a4000 cd -rom

[moondynejo]

hi,
hopefully you educated amigans can help me out again.
I have recently picked up a used a4000 with scsi board and sony scsi cd-rom.
I have installed amicdfs as per the instructions in the help file and on reboot i get a little cd0 icon but when i click on it i get "no default tool" error.
I think my problem may lie with setting the scsi address for the cd-rom drive in the cd0 mount tool. i do not know of any way to get the scsi address of the cdrom in order to put it in the mount file.

can anyone recommend a utility that can tell you all the items and there addresses on your scsi board?

also i assume i use a simple text editor to edit the mount file? any recomendations on which is a good tool for the job?

thanks in advance,
joe

[rayt]

I think my problem may lie with setting the scsi address for the cd-rom drive in the cd0 mount tool. i do not know of any way to get the scsi address of the cdrom in order to put it in the mount file.

Hmm I think you mean the scsi unit number? Usually it is set by jumpers in the back of the cdrom drive. There should be at least 3 jumpers where you can set the unit number of your drive(in binary numbers). So you should look at the descriptions of the jumpers on your drive and figure out which unit number is set. Then you can edit your mountlist accordingly. Note that you also need to know the device your controller is using. Which controller do you have btw?

also i assume i use a simple text editor to edit the mount file? any recomendations on which is a good tool for the job?

Yes thats true. Nothing special is needed because you only need to edit a few lines. So ed,memacs,editpad,golded etc all should do fine.


-edit-: You may also check if your Scsi chain is terminated correctly. You should figure out if your controller supports auto termination or if you need a terminator on the "other side" of the chain (like with the csppc controller for example).

[X-ray]

I think what he means is, he doesn't know what unit the drive is right now, which means he can't set the unit number in the mountfile.

You need to run HDToolBox, or whatever utility came with your scsi card, and it will tell you there is an 'unsupported' or 'unkown' device, and what its unit number is. That will be the CD-Rom. IIRC you can change the unit number associated with the dosdriver icon, by using INFORMATION from the Workbench menu.

[moondynejo]

thanks for the advice, i do not know what scsi board i have as it is reported as unknown by workbench and i have not dismanlted the 400 yet (i am afraid to do so untill i know as much about it as possible)
hdtools only reports my hardrives at devices 0 and 1 is it normal for it not to show the cd-rom?

also i have tried amicdrom as it has an install script but it hangs before finishing the install.

any further advice apprieciated.

[patrik]

@moondynejo:

To find out what boards you have in your system, you could install the IdentifyUsr (http://de.aminet.net/pub/aminet/util/libs/IdentifyUsr.lha) package and use the bundled 'ListExp' utility.


/Patrik

[moondynejo]

identify user lists it as an oktagon 4008 scsi host adapter
does this halp anyone help me? :)

also i think i need a better installer?
what is the latest/best C= installer or replacement?
at the moment i am using installerNG

[rayt]

identify user lists it as an oktagon 4008 scsi host adapter
does this halp anyone help me? :)

Unfortunately even on amiga-hardware.com theres no information about the oktagon4008. But didn't you get a drivers disk together with the card? Thats because you have to install the device driver first before any software like hdtoolbox can "see" the devices attached to the controller. Note that "scsi.device" on the amiga is NOT a scsi driver but a driver for the internal ide port.
So first before even thinking about unit numbers you should make sure the appropriate device driver is installed in "sys:devs"..

[moondynejo]

i found an adf which i believe is the drivers for this device.
i am trying it now
i got the 4000 on ebay and got a lot of original disks and photo editing software as well as wb3.0 but i havent found the scsi driver disk

[patrik]

@moondynejo:

You could try this (http://de.aminet.net/pub/aminet/disk/moni/scsi_lister.lzh) utility and see if it manages to find out what id and device you shall use to access the CDROM.

Btw, are you 100% positive ListExp said Oktagon 4008? If so, it is probably a bit rare as there is no info about it on the Amiga hardware sites.


/Patrik

[moondynejo]

well the driver disk tells me that the cd rom is there here is the information it displayes.

PIC TID LUN MANAFACTURER NAME STATUS
0 3 0 sony cd-rom cdu-76s unsupported


my formatting got screwed by the board hopefully you can still see what it means
is tid the scsi address?

[patrik]

@moondynejo:

It seems like it should be unit 3, although you also need to find out what the name of the device to enter in the CDROM MountList/CD0 device icon tooltype. Try the SCSI_lister utility I linked to in my previous reply and see if can tell you the name of the device.


/Patrik

[moondynejo]

hi thanks for your help so far,
that utility you recomended does list it as an oktagon but unfortunately the window closes before i can get a good look at exactly what it says.
anyway to pause or stop it from auto closing?
it also lists the cd-rom drive

[patrik]

@moondynejo:

Execute it in a shell, then the output will be left in the shell window after execution.


/Patrik

[moondynejo]

ok it generates 4 lists of data which look like this

using "scsi device"

unit#0 (lists my hard drive
unit#1 (lists second HD)
unit#2 no device
unit#3 no device
unit#4 no device
unit#5 no device
unit#6 no device
device version 37.64______scsi disc 37.64

using "soft scsi_oktagonc9xe9.device"

unit#0 no device
unit#1 no device
unit#2 no device
unit#3 sony cd-rom cdu-76s rev:1.1a
unit#4 no device
unit#5 no device
unit#6 no device
device version 4.7 softscsi_oktagonc9x.47

using "oktagon.device"

unit#0 no device
unit#1 no device
unit#2 no device
unit#3 sony cd-rom cdu-76s rev:1.1a
unit#4 no device
unit#5 no device
unit#6 no device
device version 4.7 softscsi_oktagonc9x.47

using "mfm.device

unit#0 unknown error
unit#1 no device
unit#2 no device
unit#3 no device
unit#4 no device
unit#5 no device
unit#6 no device
device version 38.5 mfm.device 38.5

now how do i know what is the petinent information out of that lot?

thanks for your patience.

[moondynejo]

DAMN it just as i was typing that my 4000 just flashed to a green screen and flashed its led power light at me.
now it wont boot. all it does is display that green screen.
i havent even touched it (looks like i wasted a lot of money for nothing) :(

[patrik]

@moondynejo:

SCSI_lister seems a bit buggy, it has crashed my computer twice now. It has probably screwed up some reset vector or something for you. Shut it off and let it rest for a few minutes with it and all periphials like monitor etc also shut off to completely clear its memory.

(edit):

From the SCSI_lister output, it looks like you should use the following data when setting up the CDROM:
Device: oktagon.device
Unit: 3


/Patrik

[X-ray]

Take the SCSI card out, detach the CD-Rom, and see if your miggy boots again.

Assuming you get it back booting, then reinsert the SCSI card, see if that works again.

Your SCSI CD-Rom is unit 3. I've been looking on the net for you, for software for that card, and nowhere do they mention software specifically for that 4008. One German site had a reference to using the 2008 software on the 4008. You could try that as a last resort. The 2008 software is here (http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/search.pl?dir=scsi#oktagon2000)

Your dosdriver will be something like this: device=oktagon.device unit=3 (edit: Patrik beat me to it)

[moondynejo]

i did that and it did reboot ok.
i took the cover off anyway and the battery has leaked on the motherboard.
i'm sure there a plenty of ways of cleaning this but is there a best way?
i removed the battery

well i am up and runnig again (for now) but i would really apprieciate advice on the best thing to clean the motherboard with (isopropyl alcholol?)

[patrik]

@moondynejo:

Preferably as it is electronics you are dealing with, you should use an cleaner based mostly on isopropanol, like this (http://www.elfa.se/elfa-bin/dyndok.pl?vat=0&dok=2008077.htm).

If you dont have anything like that at hand, just trying to collect the stuff that has leaked with damp paper to make sure it doesn't end up anywhere else in the computer, then getting a new damp paper and do some more cleaning where the leakage has occurred and continue with new damp papers til you have collected everything.

How much has it actually leaked on the motherboard btw?

(edit):

Saw that you mentioned isopropyl alcohol and yes - that is the exact same thing as I mentioned :D, just another name for it - see this (http://www.chemicalland21.com/arokorhi/petrochemical/ISOPROPANOL.htm) link.

Nevertheless, if dont have any at hand now, do try to collect as much of the leakage as you can with for example damp papers. If so, change paper several times to lessen the impact of the acid leakage and be sure just to damp it a little bit so it merely collects the leakage and not spreads it to nearby areas and circuits on the motherboard.


/Patrik

[moondynejo]

thanks a lot for the help guys i apprieciate it.
i will put the 4000 back together and put your suggestions into practice.

[moondynejo]

how much has leaked on the mother board?
well it has gone up into the first ram chip
it is worse than any of my amiga 2000s

but as long as it still boots i guess there is hope.

[patrik]

@moondynejo:

Try to remove as much of the acid as quick as possible (now!) with the means you have available and try to get hold of isopropanol alcohol to give it a thorough cleaning as soon as you can so the acid doesn't corrode away something that renders the machine unusable.

Here (http://amiga.serveftp.net/battery.html) is a good link describing the procedures around replacing the battery, might be interesting.


/Patrik

[moondynejo]

ok i will get to it right away.
as for the cdrom issue i have it fixed thans to you guys.

very much apprieciated.

[TjLaZer]

RTC circuits are probably hosed. This is a very common problem with leaking batts on A4000's. Check to make sure mouse/joy are still working smoothly and also that all RAM sockets are working. If all these are ok you are good to go. I recomment you install a Lithium hack on the board. See aminet. (see my photo album)

[moondynejo]

thankfully mouse and joystick work fine. i am concerened about the RTC though as the save feature was greyed out on the time screen.
i would love to appy the lithium ion hack but i am concerned my skills arent up to the task.
my brother however is excellent with that kind of thing, unfortunately he is on holiday for the next 5 weeks.
hopefully when he returns he will help me with it.

[TjLaZer]

Your RTC need repair. The "ghosted" save gives it away. I have one that does the same thing.