Tried to upgrade my A1200T's HDD, now it can't find any HDD or CD-ROM

[marcfrick2112]

Hey, I hope someone can help me. I should have known that sooner or later my somewhat tricked out A1200T would have a problem. OK, I needed a bigger hard drive, I installed the new HDD as Slave and my original 8.5GB HDD as Master to copy OS3.9 over, etc. Went fine, until I put in the new drive as Master, and my CD-ROM as Slave, now my Amiga doesn't see any drives, but the floppy and my SCSI drives. I really need access to that 8.5 GB drive as I don't have enough room on my SCSI drives.

 I tried Early Startup menu, HDToolbox, no joy. Tried 3 different HDD's. OK, so is the IDE cable bad, or could I have messed up the IDE port? The cable is a 40-pin to 2 44-pin type.

Any ideas? If I have to, I can send my A1200T to be repaired, but I dread sending miggy's through the mail  :-o

Specs:
A1200 Power Tower, 8.5GB IDE HDD, OS3.9 w/BB 1 and 2, 192MB RAM, 1260/50MHz+SCSI module, Teac 40X CD-rom

[Thomas]

Not enough details here.

So your original config was motherboard (44pin) - 8.5 GB 2.5" HDD (44pin, master) - CD-ROM drive (40 pin, slave).

Then you disconnected the CD drive and added another HDD. How big is the new HDD ? What kind of HDD is it ? 3.5" 40 pin or 2.5" 44pin ? If 44 pin, how did you connect it to the 40 pin connector ? How do you supply it with power ?

Finally you disconnected everything and reconnected it like this:

Motherboard (44pin) - new hdd (master) - CD drive (slave, 40pin).

How is the new hdd which was previously connected to the 40 pin connector now connected to the 44 pin connetor ? How do you supply it with power ?

Does the original config still work ? Is the old HDD still recognised ? Is the CD drive recognised when the old HDD is connected ?

Is the new HDD recognised when connected as slave toghether with the old master HDD ?

Does the new HDD spin up when connected to the IDE cable ?

Does the CD drive open its tray when connected to the IDE cable ? Does the CD drive react on Ctrl-A-A ?

Does the new HDD react on Ctrl-A-A (does the spinning noise change) ?

Well, a vague conclusion:

If the old config does still works, then there is an issue with the new HDD. If the new HDD is recognised when connected together with the old HDD, then nothing is lost.

Mayby it simply is the well-known slow-spin-up-and-spin-down-during-reset problem. So if you hear a difference after Ctrl-A-A, you might want to try to cut the reset line of the IDE cable. (Get a spare cable first for the case you cut too deep.) Then the HDD should be recognised after a reset. And the slave CD drive will probably be recognised, too, once the master works.

Bye,
Thomas

[marcfrick2112]

Thanks for the quick reply, Thomas. OK, I'll try to explain...
My original 8.5GB hdd is 3.5".... I have some sort of IDE adapter cable that plugs into the motherboard IDE port and gives 2 40-pin connectors (I think I got 40- and 44-pin mixed up in my original post.) My original config. does not work anymore. I can hear my original HDD spin up, the LED on the CD drive blinks, but I get the purple 'insert disk' screen. When I boot with a floppy that has a CD-rom filesystem on it, I still don't have CD-Rom working. No combination of new/old HDD's weather Slave or Master seems to work. On a reboot, all HDD's I have tried make the same noise, a quiet 'click-click' sound. The CD only flashes its' LED for a short time after a reboot. The tray doesn't open on reboot.

[rkauer]

 Sounds like a power issue to me.

 Swap the PSU, if you have one with more "juice" around. True 300W must be more than enough.

[marcfrick2112]

@rkauer: Well, I suppose it could be the PSU, but this system was working 100% only yesterday. Not sure what wattage the PSU in Power Towers is, but it must be fairly good, as I have run an '060/ 192MB RAM, 8.5 GB HDD for literally years, with no problems.

[Thomas]

Sounds like the cable is damaged or not connected correctly.

Did you disconnect the cable from the motherboard ? Then check if it is connected correctly now. It's easy to miss some overlapping pins at the side.

Certainly the CD drive does not open its tray by itself. What I meant was if the drive opens when you push the button or if it just ignores the button.

If you are about to buy a new cable, I'd suggest to use standard parts rather than custom-built cables. There are adapters to connect notebook drives to desktop PCs. These can be used the other way around, too. Use one of these to connect a normal 40pin IDE cable to the motherboard. Might even be cheaper than a custom cable from an Amiga dealer.

Bye,
Thomas

[marcfrick2112]

Hi Thomas, OK, did a quick check... the CD tray does open when the button is pressed. I double-checked the cable to the motherboard, it seems to be in OK, but may be damaged as you say. Some time ago, I remember having the same problem with the purple 'insert disk' screen showing up. I found a place that has one of those adapters for $6.00, I'll try one first before I send my 'baby' off to be repaired. Thanks very much, Marc

[marcfrick2112]

She Lives!! Whoo Hoo!

Again, thanks Thomas... I got an adapter cable locally a couple of hours ago, all is well. I really think I will need a replacement drive soon though, my 8.5GB is getting on in years.

Any recommendations regarding IDE hard drives?

(Although I don't really want to open my miggy up yet again  :-o

[rkauer]

 Take the motherboard battery, if you didn't already.

[marcfrick2112]

@ rkauer: I didn't see any battery on the motherboard. There is what looks like a lithium battery in my 1260 board, those types don't leak, correct?

Again, thanks everyone  :-D

[DoogUK]

There is no battery onboard the a1200....only on add on cards.
The lithium batteries are fine and will not leak...no need to remove it.