Indivision ECS and my GVP SCSI board don't get along!

[Huxley_D]

Hi guys,

So, I just finally got around to installing the snazzy new Indivision ECS board I bought on eBay a few weeks back.  The installation was fairly painless, and I now have my beloved Amiga 2000 (REV. 6.2 motherboard) put back together.  However, I'm running into a strange problem.

When I power up the A2000 (with a VGA monitor connected to the Indivision), I get the lovely Indivision splash screen, followed by the standard "insert boot disk" screen, and everything looks beautiful - sharp, bright colors, and a huge improvement over the fuzzy greyscale graphics I've been enduring for months.

However, when I insert my GVP A4000 HC+8 SCSI drive board (which contains my boot HDD) and power on the system, I get the Indivision splash screen, and then... nothing.  The HDD access light blinks as though the system were booting, but I never get anything on the display.  Perhaps even more odd, with the GVP board inserted, I'm unable to access the boot-options screen (by holding down the mouse buttons), but with the GVP board removed the options screen works as expected.

Any ideas?  I'm guessing there's some sort of conflict, but I'll be darned if I know what it is.

Huxley

[Huxley_D]

Oh, one other bit of possibly useful info:  I just threw in Disk 1 of "Rise of the Dragon," (with the GVP board removed) and the game booted and ran beautifully, so I don't think I managed to fry my motherboard or Denise chip during the installation.  Unfortunately, with the GVP board reinserted, RotD didn't boot or run, and I still had a blank screen.

[pan1k]

Do you have an accelerator installed?

[NovaCoder]

Take the IndivisionECS out (leave the GVP connected) and see if it works.

[Huxley_D]

Do you have an accelerator installed?

I do, a Progressive Peripherals Zeus '040 board running at 33MHz.  I believe I get the same results with or without the '040 board, but I'll double-check that in a bit.

One thought springs to mind:  Before I purchased the Indivision, I was attempting to get my setup built around a GVP Spectrum VGA board, but the hassle of trying to get it working the way I intended didn't seem worth it, so I've removed the GVP Spectrum video board from the system.  I wonder if somehow the lack of the Spectrum is messing things up?  I'll also try reinserting the Spectrum and seeing what happens then...

H.

[Huxley_D]

Take the IndivisionECS out (leave the GVP connected) and see if it works.

I've been using the A2000 with the '040 and the GVP SCSI board with no issues for a few months now, so I don't think that's the issue.  Plus, with the shoddy nature of the motherboard sockets on these things, I'm hoping to avoid any unnecessary removal / installations of the Indivision, so I'll hold off on this idea for as long as possible.

Thanks for the thought though!

Huxley

[NovaCoder]

I've been using the A2000 with the '040 and the GVP SCSI board with no issues for a few months now, so I don't think that's the issue.  Plus, with the shoddy nature of the motherboard sockets on these things, I'm hoping to avoid any unnecessary removal / installations of the Indivision, so I'll hold off on this idea for as long as possible.

Thanks for the thought though!

Huxley

I was thinking that you might have 'upset' something when you installed the Indvision.  If it works when you remove it then you have answer and if you remove it and it doesn't work, you still have the answer (just a different one)

[Huxley_D]

Well, I'm trying a different approach (before I tear the whole thing down and remove the Indivision):  I've removed the GVP SCSI board, and transplanted the GVP's onboard SCSI drive to the back of my PPI Zeus '040 board (it has an onboard SCSI controller).  The system is powering on as normal (I can get to the boot options menu, get the "insert disk" animation, etc.), but I can't get it to recognize the SCSI drive on the Zeus board.  I've done some digging online to find any possible jumpers that might need to be adjusted to make it recognize the HDD, but all I can turn up is info on the RAM jumpers.

Is anyone here using the Zeus SCSI option, or perhaps has a manual or readme that might shed some light on this?

Thanks guys - I'm getting closer to making this work, I think...

Huxley

[Huxley_D]

Huh.

Before I gave up last night and went to bed, I decided to try putting things back as they were when I started, to retrace my steps and see if I forgot anything obvious.  I put the HDD back on the GVP SCSI board, carefully reseated everything... and still had no luck.

I noticed a jumper on the GVP board labled "AUTO BOOT" which was enabled, so on a whim, I removed the jumper.  Suddenly, the system would work normally even with the GVP board inserted!  I was able to get to the "boot options" screen, get the "insert disk" animation, etc. etc.  I replaced the "AUTO BOOT" jumper, and before I knew it, my A2000 was booting exactly as I was expecting it to from the start of the evening!

The most frustrating aspect of this whole issue is that I honestly don't know what exactly resolved the problem.  It very well could have been toggling that jumper on the GVP board, but really, who knows?  In any case, I'm happy that it's working now, and the image on my (enormous) old VGA screen is crisp and clear.

Ahh, the joys of antiquated computing equipment!

Huxley

[pan1k]

It's all good as long as it works for you. Don't you just love the feeling of accomplishment??

[Huxley_D]

It's all good as long as it works for you. Don't you just love the feeling of accomplishment??

Sigh.

I think I jumped the gun on my "victory dance."  Feeling cocky with my success last night, I tried re-adding my CD-ROM drive to the SCSI chain (this has been working for months in this configuration), but I seem to have gotten myself right back into a mess.

If I try to boot (with or without the CD drive connected), I get the same black screen / non-boot.  If I power on while holding down the mouse buttons, I get the following message:

"gvpscsi.device: unit 006
Unexptected Status $4E/$31"

There's a "Resume" button below the error, but when I click it, the system locks up (no mouse or keyboard response).

Anyone recognize this error?  When I am able to get to the boot menu, the Expansion Board Diagnostic reports that everything is working fine.



Huxley

[Zac67]

Actually, with a Zeus accelerator incl. SCSI there's little sense in using the GVP HC+8 at all. The RAM is dead slow in comparison to 32 bit RAM and the SCSI is at least three times faster.

If your current HDD doesn't like the Zeus (or vice versa), get another drive, hook that to the Zeus, transfer the data and dump the GVP.

[Huxley_D]

Actually, with a Zeus accelerator incl. SCSI there's little sense in using the GVP HC+8 at all. The RAM is dead slow in comparison to 32 bit RAM and the SCSI is at least three times faster.

If your current HDD doesn't like the Zeus (or vice versa), get another drive, hook that to the Zeus, transfer the data and dump the GVP.

I think you've got the right idea here - I've only got one (small?) problem:

To date, I've been unable to get my Zeus board to recognize any SCSI devices connected to it, via either the internal or external connectors.  I've got the SCSI patch in my WBStartup folder (from the Zeus install disk), but no dice, even when running the HDToolbox.

I'm hoping it's just a jumper issue, but without the manual I'm in the dark.  Does anyone even know if there are any jumpers on the Zeus that relate to SCSI?

Huxley

[NovaCoder]

Huh.

Ahh, the joys of antiquated computing equipment!

Huxley

[mdivancic]

I think you've got the right idea here - I've only got one (small?) problem:

To date, I've been unable to get my Zeus board to recognize any SCSI devices connected to it, via either the internal or external connectors.  I've got the SCSI patch in my WBStartup folder (from the Zeus install disk), but no dice, even when running the HDToolbox.

I'm hoping it's just a jumper issue, but without the manual I'm in the dark.  Does anyone even know if there are any jumpers on the Zeus that relate to SCSI?

Huxley

Have you tried the software on the PPG install disk?