CD32+SX1 - Problems with 4.3gb hard drive when using 8mb ram *solved*

[bilko9070]

Hi everyone,
I have been having problems with a hard drive i got to replace my 2gb hard drive in my amiga which has bad sectors.

The hard drive works fine when i do not have my 8mb ram stick in the sx1s simm slot, however when i have the ram installed, the machine will lock up when trying to save any data onto it.

There are no such problems when using the original hard drive.

I have made sure to keep partition sizes below 2gb and am only using the first 3.6gb of the drive.  I have tried os3.9 and wb3.1.  I have also tried using the sfs file system.  Always the same problem.

Would i have this problem if i was using a normal A1200 with an 8mb memory expansion?

I have heard of people using amigas ok with 4.3 gb hard drives, but am wondering if it could be worth hunting around for a drive below 4gb in size?

[Cammy]

Are you still using the standard CD32 PSU? I'm not sure if a lack of power could be causing it. I'd recommend not using a Hard Drive at all in the SX-1, and going for an IDE-CF adapter and a 4GB Compact Flash card. It'll boot faster than the HDD, and it won't need any extra power.

Alternatively, you could try an ATX PC PSU and use an adapter to power it. You can get the adapters here http://www.amigamaniac.com/atx_to_amiga.html
It's highly recommended that anyone with an SX-1 and a HDD use a better PSU than the Commodore one.

[bilko9070]

Could it be as simple as the psu?  Must be worth a try. Im still using the original one, but have never had power problems with other hard drives in the past.  I am also having similar problems when trying to use larger 3.5" drives for which i have a separate psu.

I should have a 3.6gb 2.5" drive to test in the next few days, so will see how it goes.

[Louis Dias]

I believe there is something in the SX-1 manual with regards to RAM and hard drive sizes, iirc.  I think with 4MB you can have larger hard drives.  It's been a while.  Check your manual though.

[bilko9070]

Just thought id let everyone know ive managed to solve this finally!  All i needed to do was install IDEFix97.  It sorts out the problem for both os 3.1 & 3.9.
tbh, i had assumed that installing os 3.9 on its own would be enough to sort out any problems with IDE interface, but clearly i was wrong

Just managed to shift 1gb of data between partitons on the drive where as before i could not manage a whole floppy before the system crashed.

I think i will have to register IDEfix if its still possible.

[Claw22000]

Just thought id let everyone know ive managed to solve this finally!  All i needed to do was install IDEFix97.  It sorts out the problem for both os 3.1 & 3.9.
tbh, i had assumed that installing os 3.9 on its own would be enough to sort out any problems with IDE interface, but clearly i was wrong

Just managed to shift 1gb of data between partitons on the drive where as before i could not manage a whole floppy before the system crashed.

I think i will have to register IDEfix if its still possible.

I'm having a similar problem where my fast memory isn't showing up.  The hard drive is all there however.

I will have to try this IDE Fix and see if it helps.