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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:	AMIGA NOTES
Notice:	Join us in the NEW conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:	HYDRA::MOORE

Created:	Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:	Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5378
Total number of notes:	38326

4894.0. "New ROMs for A2091" by AMIGA::RIES (OS/2 = Half an Operating System) Fri Jul 12 1991 21:08

I know that there was some discussion in this conference somewhere about
problems with the A2091	SCSI controller with multiple drives but I was
unable to locate it.

In any case, I have been having problems with my A2091 for some time running
two drives. If I am accessing both drives simultaneously, the A2091 will
sometimes hang. I complained to The Memory Location (where I bought the
controller) some time ago, and they admitted there was a problem, but that
so far Commodore had refused to own up to it. Well, recently I added a third
drive, and now the problem is even worse. I called The Memory Location today,
and they said that there is a new ROM available to fix the problem, but that
Commadore is not providing it free of charge. It's $32.50 and they are on
backorder.

Has anyone else had the same problem, and had any luck getting a free
upgrade from Commadore? My controller is out of warranty, however, I
think that Commadore should supply the fix at not charge. If I had had
a second drive while the controller was under warranty, I would have
noticed the problem then, and complained. The controller is speced
to run multiple drives, and if it can't due to their error, then they
should have to fix it at no charge if a customer complains!

Legally I would bet that they are obligated to provide the fix.

Frank

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
4894.1	See Note 4334.*	SALEM::CAPRICCIO	STU-F-FIT, face buffer overflow	`Sat Jul 13 1991 18:16`	12
	�I know that there was some discussion in this conference somewhere about �problems with the A2091 SCSI controller with multiple drives but I was �unable to locate it. Check out notes 4334.* for that discussion. I entered some information regarding a ROM upgrade for the A2091 in note 3836.12, but it was in regards to the location zero problem and the 512Kb/1Mb RAM configuration problem. I'm not sure if the latter ROM upgrade takes care of the multiple-drive problem or not, and it was explicitly stated that there would be no warranty coverage. Pete
4894.2	ya right!	STAR::GUINEAU	but what was the question?	`Mon Jul 15 1991 18:19`	15
	The latest vesion of the ROM is 6.9 with a 6.10 in the works. It IS a warranty fix since use of multiple drives is broken. I spoke to Randall Jessup at Commodore on the phone one day. He said the ROMS are available. He gave me part numbers and a service bullitin number. He said the service centers should be able to get them. Now, I have waited patiently for a couple months now and no roms from either Memory Location or System Eyes - both on backorder. Commodore has LOUSY customer service (what else is new?). Randall suggested I call their Customer Satisfaction department and complain. john
4894.3	ROM info	STAR::GUINEAU	but what was the question?	`Mon Jul 15 1991 18:21`	126
	Article 67 Path: shlump.nac.dec.com!decuac!haven.umd.edu!udel!wuarchive!csus.edu!ucdavis!cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com From: [email protected] (Randell Jesup) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.announce Subject: A2091 rev 6.6 ROM announcement Message-ID: <[email protected]> Date: 26 Apr 91 22:33:23 GMT Sender: [email protected] Reply-To: [email protected] (Randell Jesup) Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 112 Approved: [email protected] [ This should get that one guy who keeps griping about his pair ] [ of hard drives locking up to quiet down. -Dan ] The following announcement has been approved for release by everyone and their first cousin in Commodore. It's a copy of a service bulletin issues by the Commodore US sales company. NOTE: this is ONLY a notice regarding Commodore Business Machines (Commodore International's US sales company). Other Commodore sales and service organizations may have different policies (and in fact their service organizations may or may not know of the fix yet). Also please note: your local dealer or service center may not have received this notice yet in the quarterly service bulletins (they go out in a few days, I'm told), and will almost certainly have to order the ROMs/disk in order to update 2091's. It _is_ posted on the CBM service center bulletin board. To determine revision of WD chip: it's the large chip beside the internal SCSI connector. Usually on the second line there's a -xx. 'xx' is the revision number. The notice only affects -04 and -08 revisions (commonly labelled wd33c93a or wd33c93proto), not the -02 revision (commonly labelled the wd33c93 or wd33c93pl). Randell unofficial statement ends, official statement begins... __________________________________________________________________________ 32/3-3.1 A2091 HDC - New Rom Rev 6.6 corrects Dual SCSI problem on PCB's with WD SCSI Controller type A, Revisions 04/08. A2091 Hard Drive Controller cards which lock up the system when accessing two or more SCSI devices can be upgraded, under warranty, by replacing both Roms at locations U12 and U13 on the A2091. - If Reselection is turned ON. Part Number Description Location _______________________________________________________ 390722-02 IC ROM Rev 6.6 ODD U12 390721-02 IC ROM Rev 6.6 EVEN U13 317806-04 DISKETTE, A2091 INSTALL V1.30 _______________________________________________________ IMPORTANT NOTE: Only units which have an "A" type Western Digital SCSI controller WD33C93A, revision 04 or 08 (CBM PN# 390206-03) are effected by this upgrade. Rev 6.6 roms should not be installed in 2091s with WD33C93 revision 02 chips. The 02 revision supports reselection with previous ROM revisions. The new V1.30 Install Disk for the A2091 Hard drive controller card features the new icon "ReselectOn" which can be used in conjunction with the new V6.6 ROM's to support multiple SCSI devices. This ReselectOn program allows the user to change the setting of the Reselect bit on the rigid disk block of the SCSI drive to "ON" without having to reformat the whole drive. With the reselect bit turned "ON", the hard drive will release the SCSI controller, when not in use, allowing the controller to access other SCSI devices. Performance is greatly improved. With the reselect bit set to "OFF", the drive will not release the SCSI controller so it ( the controller ) can service other devices. Earlier versions of the A2091 ROM's did not fully support the use of multiple SCSI devices, therefore all factory configured drives were formatted with the reselect turned "OFF". The only way to change the reselect setting prior to the "ReselectOn" program was by going into HDToolbox, changing the drive configuration setting and then reformatting the drive. Now you can simply double-click on the "ReselectOn" icon. To use multiple SCSI devices with the A2091 controller, you must first upgrade the hardware with V6.6 ROM's. Next you double-click on the "ReselectOn" icon located on the V1.30 A2091 Install Disk. The program will prompt you with a couple of questions and when the program has run it will display the message "Rigid disk block update complete". Note: Running the ReselectOn program will not affect the data on the hard drive, however Commodore recommends a complete hard drive backup as a precaution before any attempt is made to reconfigure the system. The HDToolbox utility does not read the current settings of the hard drive as it was formatted, and therefore cannot be used to determine the current state of the reselect bit either before or after using ReselectOn. ___________________________________________________________________________ -- Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. {uunet\|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, [email protected] BIX: rjesup Disclaimer: Nothing I say is anything other than my personal opinion. Thus spake the Master Ninjei: "To program a million-line operating system is easy, to change a man's temperament is more difficult." (From "The Zen of Programming") ;-) -- Please see monthly postings for the disclaimer, the introduction, the charter, and submission instructions. Comments to [email protected]. ALL SUBMISSIONS TO [email protected] (don't auto-post).