Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!pacbell!ames!killer!texbell!tness1!sugar!ssd From: ssd@sugar.uu.net (Scott Denham) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech Subject: Re: A1020 (5.25 inch drive) Problems Summary: Courage! You are not alone!! Message-ID: <3043@sugar.uu.net> Date: 2 Dec 88 08:47:05 GMT References: <506@aecom2.AECOM.YU.EDU> Organization: Sugar Land Unix - Houston, TX Lines: 95 In article <506@aecom2.AECOM.YU.EDU>, rosentha@aecom2.AECOM.YU.EDU (Yitzchak Rosenthal) writes: > The problem is that while I can mount the drive as DF2: (using the mountlist > entry that came with 1.3). The PCUtil programs do not work. > I took the drive back to my dealer and tried it on a 500 and > the PCUtil programs worked fine. > WOW! Sorry for your troubles, but am I ever glad to hear that. You see, I have the same problem - have had for some time - and have yet to find out what the deal is - if it's not just my system, perhaps it can be solved by someone wiser than me out here in netland. > I have an A2000 with 1 internal floppy a 2090 and a segate ST251N > I think the problem is related to the fact that there is only 1 internal > floppy and the PCUtil programs see the 1020 as DF2: but I am not sure. > the PCUtil programs produce the following results: > 1) in PCCopy no files show up > 2) in PCFormat it starts up and I get an error (-4) > right away. > I have a similar configuration - A2000, one internal floppy, but no HD. I DON'T have an A1020 - I have a homebrew 5 1/4 using a Tandon TM-100-2 that I built when I had a 1000. It worked fine on the 1000, and still does. It also works fine as a standard file system (I.E. mounted) device. But I get exactly the same symptoms from the PCUtil programs. > The 500 had no addons that I know of except for the 1020 > and the PCUtil programs showed the drive as df1: > I've not tried my drive on a 500 - in fact since I've had this problem, I've tried it only on my old 1000 (works fine) and another 2000 (same bug). Then I got concerned that I might have a problem in the drive that could damage one of the Amiga chips, so I'm hesitant to hang the drive on anybody elses system. > > I know the problem is not any software I am running because I > tried booting straight of the original 1.3 floppys (did not even mount my > harddrive). > I am considering two possible solutions. > 1) buying another internal drive (if the missing df1: > is for some strange reason causing the problem and > putting one in will fix it). > > 2) buying Dos2Dos or its equivalent (if its commodore's PCUtil > software thats buggy and I have some proof that Dos2Dos it > will work) > > Since both These options are expensive and I am just guessing at what is wrong > I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions as to the cause and > cure of this problem. Well, I'm now willing to guess it's NOT your A1020. Perhaps the missing DF1: has something to do with it, but I can't imagine how. As to buying more software, I'll add one more interesting observation - on the net recently was PCPatch, that dynamically changes PCCopy and PCFormat to work on a 3.5" drive to create half-breed 360K, 40 track 3.5" IBM disks. I've tried this program on other 2000's (newer ones - mine and the other one I tried my drive on were from the first batch of B2000's) and a 500 and it works fine. On my 2000, it fails with the same symptoms mentioned above when run on DF0:, even with the 5 1/4 drive unplugged. Further, a fellow here in Houston has written a program to dump raw IBM tracks using the RAWREAD/RAWWRITE (actually, it's an unfinished sector editor) and it fails, on both my drives, with the same -4 error. So that's 3 different pieces of software that have the same problem. I considered DOS-2-DOS but figured chances are they use the same trackdisk function and therefore would probably get the same error. What is it??? I'm stumped - evidence suggests it's either something odd about the ROM's in the older B2000's or some sort of timing glitch on the 4.2 motherboard. Up until now I figured since I was using a homebuilt drive, I hadn't a chance in hell of convincing anybody it wasn't my drive. (Or even convincing myself for that matter). Interstingly, I got the same -4 error on the 1000 when I first built the drive and tracked it to the fact that I had missed a connection to the INDEX line - it appears that in AmigaDos mode it doesn't care about the index, but in IBM mode it does. Of course I've looked at that particular signal several times since and it all seems to be in order now - in fact the interface I'm using is a second-generation one I did after I got tired of the wires coming loose on my first breadboarded one. So, in short, I haven't added a whit to solving your problem, but at least now we both know we are not alone! Perhaps if there are others out there suffering from the same malady we could get together and come up witha an alternate use for these 5 1/4" drives (doorstops? fishing weights?) I'll make a note of your address and keep you posted if I learn anything new - please do the same for me! Scott Denham Houston, TX > > Thanks in advance > Elazar Rosenthal > ( I'm posting this form my brothers account) > > yrosenth@aecom2