A3000 Discussion

[danbeaver]

OK,

This is annoying.  I just changed the HDD ID to 4 and the external ID to 2, and now no GURU (had been HDD 0, and CDROM 5).  I mean WTF? Since when does the ID number order matter?:confused:

And the Seagate ST15230N does not like Reselection! What else is on my plate?

If I can get back to 2 days ago where I had my Subway hanging off my ISDN Surfer, my ZorRam 256K, and my Spectrum 24/28 working, then I'll die in my sleep a contented man.

As an aside, I can see where the -5 Volts from the current PSU supplies the 100-bit Zorro slots, but is it needed elsewhere?  If I need a PSU replacement and if I use a Micro ATX that has no -5 Volt  rail,will it be an issue (yes I saw the inversion circuit posted elsewhere)?  The ISA slots are unused, and I don't know of any cards that require it, do you folks?

[Iggy]

I never owned a Zorro 3 card.  Are there any Z3 cards worth getting in 2012?

I might possibly get a Mediator for my A3000 to get PCI slots and a 256MB gfx card.  I guess mediator is a Z3 card?  Anybody knows what the transfer speed over the Mediator bus is in an A3000?

Chaoslord makes a salient comment!
Do we need a later Buster version to use a Mediator?

If not why not stick with a revision 7?

A heck, I'm probably just going to build a mini tower 4000.

[matt3k]

OK,

This is annoying.  I just changed the HDD ID to 4 and the external ID to 2, and now no GURU (had been HDD 0, and CDROM 5).  I mean WTF? Since when does the ID number order matter?:confused:

And the Seagate ST15230N does not like Reselection! What else is on my plate?

If I can get back to 2 days ago where I had my Subway hanging off my ISDN Surfer, my ZorRam 256K, and my Spectrum 24/28 working, then I'll die in my sleep a contented man.

As an aside, I can see where the -5 Volts from the current PSU supplies the 100-bit Zorro slots, but is it needed elsewhere?  If I need a PSU replacement and if I use a Micro ATX that has no -5 Volt  rail,will it be an issue (yes I saw the inversion circuit posted elsewhere)?  The ISA slots are unused, and I don't know of any cards that require it, do you folks?

Sometime SCSI Standards adopted by the manufacturer aren't so standard so in the distant past I have seen a rare issue with ID's and certain devices.   I just switched it and moved on (and generally felt happy it wasn't IDE!!!).  The standard 3000 SCSI is simply rock solid, 20 plus years of run time here without any issues.

I would bet decent money your power supply is fine, I know power supplies can fail, but I have never seen a 3k ps fail.  In trouble shooting items it has always been card order or software version.  This is in my experience...

What is the issue with the spectrum?  does it crash when you try to run video on it?  If yes the the solder/jumper fix on the vga connector on the psb isn't connected.  Look on the card on the hardware database and look at where the wire is jumpered.  Make sure is is on yours.  I have seen this issue with my spectrum.  The wire jumper was poorly attached, a simple fix.

[ChaosLord]

@DanBeaver

Does your external CDROM drive have an external powersupply?
I guess it would have to.  Definitely need one.

I had an ID collision problem before.  I was using old hard drives and had no idea how to change their ID number.

[Zac67]

@ChaosLord

Does that mean I need an actual physical 3.0 ROM CHIP?

If you want to run a full set of SC chips with Kick 1.4 or 2.x and an '040 or '060 - yes. (The '060 requires at least 2.x physical anyway.)
If you don't want to get Kick 3 ROMs just swap the very first SC chip for an FPM type. Kickstart will detect SC as not working and deactivate burst mode.

@danbeaver
Make sure the onboard termpower picofuse is still working: no fuse, no termpower, no termination!


Re ancient Seacrate drives: these buggers seem to support dis/reconnect by inquiry but some really DON'T. I remember seeing some strings in AHA-2940 BIOS code that were probably present to identify badly behaving drives and circumvent the problems they'd cause without requiring specific user setup. Go figure...

Nothing against later Seagate drives, I've got lots of IDE, SCSI, and SATA in use and they're fine. But some models from early to late 90's were simply evil.

[magnetic]

In most every case, i see no need to update dmac2/ramsey4. there was a bug detecting static column ram , however when you mixed sc and page mode or went to the 3640(which doesnt like sc ram) and you had to put a pagemode zip in the first socket. this was fixed with the dmac4/ramsey7 combo.

mech

Good information did not know this. Thanks pretty obscure there

As you may know its damn near impossible to find dmac5/ramsey7 combo. (prolly worth more than a used a3k!)

[magnetic]

The problem is that Kick 2.x tries to activate burst mode with SC RAM regardless of the CPU. Ramsey is only capable of running '030 bursts and not compatible with '040 bursts. Kick 3.x in ROM also solves that problem.

Did not know this either! Thanks! Great thread

A3000 has some funny quirks I remember when we got in an a3k for repairs. My friend fixed a prob on the mb and I went to re-assemble and test it. He was out of the country and I couldnt figure why it wouldnt show the rom screen. Well, I was testing with the case open and no daughterboard! (A4k you can start without this) 3 hrs of frustration later and an amiga guy on irc told me to put the damn daughterboard in. (felt pretty dumb lol)

[ChaosLord]

Yeah I did the same thing one time.  I spent hours thinking I had broken my Amiga 3000.  Turns out it requires the daughterboard even if it is empty.
Hahah. Live and learn.

[ChaosLord]

Just to pound this thread into my memory:

I can use an A3640 card in my A3000 but I must sacrifice burst mode.  This means I get slower memory, but a faster CPU.  Hmmm...

Or I can leave my A3000 the way it is and use it as the perfect WHDLoad machine since so many WHDLoad games seem to have problems with 040 and 060 cpus.

Maybe what I will do, since I only have 1 A3640 card that is a v3.1, is upgrade the A3000 that has a real v3.1 ROM chip in it.  The trouble is that particular A3000 has a mouseport that has come unsoldered so needs to be repaired by a competent desolder/solder magician.

[danbeaver]

02:54 am Update:  I just put back together after installing the Buster 11.  I spent the day sorting out the SCSI and found that it hangs if there is a CD in the CDROM during boot. Weird!  EGS Spectrum 24/28, ISDN Surfer with Subway, and ZorRam all working fine. Boots fine and is behaving properly.

[magnetic]

dansbeaver

Try to use another cd filesystem like Asimcdfs on the drive

[danbeaver]

Oops, too late!  I've been using Version 3.9 of AsimWares CDFS. But this a pre-boot (hardware) issue; at best guess it reads the CD for a bootable OS and "has a cow" when it finds something else.

By the way, those PC->Amiga Floppy adapters from Ian's web site do not cover the exposed connections underneath next to the A3000's metal plate and I fried one and half fried a second before I figured that one out!

I don't know what happened to my Buddha card and the attached CF card, but the card is dead (may it RIP) and there is a brown hole in the CF card from heat.

Oh, when Mary had a little lamb,  the doctor fainted

[Iggy]

What's the most up to date SCSI drive an A3000 can handle?
I've got lots of U160 and U320 drives, but I really doubt those would work (work great in my Mac and my PC).

[Zac67]

U320 LVD/SE drives work fine with a proper adapter. Some models may require high-byte termination to spin up, all other devices are fine with a wide-to-narrow or SCA2-to-narrow adapter.
There may be the odd LVD-only device, not compatible with single ended, but I have yet to see such a device (got a terminated cable like this though).

[danbeaver]

Mech IRC'd me through a CF card install (SFS) yesterday with checks on SCSI bus: the diode is no longer rectifying (D800?) so I have 5 V on pin 25 with power and ground without power. The CF card reader now works as a boot drive with my SCSI-3 CD-R/W drive -- both external. I bought a FastLane Z3 from FitzSteve (with 128 MB RAM) to try. He says it is kinda flaky too; but maybe two flakes can make a breakfast cereal.

I plan to replace D800 after my cuts heal, but for now I have a good workable A3000 -- and by work I don't mean a WHDLoad machine. I mean a FinalWriter, PageStream4, Internet connected, USB'd, image processing, and all-around computer (that can play WHDLoad games from the 4GB CF card I have filled with them).

[matt3k]

What's the most up to date SCSI drive an A3000 can handle?
I've got lots of U160 and U320 drives, but I really doubt those would work (work great in my Mac and my PC).

Hi Iggy,

As Zac mention no problem with them, newer drives/scsi are picky with cables and termination.  Old SCSI cables that were a 'mile long' and not well crimped may be an issue.

Modern SSD Drives work fine in Amiga's also.  I have a OWC SATA 3g drive that I picked up on a deal.  The adapters are the pricey part of the deal, they are generally north of $100 USD.

But they format and work well on stock 3000 SCSI.  Sad to say the Acard adapter/SSD do not work on the Warp Engine SCSI.  That and a quiet fan make a silent Amiga...