R/W errors with SCSI CD drive

[motorollin]

I've recently installed a Blizzard SCSI kit on my 1260. I've also got a 25->50 converter and a 4-way SCSI cable. Currently I only have a SCSI CD-RW connected. The drive itself has an active terminator built in, which is enabled with a jumper. The drive is set to unit 2.

UnitControl can see the drive and correctly identifies it. I have changed my CD0 mountlist (which uses CacheCDFS) from scsi.device unit 1 to 1230scsi.device unit 2. When I insert a disc, it takes ages for the disc to be recognised, but eventually the icons appear on Workbench. I tried to copy some files from the CD to RAM as a test, but got a read/write error, then error 296.

I then installed AmiCDFS from the provided floppy disk, and tried the mountlist from that. Once again I got a read/write error, then error 45.

I have tried connecting the scsi controller at one end of the cable and the CD-RW at the other end, and also putting the controller and the drive on adjacent connectors, but this has made no difference.

I should point out that I have emailed Matthew at Amigakit who has been most helpful as always, and given me a couple of things to try when I get home. I'm just looking at all options so I can get it up and running as quickly as possible.

Thanks in advance for any help!

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moto

[motorollin]

Hmmm I did think of that, but Matthew at Amigakit tested the drive prior to sending it out and it was working.

Matthew also sent me the mountlist he used to test it, which made no difference. I also tested the drive on every connector of the SCSI cable, with the same behaviour on each.

I experimented with taking off the jumper labelled "Active Term". Bizarrely, the drive was still detected and mountable, which is not what I expected. The problem still occurred though.

Could it be that the controller isn't terminating the SCSI chain? Is this optional?

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moto

[motorollin]

I think the mount function in UnitControl is just for mounting hard drives - though I could be wrong. As for dodge mountlist entries, I had thought of that but I'm using the same mountlist Matthew used when he tested the drive. I'll check my controller for caterpillars when I get home :lol:

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moto

[motorollin]

Thanks Thomas - I'll add that to my list of things to try :-) I noticed when copying files in AmigaDOS that it copies some files, then always fails on the same one. This suggests to me that it's copying x number of bytes then fails.

I've also asked one of the server support guys at work to dig out a spare SCSI CD-ROM to test with just in case the drive was damaged in transit.

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moto

[motorollin]

Thomas wrote:
You should also run Prefs/CDFSPrefs resp. Prefs/CacheCDFS and check if it complains about some settings (e.g. direct-SCSI, change interrupt, motor-off etc.) and if it does, save the new settings.

I wondered what that prefs file was for :-) Will take a look.

Thomas wrote:

When I insert a disc, it takes ages for the disc to be recognised, but eventually the icons appear on Workbench.

Does that also happen if you don't connect the data cable (only power) ? Then it might hint on some dirt in the drive or a weak / misaligned laser or something like that.

Not sure - I'll check this too and report back.

Thanks!

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moto

[motorollin]

An update:

The problem with it taking ages to recognise the disk seems to have gone away. Weird!

I changed the maxtransfer value to the one Thomas suggested (tried both of them) but it made no difference.

Tried looking in CacheCDFS prefs and got no errors. I then tried copying a file from the disc and got the read/write error. Then I went back in to CacheCDFS prefs, and got a message saying "You use a version of the CacheCDFS filesystem this program can't handle!". Not sure what this means.

I have "C:SoftSCSI NORES" as the first line in my startup-sequence, with the 8.5 ROM in C:.

Matthew from Amigakit suggested disabling CPU caches. I allowed my system to boot fully, entered the "cpu nocache" command, and mounted CD0, but still the same errors.

--
moto

--EDIT
My CacheCDFS settings for CD0:

Retries: 0
BootPri: -
Buffers: 50
Data Cache: 8
Line Cache: 1
Min Direct: 1
Scan first for: ISO 9660
SCSI direct: no
No Changeint: no
Motor off: no
Quiet: no
Protection: RWED
Files to Lowercase: yes
Volumes to Lowercase: yes
Convery First Char: no
Auto Lowercase: yes
No RockRidgeNames: no
No Joliet Names: no
No Trailing Dots: no
Allow MS-DOS pathnames: no
Cut filenames to 30 chars: no

Tried enabling SCSI direct, but it made no difference (not sure what it does tho)

Also the machine has rebooted a couple of times when trying to access CD0, after I clear the read/write errors.

[motorollin]

I've also had a situation where, when browsing a CD (and cancelling the read/write error which keep appearing) I get to a folder which does actually exist on the CD (I checked by putting it in an IDE CD-ROM), and the folder has my default CD icon. When I double click it I get a requester saying "Please insert volume afadaba'a^aZaXaVaaaPaNaLaJaKaFaDaBa@ in any drive"

( represents the square escape character).

These folders on any other machine behave exactly like any other folder. This has happened with several discs.

[motorollin]

The problem with discs not being recognised seems to occur only with certain discs. Some discs are recognised immediately, others take ages and I can hear the drive seeking a lot, and some are not recognised at all and the drive is seeking forever (or at least for as long as I waited!). This occurs even if the data cable is disconnnected.

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moto

[motorollin]

The discs I tested with were all prerecorded discs, not CD-Rs or CD-RWs, so the problem isn't media incompatibility.

I copied the CD0 mountlist that Matthew used to test the drive on to my 3.9 Emergency Disk and booted from it. It mounted successfully and could see the OS3.9 disc in the drive, but then read/write errors started coming up when it tried to access the disc.

Can I therefore conclude that this is not a software/configuration issue, but a hardware problem, either with the drive itself or with the SCSI chain?

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moto

[motorollin]

I'll try it now.

I went to Maplin and bought a 50 way active terminator, disabled the CD-RW's built in terminator, and terminated the chain after the CD-RW, but the same thing happened. So the only way this could be a termination problem is if the terminator in the controller isn't working.

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moto

[motorollin]

Just tried changing buffers from 50 to 150, no change. Even added 1000 more to be sure, but it still doesn't work.

--
moto

[motorollin]

@Boot_WB
I don't see how IDEfix will help - it's on a Blizzard SCSI controller, not a 4 way IDE interface  :-?

@Amigaz
I've tested it on every connector on the SCSI cable with the same result on all of them.

Amigakit are waiting for stock of the 50->68 way SCSI adapters, so once they have them I'll order one and an 18GB SCSI hard drive, which will test once and for all whether the SCSI chain is working.

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moto

[motorollin]

Cool, I'll try it. Is it stack=3000 or stacksize=3000?

--
moto

[motorollin]