Need help installing CF HDD in a1200!!!!

[crawff]

Hi,

This is driving me crazy today. All i want to do is install Workbench 3.0 or 3.1 to a 4GB CF disk. (has worked in my Amiga before but deleted partition by mistake)

This is what i have done so far.

Connected my CF card to my PC,
Booted up Winuae
Changed the config to Roms: 3.0, 4meg Ram expansion,
Added my CF card as a Hard disk (type: UAE, Read/write YES)
I then booted into Workbench, loaded installer disk.
Clicked on "Information" on the HDToolBox icon and changed the SCSI.device to uaehf.device.
Loaded HDTools, I can now see a device, i then clicked on change drive type.
I click on read partitions etc...and type Ram:Junk for the name.

I then created 3 partitions, DH0 (bootable),DH1 and DH2. All of these had Max transfer changed to 0x1fe00.

I save the changes and reboot in Winuae and all is great, i can see the 3 partitions and have the option to format them and install Workbench.

I then remove the CF card and put back into my Amiga and switch it on and it just loads the purple kickstart prompt. I then load workbench installer and try HDtoolbox.

Nothing is recognised at all, all of the options are ghosted. When i click on the information for HDtoolbox it does recognise something (Stack: 4096, Blocks:205,SCSI_DEVICE_NAME=scsi.device.

I have tried everything today and cannot get the CF disk recognised

Can anyone help me out here? what am i doing wrong?

Thanks

[Snoozy]

Hey,
 
Which workbench are you using classic/lite?
 
Did you copy system.hdf completely or did you pack it as a zip file. If its a zip file you will need the installer 3.5" floppy disk (which is separate to the wb install disk) I would forget about copying it as a zip file and just copy over system.hdf as one large file.
 
I would also go back to the cf install/partitioning and make sure it is installed with bootable option ticked below.
 
Apart from that you could check all your connections are sound for the cf?
 
Thomas is probably one of the best people to consult about this, he was pretty helpful when it came to sorting out my recent CF A1200 install

[crawff]

Hi,

Im not even trying to install ClassicWB just yet or any OS.

The hard disk is not being recognised at the moment so this is what i need to fix first before attempting to install the OS.

I did check that the CF card is seated correctly and it all appears to be fine.

I spent nearly the whole day trying different things but no luck yet...

[Snoozy]

hmm, well if i was you i would go back to when you were formatting the cf via quick format in virtual wb and then install wb there and then,once you have done this the wb installation has the start-up sequence to take you off from the usual purple wb prompt, and considering this will only take you 5-10 mins its worth double checking..
 
I could be wrong but i thought you need an OS installed on the cf in order for it to be able to properly communicate with your a1200.

[bbond007]

Every time I have I have configured a CF card I have used the actual amiga to partition & format the CF card and then used UAE to install the OS.

I could see doing it this way would be a problem if you don't have the worbench "install" floppy...

[crawff]

thanks for the reply,

Yeah i had already installed Workbench 3.1 on the drive and it all works fine in Winuae. It boots to DH0 and shows my other 2 formatted partitions.

When i took the CF card out containing this data and put back into my a1200 the HDD is not being seen by the Amiga.

The HDD is not recognised by HDToolBox when booting into Workbench using my WB install floppy disk.

If i mount the card in Winuae it will work perfect as a Hard disk file.

[bbond007]

thanks for the reply,

Yeah i had already installed Workbench 3.1 on the drive and it all works fine in Winuae. It boots to DH0 and shows my other 2 formatted partitions.

When i took the CF card out containing this data and put back into my a1200 it is still doing the same the now (without the OS installed)

The HDD is not recognised by HDToolBox when booting into Workbench using my floppy disk.

If i mount the card in Winuae it will work perfect as a Hard disk file.

Well, maybe I'm not understanding the issue 100% correctly, but it sounds a lot like you have never been able to get the CF card recognized on the 1200. If you boot the 3.1 install and go into HDtoolbox (and it is set in  the tooltype to use scsi.device) and don't see the drive or your partitions keep disappearing, then it may be as simple as using a different brand of CF card. Not are all 100% backwards compatible with IDE.

[crawff]

I agree it might sound confusing but let me try summarise.

The CF card with 3 partitions works fine in Winuae.
The same CF card is not recognised in HDToolsBox in the real amiga 1200.

HDtoolbox cannot see anything. it is 100% blank and all options ghosted out.

I know the card works because it was working fine in my amiga before i deleted the bootable partition by mistake.

Hence the reason i am now trying to do a clean install.

Thanks

[bbond007]

I agree it might sound confusing but let me try summarise.

The CF card with 3 partitions works fine in Winuae.
The same CF card is not recognised in HDToolsBox in the real amiga 1200.

HDtoolbox cannot see anything. it is 100% blank and all options ghosted out.

I know the card works because it was working fine in my amiga before i deleted the bootable partition by mistake.

Hence the reason i am now trying to do a clean install.

Thanks

Well, if HDToolbox can not see the card at all the only thing I can suggest is to make sure tooltype for HDToolBox for SCSI_DEVICE_NAME=scsi.device

other than that, the only thing I can think is something hardware wise must have failed...

hopefully someone has some some better ideas

[smerf]

Hi,

@Crawff,

Put the CF drive in the Amiga 1200 as you would usually do, put the 3.1 Amiga OS in the drive and fire up the A1200, once the OS loads, go to hard disk toolbox and fire that up, it should show your CF drive as a scsi disk such and such. from there you just partition, restart and then format your CF drive.

If this doesn't work, sell your defective A1200 to me for $5, I will even pay the shipping costs.

smerf

[crawff]

Hi Smerf,

I had done everything you have said but the HDToolbox cannot find anything.

[crawff]

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Am i missing any drivers?
Should i try formatting the card using the PCMIA slot?
Is my hardware at fault? (even though it boots up fine)
Am i doing things correctly so far?

Im stuck on this one :-(

[Thomas]

It's like smerf said, if it is not recognised, you are out of luck. It may well be that the CF card became slower by being used, now being incompatible with the Amiga.

Nevertheless,

- make sure that the CF card and all cables are connected correctly and properly
- make sure that there is no short circuit anywhere
- make sure that HDToolbox is configured correctly (either SCSI_DEVICE_NAME=scsi.device or nothing at all).

If it's still not recognised, try another CF card or a 2.5" HDD, just to be sure that the Amiga's IDE port still works at all.

[crawff]

Good news!!

It is all working!!!

I did a couple of things but not sure what fixed it.

I still had my 3 partitions named DH0,DH1 and DH2. When i did the did formatting i called them the same (DH0, DH1 and DH2.)

I formatted each partition again but this time used the names "Workbench", "Games 1" and "Games 2".

I also removed the IDE cable and put it in again.

I then put the card back in and when i booted the workbench disk the 3 partitions were there!!

Now, I'm not sure if it was the renaming of the partitions or simply taking the IDE and putting back in which actually fixed the issue.

Any thoughts??

[Thomas]

Probably the IDE cable. Most likely not connected properly, as I said above.