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[mchaggis]

Hi all,

After recieving your support to find and order 2MB of RAM for my A590; I have continued on with my A500 project.

To date I have found a Rev6a A500 board and a ROM2.04 and now intend to re-format my A590 from work bench 1.3 to 2.0.

I actaully have two sets of work bench 2.0 disks; one set i bought years ago new, and other I purchased recently from eBay. One set is mark WB2.0 another is marked WB2.04. However they both appear to contain pretty much the same software.

When I boot the A500 using the WB2.0 Install disk I use the HD Tools to do a DrivePrep; however WB2 can not recognise the A590 (note it works fine under WB1.3)

I have tried both my versions of WB2, tried without the new RAM on the A590, and even tried with my trapdoor RAM removed.

The A590 just will not be recognised by the WB2.0 Install software.

As a trial i went back to WB1.3 and the A590 Install disk picked up the A590 no problems; so i am confident that the drive is still working.

What can I try?

I have a Rev5a A500 board, should I give that a go?

Should I source a new BIOS for the A590 - I haven't upgraded it and there is discussion on the web about version 7 and 8 BIOS's.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Derek.

[Jope]

You can partition the drive with the A590 install disk, format it in workbench (use format quick) and then just install the 2.04 stuff on there.

The hdtoolbox on the A590 install disk works fine under kickstart 2.0

[mchaggis]

Oh, if only it did work fine...

The WB2 Installs disk refuses to recognise the A590; and after many frustrating attempts along the lines of your suggestion i have found myself at a dead end.

Under kickstart 2 i can use the A590 setup disk to HDPrep and format the A590; but when it comes to writting the O/S; it asks for WB1.3, not WB2 which i used to boot.

I have since started looking through WinUAE and some of the software ADF's that i have on there; and there is a different version of WB Install. When i run this under WinUAE; part of the installation process explicitly notes the installer can be used for an A590. My 'other' real flopyp disk version of WB2 Installer does not have this screen.

I think i have a dud early copy of WB2 Installer.

So how do I get around this? Is there an easy way to convert the ADF file to a realy Amiga floppy?

thanks.

[Dmaster]

Ah, the goold old A590, brings back memories. I used to have this in my beefed up A500 when I had it. Nice system, but I also remember getting so many read/write errors when I had it. I fianlly got it working but don't remember what I did exactly. Just wanted to say it's nice but hope you get it working correctly.

[Matt_H]

You probably need new ROMs for the 590 - old ones don't work with Kickstart 2. After booting from a Workbench2.0 or Install2.0 disk, open a shell and type

version scsi.device

. What does it say?

[doctorq]

Is the device driver for the A590 called scsi.device, and not something else?? I can't remember anymore, it's been to long since I had one of these..

[Matt_H]

@ doctorq

I'm fairly certain it is, as is the 2091's.

[DigitalQ]

Workbench 2.0 was made specifically for the Amiga 3000 computer only. It wasn't designed to work on the A500/A2000, which is why it won't recognize your A590. Workbench 2.04 is the release which was designed as an upgrade for A500/A2000 owners, and should work with your A590 fine regardless of what ROMs are installed.

[Tenacious]

If you are going with OS 2.0, why not 2.1? It was sold as a complete upgrade across the entire product line (except CDTV).

I believe 2.1 was more stable and complete than anything that came before it, I still use it on many machines (including an A570 with ScsiTV). Unfortunately, it was the first release to ship without the Say command and the associated libraries and devices. Copy these over from 2.04.

[orange]

I'm using A590 (2GB HDD) on A500 with KS3.1 (pfs), after upgrading the ROM (IIRC v6.1)

edit: I was wrong, its not v6.1 its upgraded to v7.0, (and it should be the same one in a2091.)

[mchaggis]

Hi all, thanks for the words of encouragement and advice; I eventually got there by installing WB1.3 (I couldn't see any way around that)and then using the WB Upgrade program i first booted using WB2 from floppy, and was able to upgrade the WB1.3 to WB2 that was on the A590.

Bit of a mission, but that's part of the fun.

And for the record, the command version scsi.device returns "SCSI device not found", i suppose this is because the drive is an XT drive in the A590.

Next task is to get the Amiga running through an old LCD panel that I have spare.

ta.

ta.

[rkauer]

mchaggis wrote:

And for the record, the command version scsi.device returns "SCSI device not found", i suppose this is because the drive is an XT drive in the A590.

The scsi.device is resident in ROM if you have kickstart version 37300 and up. Prefer to use the 37350.

[mchaggis]

The rules of the forum say that no question is to be ridiculed, this next question might test those rules...

Can I use WB2.1 with my ROM2.04 chip?

[mchaggis]

I've got KS 37.175.

The Kickstart is resident in the ROM chip, right? So are you suggesting that my ROM2.04 is not good enough. I though the only other upgrade at the 2.x level was 2.05 and all that introduced with PCMCIA support on the A600's?

[pyrre]

Can I use WB2.1 with my ROM2.04 chip?

Yes you can, and it works very well. I do so in my A500+.

The Kickstart is resident in the ROM chip, right?

The kickstart IS the rom chip and contains key elements of the Amiga OS.

So are you suggesting that my ROM2.04 is not good enough.

2.04 rom should be sufficient enough to run OS 2.1. or any os 2.x for that matter.

I though the only other upgrade at the 2.x level was 2.05 and all that introduced with PCMCIA support on the A600's?

IIRC the 2.05 rom is the same as 2.04, but has updated libraries and scsi.device for using the A600s IDE controller. And of course PCMCIA support.
EDIT: today it might be the only 2.xx rom chip available in stores...