Arrrgh! (FastATA 4000 MK-VI 8.0 and issues with keyboard.)

[slaapliedje]

So I'm pretty much about ready to stab something.

I ordered the FastATA 4000 MK-VI with the new 8.0 boot rom, figuring it was the last thing I needed in my Amiga to make it really fast.

I've had nothing but issues with it so far, finally got a working copy of workbench on it (pretty much bare minimum OS3.9 with up to BB3 installed, the 68060 libraries, mediator, and network.  Don't have the Poseidon bits installed yet.)

But I can't get it working with the PIO modes.  Basically, it's connected to the controller board, but the driver isn't loaded, when I run FastATA.driver, the drive locks up shortly after about long enough for me to try to change the PIO mode).  The windows can be moved, but nothing works, and the drive light is stuck on.

Amigakit support staff said that the only time they've seen that, it was because of the PSU.  So I thought, in my naivety, that i could power the compact flash with my PC, and then power on the Amiga (shouldn't hurt, right?)

Well, in the middle of me typing out 'fastata.driver' in the no startup-sequence shell, and then I started typing... 'prefs/fastataprefs' but it came out 'prefs/astata... then I stopped and thought, hey, where's my F?  no where to be found it seems.  I've tried unplugging the system and waiting a bit (like 2 minutes), tried popping out the battery (I don't think that does anything but saves the clock, right?), and reseating the keyboard cable.  none of which works.

Just seems to be the F key too.  maybe it'll magically work by the time I get home from work, but I figured I'd ask the experts.  Any ideas?  I believe I read somewhere that the A4000's keyboard has it's own controller in it.  If this is the case, is there a way to reset it somehow?

Any help is much appreciated, and hey if anyone could help with the initial issue of getting the Compact Flash card working with the FastATA at a nice PIO Mode, I'd be forever greatful!

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

The one time I managed to get drivespeed to work, it clocked at just under 7mb/s and I think that was PIO 4.  But what was said about it getting hot and varying weird, that could very well be it.  It's been off for 8 hours now, and even unplugged, guess it's time to test it.

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

Anyone have any idea about the F key?  I mean how random is that?  Is there any kind of rom/ram thing that can be cleared in the keyboard's controller?

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

Why would you use an A4000 power connector on an A1200?

I just buy a new Hercules 500W silent mATX PSU off ichyBay for $25 with shipping and fit it directly into the A4000D's housing; by splicing the wires one of these looks like an original, is dual voltage, is almost silent, and now that I've done a few, takes less than 30 minutes.

Now that's a fantastic idea, one of the goals that I've always had was to make my Amiga quiet.  Loudest components right now would be hard drive (with the CF card, that'll go away), the CD-Rom (which I was considering getting a slim line or something) and the PSU, which I attempted to replace the fan already, but it still spins at max speed and is rather loud.

I'm kind of freaked about the keyboard though.  

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

Ha ha, so you responded before I could point out that I figured 'wtf, I'll see what I can do." and popped off the key... it felt.. off.  like not as springy as the others.  I swear earlier I had tried applying more pressure to it, but this time it worked... at least part of the time.  wasn't as responsive as the other keys still.  So I popped it off a second time, after looking at what would take to take the whole thing apart...

Noticed a tiny piece of something wedged between the white plastic part that goes up and down, and the black part surrounding it... knocked it out and blew it away and what do you know!  Key works...

Now to fix the rest of the crap, and see if I can't get this thing going.

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

Yep you can never get quite the speed that's advertised (15 MB/s).  

I brought one for my 1200 and got about 9 MB/s using a SSHD (module) with my 80Mhz 1260.

I couldn't get the thing to fit with my Indy Mrk2 so I didn't bother using it in the end (it's still sitting in the box on the shelf!).



For reference the IdeFix Express is meant to go up to 5.1 MB/s but the best I could ever squeeze out of mine is 4.6 using an ACA1230 @ 56 Mhz, my Apollo 1260 managed about 4.3 MB/s but my Blizzard is down to 3.9 MB/s.

Oh well, still better than the crappy 1.9 MB/s standard IDE speed

Ha, pretty much what I expected.  I think part of my issue are the cables, they seem... spotty a bit.  Didn't have any luck at all until I tried the cable that was attached to the old girl.

slaapliedje

P.S.  As a side note... I know it's SUPPOSED to be silent... but I swear I can still hear a clicking noise when the CF is loading...

[slaapliedje]

Yup, same here.  Asus cable, and yeah, though the other 80 pin one that I have seemed more stable.  I also have several Asus ones laying around somewhere.  They have awesome motherboards.

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

So, in looking at power supplies, I was attempting to find a 'fanless' MicroATX power supply that was modular.

Closest I've found so far is this (not fanless, but really quiet!)

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=342&area=en

What are everyone's thoughts?

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

Yeah, mine looked used and abused.

All the fanless ones I found had higher wattage, but they were full ATX size, and so probably wouldn't fit within the A4000 case.

Like this one;  http://www.silentpcreview.com/Seasonic_Platinum_Fanless_520W_PSU

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

Ha ha, I just have kids that like to occasionally run around above my head!

Hmmm, pasta.  I think it's lunch time!

I read the label on the top of my A4000's PSU, and it said it was 145W.  I do think it'd be sweet to find a fanless 300w or so that'd fit.

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

Hello, i've the same exact problem, but i doubt is the power supply, because the problem persist even if i detach all hardware and leave only the fastata mkvi controller and the hdd, with a mere 3630 cpu card..
However changing psu has fixed your problem?
Juri

My new PSU should be arriving Tuesday.  I think I'm going to go ahead and order the cable from Amigakit, so that I don't really have to hack anything together.  I am looking forward to having a quiet and modular PSU in my Amiga though!  Now if only I could hunt down a silent CD/DVD Rom/Writer drive.  I did find one called the Asus Quiet Track, but it doesn't look like it's available anywhere, and the only one I've seen is black.  

I will definitely post here if I have any success.

Closest I've had to success so far was the ability to format the CF card with PIO Mode 3.  At 4 it freezes the system, at 3 I can format it, still type stuff, reboot.  But as soon as I try to write anything to it, the Amiga freezes again.  

Funny thing is when it freezes, the drive light is on solid, and I can move the windows around, but clicking on anything or typing doesn't work.  If I move a window, the icons behind it don't redraw as well.

I also tested the "there's nothing in there but the accelerator, Mediator board and FastATA" but still no go.

With the damaged SATA-IDE adapter, and the used Asus IDE cable... this has shaken my level of trust in Elbox's products.  I'll blame them instead of Amigakit, since I'm pretty sure they don't just throw random parts into a box and send it.

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

Weird.  I think (could be wrong) that I fixed my IDE-SATA by soldering the capacitor back on.  I'm not sure though, since the drive I was testing it with was up on my shelf for who knows what reason.  It did briefly pop up in the disk manager of Windows 7, but when I tried to format it, it seemed to mess up.  But like I said, that could be the drive or the adapter.

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

Well, finally recieved my ATX converter for my A4000, put the PSU in, connected it all up... and nothing.

When I push the power button the fan comes on, I see the IDE to CF Card thing light up for a second, as long as the CD-ROM light (so it gets at least a second of power) and then nothing.  I put the Amiga power supply back in and it boots up just as it did before...

Any suggestions?  I have read a few things about the PSUs being hit and miss, and something about newer PSUs concentrate on having good 3.3v power lines vs the 5v the Amiga uses.

Either way, my Amiga is still working (as much as it did before) with the original PSU.  

Any suggestions?

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

I am using the adapter that amigakit sells.

slaapliedje

[slaapliedje]

This PSU has a 20+4 pin (so the extra 4 pins are off to the side).  

It seems like the Amiga never even starts up.  The lights flash for the devices, like I said, but then the only thing that remains doing anything is the PSU's fan.  

Now I'm starting to wonder if it fried the CF card adapter.  It's really hot when I turn it on with the A4000's PSU, and it's not detected at all in the Boot Options screen.  

When I get home from work I'm going to test the CF adapter on my PC to see if still works or not.  I don't recall it getting that hot before....

slaapliedje