need help with A1200 HD

[Thomas]

I can hear the drive spin, but the HDD Led is always lit. Is that normal ?

This usually happens if a drive is connected to the IDE bus which is not recognised by the driver.

Did I miss something somewhere ?

Many modern drives have the problem that they spin up too slowly and thus don't react quick enough to be recognised. The only solution for this is to install Kickstart 3.1 ROMs.

Some drives also do spin down when they receive a reset signal and then again react too slow, so that they are not even recognised after a Ctrl-A-A reset. This can be cured by cutting the reset line from the IDE cable.

Is it possible the IDE port is dead ?

Yes, it's possible, but not likely.

Any way to test that ?

Use a HDD which definitely works in another A1200 with the same configuration (same Kickstart).

[Thomas]

Would something like IDEFix97 be helpful in that situation ? (even if it's only the software part)

If you run the IDEfix software from floppy disk and if HDToolbox then finds the HDD, this would at least prove that the IDE bus is not damaged and the HDD is working correctly. It does not solve the boot problem, though.

BTW, did you check HDToolbox' settings, i.e. tooltypes ? Does it still point to scsi.device or did you change it to something else in the past ? If it does not use the right driver, it will never find any HDD.

I may have some 3.5'' drive I could test, but I'm not sure where to plug the power connector.
Do I have to use the floppy connector ?

The floppy connector is a possibility. But for permanent use you should rather build your own PC power supply conversion and then connect the HDD directly to the power supply. The A1200 mainboard is not built to hold high current over long time.