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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Detecting a Rotating HDD On a Firebird?

Ole Eitels

Posts 21
09 Sep 2022 11:08


Hello,
I think i might need some assistance with this :)

I have been tinkering with a firebird i recently acquired - and while it boots from a sd to cf adaptor with both apolloOS and the latest coffin just fine, i cannot for some reason get it to to work with a standard hdd. It just can't be found - not in early startup nor in hdd toolbox.

I have installed the images with image writer to a wd raptor hdd (with adaptor), and a 128gb seagate pata drive with no problems, and the drives can be mounted in winuae and browsed with no issues.

I have attempted to connect the drives to both the 40pin and the 44pin ide connector on the accelerator.




Alexander Gent

Posts 75
10 Sep 2022 04:18


Ole Eitels wrote:
Hello,
  I think i might need some assistance with this :)
 
  I have been tinkering with a firebird i recently acquired - and while it boots from a sd to cf adaptor with both apolloOS and the latest coffin just fine, i cannot for some reason get it to to work with a standard hdd. It just can't be found - not in early startup nor in hdd toolbox.
 
  I have installed the images with image writer to a wd raptor hdd (with adaptor), and a 128gb seagate pata drive with no problems, and the drives can be mounted in winuae and browsed with no issues.
 
  I have attempted to connect the drives to both the 40pin and the 44pin ide connector on the accelerator.

Have you checked the jumper settings no your hard-drive?
All 5&1/4" hard drives have a master, slave & cable select setting.
Typically you should set the jumper to master.
Likewise all 2&1/2" have the same jumpers, but usually do not need to be set.
If you are using a 2&1/2" hard drive then you could be drawing too much current from the board therefore causing detection error. Try using external power for the hard drives if possible.

I hope this info is helpful?


Ole Eitels

Posts 21
10 Sep 2022 11:38


Regarding jumpers, i have attempted all settings but no go.

The firebird is installed on a a500 rev6 board located in a checkmate a1500 case, powered by an 300w sfx psu. the motherboard and vampire get the power through the zorro busboard which is connected to the psu while the hard drive are powered directly from the same psu.

So the power should not be a problem, the hdd's spins up nicely and the ribbon 2.5" to 3.5" adaptor cable is not connected to the power section of the 2.5"" connector at all.


Alexander Gent

Posts 75
11 Sep 2022 02:04


This is probably a dumb answer but you stated that you were using a 128GB hard drive.

Under OS 3.1, largest hard-drives supported are 4GB unless you have a TD64 patch, a newer version of scsi.device or kickstart 3.x, 3.1.4 or 3.2 rom.

I am not sure what version of kickstart rom the Apollo rom is based on since I have my Vampire flashed with Gold 2.16 & Kickstart 3.2 rom. I have no problems using CF cards or hard drives up until 128GB.


Henrich Raduska

Posts 62
11 Sep 2022 07:19


Try disconnect pin nr. 1 (reset signal)from ide cable.
You may simply cut the red wire.
EXTERNAL LINK


Ole Eitels

Posts 21
11 Sep 2022 22:08


That did not help - i noticed the 2-3 clicks the drive made at power on is gone.


Ole Eitels

Posts 21
11 Sep 2022 22:20


I have flashed the latest 3.2 (hyperion) kickstart, but that did not do the trick. i have also tried to get the system to work with a wd raptor 74gig hdd (no go). I am now running the kickstart that came with the latest coffin release (3.10 roms 45.64, apollo team custom rom).


Alexander Gent

Posts 75
12 Sep 2022 02:41


Perhaps try a different AT power supply for your 128GB or 74GB drive. See if that makes a difference?


Ole Eitels

Posts 21
12 Sep 2022 05:40


Have been tinkering some more, and it seems that the system is rather picky about what hard drive i attempt to use.

The 74gb raptor and the 130gb seagate did not detect - but a 74gb hgst travelstar and a WD black 320gb drive work without problems. All the drives are tested with the same pata to sata converter.

A bit weird since the interface and the protocol should be the same, and the 'non-working' drives works fine on a pc with the same sata converter i am using on the v4 thunderbird?


Henrich Raduska

Posts 62
12 Sep 2022 12:36


Ole Eitels wrote:

That did not help - i noticed the 2-3 clicks the drive made at power on is gone.

And then did you perform reset from the keyboard?
Detection problems are related to HDD initialization. Kickstart waits only short period of time for HDD initialization and some disks needs more time to spin up and initialize. After turning on, the disk is initialized, if the computer reset occurs and the HDD reset wire is cut, already initialized HDD should be detected.



Ole Eitels

Posts 21
13 Sep 2022 00:32


Found the problem. Bad connectivity in 2.5" end of the hdd cable - even if it is completely new. Moving it around can make it loose the connection - the system works with all the drives now.

posts 11