**Need Setup HELP** with Classic Amiga 2000 HARD DISK (Bridgeboard)

[wbrejnia]

I did a search in my area Kijiji.

Found WebSite. (Thought it was a seller, but some kind of Search Engine)

Anything here useful for me

http://reduto.ca/Amiga%202000?p=scb&gclid=CIaklNjn0tECFdi6wAodOLUANg&search=Amiga+2000

** Never mind, it's just a search front for Ebay and places *
 
 But hey.   Isn't this the Card I have??
 
 http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Western-Digital-Disk-Drive-Controller-WD1002A-27X-ships-worldwide/151135715827?_trksid=p2050601.c100085.m2372&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D35909%26meid%3D6c26b0ca2f004291a1594ab724393169%26pid%3D100085%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D192079037730%26clkid%3D2018258828725410600&_qi=RTM2247628

[wbrejnia]

Darkage.

So what does no autoboot mean exactly.?
The amiga will power up. I'll need to put in a Workbench disk into Floppy Drive.

Then do something to boot the Amiga off the Hard drive.

Correct?  Or something else.

[wbrejnia]

Looks like a PC ISA card which you can only use with the bridgeboard in emulation mode ?

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/a2386sx

Past discussion about it http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4322

For regular amiga disk controller if no autoboot, then you need to use floppies to boot into WB and load the drivers for the controller. If it had autoboot then it would have boot code within onboard ROMS so no floppy startup required.

Yikes. That's almost as hard as me figuring out my Hard Drive Access problem.

Time to get back on the original track which is....

Figure if I can get access to my HD (somehow). Trying the Workbench disk rebuild sounds like my best effort at this point. (IT may work!!)

Wow time has flown. It's 4am here in Canada (Toronto).
Till tomorrow.

Thanks everyone.

[wbrejnia]

One last question so I can sleep knowing I sent this out, and I'll be prepared to get some progress tomorrow.

CLONING THE BROKEN (Workbench disk for my Amiga) STEPS:

Remember I'm a Rookie, but can learn fast as I go along....

1) I make a new Workbench disk (Hopefully same version of Workbench)
2) I copy over as many files as I can from my OLD Workbench disk to the New Workbench disk. (Overwriting them, or Delete and Copy)

3) If some give read errors, they won't copy
4) What files should I be targeting from the Old Workbench disk (with hope that I can get this Hard Disk to recognize)

*** Will also try one of the Disk Recovery tools on that workbench disk (but less reading is best to keep it alive). **
*** I do have a couple of Workbench disks labelled as for this setup, so might have to use both to get the files I need **

Of course all above will be done painfully slow, so I'll work on ensure that cabling is correct between the Controller and the HD.

All above steps seem right?
 
 ** OH one question to save me time, and stress on amiga. It there a keyboard sequence to reboot it to try workbench disks ** Right now I power off and on **

[wbrejnia]

Question on SCSI interface connectors (MAY HAVE Plenty of SCSI Drives)

I just remembered something....

Since I was a SUN administrator years ago at work (before SUN Equip. got replaced). I built many SUN Systems, including RAID Storage, etc.

At work in my Storage Room I have a ton of SCSI Drives in a box (at least 10-30).

If I buy that card [COMMODORE AMIGA GVP Impact A2000-HC+8 Series II Rev II A2000, A3000, A4000] on Ebay will one of those SCSI Drives work with this Card.



My point is I'm not sure what kind of Interface Connector those SCSI Drives have. I assume there are many generations and Rev Versions of Signalling (But SCSI may have some standards).

Regardless of the connector, would there be a conversion cable to make them work?

I would have to drive to my Storage Room which is about a hour away (To have a look at them).

[wbrejnia]

When you say "whole can of worms". Do you mean I couldn't hook up a drive Larger than 4GB? Or just couldn't use more than 4GB of that larger drive? (but could still hook it up to work).

[wbrejnia]

Working on the Workbench disk today.

I'm getting sidetracked with this A2000 HD future thing (ie SCSI)

I have 4 projects on the go, and the A2000 Wasn't on that list.
I was clearing my workbench for other projects when I powered up the A2000 to see if it still worked (Big BLACK HOLE mistake).

Here is the project I need to finish. Custom Doser system for my Fish Tanks. (Ardiuno Mega). HW built/Wired(75%), SW Coding (75%).

Fish tanks are waiting for me to finish it. Once done automation will give me more time to play with the A2000.





Other projects on my TO DO LIST:

- A Raspberry PI Project Fish Tank Controller Interface (Linux)
- SDK project for COZMO the Robot for my son to learn programming (Python/Andriod)

[wbrejnia]

What is KickStart on the Amiga if you have not listed? That is maybe limiting fact. I will check.

I have 3 KickStart chips.

2x) Original KickStart 1.2 and a Spare.
1x) KickStart 1.3 (Inside A2000 now). I put in a couple years ago when trying to get things working. Also I did this to see the Newer Workbench for fun.

Should I put back the Original 1.2 to make it the Original A2000? (Could the CHIP upgrade to 1.3 be causing my current issues?)
If I do that, I'd take the opportunity to remove the old Original nMH Battery (it hasn't leaked but it's a ticking time bomb).

[wbrejnia]

BACK TO THE Hard Drive Controller and Hard Drive on PC side of Amiga

Let me clarify and get back to the original plan.

If I understand correctly. That HD controller [Western Digital WD1002A-27X] hooked up to my [RLL or MFM/ST ST-506] DH-drive has primarily nothing to do with the AMIGA side (other than being linked thru the Bridgeboard, when it get's exposed to the Amiga side)

So the clarification is when I boot the PC on the Amiga off the 5.25" disk, I don't have the original disk I booted years ago.

What I did it I got some 5.25" floppies and formatted a DOS boot disk using that 486 PC.

Thus I put that plain old DOS boot into the Floppy drive in the Amiga, and it boots DOS.

But it's just PLAIN DOS boot. No drivers for the controller (nothing).

Is it possible I really need some driver to load on that DOS boot to enable the controller. Once the controller activated, the Hard Disk might be recognized and things will be visible to PC and then thru Bridgeboard to the AMIGA.

So it my roadblock is the fact that the HD Controller isn't activated in DOS? (I assume it doesn't just get recognized with On board firmware and picked up on the PC side Bus as a available Drive)

[wbrejnia]

Also be aware there can be reset issues when depending on Arduino Mega to operate continuously for weeks and months.

Thanks for the info. Is the Reset A Mega Issue or Generally with Any Ardiuno like Uno?

I already built a mini version of this Controller, and it's been running over a year.
Resets if they happen are not a problem. The code is written to handle resets very safely (This is after all dosing a fish tank and 50ml too much WILL WIPE OUT $2000 worth of corals in minutes). Default after reset is STOP and Wait for human intervention. (Plus I wrote in many safety measures (Max Limits), and feedback via PH probe).
There is a battery RTC Battery Clock module that keep the time/date for obvious reasons.
IT WILL BE 110% safety proof and extensively tested in a bucket for a while before 1 drop of chemical goes into my tanks.

[wbrejnia]

A vanilla DOS disk could not pick up a PC hard drive without the means to access it. This was put into BIOS on a real PC. On a Bridgeboard, the BIOS was fixed I think. You could not change it? Or maybe you can hack the thing, I don't know.

But I would have thought a PC hard drive and controller of the time would have shipped with a floppy. PC or Amiga. Only later were controllers added to motherboards on real PCs.
[/B]

I don't have that original disk for the controller. And as you say the Vanilla DOS disk isn't picking up the Hard Drive since nothing loaded.
I just contacted this company that sells the controller and they say they have drivers for the stuff they sell. http://www.radwell.ca/Buy/WESTERN%20DIGITAL/WD1002A27X?redirect=true (Wow $245 for that controller, Crazy)

I'll also dig around the web to see if I can find a dos driver/disk for the controller (It think this is my hurdle to solve the Hard Drive access)
So far I found this which is useful (but no SW) http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/hard-disk-floppy-controllers/U-Z/WESTERN-DIGITAL-CORPORATION-Two-RLL-ST506-412-driv-219.html (mentions a DEBUG Utility to access Low Level Format Program)

** Seems like I need to get dlgmaker.exe to make a Driver Disk ** (but this looks like a Virus/Trojan)
I have to be really careful. Many of these SO CALL DRIVER download places try to get you to install Crap. (Will use a spare JUNK PC for trying this stuff)

[wbrejnia]

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE (Found some DISKS)

I gave up on finding Driver on the WEB.

So I decided to dig thru all the floppies and found these.

The one on the FAR right looks promising. Long Shot but keeping my fingers crossed.

[wbrejnia]

WD1002-27X HD Controller & Octagon ST-506 Hard Drive
 
 Comparing the info I have and the way things are connected, I'm 90% sure the cabling is correct.
 
 Here an update to all the specs I have.
 
 
 
 Next is the DOS driver investigation.

[wbrejnia]

Western Digital DISK CONTENTS (Looking very Promising)

Check this out. I was searching the Internet (no luck) for DLGMAKER.exe which makes a WD Disk.

This may be the disk (Contents of Disk #3 in the Photo)



Now all I need to do is copy over to a 5.25" for the Amiga DOS Drive, and try running some of these.
 
 Will check out the two .txt file to see what they say.

[wbrejnia]

Almost Giving up.  (Couldn't get access to 5.25" drive, and now Lost C: Hard Drive on 486).  
 
 The first problem I faced is I could only see the 3.5" floppy, but not the 5.25".  I assumed first was a: and 2nd b:  (so that limits my ablity to create a 5.25" DOS disk)
 
 The 5.25" did work a few years ago since I was able to create the one Boot Disk I have.
 
 This computer seems to boot differently each time. Can't breath near it.
 
 So I played around with cables, and things are sensitive.
 
 I now can't see the C: drive.  Only D: is visible (even from BIOS)
 
 Progress is going backwards, and I'm losing energy and hope.
 
 The Western Digital Disk Does boot by itself, and here is what the program looks like.  Seem to be geared toward ATA drive, so seems hopeless.
 
 
 

[wbrejnia]

Some cable wiggling fixed the C: drive. 486 is back up.

But still can't see the 5.25" disk as B: drive. ( I vagely remember there was some trick to see the B: Drive. Like disconnecting the A: drive. What's weird is the BIOS show the 3.5" a: drive as a 5.25" a: drive.)
 
 The only hint I have is doing a "dir a:" or "dir b:" gives me listing of the same 3.5" disk drive.
 
 From Windows there is only an a: drive.