Zip 100 IDE problems

[swift240]

Hi guys,
Ok I posted a thread about an Iomega IDE ZIP 100 drive unit.
Got it up and runnig but I have had to disconnect it from my sytem.
Its like this,
I use an IDE 99 board with drivers Installed and off that is this lot.

Primary 6.4Gig HD (master of course)

Secondary 52x CD rom (slave)

then on the other side of it.
16 x CD rom as slave.If I use the Zip as Master then when it all starts up and eveerything is loaded in, I keep getting error message from Dopus 4.16, Workbench itself or mostly any thing that I click on in about 5 to 10 seconds of running the application.

My CD DOS drivers are CD1 for the 52X CD rom, CD3 for the 16X CD rom and CD6 for the IDE ZIp drive.
These DOS drivers are what IDE`99 used.
But as soon as I disconnect rhe IDE ZIp drive then reboot everything is fine no problems what so ever.

Now I know that the IDE zip is OK I have tried it my Athlon and it runs perfectly.

So how is the ZIp causing this?

I have tries setting it as slave and the 16x CD as master but same problem.
I hav eeven used it as slave after the 6.4Gig HD as master but same problem so no matter how I use the IDE ZIp I get this problem time after time.

At this point in time its just sitting there doing nothing,  I know and you know it should not be this way.

So has any one any ideas on how to put this right?
I used SYS:Tools/Mounter and it look ok from there and teh Iomega tools see`s it.

ohhhh yeah the errors moslty are #80000004

Mike.

[Thomas]

and CD6 for the IDE ZIp drive.
These DOS drivers are what IDE`99 used.

You cannot use a CD driver for a ZIP drive. See Aminet for example ZIP mountlists. Use only Device and Unit from the CD driver.

Bye,
Thomas

[swift240]

Well all I can say is that, the IDE`99 board that is fitted came with a drivers disk.
WHen Installed I see in Devs Dosdrivers, CD1, CD3, and CD6 for the Zip drive, when running it does work, but its just the problems that goes with it.
I shall take a look at what you said though, and will even try the OS3.9 Zip Dos driver see if that will help or not.

Mike.

[Thomas]

A DosDriver is just a text file. Load it into a text editor and look what is inside.

If it names AllegroCDFS or anything else with "CDFS" in its name as file system, then it is meant for a CD drive. Find one with "Filesystem = FastFileSystem" or "FileSystem = FAT95" or similar for your ZIP drive.

Then look for Device and Unit entries. These should be Device = scsi.device and Unit =

0 -> first master
1 -> first slave
2 -> second master
3 -> second slave

Bye,
Thomas

[Boot_WB]

On my IOmega 250 IDE ZIP drive (which I also have problems with), I used the ZIP entry from the OS3.9 disk (located in storage/dosdrivers).  This uses fastfilesystem.  

When I run IOtools with a disk in the drive it freezes IOtools.  What an arse.

Check your jumper settings again though.  IIRC to set to eithermaster/slave with a second device you need 2 jumpers set.  I believe if you have only 1 jumper it sets it to the only device on the bus.  This took me a few hours of wondering why the hell it wasn't working right :-)

Also, the unit numbers and automount need to be set in the tooltypes (as well as/instead of - not sure which) the text file if you have installed magicworkbench.

[swift240]

OK so all the ODs drivers are correct, the Info in the DOS drivers is also correct, I am left with a Zip drive that is seen by Workbench OS3.9, yes I have BB1 and BB" installed.
I can copy anything to the Zip, I can format it, and delete from it.
But as soon as I copy anything to it say over 500k, I get this:-

"Workbench failed (error#80000004) Wait for disk activity to finish."

Well I dont know from here, so I will just disconnect it.

Mike.

[Thomas]

Check the DosDriver again, if there is an entry for MaxTransfer, change it to 0xfe00. If there is none, add one reading MaxTransfer = 0xfe00.

Also check if there is an entry for stack. If there is one, increase it (double its value). If there is none, add one reading Stack = 8192.

Bye,
Thomas

[swift240]

I have done as you said, saved it out rebooted and the same problems as before but only when I insert a Zip disk.

Mike.

[rare_j]

This is the Elbox adapter and driver right?

Using the 4xEIDE.driver the ZIP drive must be a slave for it to work properly. It doesn't seem to matter if it is set to slave on a channel where there's no master.

Also, the driver will automatically mount an inserted zip disk as a trackdisk device and call it dfx: depending on which unit it is. Mine's the secondary slave, unit 3, so it's mounted as df7: without me having to do anything.

This is all in the docs you get on the driver disk.

Dont have 2 or more dosdrivers for 1 ZIP drive, I've found it will crash the system. If you're using a dosdriver from aminet for the ZIP then do a assign dismount df6: or 7, and make sure none of your active CD dosdrivers are pointing at the unit where your ZIP drive is.

[swift240]

Yes tried that and all I get is a DF7 and when I reformat it, it goes to 880K.



Mike.
 

[rare_j]

In that case put a line in your startup-sequence after the 4xEIDE.driver command and before the dosdrivers are loaded like this:

assign dismount df7:

(I think that is the correct syntax)

Like I say make sure you only have one active dosdriver pointing at unit 3. I use zipstandard.lha off aminet.

[cathalferr]

I have had similar issues with 100mb zip drives in the pc world, so I think that the issue is not specific to the amiga.
I had a p3-500 with 2 harddrives on ide0, and a combo drive partnered with a 100mb zip drive on ide1.
The only way that I could get it to pass POST was to have the zip drive set as master, and the cdrom set as slave, with the cdrom on the center connector. All other combinations failed for me.

I'll double check this (my sister now has that computer) but I think that the iomega implementation of an ide device was slightly odd. Just try different combinations of master/slave/cableselect and orders of connection on the cable.

Regards,
Cathal.

[swift240]

Well I tried the assign dismount df7:
rebooted had the Zip as slave and the CD rom and master.

And nothing, that is no Zip icon, nothing zilch.

Mike.
I think I will go and smack my head up the wall a dozen times see if that will help.

[swift240]

Ok, try again.....

Primary Master 6.4Gig HD OS3.0
Primary Secondary slave 52X CD rom
Secondary Master IDE ZIp Drive
Secondary slave 16X CD rom

Now this way it DOES work any other it just DONT, dont ask mme why because I simply do not know.
However afet (not every sinlge time but most)
I use Workbench in any form after a few minutes I get the error "Workbench failed (error #80000004)"
I dont know why?
If I use a Zip disk it works, copy to, copy from, delete, format great.
But in a matter of seconds of doing that then ohhhh crappoloaaaaa.
But notice this, I tried a third CD rom with the correct DOS driver to see what would happen and the same problem.
So it looks to me as if my setup just DONT like a Primary master. No matter if its CD rom or Zip or even a HD.
Because I have tried every possible compination.
With every possible DOS driver.

Mike.