Formatting and preparing a A590

[darkage]

Ok after the great news that the onboard RAM and SCSI parts of my A590 are now working, now Im trying to figure out how to prep the unit for WB 1.3 install.

Currently Im using the A590 bootdisk and going into HD Toolbox.

During SCSI chain detection the hard drive is picked up fine as Device on ID 6 LUN 0 as Unknown.

I then set the drive definition for a 1059 meg drive as per the number of cyl., heads, tracks per block etc.

Low level format, exit. It states that I must save changes and reboot.

Go back into HD Toolkit, a scsi device is detected but the hard drive definition does not stick (still reads unknown) it has to be reloaded from file definition.

I partition the drive. Some how I believe its not saving the changes to the drive. Theres no write protect jumper enabled on the hard drive.

So basically the drive is detected, querying the scsi drive for cyl, head, etc information it says it cannot retrieve information, and I can partition etc but looks like no changes are saved therefore I dont get a new DH0 icon on desktop to initialise.

I think the next step would be to go to WB 2.x instead as Im sure the hdd management tools are far better.

 

[Zetr0]

I could be wrong, but I think its a size issue under 1.3, I dont think its much more than 256mb.

2.x should give you a better result, but I do strongly suggest 3.1, much better support both in hardware (firmware) and software.

 

[rkauer]

The A590 is pretty much the same as an A2091 in those respects: without the latest 6.6/7.0 ROM you'll stuck with drives with 1Gb or less (v6.0 only allows 256Mb).

So what to do without the latest ROM? Easy! Tell HDToolBox the "wrong" values! Lower the number of cylinders until the size of the HD fulfil 256Mb or a bit less.

Yes, you need to do some calculation to achieve that.

But if a skilled guy can burn a proper EPROM with 7.0, then you'll be in Amiga heaven. Not me, I don't have a burner...

 

[darkage]

@rkauer, Ah I do have the original v6.6 rom onboard. I do have the v7.0 rom on file, and I have a TOP2049 programmer to burn them with. but Im sure v6.6 is sufficient so far.

@zetro, hmm I never though of a 3.1 rom in a a500. umm I think a reasonable WB version is v3.0 if its an non-accelerated machine from memory? Would that be correct.


I was starting to think its some sort of parameter issue since I guess 1.3 should still be a bit picky still with values provided.. I have been trying to create the default 512 meg partitions.

 

[rkauer]

3.1 is better than 3.0 in all respects, including "sub-routines" acceleration for plain 68000 CPU.

It is an enhanced version of 3.0.

So, with 6.6 you'll be able to use up to 1Gb of any SCSI HD, but it will fail miserably with removable media, like CD-ROM. And that's a problem with both the 6.6 ROM and the 33C93 "old school" SCSI chip (swap it for a -08 version to avoid lock-ups).

7.0 will unleash the 4Gb powah of any SCSI HD. More with a über rare (don't put words in my mouth: I said rare, not expensive) GURU ROM.

BTW: you Aussies never sleep?

 

[darkage]

@rkauer, Cool many thanks for the tech info. I'll try with 3.1 WB/ROM as next target. Once its partitioned and formatted then burn my own Guru Rom 7.0. I assume its the same 2091 v7.0 rom thats floating around.

haha sleep? Its 2:08pm and Im at work. Actually I can never sleep if I have a pending solution for my little Ami until I have tested it.

 

[rkauer]

GURU ROM is another kind of "beast". Without the GURU adaptor it is useless.

Burn your own 7.0 from Babel's site. Remember to grab 7.0 ROM, not the binddrivers version!

 

[darkage]

Oh Yeah, I remember reading the adaptor is used to bypass the requirement of the GAL or something like that.

Ok I'll read up more on it then. Cool thanks mate!

 

[rkauer]

Don't bow down on me, my friend. That's what I learn all those years and I'm glad to "spread the word". I just don't feel comfortable when I see other people stuttering for help when nobody cares.

Real life or not.

For geek people out there: I identify myself with the the psychiatrist guy who try to help Rorschach in the Watchmen comics, disgusted by what people do and even that I'm trying to help up to my last breath. Remember me this way.

 

[darkage]

Thanks for your modesty mate! If you ever need a chip burnt let me know and I can do it for you! (I've noticed you mentioned that a few times in other threads)

 

[darkage]

Now I have a 3.1 Kickstart (40.063) on board and just trying to load up WB 3.1 Hmm when I boot up with the install disk and go to HD Toolbox, no hdd is detected. Drive Definition selection is not selectable.

I can still boot up under 1.3 and have the hard drive detected.

Currently its 4:12am in Oz and Im addicted trying to get this thing to work


UPDATE - I spoke too soon, AutoBoot needs to be enabled in order for detection under WB3.1 D'oh! I normally leave it off to have faster floppy boot times.

 

[rkauer]

I think the problem relies on how the board boots: on my SCSI controller, if you boot the Amiga from floppy it "automagically" disables the auto-boot ROM driver.

Maybe you need the A590/A2091 binddriver icon & file inside the Expansion drawer and issue the binddrivers command to force the board recognition when booting from floppy.

 

[TheCorfiot]

Maybe you need the A590/A2091 binddriver icon & file inside the Expansion drawer and issue the binddrivers command to force the board recognition when booting from floppy.

You do indeed my friend, this is the same method for the GVP SCSI HD+8 where you just need to drop in the gvpscsi.device into the Expansion drawer...


TC

 

[coze]

Autoboot simply disables the SCSI device driver. It's not loaded if autoboot is not set (for almost all SCSI expansions)

if you want your miggy to boot from floppy (when both floppy and a bootable HDD volume is present), simply give a lower boot priority value to your boot partition in HDToolBox.

 

[darkage]

This is new stuff to me. Okay well logically I deleted some unless data from my WB 3.1 Disk to free up space for the A590 driver. I copied over the a590 icon from the expansion folder.

Rebooted with the WB 3.1 disk and issued binddrivers cmd from cli.

I still get Unknown SCSI, and when I load the definition it still seems like nothing is being saved.

Copying over the A590 expansion icon seems to now generate a missing FFS file from v1.3 WB.

Hmm one odd thing I noticed is in 3.1 HD Toolbox actually says your have defined a hdd with 2419281 blocks etc, but your actual drive has 1 block or 254 block or 245827 blocks. seems to come back with a different figure when trying to commit changes.

I've tested 3 SCSI Hard drives but Im not sure if they are okay. I guess I have to test them in my pc when I get time.

Whats the likely hood of a semi defective WD33C93A?

 

[darkage]

I raided my SGI O2 system for a Active Terminated 3 way SCSI cable to use on my a590 instead on relying on the onboard drive termination.

Now with HD Toolkit I get warnings about a drive is partitions are you sure to continue.. blah blah..

Currently I have low leveled the drive and now verifying data.. Im hoping it will allow me to save changes to the drive.

Hey, is it normal for the foreground dialog box for verify data to flash constantly rapidly? When its reading "Verifiying blocks xxxxxxxx to xxxxxxx, please wait. Its a bit annoying.

 

[StrontiumDog]

Hey, is it normal for the foreground dialog box for verify data to flash constantly rapidly? When its reading "Verifiying blocks xxxxxxxx to xxxxxxx, please wait. Its a bit annoying.

Yes, perfectly normal

 

[protek]

I could be wrong, but I think its a size issue under 1.3, I dont think its much more than 256mb.

I had a 500 MB drive running with 1.3 in my old A590.

 

[darkage]

Oh well after using a proper terminated connection, it still refuses to commit changes to the drive. hmm I really have to prove that the drive is not defeative on a pc first. All my SCSI drives are old as.

Is there any low level hard drive utils that I can use? That has more advanced diagnostics etc for the Amiga?

Also the Guru Rom PCB Adapter. hmm apparently uses a locked GAL and the author does not want to produce more or give out design notes. and I think all the shops are sold out.. I guess thats unobtainable and I probably stick with the V7.0 2091 ROM.

 

[Merlin]

There used to be an Amiga utility called HDPrep that may give you better results than using HDToolbox.