Fastlane Z3 Speed

[Gaeokerena]

I have just got a fastlane z3 and I can only get 3.5mb/s from it. I have a 4000d, with Buster11, a Ultra SCSI 4.3gig drive

Can someone please tell me how to increase its speed. Apparently its capable of 7-10mb/s

Thanks

[Wol]

@ Gaeokerena

Don't know the details of the Z3, but it sounds as tho
it has configured as a Zorro 2 card ( Max 3.5 MB/sec).

Maybe you can check this with your early startup menu
or use show config to see how it has configured.


Wol.

[zipper]

Check if it's running asynchron (slower) or synchron mode.

[Gaeokerena]

Sorry, I dont know what I'm looking for:

In the early startup it only gives ID etc
and the show config is just as useful!

How can I tell if a zorro 3 card is configured as z2

Regards

[patrik]

The FastLane can't configure itself as a Zorro2 card, it is a Zorro3-only card. 3.5MB/Sec sounds exactly like what you should get using asynchronous mode.

Check the settings for your drive with the 'UnitControl' utility on the FastLane Z3 Install disk.


/Patrik

[Crusher]

You have a FastlaneZ3 with working scsi??? This is the first time I ever heard of it, congrats man. I have three and none of them wants to work besides as a memorycard.

Anyway, it should load 10MB/s in syncmode. You should have a little prog named "Z3Dmacontrol", If I remember it right, to "tell" the Fastlane that you have a Buster11.

FastlaneZ3 Drivers

 :-)

EDIT: Darn, Patrik beat me to it.  :-D

[Gaeokerena]

Right, now I'm going out of my mind!!!!

Thanks for all the advice guys, but....

1. using the 'unit control' almost doubles the speed, but this does not survive a reset!!!!

2. setting the z3DMA Control to BUSTER 11 makes it slower by around 2mb/s

 :-(  :-(  :-(  :-(  :-(

[Lemmink]

> 1. using the 'unit control' almost doubles the speed, but this does not survive a reset!!!!

Yes, that`s right, you have to set the transfer to syncronus mode after every reset, but you don`t have to do it manually. There is a way to add a line to the startupsequence that involves unitcontrol to set the various units to syncronus/asyncronus mode. It must be described somewhere in the readmes.
The Cyberstorm SCSI-Kit has a jumper that makes it look into the RDB and see if it has been set to syncronus mode (must be set with P5 tools) and switch automatically. The Fastlane doesn`t have this feature.

[roomeo]

> 1. using the 'unit control' almost doubles the speed, but this does not survive a reset!!!!

Yes, that`s right, you have to set the transfer to syncronus mode after every reset, but you don`t have to do it manually. There is a way to add a line to the startupsequence that involves unitcontrol to set the various units to syncronus/asyncronus mode. It must be described somewhere in the readmes.
The Cyberstorm SCSI-Kit has a jumper that makes it look into the RDB and see if it has been set to syncronus mode (must be set with P5 tools) and switch automatically. The Fastlane doesn`t have this feature.

An ooold thread.. time to revive it.

I cannot find out how to use the unitcontrol from command line to enable Synchronous mode.. I am able to set it to Asynchron, but it seems to me that the other way around is not possible?!? Which dont seem logical at all..

Here is the output from the tool in commandline:
Os3.1:Expansion/FastLaneInstallDisk> unitcontrol ?
Device/K,Unit/N,Period/N,Offset/N,Asynchron/S,Reselection/S,NoReselection/S,SCSIDirectPolling/S,Stop/S,Start/S,Eject/S,FWC/S,NoFWC/S,Removable/S,NoRemovable/S,Verbose/S:

Every other option can be switched on or off but not the synch mode. What am i missing?!?

[amiadudeorwat]

There are actually two command line utilities for the Fastlane the first one is z3dmacontrol, this sets the dma mode for the version of buster you're using such as:
C:z3dmacontrol buster11

Then unitcontrol something like this should work:
C:unitcontrol Unit 1 Period 10 Offset 8

Replace Unit 1 with the SCSI unit number of your device.
After you run z3dmacontrol buster11 (or 9) run the gui version of UnitControl and play around with the settings first.  Period 10 specifies the transfer speed I believe.  Offset 8, I don't remember what this does.  But you can make changes when using the gui mode and do a benchmark to see if it improved.  Also there is a utility on the Fastlane disk called CheckMask to make sure you selected the correct mask in HDToolbox.

[roomeo]

There are actually two command line utilities for the Fastlane the first one is z3dmacontrol, this sets the dma mode for the version of buster you're using such as:
C:z3dmacontrol buster11

Then unitcontrol something like this should work:
C:unitcontrol Unit 1 Period 10 Offset 8

Replace Unit 1 with the SCSI unit number of your device.
After you run z3dmacontrol buster11 (or 9) run the gui version of UnitControl and play around with the settings first.  Period 10 specifies the transfer speed I believe.  Offset 8, I don't remember what this does.  But you can make changes when using the gui mode and do a benchmark to see if it improved.  Also there is a utility on the Fastlane disk called CheckMask to make sure you selected the correct mask in HDToolbox.

Great!

"C:unitcontrol Unit 1 Period 10 Offset 8" worked like a charm. Synchronous mode is set.

"C:z3dmacontrol buster11" however takes the transferrate down.. this wont work for some lower revisions of the fastlane i believe.

I get around 6,5 mb/s.

I have run the checkmask, but did not allow it to make any changes to the maxtransfer value yet.. im running pfs3 and i was worried it would screw things up.. current value is FFFE00, and it suggests FFFFFF.

Thanks!

edit: changing the maxtransfer value didnt make any difference performance wise..

[mechy]

Great!

"C:unitcontrol Unit 1 Period 10 Offset 8" worked like a charm. Synchronous mode is set.

"C:z3dmacontrol buster11" however takes the transferrate down.. this wont work for some lower revisions of the fastlane i believe.

I get around 6,5 mb/s.

I have run the checkmask, but did not allow it to make any changes to the maxtransfer value yet.. im running pfs3 and i was worried it would screw things up.. current value is FFFE00, and it suggests FFFFFF.

Thanks!

edit: changing the maxtransfer value didnt make any difference performance wise..

Some drives are slow and have bad firmwares, but i dont think its the trouble.
poor termination can cause slow speeds.
what are you checking speed with? dont use sys(MIS)info. try diskspeed 4.2
your maxtransfer should be to run wide open on scsi. not sure about pfs, but i have used sfs with great results.
what rom is on your fastlane? 8.5 is the latest.

[roomeo]

Some drives are slow and have bad firmwares, but i dont think its the trouble.
poor termination can cause slow speeds.
what are you checking speed with? dont use sys(MIS)info. try diskspeed 4.2
your maxtransfer should be to run wide open on scsi. not sure about pfs, but i have used sfs with great results.
what rom is on your fastlane? 8.5 is the latest.

Im using an ACARD ARS-2000FU -> CF. This is the only device in the chain and has active termination.
Im currently testing with SysSpeed 2.6. Tested diskspeed 4.2 now and it seems to max out at;
3,4 mb/s create file
5,6 mb/s write to file
6,2 mb/s read from file

Im running z3scsi.device version 5.998.

[amiadudeorwat]

I would suggest testing with RSCP, you may find that you are getting higher transfer rates with z3dmacontrol but I bet your CPU usage is really high.  
With z3dmacontrol and the proper mask setting, NOT maxtransfer, you should see only about 10% CPU usage running RSCP.

Secondly though you may have an active terminator on the Acard, check to see if the resistor packs around the internal 50 pin connector are installed.  If they are, try removing them and installing an external active terminator.  
If they are not, definitely install an external terminator.

What system is this in A4000 or A3000?

[orange]

You have a FastlaneZ3 with working scsi??? This is the first time I ever heard of it, congrats man. I have three and none of them wants to work besides as a memorycard.

Anyway, it should load 10MB/s in syncmode. You should have a little prog named "Z3Dmacontrol", If I remember it right, to "tell" the Fastlane that you have a Buster11.

FastlaneZ3 Drivers

 :-)

EDIT: Darn, Patrik beat me to it.  :-D

perhaps you need newer Z3 ROM, I can send you one for free.