Amiga.org

Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: dangermouse on March 13, 2010, 07:17:32 AM

Title: A1200 HDD light not working
Post by: dangermouse on March 13, 2010, 07:17:32 AM

Hello all

Dug my A1200 out of the closet and noticed that the HDD light is not working. I opened her up and checked the connector was on the mobo properly (it was) and check the wires and they appear fine.

I then opened up my other 1200 and borrowed the LEDs from that one to use in the suspect 1200 and the same thing..no HDD LED even though the HDD LED works fine in the 'other' 1200 with the very same LEDs.

So...I'm wondering if this is a known fault with 1200s? The system has an Indivision AGA installed, BPPC and CF card as a hard drive. The system itself is running fine..boots up into 3.9 without any trouble at all. The only thing not working is the HDD LED which, although not critical by any means, is damn annoying.

Can anyone shed any light on what this might be?

Many thanks

Title: Re: A1200 HDD light not working
Post by: mfilos on March 13, 2010, 07:55:45 AM

I think that it's a common problem with some hard drives and some CF adapters.
I had issues with my led also using one 60GB 2.5 IDE HD and when I changed HD and CF in the future it was blinking just fine.

You can check one solution here:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=35893

Title: Re: A1200 HDD light not working
Post by: Damion on March 13, 2010, 07:58:08 AM

I had the same issue once with an ebay A600 motherboard. IIRC, the LED signal from Gayle goes through one of the little 3-pin SMD transistors somewhere on the board, in my case it was faulty and replacing it fixed the problem. (I suspect something was connected wrongly to the LED header.) You could start with the Gayle pinout and go from there (that's what I did anyway).

Title: Re: A1200 HDD light not working
Post by: dangermouse on March 13, 2010, 09:57:36 AM

You're absolutely right mfilos. Connected the pins and the HDD LED works. Funny thing is the 1200 that worked fine has got exactly the same CF adapter that the non-working one does...so it seems that with those adapters (identical to the one in your forum link) some work and some don't.

Thanks all for the replies..problem solved :)

Title: Re: A1200 HDD light not working
Post by: mfilos on March 13, 2010, 10:06:43 AM

Yeah it's a "bump your head to the wall" typical AMIGA issue :P

Everyone had issues with no reason... That's why we love Amiga aren't we? It's a living organism LOL.

I'm glad you had your problem solved mate.

Cheers

Title: Re: A1200 HDD light not working
Post by: Tajmaster on March 13, 2010, 10:26:44 AM

Glad you got it fixed. For anyone who tried it the EAB guys way and didnt have any luck, have a look at this thread where I had the same issue but had to solder the wire slightly differently:
 
http://amibay.com/showthread.php?t=4565

Title: Re: A1200 HDD light not working
Post by: ferix on March 13, 2010, 01:25:27 PM

I have to say that the problem is not the adapter, but the CF/HD.
Activity light is driven by the HD in IDE standard.