a604n and CF/SD HDD issues

[paul1981]

Could all of this be related to a defective Kickstart ROM in any way at all?

I'm asking because the KS ROM is the only thing i don't have 2 of, besides the a604n.

If you have your old KS2.0 chip and if it's 37.300 or 37.350 then yes it wouldn't hurt to try it.
So what happens when you power off at the brick, power back on again with your Workbench 2/3 disk in? Do you get the same results? I'm just wondering if it could be something in your Startup-sequence, like some module or something (what OS are you using BTW?). Or, another possibility is the filesystem stored in the RDB. What filesystem are you using for your CF hard drive?
Also, it could be that KS3.1 doesn't like your CF card/filesystem. Recently on my A600 I had prepared a CF hardrive with PFS AIO which worked fine under KS2.0....but would not boot at all under KS3.1. So I used a real had drive instead with PFS AIO and it booted fine under KS2.0 and KS3.1. I was only using the CF as a test and use real HDD's in all my Amiga's... but it's a matter of personal preference. As you know, some CF cards don't even work properly or at all on the internal IDE of A600/1200. I was using a Transcend 133x 4GB.
There's a tiny master/slave jumper on the CF adapter...maybe it's upset about that? Try a different position.

[paul1981]

Very weird indeed. Do you have a real 2.5" hard disk you can try?
How long have you had the A604? Don't know how it could be the problem but we can't rule the A604 out just yet.
Some people have had strange things happen when the chip ram expansion contacts are dirty on the motherboard...so make sure it's nice and clean, I'd use WD-40 to clean the contacts.
You do have the MaxTransfer set correctly yes? (0x1fe00)

When you say that the drive isn't recognised do you mean that it doesn't show up at all in HDToolbox? (use the Workbench 2 or 3 version).

If we can't get you up and running then yes I'd try a new rom as a last resort, but I doubt there's anything wrong with it. I think the rom does a checksum test at startup, but I'm not sure...some one else may know the answer to that.

[paul1981]

I have no 2.5" HDD's at hand to try and i've had the a604n for little over a week now.
The Device itself is very neat and clean to look at.

The Maxtransfer is always set to 0x1fe00, but leaves no desirable result either.

The IDE devices doesn't show in HDToolBox (2 and 3) when the memory expansion is inserted.

Heres a couple of pictures i just snapped from the boot menu, if that could help anything:

ClicketyClick

Sounds like i need to try some more ROM-hunting.

What would be the best ROM for my case?
Another 3.1?

Regarding the contacts I mean the contacts on the motherboard (both sides).

Are you prepping the CF drive on the Amiga or with UAE?

The screen shot shows DF0: and CC0:
What does the table look like when the CF drive is recognised?

Don't bother with the rom yet as it's unlikely the rom at fault. But yes, 3.1 is what people use. I have 2.0 in mine though as I like to keep things original wherever possible. I can still softkick 3.1 when needed though.