WarpEngine SCSI help

[dangermouse]

Hi

Just recently got hold of a WarpEngine 4040 and am trying to verify 100% operation before selling it on (came as part of a whole swag of kit).

Everything is fine except SCSI..I can't seem to be able to get it working but I've probably got the config wrong.

Basically, the card is a 4040 WarpEngine without the SCSI terminator blocks installed (3 empty banks). So, I connected my SCSI cable as follows:

* Active terminator at the beginning of the cable
* WarpEngine on connector 2
* U160 SCSI HDD on connector 3 (no termination options on this so assuming it's not acting as a terminator)
* SCSI CD-ROM on connector 4 (drive is a Teac with the 'Term' jumper set which I'm assuming is causing the drive to act as a terminator)

So as far as I can tell the SCSI chain is terminated on both ends. So, I boot and the HDD / CD-ROM spin up but in the early startup menu neither device is listed - just FD0: and FD1: I have followed the WarpEngine manual and have used most settings from the most aggressive to the slowest (as detailed in the manual) but I've yet to see a device listed. I have also tried with both the 'TermPower' on the WE jumper set and not set.

Boot into WB 3.1 anyway off a 3.1 Install Floppy and HDToolbox spends ages scanning LUN 0 before coming back with no devices. Thought I'd see if IDEFix can see the CD-ROM but it also doesn't see anything (no devices at all).

Now, I'm thinking a few things:

1. There is a fault with the onboard WE SCSI
2. I'm missing a step. Do I need to install the device driver for the WE (I think it's called WarpDrive.device)? I would have thought scsi.device would have worked like my Cyberstorm but maybe this is different?
3. My SCSI chain isn't configured correctly - I'm no SCSI expert

Any help greatly appreciated

Thanks

[davideo]

Have you got a copy of the Warp install disks?

I set mine up with these dead easy

Dave G :cool:

[dangermouse]

No, but I can get a copy from the web. I'll give that a go. I was just wondering if scsi.device by itself should be enough to get her going. If the disks are required then I guess not.

[marcfrick2112]

Dangermouse; I am nearly certain that the SCSI device of the WarpEngine is ' warpscsi.device ' You can always use a prog. to list all devices, to find the right one... (can't remember the one I use ATM... )

[davideo]

And just for clarification the device for the Warp is 'warpdrive.device' without the quotes

Dave G :cool:

[dangermouse]

OK. Got home and downloaded the WarpEngine DMS and, using my working 4000, got a disk made. Transferred that to the WE 4000 and it's a royal pain in the ass.

1. I can only boot off floppy as, naturally, the hard drive is currently the one I'm trying to get working with the WE. The HDToolbox-WarpEngine won't run because of a missing IconX (if booting from a 3.1 Install Disk) or it just doesn't run and doesn't give an error either (booting from a 3.1 WB Disk - I'm assuming IconX on that is too old).

2. I copied warpdrive.device to my WB 3.1 install disk and threw it into Devs. Then I went to my 3.1 Install Disk and changed to tooltype from scsi.device to warpdrive.device. Run HDToolbox and it starts scanning the warpdrive.device before the software pulls a guru.

3. Finally I decided to run the SCSITools off the WE disk and it also starts and pulls a guru

The readme file on the WE disk says the stuff should be placed into the system partition etc etc but I don't have a hard drive on which to place it and the floppies appear to be giving it grief.

I'm probably being a complete twit here but this seems like chicken and the egg - the WE disk wants a system partition but, without the hard drive setup with the WE disk, I'm not getting one any time soon.

Grrr...I must be doing this wrong. Any pointers on how to fix my mess would be appreciated.

Cheers

[mousehouse]

Is the warpdrive.device loaded after boot? Is there some way you can boot from another volume and run a tool to show you that?

warpdrive.device is in the flash of the card, AFAIK. I never installed anything from any floppy to get it to work. But... I do have red termination thingies on the board as shown on the photo's on amiga.resource.cx.

It might be strange issue with the U160 drive (are you using a convertor for that?) combined with the CDROM?

What happens if you take the harddrive off and only use the CDROM?

Also, I installed the disk using the regular HDToolBox, going into the properties and setting DEVICE=warpdrive.device as tooltype.

[dangermouse]

Feels like you're talking to yourself when you reply to your own last post

Anyway, I decided to install a copy of 3.1 onto a CF card into the 4000 so she at least boots from HDD. I then copied the WarpEngine stuff over from the disk and she still does a guru (8BAD C0DE is the exception) when I use the WE version of HDToolBox.

Interestingly though I do a 'version' of warpdrive.device and it comes back with 40.-1 ... yes, -1. Looks very odd to me and that is the one from the DMS from Amiga Resource.

So...if anyone has any advice on where to go from here (or even what version they are using of warpdrive.device) I'd appreciate it

Cheers

[davideo]

If you don't get any other answers before tonight - I'll check mine out when I get home from work.

Dave G :cool:

[dangermouse]

Hi Mousehouse

From what I've read the 'missing' things from the board are just SCSI termination resistors. Without them I can't have the board on the end of the SCSI chain as I need to terminate both ends with either a terminator or device that supports termination.

I've thrown the WarpEngine disk into my Cyberstorm 4000 and ran a 'version' on the warpdrive.device on the floppy and it comes back with the 40.-1.

Not sure if it is loaded from the ROM somewhere as I'm just following the WE instructions. I've tried without the U160 also and same result..guru.

I'm thinking I need to get the version sorted out I guess so I have a known good device file instead of what appears to be garbage.

Thanks for the advice though..I'll look into the ROM you mention also.

[mousehouse]

Just delete all the garbage that the disk install put onto your system, I've not needed them - works great without it.

Then, try booting without anything attached and have a look what your warpdrive.device version is. I have the 4040 in my A4000D - will check in a few hours to see what version comes up.

[dangermouse]

Done as requested.

Booted off the CF card with all the WE stuff removed and the version is 40.-1.

I also ran WinUAE and mounted the DMS I got from Amiga Resource and it too says 40.-1 for WarpDrive.device so I'm really not sure what's going on (I did this as I thought that maybe the DMS -> ADF conversion managed to mangle it but nope)

I may take a while to reply if you reply again soon as I'll be hitting the proverbial sack soon..thanks again.

[mousehouse]

I've just checked and my system (see sig) reports warpdrive.device version 40.66. No drivers installed or anything WarpEngine related in the DEVS: folder so this must come from the ROM on the card.

I don't know if the ROM is upgradable - maybe you can look into that.

Maybe test some more with "older" SCSI gear, a real 50pin drive or something and play around with other termination solutions would be the best advice I can offer - sorry.

[stachu100]

@dangermouse,
Problem is in WarpEngine hardware; I'm 95% sure about that.
This is how non-properly soldered 030 CPU looks under microscope:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A__lrEJrHCs
 
WarpEngine SCSI chip looks exactly the same. I know that because I've managed to repair SCSI part on two WarpEngine boards already.
Reason of defect was the same: bad solder...
 
If you are skilled enough you can get magnification glass and nail and check every pin of SCSI chip. Once you will find one (or more) which are not soldered you can try to solder them.

[dangermouse]

Ah..thanks Stachu and hello ! I'm skilled enough to attempt a repair on something like that so I'll take a good look at her tonight.

Odd though that in WinUAE the version of warpdrive.device off the DMS is 40.-1. Would I be correct in assuming that somehow the version reported is tied to the physical hardware and not just a file version?

And thanks to you also Mouse. My older SCSI hardware is too unreliable to use really hence the need to use the U160 drive. I don't use SCSI as a rule as I find IDE CF is fast enough for my needs. Just trying to verify the state of this accelerator before selling it..don't want to rip people off.