A1200 and weird HD problem

[redcougar]

I started to build my project Amiga and ran into weird problem with the hard disk.

The Amiga is an A1200 with BlizzPPC + BlizzVision. The problem with HD is that it disappears after power-up. I can boot the machine, then browse few dirs and then it hangs. When I reset the machine and look in bootmenu, the HD has disappeared from the list and only thing on the list is DF0.

The disk is IBM travelstar 20GB and I  am patching the ROM to recognize it correctly.

I don't think it's a power issue, I have so called Bigfoot PSU which is originally a PC PSU and then converted to for Amiga.

I've checked that the Blizzards do not contact the mobo, so it shouldn't be that either.

If you some ideas what could be the cause for this, tell me.

[Matt_H]

I think you do have a power problem. The motherboard isn't getting enough power. I *think* the solution is to hook another power lead directly into the motherboard. Get a confirmation on this before you try it!

It also sounds as if you have everything in a desktop case. If this is true, then you'll have a lot of heat related problems...

[Olle]

Well, i had the same problem over here..

Nowadays it works, but sometimes it doesn't find the hd's when booting up.

In my case it's for 90% sure it's the 2.5" cable connector to  the computer that isn't perfectly tight.

However i have an C64-motherboard also inside my homemade midi-tower, so i can't really get my fingers inside the machine to try to correct it atm. (Also the Melody 1200, and the Elbox IDE-thingy is in the way)  :-D

Does it work if you just boot with no startup-sequence, just to see if it's not software related?

Do you have another hd-cable to try?

 

[Brian]

Ehm... sounds like power problems to me, I had a simular experience. The HD would spindown when ever I accessed more then 1 diskdrive at a time (xcopy was a sure killer). Hooking up another cable from my 230W PSU to the motherboard corrected the problem (and also removed a heavily jumping pointer I had at the time).

[redcougar]

@Matt_H

Yea, I'm aware of the heat problem, but I think I can get it fixed with heatsinks and fans. Friend of mine had a similar setup.

Ok, I gotta look in the power, if the problem lies there.