nuther cd drive problem

[tomekm]

if you don`t have 4xide adapter, use no idefix. instead use scsi.device from os3.9. it works with cd`s better than atapi.device. try it. i use it without problems for a long time. Don`t forget to use CacheCDFS!

a little q: does the short cd mount in os on your desktopA4000? is it inquired by ie. (SCSI)Mounter? If no, please check your cables, try different ones. If it does, try lowering MaxTransfer. I had a problem and the solution was to lower the MaxTransfer down to 0xFFE0. But that was on A1200...

[tomekm]

i actually see no need to use idefix if there`s no 4xIDE adpater present on system. So if it`s not needed it should not be used. I used to have atapi.device handling my cd-rom drive, unless i got OS3.5 (and later 3.9), which had updated scsi.device in Rom Update. The scsi.device provided with OS3.5/3.9 works much better than atapi.device and I strongly recommend using it. To check which version of scsi.device you have please write in shell: "version scsi.device". If it`s higher than 40.xx it is the new one. This one is being loaded by the SetPatch command, during cold boot. Then is stays resident in memory util powerdown or flush.

Check jumper setting for your hdd, or put your A4000T hdd in and then try to boot A4kD. Remember that some drives (Such as Caviars) have different settings for being Master drives and Single drive only modes. AFAIR the Caviars without any jumper should behave as Single, and in this mode you may not be able to boot your system with slave device present.

[tomekm]

Will-i-am wrote:

How do you use scsi.device? Right now the desktop is able to read the longer drive just fine with whatever 3.9 provides. The desktop will not even boot when the short drive is plugged in. Not even with a floppy workbench. The hard drive light goes on for a couple of minutes and then goes out. I tried a warm boot and nothing changes. If I unplug the drive the machine boots up fine and if I plug in the longer cased drive it boots up fine. The only difference is the short case is a Sony CD/RW and the long case is a JustLink CD/Rw, whatever that brand may be. Like I said, they both are jumpered to "slave". I can't figure it out. How do I lower the MaxTransfer? If the machine won't boot with the drive plugged in can I do anything inside the OS before I plug the drive in? Don't forget, the tower boots fine with the short drive plugged in, so the drive itself functions.....

scsi.device is to be defined in moutlist. loog to DEVS:DOSDrivers. there`s file which name matcher device name of your CD-ROM. Open this file with text editor. There are strings such as: device=...., unit=... and maxtransfer=.... Just change the maxtransfer value. If you have device=atapi.device, change it to device=scsi.device, then remove IDEFix from startup-sequence.
 How`d you say the ami doesn`t boot even with floppy? Does it display boot screen? Does it load anything from the floppy? And once again: try with your A4000T harddrive.

[tomekm]

The primary differences between the two computers is the brand name of the HD, which obviously shouldn't be a factor, and the CPU, which also shouldn't be a factor.

TRY TO SWAP HDD`S! they sometimes are responsible for similar problems.

[tomekm]

oh sorry, i just don`t have enough time to read all text, t`m just finding the essentials instead:) So I think I ain`t find that mention. I suppose that (if you didn`t already checked that:) there`s problem between ide hdd and your cd, or your cable is not perfect and the short drive is more sensitive than the longer one... I can`t check now (while i`m writing this) if you already checked if the cd drive works  alone (set as master or slave). if not, then I don`t know if even God knows what`s wrong with your Amiga... oh, again: you say that the led is lit a while and then goes blank, does the system load while it is lit? I mean, if yes, thee may be problems with software. the same with floppys. There may be problems.
Just tell me if your system boots a second or two, or you see rainbow logo on purple screen? or maybe none of both, but a blank screen?

hey, i just found that your psu may be too weak, check with external one (ie. connect short cd to different psu, and start it before amiga).