#2091 in A4000 HELP
25 messages in this thread
I have an A4000 and just purchased a 2901 controller so that I could
access my CDRom and Tape Drive. Both items are in an external drive
case with the last item terminated. They worked fine with my ICD
controller in my A2000. The 2091 has the latest rev. 7 ROMs.
I plugged the 2091 into my A4000 and the software can't seem to find
anything that is plugged into it. When I enabled autoboot on the 2091
the A4000 would not even boot up. When I disable it the machine
comes up but using scsi.device only finds the stock internal Seagate
drive in the A4000 not the connected CDRom and Tapedrive.
Also, when BINDDRIVER tries to load the JANUS library for my 386sx BB
the machine GURU's on it. I moved the library from the expansion
drawer temporarily so I can at least boot up.
WHAT AM I DOING WRONG????
Thanks,
Norm Miller
The 2091 isn't compatible with the 4000 as far as I know. (Although I've heard
of some software patch…) There is a 4091 in the works but it's not out yet.
CBM talked about it at WOC NY. (I think it's called the 4091.)
In the meantime, we're using the adSCSI board from ICD in our 4000's to tide us
over. It's not perfect—when you have to reboot you have to cold boot to get
it to work, and it doesn't always boot up on the first try. But at least we can
access our external drives and other peripherals.
Michael – Soft-Logik Publishing
Michael,
The 2091 does work with the 4000. It certainly doesn't work 100% but I
do have it working. See my reply to Norm for details.
Goin' AP
…..Mark Sterling
Norm,
I use the 2091 with my 4000. I have only used it with a tape drive
(A3070 scsi 150/250meg) but it works OK. Autoboot MUST be enabled. The
2091 auto-configs as "2nd.scsi.device" when it sees the IDE controller of
the 4000 is present. I'm not certain of the exact spelling of
2nd.scsi.device as my 4000 is at work. Most programs (tape backup programs
and CDRom driver software) allow you to choose the device driver name and
it must be changed to match the one for that controller. The A4000
"thinks" the IDE controller is "scsi.device".
There is a patch (from Italy I think) to make transfers faster for hard
drives and probably CDRoms. The patch is likely to be here on CI$. If you
want it and it is not available here I'll be happy to upload it. I seem to
get around 5.5meg/minute transfers to tape as-is so I have not applied the
patch.
Boot up with a CDRom attached and no disc on the drive and you will
have a LONG wait while the bus is scanned (scanned about a thousand times
maybe) but the machine should still boot. I have a CDRom on my 3000 and
always boot with a disc in the drive for that reason.
Sorry, I have no idea on the BB problem. I'll want to see what the
solution is though. I have ordered a 386BB and will be installing it soon.
Good luck.
Goin' AP
…..Mark Sterling
Mark,
I installed a 2091 & Syquest in a 4000 for a guy. Since we didn't want
it to boot from the 2091 I removed the autoboot jumper. Then I copied the
SCSI.device file from the 2091 expansion directory to the 4000's hard
drive. That worked fine.
Jim
Hmm..what is the "2091 expansion directory"? Do you mean on the 2091
installation disk? I'm pretty sure the 2091 has "scsi.device" in ROM. The
2091 will not boot first if it is on a 4000 with the IDE controller. ROM
on the 2091 configs a second copy as 2nd.scsi.device. Where did you put
the scsi.device file on the 4000's HD? Did you have to rename it? Did you
apply the patch to speed up read/writes? So many questions.
Goin' AP
…..Mark Sterling
In the expansion directory of the 2091 install disk there's a
"scsi. device" file. I just copied that to the expansion directory of the
4000's HD. I didn't rename it, but it still came up as 2nd.scsi.device. It
sounds like what I did was irrelevent, if the IDE has priority I could
just as well left the 2091's autoboot jumper on & loaded it's software
from ROM. I didn't apply any patches to speed things up. I don't like to
install non-Commodore OS patches on customer's machines.
Jim
Jim,
I think you are right. What you did was irrelevent. Oh well, as long as
it works OK then its not a problem. The 2091 would not function if you
booted from a floppy that did not have scsi.device in its expansion dir.
Does the CDRom function at a reasonable speed? Maybe the the driver
software for the CDRom does its own thing to speed up reads.
Goin' AP
…..Mark Sterling
Mark,
Yeah, whether it works is the bottom line. 🙂 I installed a Syquest,
not a CD-ROM. I thought the speed was acceptable, judging by opening
drawers & running programs from the Workbench. Certainly no speed
demon, but then the Syquest isn't one either. I haven't talked to the
owner in a few weeks, he'd have a better feel for the speed.
I haven't hung any other SCSI devices off the 4000/2091 as yet and
probably won't. The 4091 SCSI-2 controller will solve the bottleneck
problem for 4000 owners. I just talked to an engineer at C= today and
he said the 4091 will ship real soon and include a new SuperBuster
and a coupon good for a board swap for us hapless owners of first-run
4000s. Now that is good news!
That is good news about the 4091. I have at least one customer waiting for
it to ship before upgrading to the 4000. And a couple of others who want
one. Sounds like C= is doing the 'right thing' with the coupon. I still
don't know how that SuperBuster thing could have happened. Surely they
must have tested it.
Jim
Jim:
I didn't see the begining of the thread. Coupon?? Is Commodore going to
give use early a4000 users a coupon towards the 4091??
Norm
Norm,
Apparently, Commodore will be giving early 4000 users a coupon good for a
motherboard swap with purchase of a 4091. I have yet to see anything in
writing to make it official.
Jim
The engineer I spoke to said they started socketing the Superbuster as
soon as they became aware of the problem. Unfortunately that was after
they made my 4000. P^(
Goin' AP
…..Mark Sterling
Mark, Norm & Micheal,
Like Mark says the 2091 DOES work in the 4000. I have one in my 4000
accessing my 80meg Quantum and two 44meg Syquest drives. It is slow as
*&&^$!, but it does work. I think I heard that the very latest 2091 ROMS
had a problem, but my memory is a little fuzzy on that.
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
I have delayed making the 4000 my main machine until it can access all
my SCSI devices at a reasonable speed. Did you try the patch to speed
up access? I think the older 2091 did not work at all. I think that
rev 6.6 or above is needed. As usual, I found out the hard way.
Mark,
Yes, I tryed the "4091" patch. But I found I started getting errors so I
dumped it. My dealer is "on alert" to pursue getting my 4091 and new
motherboard AS SOON as it is available – and he IS very good. He was able
to convince C= to send me the powerup software even though I bought my
4000 last year.
WARNING PLUG–> If you live in the north east check out Infotronics in
Woodbury CT. 🙂
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
I talked to Commodore marketing today (yep, they exist!) and was told that
all A4000 owners could get the PowerUp software, even though they
purchased the machine prior ot PowerUp.
Call Commodore Express or your local Amiga Dealer
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Mark,
Gee I wonder if they made that decision before or after my dealer cornered
them a WOA and pleaded my case. In any event that's great news for all of
us early 4000 buyers, and bodes well for how they are going to handle the
4091 problem.
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
I have a 2091 on my 4000 but haven't used the patch (even though I have
it) as I still get decent throuput to my only SCSI device which is a tape
drive.
Goin' AP
…..Mark Sterling
Norm,
I purchased a 2091 for my 4000 so I could hook up a Syquest (even with the
7.0 ROMs it only does 50k a sec reads), I plugged it in, and it "just
works".
-sja
Steve,
Have you tried the "4091 patch" file? It supposedly creates a DMA-able
buffer, either in Chip RAM or in 16-bit Fast RAM on the A2091, and speeds
things up to about 400K/second.
Haven't tried it yet but will shortly.
Denny,
I tryed the "A4091Patch", but started getting errors. I'm back to a
stock slow 2091 patiently waiting for the 4091 ;)!
…AutoPilot Engaged…
-Paul-
Steve,
I did get it working but it does not work with my 386sx BB. When
BINDDRIVERS runs it GURU's the machine. If I comment out BINDDRIVERS in
the startup-sequence and run it later I get a recoverable alert. The 2
don't work together :(. I am going to ship the 2091 back to the dealer, I
just bought it.
Now my HD floppy in the A4000 went south :(. It generates an error on
track 0. Not sure if the FLIPPER program with the BB caused it or if it
is just a design flaw with the drive. Its not my week. I just called
GOLD SERVICE this morning at 8:30am Eastern. Its 5:00pm Eastern now and
they did not even call me back!!
Thanks for the input anyway.
Norm.