Conference hydra::amiga_v1

3525.0. "New toys=new problems for A2000" by JGO::CHAPMAN () Mon Feb 26 1990 08:23

    I've just aquired two new hardware additions and have trouble with
    both due to my aged motherboard (I suspect). The two new toys are
    a hardframe/Quantum harddrive and a 2nd internal floppy. The
    Amiga is a 2000, revision A, which as I understand it is basically
    a A1000 with slots. I know there are a lot of A1000 wizards out
    there....
    
    1) The floppy. I bought a cheapo IBM thing that came in an adaptor
    for a 5 1/4 slot. I was assured it would work, but I'd have to use
    it as df0: because there are no jumpers on it to set it up as df1:.
    I put in in and it works. But what do I do to install my original
    df0: as df1:  I was told by the dealers technical support which
    jumpers to move where on the drive (normally a 3 by 2 pin block)
    and on the motherboard (remove jumper on J301). Bears no resemblance
    to my machine! I have no J301. On roughly the same space on the
    motherboard I have J33, which is a 13 by 2 pin block, with no jumpers
    at the moment. On the drive (a Matsushita) I have a 9 by 2 block,
    with jumpers as follows:
    
    			. . . . . . . . .
                        |     |   | |
    			. . . . . . . ._.
                 
    What should I do to set the drive up and what should I set on the
    motherboard to recognize it.
    
    
    2) The hardframe won't work. I kinda suspected this, having read
    about grounding and PAL chipsThe RDPrep program recognizes the Quantum
    attached, yet when I try to do a top level format, it says drive
    not found. The only things I've tried are removing the autostart
    jumper (no difference) and attempting a low level format (says it
    is already formatted and seems to do nothing for a minute or so)
    
    So, can anybody tell me what new PAL chips I need and what I ground
    where ?
    
    Many thanks. As you can imagine it is extremely frustrating having
    these things just sitting there dead, and even more so when the
    dealer has a totally blank face and thinks you are an idiot cos
    you can't find J301.
    
    
    Colin

    A guy I know had an early A2000 (with the small function keys on the
    keyboard) and he screamed at C= untill they changed his mother-board
    because he could not install the "fatter" Agnus.
    
    Jean
    

    Christ, I have screamed, believe me. I got offered a new motheboard
    for 75% of the cost of a new 2000. I also was offered an upgrade
    by a dealer recommended to me by Commodore, who was doing an official
    A1000 upgrade, and an unofficial A2000 upgrade. The price was within
    a few $$$ of a new. So I'd resigned myself to buying a new 2000
    when the full chipset is available, and flogging the old one. Commodore
    said they would 'think about' a formal upgrade deal in the future,
    but I won't hold my breath.
    
    Where did he get this deal (country/person, price?). Any ammunition
    gratfully received.
                               
    Colin
    

    This is C= Canada, and I don't know how he went about it, or how
    pestering he was, all I know is that they did it.
    
    Jean
    

Re: .0

I don't think that the Amiga 1000 PAL grounding unofficial ECO
applies to a Amiga 2000 model A.  The claim I always heard was
the PALs on the 1000 were noisy because of the Kickstart RAM
daughter board.  Since the Amiga 2000 model A has Kickstart ROMs
instead of the old Amiga 1000 style Kickstart RAMs, the PALs
should be fine.

    Thanks, I got the floppy going by applying a bit of intelligence.
    C= support gave the the part number for a new PAL which I've ordered.
    Wasn't sure about grounding, but looks like I should be OK.
    
    Cheers
    
    Colin