CFIDE68K v. 402 microdrives not recognized

[curtis]

I've had the CFIDE68K v. 402 for a while now and am finally getting around to setting it up in a rev 6A A500 motherboard.

Configuration is as follows:
A500 rev. 6A
CFIDE68K v. 4.02
MegaChip 2000
Startech IDE to CF adapter.
37.350 ROM
WB 2.1 Install disk

Problem is it doesn't recognize the 1GB IBM microdrive.

I go through HDSetup and let it partition the drive but when I'm expecting it to tell me the drive has been partitioned and reboot, there's nothing there!

I rebooted and then go to HDToolbox hoping the microdrive will be found and I get "Driver not installed".

Also tried a Sandisk 64Mb CF card and symptoms are the same with HDSetup, but when I go to HDToolbox, I get a "unrecognized" drive.

Curious thing is I tried a 350Mb 3.5" hard drive just to check out the circuitry and it partitioned and formatted with no problem.

Any suggestions?

Would a TrueIDE adapter help out here?

Thanks,

Curtis

[danbeaver]

Two issues:
1) ROM version 37.350 was meant for the A600.
2) KS/WB Version 2.04/5 were developed very early on and may not be written to handle your devices. Version 3.0/1 of both work better with WB/AmigaOS 3.9 having the most robust HDToolbox of the pre-OS 4 versions.

It has been 20 years since I touched a version 2 Amiga, so take this info with a grain of salt.

[curtis]

I've been told the 37.350 would work just fine in a rev 6a motherboard and the fact that the real IDE drive seems to confirm this.

Also, all the documentation of the CFIDE68K says it SHOULD work!

Still a ponderment.

I'm going to pick up a 3.1 ROM and see if that resolves the issue.

HOWEVER, if anyone else has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Curtis

[Matt_H]

I think 3.1 is a good plan. The scsi.device in 2.x is buggy, and it seems to be fairly random what works with it.

If you have a 3.1 Install disk, try using the HDToolbox from that first.

[curtis]

Guess we'll put this thread on hold until the ROM comes in!

Do appreciate the suggestions all around and will let y'all know how things work out.

I think 3.1 is a good plan. The scsi.device in 2.x is buggy, and it seems to be fairly random what works with it.

If you have a 3.1 Install disk, try using the HDToolbox from that first.

[Ryu]

I might be totally wrong here, but I know when I put a CF card onto my IDE header in my A1200 I had similar issues until I had set the max transfer to 0x1FE00. If I left it at default my A1200 showed the same problems as you are having on your A500.

[danbeaver]

I'm confused. Do you have problems with a 1GB 1.8 inch IBM Microdrive or a CF card? Or both?  As I read it, you are having install recognition issues on 2 devices that did not exist at the time the KS 2.05 and AmigaOS 2 were developed and by my memory were improved to make better use of both older and newer devices with version 3 of both with the software improved over the next few years to upgrade not only the SCSI.device driver but also the HDToolbox.

From the above response it sounds like you now have the drive or CF card installed but are having transfer errors?  Is this a very old CF card or a newer one?  While old IDE drives had sector partition limitations, these issues should not transfer to solid state devices, especially new ones. I am fairly sure a somewhat modern Microdrive would lack these limitations entirely.

[AmigaBruno]

I've had the CFIDE68K v. 402 for a while now and am finally getting around to setting it up in a rev 6A A500 motherboard.

Configuration is as follows:
A500 rev. 6A
CFIDE68K v. 4.02
MegaChip 2000
Startech IDE to CF adapter.
37.350 ROM
WB 2.1 Install disk

Problem is it doesn't recognize the 1GB IBM microdrive.

I go through HDSetup and let it partition the drive but when I'm expecting it to tell me the drive has been partitioned and reboot, there's nothing there!

I rebooted and then go to HDToolbox hoping the microdrive will be found and I get "Driver not installed".

Also tried a Sandisk 64Mb CF card and symptoms are the same with HDSetup, but when I go to HDToolbox, I get a "unrecognized" drive.

Curious thing is I tried a 350Mb 3.5" hard drive just to check out the circuitry and it partitioned and formatted with no problem.

Any suggestions?

Would a TrueIDE adapter help out here?

Thanks,

Curtis

It sounds like one of these devices would help me with my recently acquired Amiga A500 Plus. At the moment, the only information I have about this machine is that it has Kickstart 37.175. Can I buy the CFIDE68K now, and if so, then how much is it?

How did you connect that hard drive?