HDD problems?

[Richter]

Hi.

I have built a small box contatining a 2 gb. HDD hooked up to a standard PC/ATX power supply. From this one i have a 2,5" to 3,5" IDE-cable running to the internal IDE-controller of my A1200.

The problem is, that when i plug it in, u could hear the HDD spinning and then stopping, then the A1200 boots to floppy, starts WB3.1 (wich is always mounted in my external DD) and then nothing more.

There is no HDD read-sound, nor any more spinning of the drive other than 1/5th of a second at the power up.

HDToolbox seems to find nothing... So i can´t format and/or partition.

The HDD LED on the Amiga is constantly lit, wich in my mind indicates a problem. Long time since i've done installations like this so i don´t remember what problem though.

The cable is connected with RED Pin1 down, and the 4 (empty) power-supply inputs up towards the back of the desktop case.

The other way around causes a lock-up (for obvious reasons).

Any suggestions?

[PMC]

@Richter

Have you tried plugging the drive in to a PC or something to see if the drive is recognised?

I'm thinking it might be a cabling problem, fudging the communication between the Amiga's IDE interface and the drive.

[blobrana]

Hum,
 how long is the IDE cable?
(Perhaps you could test a new cable.)

It`s not recognised when you hold down the two mouse buttons?

Have you tried connecting the HD to a PC to test?

You say the HDD LED on the Amiga is constantly lit up - how long have you left it to repair itself?

i should also mention that putting a cable in the `other way round` will sometimes blow a few chips on the HD ...

[Cyberus]

Hmm, my only guess is that its a power issue.

[blobrana]

@Cyberus
hum,
you mean a PC/ATX or PC/AT issue?

[Richter]

Ok. Now i've checked it and the PC recognizes the drive...

One strange thing i discovered just now is that now my mouse pointer will not move at all with the HDD plugged in.

It wasn´t like this before... When i first plugged it in...

Maybe cause i turned the unmarked cable around he wrong way in the IDE-slot once... But how could that affect mouse/kb-chips, if at all?

When i unplug the drive it works fine... However the mousebuttons work.

Somehow i am beggining to suspect my expansion board...

[melott]

I don't think its power...
I think its software (the controller), I've ran
into this type of problem a couple times myself.
I think its a controller command problem although
I have no idea how to fix it.
The command seems to tell the drive to stop instead
of start.

[Richter]

Some pictures of the installation, just to double-check i made no errors:

http://hem.passagen.se/tofflan1/Amiga/

[blobrana]

Hum,
that`s strange,
i usually place the red wire (on IDE cable) the other way round (next to power in) on HD..

Double check red=pin one (on mobo as well)

[dnelsonfl]

The red usually goes on the same side as power connector where pin1 is. If the drive has jumpers, doublecheck the jumper settings. Some IDE drives have a jumper for master/slave/single drive and won't work properly if the jumper is set wrong.

[blobrana]

Hum,
no jumpers set = master, for a quantum (i think)

so that looks ok...

[Richter]

I also discovered it works a little more smooth if i grounded PS_ON (green) for the ATX power supply. More stable power. And MORE power to say the least.

But it doesn´t solve my problem...

However, if i install the cable in my Amiga IDE with the red cable on pin1 (furthest down?) and then twist it halfway around, so i get the red closest to the Power Input on the HDD wich i guess is what is suggested above(?), the mouse error disappears. But i the Amiga still doesn't find the disk...

[KennyR]

Possibly the drive isn't spinning up in time for AmigaOS to see it. That used to be a common problem in the 90s. AFAIR a fix included cutting one of the IDE cable wires...not that I would suggest that.

[blobrana]

OH, I would!

imagine your defusing a thermonuclear bomb...

now, CUT THE RED CABLE...

(but the HD should still be picked up when you do a soft reset though...)


the ide cable on the mobo should have the red stripe furthest away from RF output socket, (there`s a number `1` printed on mobo)...
And the red stripe on the ide cable entering the HD ,should be
 closest to the power input

[Merc]

Isn't it a bad idea using a cable that long connected directly to the 1200's IDE connector?  I thought that without a buffered interface there would be too much interference or not enough current, or something, for anything to work properly.