HDD problems?

[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.

[graffias79]

Hmm Your IDE ribbon is backwards on the Quantum drive.  Red stripe always points to the power connector.  That can be dangerous as the A1200 has all surface mounted devices (except one CIA I think...) and if one blows out you're kinda screwed.  The only drives that do not always follow that rule are Floppy disk drives.

-Jamie

[BoingBoss]

Hi Richter,

Welcome to Amiga Org.  What is the make and model of your 2.5" hard drive?  Some 2.5" hard disk drives will not work with the Amiga 1200 or 600.  If your Amiga 1200 is in a PC tower case then by all means use a standard 3.5" hard drive.  For some reason the Amiga 1200 does not like some of the Seagate or Western Digital hard drives, so I would recommend using a Fujitsu or Quantum drive instead.  I come across hard drives all the time that I could sell to you guys cheap.   :-D

[PMC]

@BoingBoss

Hmm, I think Richter is using a 3.5" hdd already and my guess is there's an issue with cabling (a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adaptor cable) from the Amiga to the drive.

I've used Western Digital drives in the past with my system and had no problems whatsoever, the same is true of Fujitsu drives too.

Back to O/T.

@Richter

Did you purchase the cable with the drive, separately or did you make it yourself?

[Richter]

Well...

For starters it is a Quantum drive. And secondly it is an A1200 Desktop (as seen on pictures).

One thing i don´t get (been awhile since installing hardware for my amigas) is how u could fry a circuit simply by turning the cable around the wrong way, in my setup as is suggested above? If i had a y-connector with power going straight to the 2,5"-connector and then turned it the wrong way, i would understand if at least the IDE-interface could fry. But i am using an external power supply, hooked only to the HDD and for the HDD only, that way no dangerous currents would be able to run through the IDE-cable!? The 3,5" to 2,5" HDD would only be transporting DATA!?

However, i have turned the cable around the right way now, but it still doesn´t work.

I believe it is a power error, since i don´t hear any spinning of the disk after that initial spin. I guess it does only get power when you power on the PSU and then the PSU stops giving power?

As for the cable, i got it from someone i don´t remember at an Amiga-party a year ago or so, then it has been lying around.

[Richter]

Ok. Power now works ok, thanks to a switch-connector and a little soldering.

Now the disk spins, and everything looks ok. The HDD-led lights up at boot and then goes blank in WB. Looks ok. No more constant LED.

But still HDTools cannot find the disk. Nor can i see it in bootmenu.

Can it be of any importance what's on the drive now? I believe it's an NTFS-partition on it... I still believe HDTools would "see" the drive and be able to low-level format right?

[PMC]

Richter wrote:
Can it be of any importance what's on the drive now? I believe it's an NTFS-partition on it... I still believe HDTools would "see" the drive and be able to low-level format right?

@Richter,

At least you're up and running power wise and you can use your system now.  Okay, next step.

The 2.5" IDE interface on the A1200 supplies power for a 2.5" drive to run without having to connect any additional leads (just like in any generic laptop).  If you get the cable the wrong way around then +5v is going to be fed into the wrong pin somewhere.

You report the drive works perfectly okay in a PC?  If so we've narrowed the problem down slightly.  

You should see the drive showing in your HDTools menu as a SCSI device as the firmware on the drive will display the manufacturer information.

The link between the drive and the Amiga is the IDE cable and IDE interface.  If a PC recognises the drive then one of these has to be playing up.  

Oh, and one last thing.  Whatever you do, don't run a low level format of the drive.  You'll kill it!

[Richter]

Red cable on IDE is placed on Pin1 on the internal Amiga IDE-controller. Right next to the number 1 on the motherboard. So that works ok.

And HDD-led lighting up at boot, is in my mind proof that the IDE-cable itself works?

I've tried the drive and another drive in 2 different A1200's to make sure the IDE-interface wasn't the problem. With no luck...

So it would seem that the cable is the problem somehow... Or something in the way my diskdrives are formatted before (when they where in an AT/PC)?

I recall something called the RDB, wich would be the counterpart of the PC-HDD's MBR? Could that be causing the problem?

I also remember there was a program to fix that called RDB-install or something?

[PMC]

@Richter,

Regardless of whether the drive was fitted to a PC or whatever before, your Amiga should detect the drive in the early startup screen or when using the HDToolBox utility.

The drive's manufacturer etc is stored on some firmware on the drive that isn't related to the RDB (Rigid Disk Block).  

The fact that you've unsucessfully tested two other drives reveals one of two culprits...

Either the IDE interface is blown or your cable is knackered.

If it's the former then it means a new Motherboard or the purchase of a Powerflyer interface which circumnavigates the A1200's IDE socket.  If it's the latter then I'd either check the Aminet for schematic of a 2.5" to 3.5" cable or purchase one from Vesalia, Power Computing or Eyetech.

[Richter]

Since i've tried it in two different A1200's, a fried IDE-interface should not be the case.

Then it would be the cable then... I have ordered a new one...

Keep your fingers crossed ppl...

[PMC]

@Richter

Well fingers crossed here dude.

Do let usknow how you get on, hopefully you'll be up and running in no time.

BTW, you sound like you've loads of Amiga kit there...  Keep up the good work!

[Richter]

Well yeah... With three A1200's, one A500+ and an A4000 u could say i have my fair amount of Amigas.

That, and an AmigaONE coming in...

But that's about as far as i can take it, before my wife goes all berxerk on me considering i have loads of other retro-electronics stashed everywhere around the house

Thanks for the finger-crossing btw. Tomorrow we'll know.

[Richter]

I managed to hook myself up with another IdeFix'97 Adaptor instead. Thanks to Robin, a good and loyal friend, who is not a member (yet) but reads these forums every now and then.

So now everything works ok. And as a bonus i connected an old CDRom as well.