4000_Mad on July 23, 2007, 10:21:31 PM
@ cv643d

I've been doing some more playing and I've got something you might want to try at your end.

Remove the cable from your internal floppy drive and set jumper J352 to EXT. An external floppy drive put on the position labelled FLOPPY at the rear of the A4000 now becomes DF0: and I can boot into a bootable floppy disk inserted into it. I can also boot into hard drive and get an icon for a disk inserted into the *new* *external* DF0: :-)

(Oh.. J351 is still left open by the way)
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: cv643d on July 23, 2007, 10:32:48 PM
I am definitely going to try that later today! :-)

(busy with a clients website at 23.32 in the night :-(   )
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: cv643d on July 23, 2007, 11:47:01 PM
OK now I tried it!

J351 is open
J352 is external

Disconnected internal floppy.
And got an external drive in the floppy port on the backside.

And I still get the same problem! "df0:???" on the desktop.

Maybe the sockets for the 8520 are having some contact issues with the chips?
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: A4000_Mad on July 24, 2007, 08:57:33 AM
Well I think we can rule out it being a simple faulty cable or floppy drive  :-(

Erm....When switching on while keeping both buttons held down do you see the usual

ENABLED - DF0   priority 5 ADOS trackdisk-0

in 'Boot Options....' of the 'Amiga Early Startup Contol'?


Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: cv643d on July 24, 2007, 10:44:42 AM
Yes exactly like that in the boot options.... Going to take a closer look at my system tonight!
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: motorollin on July 24, 2007, 10:46:07 AM
Does it work if you boot from a floppy?

--
moto
Title: Re: A4000: df0:??? on desktop, how can I solve it?
Post by: cv643d on July 24, 2007, 11:05:16 AM
No that is the problem :-) .. I mean the floppy is completely dead. Ok it gets power but the drive light never reacts and nothing happens. Amiga appear as if no floppy is connected whatsoever.