for all the FASTLANE SCS Z3 user

[SIR-GERMAN]

i need some help because i think i am going crazy .
i just buy a fastlane and i got a seagate barracuda 4 gigas 68 pins , so i got the connector to 50 pins but it did not work .
the board does not see it .
ok then i went to ebay i got a ibm 17 gigas 80 pin , and i buy  
the connector to 50 pins . ok os 3.9 sees the hardrive but i does not let format or partition .
ok i went and i buy a new quantun altas 9 gigas 80 pins i got the connector to 50 pins and again 0s 3.9 does not see it again like the seagate .
then i went and  i got rom 8.5 for the fastlane , still same result .
i try a old 1 giga ibm 50 pins and it work ok , and i try a 50 cd rom work ok .
wich hard drive should i buy ??
anyone can tell me what are they using in the fastlane ?
thank for your time

[Kin-Hell]

SIR-GERMAN wrote:
i need some help because i think i am going crazy .
i just buy a fastlane and i got a seagate barracuda 4 gigas 68 pins , so i got the connector to 50 pins but it did not work .
the board does not see it .
ok then i went to ebay i got a ibm 17 gigas 80 pin , and i buy  
the connector to 50 pins . ok os 3.9 sees the hardrive but i does not let format or partition .
ok i went and i buy a new quantun altas 9 gigas 80 pins i got the connector to 50 pins and again 0s 3.9 does not see it again like the seagate .
then i went and  i got rom 8.5 for the fastlane , still same result .
i try a old 1 giga ibm 50 pins and it work ok , and i try a 50 cd rom work ok .
wich hard drive should i buy ??
anyone can tell me what are they using in the fastlane ?
thank for your time

What Amiga are you using the Z3 in & what version Buster chip does it have?

[SIR-GERMAN]

i think is 8 but i am not using any memory
so is that relevant ?

[SIR-GERMAN]

amiga 4000d

[Kin-Hell]

Okay, these cards had LOTS of issues with different CPU's.
Like the Z3 needs to be on firmware 8 or above to use in an A4000 with 060 CPU. You appear to have 8.5 so this is ok.
Also, there are some issues with certain SCSI drives on certain SCSI controllers. Largely, the Z3 should conform to most SCSI II drives but there may be compatability issues as well as obvious performance issues with SCSI III drives.
It is after all, a SCSI II card, though DCE usually got things right.

Z3 Info

As an example, if you are using an A3640 card version 3, you are probably experiencing DMA issues, especially if the Z3 has No onboard RAM.

Also, you will need OS3.9 Hard Drive toolbox to Prep & format drives of that size but ideally, you should be using the Prep software that came with Card.

you can get the software from:

here:

and here:

Best of luck!  :-)

[dnelsonfl]

These are all internal drives, right? It sounds more like a SCSI problem than a Fastlane problem. You tried a drive with 50 pins and it worked fine, but all the drives you tried with adapters gave you trouble? I'm using an IBM 9GB 68pin drive with a 68->50 adapter, and a Seagate 4.3GB 50pin drive on my Fastlane. They are in an external case with an active terminator ending that chain. I have no internal devices and I'm using the passive terminators on the Fastlane to terminate that end of the chain. How much memory you have on the Fastlane isn't going to affect the SCSI.

I'd first double-check the SCSI termination and adapters. What kind of adapters were you using? Some of them have special requirements when you connect them, such as setting jumpers or terminating a certain way. If you have access to another computer with SCSI (not necessarily an Amiga), it wouldn't hurt to see if that computer can "see" the drives.

It's a wonderful thing when it works, and downright frustrating when it doesn't. Took me an age and a day my first go around, too. Once I got the termination right, everything was fine.

-David

[Kin-Hell]

dnelsonfl wrote:
How much memory you have on the Fastlane isn't going to affect the SCSI.

It will BIG time if he has NO RAM on the Z3 & his Buster is a Rev 9. Without the Rev 11 Buster, this card will NOT access DMA correctly, but I concur, if his termination isn't right, he will have issues if using more than 1 device. Terminating the Hard Drive on a Single Device setup will be ok, though he will need to Terminate the Cable with an Active Terminator if he is using more than 1 SCSI device on the Bus. Sometimes, terminating the Last device is not always sucessful & an Active Terminator Pack on the cable itself is the only solution

[Zac67]

Some wide SCSI drives, esp. some IBMs I've seen, are very picky about termination: they require the upper (unused) byte to be terminated correctly, otherwise they won't transfer anything. Better use a narrow SCSI (ie 50pin) drive for testing to rule this out.

[darksun9210]

there are some 68 to 50 pin adapters that terminate the upper 8 data lines correctly, other than that, have the 68pin drives on the ends of the bus with active termination enabled.

the other option is to only have 68/80pin devices with a 68wire ribbon cable hooking them all together. then at least the upper 8 bits are terminated, and the host adapter with a 68-50pin plug is on the lower 8 bits.

[SIR-GERMAN]

what i need then is get a 50 to 68 pin device then get a 68 pin cable with a termination and try .
i still dont get it about the 8 bit termination can you explain more ?
thank for your time

[SIR-GERMAN]

can you tell me the jumpers for the fastlane  if i am using in internals devices ?
thank for your time

[BR]

This explains why I couldn't get my Z3 to see a
hard drive. Someone was kind enough to sell me
the 8.5 Rom chip for it and I have a file that's
called z3-8.5rom. How would I go about flashing
the Rom after I install the 8.5 rom chip? Is
it similar to the way you flash an MKIII? Thanks.
Bob Reising

[PaSha]

BR wrote:
This explains why I couldn't get my Z3 to see a
hard drive. Someone was kind enough to sell me
the 8.5 Rom chip for it and I have a file that's
called z3-8.5rom. How would I go about flashing
the Rom after I install the 8.5 rom chip? Is
it similar to the way you flash an MKIII? Thanks.
Bob Reising

Those chips are EPROMs, not flash. You'll need a EPROM programmer.
But if the chip was sold to you as a 8.5 rom, then it most likely is already programmed.

-Paul

[patrik]

@SIR-GERMAN:

68-pin drives are so called Wide SCSI drives, compared to 50-pin drives which are Narrow SCSI drives. The difference is that the Wide SCSI drives have a 16-bits wide databus, while the Narrow SCSI drives have a 8-bit databus.

Like all I/O-signals on the SCSI-bus, the extra 8-bits on the Wide SCSI drives, usually called the upper Byte needs to be terminated.

So, if you attach a Wide SCSI drive (68-pin) to a Narrow SCSI bus (50-pin) using a 50->68pin adapter that doesn't terminate this upper Byte, it will in most likely cause the drive to to malfunction as those signals (the upper Byte)then will be in an undefined state (the drive doesnt know if they are ones or a zeroes).

Check this page for more information.


/Patrik

[SIR-GERMAN]

what do i have to do to fix that problem ( uper bites ) with the 68 pin devices ?
thank for your time