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Author Topic: Amiga 600 problems  (Read 4018 times)

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Offline RenTopic starter

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Amiga 600 problems
« on: January 29, 2004, 04:23:35 AM »
A few weeks ago I got an Amiga 600 on eBay. It came with Seagate 9051A 40 mb HD (which BTW, was just sitting inside on a piece of paper, no cradle).

The kickstart version is 2.05 (37.300). Anyway, I tried booting it with a few disks (which work ok on another Amiga) but no go. After the disk is put in, the screen goes purple for a few seconds and then the insert disk animation appears again.

I tried the HD in a PC running winUAE (configured with the same version of kickstart ROM) and it booted ok. However, when I put it back in the A600, not only it doesn't want to boot but it does not come up in the Boot Menu (only get DF0 & CC0, even if I do plug in an external floppy).

I can hear the drive spin in the A600 but unfortunately I can't see what its doing since the wires for the keyboard LEDs are broken off.

Obviously there is an issue with the DF0 (will try cleaning it, if that doesn't work I'll replace it) but could there be anything else wrong with the A600?

I was thinking maybe its not possible to boot off the HD on with 37.300 roms, but it did work on the emulator and also this page mentions that its possible ( http://www.gregdonner.org/workbench/wb_205.html ).

Any suggestions please? I'm thinking of trying the external floppy inside A600 and see if that works.


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Offline x56h34

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2004, 05:55:27 AM »
Ren,

The 40MB hard drive and the floppy drive are likely 10-12 years old.
They could be dead. Here are a few checks which you can do before
throwing in the towel:

Check the hard drive and floppy drive cables. The ones that connect
the particular device to the motherboard controller. Now, on the
motherboard itself, you should see a small marking with number "1",
next to the floppy and IDE controllers. That means pin 1 should be
oriented there (the red line on the floppy/hard drive cables).

Does it match? Pin 1 with red wire? Are the cables plugged in
correctly, and are making contact with controller pins? Any bent pins?
Cables look damaged?
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Offline RenTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2004, 06:40:10 AM »
The hard drive is definitely ok since it was working when I hooked it up to PC (abeit with an 3.5<=>2.5 adaptor and different cable).

Actually it is very likely that the cable could be damaged. As as mentioned before, the HD was inside the A600 with being attached to the cradle (because there wasn't any!) and the machine wasn't well packed (just single layer of bubble wrap inside a big box so it was free to move around). In fact when I got it, the keyboard pop off the case, but I was able to snap it back in.

Anyway, thanks for your suggestion and I'll check the cabling.
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Offline RenTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2004, 10:53:00 AM »
Ok, I tried a different IDE cable (from anotehr Amiga, which I know works) but no go. Then, I've replaced the floppy drive and the little A600 did boot up ok.

And out of about 30 attempts I did manage to boot off the HD just once (usually it doesn't even come up in the Boot Menu). I did notice that the HD sounds like its initilising (you can hear the heads move) for a second or two after the Insert Disk screen appears.

I do remember reading somewhere that some earlier version of Kickstart had problem with booting off the HD since the OS delay for IDE drive was too short (which was latter fixed in following versions). Is this true? And if so, would that be the case here?




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Offline x56h34

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2004, 05:08:06 PM »
Your kickstart revision is fine. It has scsi.device (IDE controller device, yes, not SCSI) in the rom.

I suggest looking for another 2.5" hard drive, and while you're at it, get an A500/A600/A2000 3.1 rom too, and if you have the $$$, a high density floppy drive as a replacement for the faulty one would be nice too, but it's up to you. ;-)

There is a slight chance of the IDE controller being damaged, however there's also a huge chance of the 40MB hard drive just being on its last legs and not complying. It works in one Amiga, but not in the other...not impossible. Anyways, a bigger HD is a must (40MB is just way to small), so try and see.

I am confident that it will boot up, when installed.

Oh, and do you have 2.04 or 2.1 WB disks? You could try accessing HDToolBox and checking if Amiga detects the 40MB hard drive in it. Attach the hard drive to the IDE cable, insert the INSTALL disk (if you have it) in the floppy drive and turn on the system, and let it load the INSTALL disk.
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Offline that_punk_guy

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2004, 05:19:05 PM »
Quote

Ren wrote:
I do remember reading somewhere that some earlier version of Kickstart had problem with booting off the HD since the OS delay for IDE drive was too short (which was latter fixed in following versions). Is this true? And if so, would that be the case here?


This happens when the HD hasn't spun up to operating speed fast enough to be recognised before the OS tries to boot. If this is the problem, you should be able to boot if you warm-reset the Amiga (Ctrl + Left-Amiga + Right-Amiga at the same time) a few seconds after you switch on the power. If that doesn't help, then something else is causing your problems.

BTW have you contacted the person who sold this to you about the way it was packed and things? It sounds like a right mess...
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Offline RenTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2004, 03:20:01 AM »
Quote

I suggest looking for another 2.5" hard drive, and while you're at it, get an A500/A600/A2000 3.1 rom too, and if you have the $$$, a high density floppy drive as a replacement for the faulty one would be nice too, but it's up to you. ;-)


I had a look on eBay Australia and found someone selling PCMCIA HDs. Would they work with the A600? It would save me the trouble of finding/making the cradle for internal drive.

Replacement floppy is a definite (found a place in Oz which has new A600s for $A35 which is very reasonable) but I don't think I'd get 3.1 Roms considering the prices of them I've seen. If anything I'd rather get them for the A1200 (its got 3.0).

When you say HD floppy do you mean a PC drive or a special Amiga drive?

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Offline RenTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2004, 03:23:09 AM »
Quote

that_punk_guy wrote:
Quote

Ren wrote:
I do remember reading somewhere that some earlier version of Kickstart had problem with booting off the HD since the OS delay for IDE drive was too short (which was latter fixed in following versions). Is this true? And if so, would that be the case here?


This happens when the HD hasn't spun up to operating speed fast enough to be recognised before the OS tries to boot. If this is the problem, you should be able to boot if you warm-reset the Amiga (Ctrl + Left-Amiga + Right-Amiga at the same time) a few seconds after you switch on the power. If that doesn't help, then something else is causing your problems.


Actually I tried that but it didn't help. Each time I did that I could hear the HD reinitilise. Anyway, I will wait until I get a new floppy for the A600 before I do anything with the HD.
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Offline x56h34

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #8 on: January 30, 2004, 03:49:06 AM »
There are ways of adapting PCMCIA accessible hard drives with A1200
and A600, however the PCMCIA port is not autoboot capable.

HD floppy means high density floppy drive. Not only 880kb of space,
but double.
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Offline ami500

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #9 on: January 30, 2004, 08:25:10 AM »
Quote

x56h34 wrote:
There are ways of adapting PCMCIA accessible hard drives with A1200
and A600, however the PCMCIA port is not autoboot capable.

HD floppy means high density floppy drive. Not only 880kb of space,
but double.


Sorry to hijack, but would a HD floppy fit and work in an A500? Thanks.

Quote
Replacement floppy is a definite (found a place in Oz which has new A600s for $A35 which is very reasonable) but I don't think I'd get 3.1 Roms considering the prices of them I've seen. If anything I'd rather get them for the A1200 (its got 3.0).


Where in OZ? Got a web address? Thanks.
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Offline RenTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2004, 08:41:20 AM »
Quote

Where in OZ? Got a web address? Thanks.


http://anythingamiga.com/catalog/index.php

It be under Classic Amiga/New Hardware.

They also have 2nd external drives.
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Offline voytech

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #11 on: January 30, 2004, 08:47:52 AM »
Quote

ami500 wrote:
 (..)would a HD floppy fit and work in an A500? Thanks.


if it think right, then yes, a hd floppy would work with A500, but you'll need rom 2.x or 3.x fitted (need FFS)..
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Offline ami500

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #12 on: January 30, 2004, 10:16:42 AM »
Quote

Ren wrote:
Quote

Where in OZ? Got a web address? Thanks.


http://anythingamiga.com/catalog/index.php

It be under Classic Amiga/New Hardware.

They also have 2nd external drives.


Ah cool. Yea, I know them. I just recently bought a 2.04 rom, workbench 2.1 (these were new disks BTW), and a new mouse from them.

Quote
if it think right, then yes, a hd floppy would work with A500, but you'll need rom 2.x or 3.x fitted (need FFS)..


Sweet. Good thing I did the rom upgrade then. :) Even more benefits are coming from that money spent. :)
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Offline x56h34

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #13 on: January 30, 2004, 04:30:11 PM »
Vesalia sell A500/A600/A1200 internal floppy drives. I think it's actually only 1 model, which is installable in all 3 mentioned Amigas. Brand type is Winner. I have one in my A600 and one in A1200, and I can confirm that Winner HD floppy works great.
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Offline jahc

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Re: Amiga 600 problems
« Reply #14 on: January 30, 2004, 06:05:27 PM »
@x56h34

OMG, coolest avatar i've seen in ages!!!! I loved Creatures on the c64 :)

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