Amiga 2000 arrived yesterday!

[Sig999]

Time for an update I guess!

After many tests I came to the conclusion that both drives are  pretty much shot.

Df0: won't recognize anything (df0:?) on the few rare times it actually detects it has a floppy in it.

Df1: enjoys spitting out that it has track errors and can't format disks.  (I have a couple of blank ami disks - no luck formatting at all).

Got Crossdos and managed to dodge read errors to get it installed.  Alas - Win XP won't format a floppy under 1.44 (I kid you not - go look and follow the 'error report').

Lucky for me, I have a Linux box set up... after many attempts I FINALLY got a floppy to format to 720, but Win XP wouldn't read it, and the Ami drive wouldn't read it either.

I have a new floppy drive on the way for the Ami - so fingers crossed I can get the rest of WB updated, then I'll hopefully be a step closer.

Tried 'Amiga Explorer' - the trial version.. didn't want to fork out for it until I knew it worked.  Got as far as getting the 'Setup' script to run, before the dreaded 'com error' - though it could be my null modem cable - 10 bucks sent off to get one that's 'recommended' for it.  Tried many times - searched the web for likely problems - and if someone - no joy for me getting past the 'setup2' stage.

PLCC extraction tool came - Fatter Agnus and Super Denise still to arrive, and still not very much closer to being able to transfer files to the Ami from the PC.

Hopefully better news next update - if anyone out there has anything I've yet to try - I'm all ears... I'm even thinking of using 'type SER: to RAM:filename' and seeing if I can get an executable sent one way over the cable via some crudely written shell script in linux.

[Sig999]

Whew! a bit of tinkering and messing around - the problem has been solved.

Amiga Explorer still doesn't like running (but I'm very sure it's a null modem cable issue now).. but I did the type ser: to ram:(filename) trick to get Arexx over to the 2000.

Lucky I had type from wb1.3, as it seems to handle binary files.

Then with some searching I found http://adfsender.stoeggl.com/adfsenderterminal/methods.html  I little messing around with Arexx and now I have a (cludgy) system to send binary files to the Ami.

Getting some ADF utils and Diropus sent across currently, so I'll rexxify the process and make it more comfortable to use.

Finally on my way! I think this thread has seen it's day and any other probs I have (and trust me, I'm bound to have some when those new chips arrive) I'll post on the relevant hardware/software help.

Cheers! and a big THANKS! to everyone who helped with advice and useful knowledge!

Sig.

[banzai]

I've located the jumper and trace, for the trace I just have to cut the trace on the top side of the board with a thin point hobby knife right? or is there something on the bottom of the board too?

I may have been wrong about J500 - it's okay to try it first with it still closed, and open it if it doesn't see the extra 512K as chip. Yes, you only need to use a hobby razor (X-Acto) to cut the thin trace between the two halves, but be careful not to cut too deeply (multi-layer PCB). There's nothing below/underneath you have to mess with - mobo removal not required! If you need to reconnect it, just blob some solder between the two points, and you're good to go.

DF0 - a chinon drive has a real hard time recognising a disk inserted. I had to insert the one amiga formatted disk I have 3 times before it recognized it at all.

I had a similar problem with my internal A4K drive. I was able to clean it out, and paid particular attention to the small switches used to detect /diskchange and /write protect . Dust or corrosion makes the switch a bit flaky. A cotton swab and some isopropyl alcohol got it going. Just "swamp" the switch with the alcohol and press the switch a few dozen times to work out the gunk. While you're in there, use the swab to clean the heads. If that doesn't fix things, then it may be a matter of drive alignment (Google it).
You may also want to make sure you've got the right floppy cable in there, and that J301 is closed (DF1: internal). The cable should have DF0 on the untwisted connector, set as drive 0, and DF1 should have the twist at pins 4-6, and be set to drive 1.

Win XP won't format a floppy under 1.44

You need to open up a command prompt and use:
FORMAT A: /F:720 /U /S
where "/F" = format as, "/U" = to hell with the undelete crap, and "/S" = copy system files to make it boot (if needed). If you're trying to format an HD as a DD, then you'll have to cover the HD hole on the disk (opposite the write protect).

I'm even thinking of using 'type SER: to RAM:filename'

NEVER use the TYPE command to transfer files - it converts things to ASCII for display on the console device (or whatever you redirect it to). This means the high bit gets stripped, or it interprets some of the characters as "End of File" before the whole thing is transmitted. Use COPY instead:
COPY filename >SER: (or PAR:, PRT:, SAY:, RAM:, NIL:, etc.).

Amiga Explorer still doesn't like running (but I'm very sure it's a null modem cable issue now)

Make sure you're using a LapLink style (7, 8, or 9-pin wired) cable. This will connect things up so that you're using RTS/CTS (hardware) handshaking. It uses lower overhead and less garbage on the RxD/TxD lines for faster transfers (I can easily use a 56K modem on my A4K). You may also have to setup your prefs for proper operation, as I don't know if AmiEx overrides the settings (like JRComm does).

Do you have a CD-ROM in there? You could just burn out all your ADF files on the PC to a CD, then read them on the A2K.

banzai

[Sig999]

CD Rom would solve a lot of the hassles - but it was one of those 'chicken or the egg' problems:

The Ami came to me with wb1.3 - and VERY minimal software (I'm guessing the previous owner was into basketball and midi - becuase that's all that was on there).

Not so much as a terminal program - no disks - just what was on the HD.

So, no way to get software on there, so even if I installed a CDROM - I couldn't use it.

Right now I've managed to get AREXX and a handful of utils over - the 'what comes first' prob is solved for now - and I'm trying to get WB3.1 in adf form over and try and install from virtual floppies for now.

I'll try that command line format - that might bring me some joy too!

[taunusand]

Sig999 wrote:
Got Crossdos and managed to dodge read errors to get it installed.  Alas - Win XP won't format a floppy under 1.44 (I kid you not - go look and follow the 'error report').

format a: /n:9 /t:80

Here you go, this does the trick for me :-)
However, my xp reads 720kb formatted disks fine.  :-?

[Sig999]

Cool, I'll give that a try using the USB floppy on the main machine and see if I can't get it working myself.

Last time I really used floppys was nearly 8 years ago with Slackware Linux - and before that 10 years on my last A2k. Sure enough I didn't cover the hole, which was what probably lead to them not formatting properly.

Case of 'right tool for the job' - I used Banzai's suggestion for using copy to the ser port to get AREXX fully installed, which let me upload and mod a script to read files from the SER port better.  Virtual Floppy and TSGUI from aminet are working together to let me install wb3.1 - half done already!

I've seen some cheap 50 pin scsi CD roms on Ebay - around 30ish x speed - although I have promised my wife no more Ami spending for 2 weeks  Can't wait to get Devpac running again - although my time with Linux has made me partial to C... might start looking for a good compiler

[Sig999]

Super Denise arrived today! (YAY) now all I'm waiting for is a floppy disk drive to arrive via Canada. No point in opening the machine up just to open it all up again! I'll be installing the chips, making the adjustments, mounting 2 HD's and closing it up hopefully this weekend.  I think the 1 meg chip ram is a must if your going to be tooling around in assembly and making stupid programs.

Cheers - Sig

[Sig999]

Success!  Popped old Agnus out - literally - came straight up and out without any hassle.  Denise needed a little persuasion but came up with no problems.

Reset the jumper, cut the trace, booted it up and voila - one meg chip and ECS chipset appeared in Sysinfo.

Replaced the drives with a single floppy and set the jumper accordingly, and with a little gentle persuasion I can format disks no problems.  There is such a mishmash of software on there atm that I'm considering a clean install.  Found out my 3.1 install disk has some errors on it, so I'll run disksalv over it - if that doesn't help I have adf's of wb from 1.3 to 3.1 - all the ones I legitimately own.

Looks like I'm cooking with gas!