Help Needed installing OS3.9 in A1200 with FastATA controller

[beltrixx]

Hi, I have some problems installing OS 3.9 on my A1200. As I installed OS 3.9 succesfully time ago, don't know why I cannot do it again so here is the description of the problems I encounter :

After reformatting my 20 Gb hard drive, I installed OS 3.1. During the install process I got some kind of error message regarding there wasn't enough space on MAIN: for Amiga character map ... (this is impossible cause the partition size is 4 GB and it's empty) but I bypassed this error and continued with the installation.

OS 3.1 boots from HD normally, so I proceed to next step : "Install Fast ATA drivers". Drivers are installed successfuly and my CDROM unit gets recognized, so I try to install OS 3.9 from the CDROM.

When I click the "Installation" icon, I get the following error message :

c/Installer
Program failed (error #80000006).
Wait for disk activity to finish.

What's going on? Any idea?

Thanks in advance.

[beltrixx]

Thanks whiteb for making me remember the 2 Gb size limitation!! I read about it time ago and I had completely forgotten it !!!

But the problem is only half solved

I've reinstalled OS 3.1 and the installation finished OK, no error messages about lack of hard disk space and OS 3.1 runs fine.

But when it comes to install OS 3.9 and I double click the "Install" button, the error continues :

c/Installer
Program Failed (error #80000006)
Wait for disk activity to finish

Sometimes the error is not only about "c/Installer" :

WBL
Program Failed (error #80000004)
Wait for disk activity to finish

I think the problems are related to the Elbox FastATA controller (is the only thing I've changed since my last successful OS 3.9 installation).

Any idea on how to isolate the problem ??

Regards,

Manel.

[beltrixx]

Thanks twizzle, but I do have the correct 43.3 installer version on my C drawer.

In fact I think the OS 3.9 install script doesn't need to look at my C drawer because there's a "C" drawer in the OS3.9 install CD.

The problem must be a different one.

Regards,

Manel.

[beltrixx]

I installed the driver prior to partitioning, as the manual says. I created two partitions (MAIN and WORK) below 2 Gb limit each one.

I don't know if the drivers I'm using are the correct ones because I bought the controller on eBay some months ago and came with a wrong set of drivers (fastata 4000 drivers) and it has been impossible for me to get the drivers from ELBOX. They seem to offer a very bad customer service.

I'm using the fastata99 v5.6 + allegrocdfs 3.1 that I found somewhere on the net. The ATA3Prefs program detects both my HD and my CDROM, so it seems to run OK.

On the Controller's PCB I can read the model as a "Fast EIDE Controller".

I know the problem has to do with this controller, because I managed to install OS 3.9 normally some months ago, and the addition of the controller has been the main significant change to my system.

Regards,

Manel.

[beltrixx]

I would like to receive feedback from Powerflyer or FastATA owners. I'm almost sure my problems come from this controller.

-------------------------------------------------------
From Trade-Up program at Elbox WebSite :

The first two digits of its serial number denote the controller model:

• 08 - FastATA 1200 MK-I
• 16 - FastATA 1200 Lite (16-bit version)
• 18 - FastATA 1200 MK-I with AllegroCDFS
• 19 - FastATA 1200 GOLD with AllegroCDFS
• 24 - FastATA 1200 MK-II with AllegroCDFS
--------------------------------------------------------

So, according to this, mine's is a FastATA 1200 GOLD with AllegroCDFS. I would like to know if anyone has seen those anoying messages regarding Program Failure (error #80000006) once installed fast ata.

I also would like to know if an incorrect version of the drivers can cause this situation to happen or maybe my accelerator card (microbotics 1230 XA) is not compatible with the fastata controller.

Thanks in advance,

Manel.

[beltrixx]

All the problems had its origin in an incorrect version of the drivers.

Finally Elbox contacted me and, in addition of making me an official registered user for my FastATA 1200 MKII Gold, they also sent me the controller drivers (fastata 7.1 and allegroCDFS 3.4). As soon as I replaced the old drivers I was using (fastata 5.6 and allegro 3.1) all started to run smoothly ...

Now I have been able to install OS 3.9 without strange error messages.

Thanks everybody for the replies and interest!

Regards,

Manel (beltrixx)