#CD Rom install
61 messages in this thread
I have been attempting to get a CD rom drive to work in my A2000 for about
a week now. I would appreciate all help.
This is what I have; I have an A2000 rev 4.4 with 2.04 roms. I have tried
both my Hardframe 2000 and the onboard SCSI adaptor on my GVP combo II
030/33 board. My hard drive is terminated, and is on the end of the cable.
The CD Rom drive relies on external terminators, which I don't have. When I
boot, with a CD in the drive, 99.9% of the time I get no icon for my CD
ROM. I can do a cd cd0: and it comes up and says I have no disk in cd0:. My
mountlist.cdrom has the correct .device and correct SCSI ID, and all my
tools in workbench also list the right number.
What has gone wrong? If this won't work, I will be selling my Amiga, and
moving up to the IBM world.
Karl
Karl,
you wrote "my mountlist.cdrom has the correct .device and…" It does
not matter what is contained in a file called mountlist.cdrom, instead,
for the Amiga to mount a device, you have to have the information in you
mountlist file in the devs: directory. Try inserting the information in
your mountlist.cdrom file into your devs:mountlist file and then attempt
to mount the device. Do NOT do a straight copy since you'll wipe out the
information already contained in the mountlist file.
I hope this helps.
Brian
->on AutoPilot
Brian,
That may not be the case. The mountlist for the CD ROM can be separate
from the regular mountlist if the MOUNT command specifically calls for it
from somewhere else. The AsimCDFS s/w calls it's mountlist from a separate
file in devs with the mount command:
mount CD0: from devs:MountList.CD0
Betty et all;
That's how mine works. In user-startup is a line mount cd0: from
mountlist.cdrom
Karl
Michael,
whoops, wrong guess on my part, minus five. I wish I had known that
long ago since it would have made life a lot simpler with all my mountlist
modifications. I wonder when they made the change? 1.3?
Brian
->on AutoPilot
Brian:
I don't even know if it was a change… this was the first time I had ever
seen a mountlist called externally from the regular devs:mountlist.
Brian,
I don't know if it was in 1.3WB that allowed you to
Mount FROM device:filename but I've been using that form since then. I
also have been using a shell command in the form of this example
NewWSH From s:user-startup to call a script after opening a New WShell
window. I believe the C= shell command accepts that too. I'd venture a
guess that you could do this back in 1.2, but I'm NOT going back to verify
it.
Chris
Brian:
Wasn't the only real change from 1.2 to 1.4 the autobooting support, and
maybe RAD:?
Michael,
Its been too long for me to remember the changes in 1.3 from 1.2, but it
didn't seem like much, lost less crashes maybe, RAD, & autoboot?
Chris
It was KickStart 1.2 to 1.3, not the only feature was the adding of
Autobooting.
I believe Workbench 1.3, had a "Setpatch" that fixed a bug that prevented
the RAD: from recovering if you had 1-meg of CHIP RAM.
Ron.
Brian,
My drive uses a separate file, mountlist.cdrom, much as CrossDOS uses the
separate mountlist file. The user-startup then mounts those drives from
the needed mountlist. Mine says:
MOUNT CD0: FROM DEVS:MOUNTLIST.CDROM
for example.
(My drive SEEMS to be working on the Amiga side now. I'm just getting it
installed and don't have an Amiga-compatible CD disk for it yet, though
one should arrive today or tomorrow. I can get an icon for an MSDOS disk
in the drive, and can read its directory.)
—Betty
Betty,
apparently I missed a change somewhere along the line of revisions.
Sorry.
Brian
->on AutoPilot
What driver software are you using to mount the CD ROM Drive, and is it
mounted internally or externally?
I am using CD ROMFS? and the drive is internal.
Karl
OK… do you know what the name of the gvp scsi device driver is? Is that
the name of the driver listed in the mountlist entry for the CDROM drive?
>>"The CD Rom drive relies on external terminators, which I don't have."
If this is the only device on the scsi chain to the GVP onboard controller
and it is more than a few inches from the controller, it needs to be
terminated. Is your terminated hard drive also on this same controller and
is it physically on the scsi cable AFTER the CDROM Drive??
Is reselection turned OFF via HDTOOLBox?
>>"…moving up to the IBM world." uh, have you heard 'the grass is
always greener' story? 🙂
I thought I had made it clear in my message that the cd rom was intrernal,
and was on the same cable as my hard drive, which is terminated. So, what I
have looks like this;
Host Adaptor —– CD ROM —- Hard drive
One cable, terminated at the hard drive and at the adaptor. My mountlist
uses gvpscsi.device, except when I try to use the hardframe, when it uses
the hardframe's device.
As I said, I thought this was clear in myu message, buit I was seeing red,
so probally just seemed clear to me! <g>
I have hooked up several CD ROM's in IBM PC's, so I know exactlly what
color the grass is!<g> I have never had the kind of trouble on an IBM that
I routinelly have with the Amiga. I would suspect a defective drive, but I
bought it here on the forum, so that can't be the trouble 🙂
Karl
Karl:
You were probably VERY clear… I'm just trying to be careful cover all
the bases (you know; not assume too much).
BTW, have the scsi devices on PC's you've setup been scsi or pc bus
controlled?
Anyway… getting scsi devices up and running on gvp hardware (in my
experience and from what I've gleaned from messages here) can be tricky…
it seems that it can almost always be done, but it takes tweaking. Again,
I would check the reselection setting of the driver s/w for the GVP scsi
bus. Have you spoken with GVP?
Which hard drive do you boot from? If it's the hardframe, can you
disconnect the SeaGate and throw a terminiator on the CDROM-Drive aand see
if it works that way? Can you hook the CDROM-Drive up to the controller on
the Hardframe? I'm sure you've thought of all this… but have you tried
it? 🙂
I have had the hardframe and GVP both fail to drive the CD ROM drive…
Same failure. At first I thought the GVP was too fast for the CD ROM. Now I
don't know what to think.
I have connected both SCSI devices and devices with proprietory (yech)
ointerfaces into IBM's…
I don't understand what you mean by reselection setting?
Karl
Karl:
To change the RESELECTION setting, go in to HDTOOLBOX, highlight the drive
on the GVP controller, choose CHANGE DRIVE TYPE, choose DEFINE NEW DRIVE
TYPE, and then make sure that SUPPORTS RESELELECTION? is not checked.
I'm not real knowledgeable in this stuff so I can't get technical…
Joanne Dow left a really good message about RESELECTION… here it is:
. #: 27494 S8/System Software
. 30-Aug-92 19:27:57
. Sb: #27473-Reselection
. Fm: Joanne Dow 71162,3257
. To: Ed Cruse 73307,1465
Reselection is a SCSI process that can make a collection of multiple
drives on a single controller work faster as an aggregate.
On a SCSI drive you have a lot of smarts. In general there are so many
smarts that the drive can intelligently estimate how long it will take
to be ready to transfer the data required for the current transaction. If
reselection is enabled it can then tell the controller (initiator in
SCSIspeak) that "Gee, Boss, this is gonna take me awhile. Disconnect
me from the bus and I'll wake you up next time the bus is free and I am
ready to process the command." On SCSI controllers that properly handle
this reselection process the initiator and target (the drive) return the
bus to the "Buss Free" state. The initiator can then scan its "list" if
pending commands for a command destined for a different device on that
same SCSIbus. If there is one it is free to initiate that command so that
you can potentially have several commands all overlapping their
processing. When you have multiple drives this can lead to a major speed
up in overall processing because otherwise "dead time" is "recycled" into
useful purposes. (But in general EACH access will take place slower even
if there are no intervening commands because there are more transactions
taking place on the SCSI bus.)
The upshot of all this is that if you have only one drive run with
reselection disabled. (In general do this with Syquests in any case on
the A3000. There is "an unfortunate interaction"…) If you have many
<continued>
Where is this HDTOOLBOX? I assume that that is a Commodore program?
Karl
HDToolBox is part of WB2.x and is in the TOOLS drawer.
Michael;
I believe that HDToolBox only loads if you have a Commodore Controller. I
could be wrong, but I have never seen it on my hard drive, just read about
it in the manual… However, it is a moot point now. (see my next message
to ALL)
Karl
devices and can benefit from overlapped IO then enable the reselection and
reap the benefits. {@_@}
Hi Karl….The drive is terminated and should be the last in the chain. If
I remember correctly I had to run it last in the chain csause I did not
wnat to remove the cover to take off the termination. You say the mountlist
only has one entry? Is this because you rmoved the others? hmm the softare
may have done that …on the original version it stuck all the mountlists
in ….once again We need to know whats in that mountlist if you could type
it out and mail it…..it is not very long so should be fairly easy. DA
Karl:
That's funny. I have never had the kind of trouble with the Amiga that I
routinely have with the PeeCee. I work with both daily. The grass isn't
usually greener in the PeeCee world. You've just stumbled on a well
fertilized patch of it. 🙂
Wayne Steele
Saving $ with AutoPilot
Karl:
As to your comment about 'moving up' to the IBM PC world, I think you'll
find that it'd actually be a step in the wrong direction. Most all Amiga
SCSI controllers work MUCH better than their PC counterparts, and it's
also fairly common on PCs to have more than 1 SCSI card per machine, as
most devices (like CD-ROMs) come with their own SCSI card, and usually
won't work with more than 1 drive on the SCSI chain! At my local dealer he
has a 486 PC setup with a SCSI CD-ROM, a 1 gig SCSI HD, and a SCSI color
scanner, and he has to use a separate SCSI controller for each, each
device refusing to work with any but the provided SCSI controller, or with
any other devices on the SCSI chain.
Remember it's real easy to get SCSI working when all you have is one drive
on it. It only SEEMS harder on the Amiga because on most Amigas all you'll
see is 1 possibly 2 SCSI controllers hooked to multiple SCSI devices. Macs
are also notorious for their SCSI problems, and as a matter of fact
several SCSI HD manufacturers use the Amiga as their test bed due to the
Amiga having one of the most well done SCSI interfaces. (I know this to be
true with Maxtor, and I believe several others also use the Amiga).
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
This may be a little off what the thread is about but do you know what type
of SCSI scanner he has?
Dave
Elite MicroComputers 908-541-4214 – via Whap!
Dave:
I'm not really sure. I think it's one that was originally designed to be
used with Macs, and then the company also sold a PC SCSI card so that it
could be used in PCs as well.
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
I have a Sharp JX-320 with the SCSI interface…and the software I'm using
I don't care for much, so I would like to find new JX-320 SCSI compatible
software (as well as some Amiga sotware of the same type)
Dave
Elite MicroComputers 908-541-4214 – via Whap!
ASDG supports the Sharp JX320 scanner… check with them in their section
of AmigaVendor.
ASDG support the JX-320 through GPIB (IEEE 488.2) only.
Dave
Elite MicroComputers 908-541-4214 – via Whap!
Ah… that's too bad. Let us know if you do find a scsi support package
for the Sharp.
Dave:
At one time ASDG had a deal that if you lent them your scanner for a month
they would write a driver for it, and when they sent your scanner back
they'd send you an adpro loader module for your scanner as well. I'm not
sure if they're still doing that or not, but you might want to give them a
call and see if either they are still willing to do that, or if they
already have a loader for the JX-320 via SCSI.
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
Mike…
Wow, you have a good memory! PK made that offer a _long_ time ago… like
when he used to have enough time and energy to participate in the forum on
a regular basis. Somehow, I doubt thatthe offer still holds… but it
might be worth a shot for Dave to find out.
Michael:
Gee, that's probably the first time sombody has told me I have a GOOD
memory! seriously, I can remember some things (usually stupid little
details) very well, and other things (that you'd think I'd remember) I
can't remember more than 5 minutes! I seem to be OK with remembering
numbers, I know my SS#, my DL#, as well as all the frequencies used by all
the local cab companies (I used to drive a cab here, who me use a
scanner?), but some numbers, like the license tag on my car I can't
remember for the life of me!
I always find it interesting the way the human brain works, and how some
folks can do some things as if they were second nature, while others
struggle to do the same things.
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
Karl,
You should be able to get an external SCSI terminator at stores that sell
MAC cables, etc. My Amiga dealer has them in stock here in Dallas, as did
some of the other "connect-it" type places. Prices ran from $8-15 at the
various places. Putting a terminator on my CDROM drive was necessary.
Every case is different, of course. I use a different controller, for
instance, but I think you will need a terminator on an external drive.
—Betty
Betty,
So I take it from this message that you got the CDROM up and running? Just
needed the external terminator huh? Great! Now let me know what CDs your
using and how easy it is for you to get info from them, ok? I'm very
interested in adding a unit myself.
Thanks,
Chris
Chris;
I have been using the Chinon drive for nearly a year. Its only problem is
that HDToolBox freezes if the drive is on when the program is run and an
occassional hang of the SCSI bus caused by my still having the old version
of CDROMFS.
-bill
Bill:
I have the same problem using MicroBotics RDPrep program with the A3000's
builtin SCSI port. (the RDPrep programs gurus, also with a Chinon drive).
What version of CDROM-FS are you using? currently I have version 0.1015
installed in my system, is that newer than the version you're using, and
if so, is it the newest version?
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
0.702 and that is not the newest.
-bill
Chris,
I plan to use this drive with the AMiga, with my Toshiba notebook, and
also with the bridgeboard. This means that I'll be using lots of the
MSDOS disks, as well as Amiga disks. At the moment I don't have any Amiga
material at all – hence I cannot really try out the drive yet. The SCSI
interface for my Toshiba is shipping, but I haven't located one yet. I
have the SCSI controller to use with the bridgeboard, but have not yet
opened the machine to put it in. But now that I can read the directory
and get an icon for a disk, I think the drive is working OK.
—Betty
Betty,
Glad to hear your CDROM is online now. Just took the terminator huh?
Sometimes the easiest solution to a problem is in a store which is nearby
but closed for the evening. <grin>
chris
Chris, I knew all along that it needed the terminator, but I was having a
hard time finding one. None of the computer stores in Arlington had them.
I had to go to Dallas to get one, and I found two there within an hour.
Matter of fact, I'm getting a spare just because they were so hard to
find.
—Betty
Betty;
My cd rom drive is internal, and has a terminated device on both ends of
the cable. (My hard drive and the host adaptor)
I would like to mount the CD rom external, so I could share it with my IBM.
If I hadn't just bought my 030/33 board, I would buy a SCSI Host Adaptor
for my IBM and forget about CD ROM in an Amiga. It would be real nice to be
able to access the Fred Fish disk I have though, and since IBM's don't
write Amiga format diskettes, I can only thin of one way to access that
disk!
Karl
Karl ,the first thing to do is to check that your host scsi controller can
talk to the drive.You can accomplish this by putting a disk in the cd-rom
drive and with your scsi utilities list the devices on the scsi bus. If so
than the problem may reside with the CDROM fs software. BTW i am using a
toshiba xm3201-b (cdrom drive) om my Addsci2080 with the AsimCDFS with no
problem. Bye Michel
Karl,
The drive I have was intended to be an internal drive, but it is now
mounted in a case with a power supply of its own, and can be used with any
computer that has a SCSI controller.
—Betty
Betty;
That is how I plan to use mine. I have a case from an external MAC hard
drive that I plan to put the CD Rom drive in. Then, I can access it from
both Amiga and IBM. First, though, I want to get the thing to work!
Karl
Good luck with it. I'll know more about how to do this after I get mine
working a little better.
And so will you. 🙂
—Betty
SOunds like your haveing your problems…The drive is terminated already
and you should put last in the chain..at least till you get it running. The
drive worked like a charm for me and is very fast by todays std..versus
$$$…ONe thing we have nto thought about is your motherboard revision. I
am using a 6.2 board maybe thats the difference but sounds like something
is not quite mounted right…I could help you out more if you email me or
fax me 604 739-7990 a printout of your mountlist.cd in devs….did you make
the changes I suggested…please check them again to see if they are still
the same…also there are a lot of drivers in the mountlist so you can nuke
most of them and just keep the last one that was best suited for the
Toshiba. DOnt give up …also did you try to run the CD audio Program does
that work. If you cannot get audio CDs to play or even open the program
then the unit is not mounted correctly. DA
Don;
I cvan run the CD Audio program, don't know if it plays the CD, will have
to bring my headphones into the "computer room"!
You say the drive is terminated… According to the docs you faxed me, the
drive isn't terminated… It needs an extenal terminator… Do you have
yours as the last device on the chain, without an external termoinator? I
assume that it isn't terminated because my hard drive works great, and is
connected after the cd rom drive. So, if the cd rom was terminated,
wouldn't that keep the hard drive from working?
My mountlist.cdrom has only one entry, for the toshiba cd rom, so there's
not much to delete! Will tuirn the Amiga on and copy the mountlist.cdrom
and user-startup for you…
It's a great drive, can't wait to have it mounted externally so I can
access it from both 'puters.
Karl
I haven't seen anyone mention this, but is your unit number in the
mountlist.cd0 file the same as the SCSI ID of the Toshiba? I had my toshiba
working, then had the computer worked on and all apart, and afterwards, the
cd wouldn't mount correctly! I finally discovered tonight that someone had
changed the id on the drive. Check your mountlist.cd0 file to make sure it
is the same…
Branden Beachy
72557,107
Yes, the mountlist.cdrom has the correct unit ID, and all the tools also
have the correct number.
For all that are helping me on this problem, I should probally re-memtion
the fact that I can do a dir cd0: and it will tell me "no disk in cd0:" as
opposed to "please insert volume cd0: in any drive"…. To me, that meant
that the system recognizes the cdrom right?
Karl
Karl:
The fact that the system is telling you that there's no disk in CD0:
rather than please insert CD0: simply means that it's been mounted. If you
so an 'info' command from the shell does the device size change depending
on which CD-ROM is in the drive? Do you have any SCSI testing or mounting
software? I have a program I use called SCSIMounter that will display a
list of all the devices hooked to the SCSI bus along with the device
numbers of all the unused IDs. It should be here in the libs, and you
might want to give it a try, and see if the Amiga's even recognising the
drive. You might have gotten a defective drive, or it might have gotten
damaged in shipping, these things happen!
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale
Don… Karl said the drive required external termination, which he didn't
have… you are saying it is already terminated. If that _is_ the case,
than that sounds like it is the problem: both internal drives are
terminated.
Michael;
I don't believe the CD ROM is terminated, as I still have 100% reliable
access to the hard drive that is located at the end of the cable that the
cd rom drive is located on. My CD ROM docs definatelly mention the OPTIONAL
terminator, part number TRM-02… So, I assume that I need a terminator
once I place the CD ROM drive externally…
Karl – one more night and I'll have no hair 🙂
Karl:
You are correct… once you make the drive external (depending on your
cabling and the length of that cabling) you will need to terminate either
the drive, or the case in which it installed. Sounds confusing, but if
you think in terms of terminating the ends of the scsi chain, it's really
pretty clear.
Karl,
I am using a GVP Series II host adapter, and a Toshiba 3201 drive in
conjunction with Xetec's software (which I cannot rave enough
about…especially the easy install). My scsi chain looks like this:
T—-Quantum—-Quantum—-GVP-||—-Toshiba-san—-ET
T = Termination (drive)
|| = External scsi port
ET = External terminator
Hope this helps.
Jonathan, via AutoPilot // Only Amiga makes
\\// it possible…
Jonathan
Tell me more about the Xetec software… Where can I buy it?
Karl
P.S. Don't I recognize you from a forum named WINNT? If so, are you doing
what I want to do, and using the Toshiba with both the Amiga and NT?
Still me.
Karl,
If I'm not mistaken, I believe you know me as the guy that sold you some
*really* cheap RAM chips a while back…first quality "pulls" <G>.
I think that you can get the Xetec software from any decent mail order
house, or directly from Xetec. If you send me some E-mail, I'll be able to
furnish you with their address and phone number. I highly recommend this
software…it worked great the first time out.
Jonathan
Thanks Jonathan;
I knew I recognized the name… As you may have noticed, I am selling the
ram board with all 8MB of ram since it isn't comapatable with my ne
accellerator.
I will call Go Amigo today to order Xetec software.
Karl
Karl:
It sounds to me like you might be having a termination problem. By any
chance with the CD-ROM installed do you have any problems accessing your
normal HD? If so, then termination is in fact the problem. If not, then
termination *might* not be the problem, but it still could be. Try the
drive with different combinations of terminations. Over the years I've had
upto 6 different drives hooked to my machine at one time, and sometimes
the termination had to be different than the standard one drive per end
being terminated.
// -Mike Schiller
\X/ AMIGA! On AutoPilot in sunny Fort Lauderdale