Amiga 2000

[mrmoonlight]

My popcorn guys don't indicate that I'm bored by this thread.... oh Contrare Monfrair! (HA! I'm sure I spelled that wrong!) Anyhoo... I love it when Brian has moments of epiphany! I love Amigapeeps learning and doing and achieving success! Your expert tutoring is awesome Mike! And a hearty "Hear Hear" to all the great Amigans that help here on AO! Love your posts Brian! Keep 'em rolling!

BTW, Happy Holidays All... the world over!!!!! I only want two things this year... a gallon of minty eggnog and a ride home!

I Don't NEEEEEEEEEEED to Drink!

Hi gizmo350 lol
                           I need to give Mike a rest so here's a question for you
 After failing to find a Hardrive that shows up on my Amiga 2000 I have a idea ,what if I installed a Buddha and attached a CF card or a ide drive ,do you think that some thing may show up then? just maybe ,or do you think that I would be wasting my money .. lol because the show must go on.very best wishes Brian.:laughing:

[giZmo350]

Hi there Brian, well... I just bought a Buddha https://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=486 from AmigaKit. I haven't even got it out of the box yet. But it looks like they're out of stock at the moment. Maybe you could ask them if they have "just one more"... that's what I did and they had one! On my next order, I'm going to get one of these TruIDE bad boys... http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=42&products_id=1203 . So with that said, within the next couple of weeks I hope to get time to install the Buddha with a single CF IDE adapter in my A2000. But before that can happen I still need to source a LT1085CM3.3 3.3V voltage regulator and 3 SMD 1N4001 diodes to get my Blizzard 2040 upgraded to an 060 processor (already have the crystal and processor). So your idea is exactly what I'm going try out soon!

[mrmoonlight]

Hi there Brian, well... I just bought a Buddha https://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=486 from AmigaKit. I haven't even got it out of the box yet. But it looks like they're out of stock at the moment. Maybe you ask them if the have "just one more"... that's what I did and they had one! On my next order, I'm going to get one of these TruIDE bad boys... http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=42&products_id=1203 . So with that said, within the next couple of weeks I hope to get time to install the Buddha with a single CF IDE adapter in my A2000. But before that can happen I still need to source a LT1085CM3.3 3.3V voltage regulator and 3 SMD 1N4001 diodes to get my Blizzard 2040 upgraded to an 060 processor (already have the crystal and processor). So your idea is exactly what I'm going try out soon!

Hi gizmo lol I spoke with Amigakit a few nights ago and they have a few that need a few problems sorting out and I should know if I can have one in a couple of weeks ,so here's hoping and good luck with yours my friend ,very best wishes Brian.

[danbeaver]

Uh, yes, the Buddha IDE device will hook up a CF card or IDE hard drive for your A2000; your A2091 will work as well, but requires a bit more expertise.  As an aside, not all CF cards report themselves to the IDE controller as "hard drives," and the TrueIDE device corrects this flaw making most all compatible.

As suggested above, a good search on the internet can retrieve more information than using a Zork-based adventure game of text questions and answers in a hardware forum.

http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/SCSI/SCSIExamples.html

http://www.geeks.com/techtips/2005/techtips-JUL21-05.htm

http://www.4drives.com/DRIVESPECS/QUANTUM/3301.txt

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/a2091

(shown prior) --> http://amiga.resource.cx/photos/photo2.pl?id=a2091&pg=1&res=hi&lang=en

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

It's a shame there's no more Amiga user's groups around, anymore.  Am 100% confident that someone with more experience in SCSI could get your A2091 working perfectly in no time.  But if you have money for an IDE solution, go for it.  IDE is certainly (comparably) easier than SCSI.

@danbeaver  - I love your comments lately.  

[giZmo350]

As suggested above, a good search on the internet can retrieve more information than using a Zork-based adventure game of text questions and answers in a hardware forum.

I would certainly agree that "just throwing parts" at his A2000 won't give Brian any Einstein moments of brilliance but, when I got my A2000, the guy tossed in both an A2091 and a BOG GVP SCSI controller. I set the GVP aside and actually forgot about it for a while. I tried getting the A2091 going with several HDDs to no avail... and I know what I'm doing when it comes to SCSI. The A2091 was just so hit and miss with HDToolBox and HDInstTools. After remembering that I also had the GVP, I plugged it in, connected my HDD and the CD-RW, terminated, and bingo! It just worked! Been in there since ('cept when I tried out my BliZZZZ .

I would love to bust out my A2091 and an HDD and walk Brian thru the process but, if he already tried to get the drive recognized, connected by itself, without success... there may be more going here. Assuming he checked all the board jumpers, SCSI termination (terminate a single SCSI device? Hmmmm), and power connection. Did anyone ask him what ROM version he has? Huh, like Mike says though, there shouldn't be a problem.

But I digress, point is... I have a bunch of SCSI A2000 cards and love 'em but, I just love Amiga hardware and thought I would try out the Buddha for fun. Now, certainly your Zak McKracken theory can't object to that! :lol:

[mrmoonlight]

It's a shame there's no more Amiga user's groups around, anymore. Am 100% confident that someone with more experience in SCSI could get your A2091 working perfectly in no time. But if you have money for an IDE solution, go for it. IDE is certainly (comparably) easier than SCSI.

@danbeaver - I love your comments lately.

Hi I do thank you for all the help but I must have set every setting I can and I have checked and checked and looked at your pics which have the identical settings as the pics shown I have looked on the net and booted up with just the hard drive and changed the jumper setting and no joy,
so I will try another direction which might not be the right one ,but a Buddha and a TrueIDE device is my next step ,very best wishes Brian. ps there are 3.1 roms fitted

[mechy]

Hi I do thank you for all the help but I must have set every setting I can and I have checked and checked and looked at your pics which have the identical settings as the pics shown I have looked on the net and booted up with just the hard drive and changed the jumper setting and no joy,
so I will try another direction which might not be the right one ,but a Buddha and a TrueIDE device is my next step ,very best wishes Brian. ps there are 3.1 roms fitted

i have been following along and just wanted to make sure of one thing.

Mrmoonlight, check for a jumper that says AUTO and DIS by it, it may not be easy to pick out in the picture. make sure the jumper block is set to auto side. if it is not the scsi device wont be loaded from rom and you wont be able to use the hd.

Another important thing, on scsi cables, always use the 2 end connectors, never leave a part of the cable hanging loose not connected to anything.

I am confident we can get this working without you having to buy more hardware(unless hardware is dead). scsi is really superb on lesser powered systems.


With the above correct, do you have a way to load sysinfo from a floppy and look in DEVICES to see if scsi.device is there?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Here's one last dumb, probably obvious thought.  Boot the Amiga while holding down both mouse buttons to enter Early Startup.  Is the A2091 card detected there?  Have you tried it in a different slot?  Cleaned the edge connector?  Made sure all the chips on it are properly seated?  Same as the above suggestion with SysInfo: it should be able to detect the card also (to see if scsi.device is being loaded).

You never said what version ROM's were on the card.  I vaguely seem to recall that you needed the latest A2091 ROM's for it to work under 3.1.  Or this might've been that you needed the latest ROM's to use the card with an '040, my memory's a bit faded here, but again - a google search should straighten you out on that last bit.  

[Tenacious]

Hi Brian

I sure hate to see you loose hope for your A2091.

I'll admit that SCSI has more of a learning curve than other interfaces, but, once you understand it, it pays off!  The links Dan Beaver left (post #93) are excellent.  The first 2 really layout everything an Amiga user needs to understand the SCSI topography and rules of the road.  If something in those articles needs explanation, ask in this forum!  The 2nd link also talks about the long life of SCSI hardware.  This makes sense considering the age of some of my stuff, perhaps, made before companies had learned that most consumer hardware would be replaced in only a few years!

If I recall, the A2091 needs a newer rom (version 6.6 or 7.0 (newest)) to work with larger HDs and CD drives.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong.  Which Rom version on the A2091?

Finally, I recommended the Quantum drive because I have easily had the best luck configuring them. TE is Terminate Enable, jumper this ONLY IF the HD is physically the last drive at the end of your internal SCSI ribbon cable.  On a HD only system, the Quantum HD has to be at the end of the ribbon cable.  A0, A1, and A2 need no jumpers (The HD will then have a SCSI address of 0.  The A2091 has default address of 7, I think.  So, no conflicts.)

Lots of folks are pulling for you.  Don't give up.

[giZmo350]

If I recall, the A2091 needs a newer rom (version 6.6 or 7.0 (newest)) to work with larger HDs and CD drives.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong.  Which Rom version on the A2091?

Tencious, you are correct here... this is what I was asking earlier (but you said it much more clearly - as I would have rather said the same thing if I had a link to that fact) so thanks.

TE is Terminate Enable, jumper this ONLY IF the HD is physically the last drive at the end of your internal SCSI ribbon cable.  On a HD only system, the Quantum HD has to be at the end of the ribbon cable.  A0, A1, and A2 need no jumpers (The HD will then have a SCSI address of 0.  The A2091 has default address of 7, I think.  So, no conflicts.)

Correct again, as I alluded to (but in a less clear fashion) so thanks again.

I think if Brian were to break down the task to just the HDD and the Cable absolutely connected in the correct manner (with only the HDD attached - no need to jumper termination) and trying Mike and Mechy's suggestions we may be able to help Brian get a better picture of what's going on here and make a better informed decision going forward. However, if he wants to go in a different direction without any frustration, I feel that's up to him. But that's what makes Miggys fun!

Press on Brian!

PS... Hmmm, I should dig out my A2091 and check the ROM version as that may have well been my trouble with it too... and why the guy I bought my A2000 from tossed it in for free.
PSS... When I bought my A2000 it was in pieces and quit a mess... but it was cheap! :lol:

[Tenacious]

I didn't say anything original.  I just don't want him to loose hope.    The A2091 really is one of the better peripheral interfaces and it is a Commodore original, if that's important.

I started out with A500s and then A3000.  When I later began updating my first A2000, I was put off by the fact that there was a Kickstart rom AND scsi controller (A2091) rom that had to be considered (usually non-issues with 500s and 3000s).  After getting up to speed, the A2000s may now be my favorite everything-in-one box Amiga.  My A500 and 3000 have sidecars, auxiliary boxes, and lots of cables and PSes to make complete systems.

[mrmoonlight]

i have been following along and just wanted to make sure of one thing.

Mrmoonlight, check for a jumper that says AUTO and DIS by it, it may not be easy to pick out in the picture. make sure the jumper block is set to auto side. if it is not the scsi device wont be loaded from rom and you wont be able to use the hd.

Another important thing, on scsi cables, always use the 2 end connectors, never leave a part of the cable hanging loose not connected to anything.

I am confident we can get this working without you having to buy more hardware(unless hardware is dead). scsi is really superb on lesser powered systems.

 
With the above correct, do you have a way to load sysinfo from a floppy and look in DEVICES to see if scsi.device is there?

Hi if I move the jumper from DIS which is what it was set at,to Auto then the floppy drives don't work and the screen is blank but I can hear the HD

[mrmoonlight]

I didn't say anything original. I just don't want him to loose hope. The A2091 really is one of the better peripheral interfaces and it is a Commodore original, if that's important.

I started out with A500s and then A3000. When I later began updating my first A2000, I was put off by the fact that there was a Kickstart rom AND scsi controller (A2091) rom that had to be considered (usually non-issues with 500s and 3000s). After getting up to speed, the A2000s may now be my favorite everything-in-one box Amiga. My A500 and 3000 have sidecars, auxiliary boxes, and lots of cables and PSes to make complete systems.

Hi have no fear my friend ,it took me 5yrs to get my A1200 and A600 working well and surfing the net and they are now both magnificent machines to use and a great joy ,so I cant let the A2000 get away .,best wishes Brian.

[giZmo350]

What happens when you set the board to auto with the hard drive and cable  disconnected (nothing attached to the board)?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

The jumper should be on Auto.  I suspect it was on DIS because the previous owner it was mentioned had an accelerator in there that the drives were connected to.  I assume they disabled the SCSI boot function on the A2091 and were just using it as a ram expansion, or something.

Flip it to Auto and power up with no drives connected.  It might take a while because it's attempting to scan the SCSI bus, but eventually you should get a "Insert Workbench disk" screen.

Also try accessing the "both mouse buttons" early startup menu - just to make sure it's showing up there, and reported as working correctly.