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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

5307.0. "External SCSI devices on a 2091" by LODGE::LEN (David M. Len) Sun Dec 29 1991 00:58

    I just purchased a 2091, and I am trying to get a TK50 hooked up to it.
    The documentation does not make any reference to removing termination
    resistors when attaching an external device.
    
    I did need to pull termination resistors on my HardFrame controller.
    And the TK50 did work fine with the BTN software on the HardFrame.  
    
    Now with the 2091, I have been getting flaky behavior with the TK50.
    I sometimes get a failed mount, with BTN claiming the device is not a
    tape unit.  And other times I have been able to use tar to write
    data to the tape but I have not been able to reliably read it.  I may
    be wrong but this seems like it could be a SCSI termination problem.
    
    I am hoping to hear from someone else that is using an external SCSI
    device on a 2091.  In particular, about SCSI termination on the 2091.
    
    On the 2091 board I see what appear to be termination resistors for
    the external SCSI connector,  but these resistors appear to be sodered
    to the board.
    
    Help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
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5307.1EPROM-UPDATE?JGODCL::EDERVEENIf all else fails, read the instructionsMon Dec 30 1991 03:4613
    What revision is your firmware?
    The EPROM's with revision before v6.6 cause trouble with more than one
    SCSI-device. The older revisions seem to have some trouble with SCSI-
    Re-select.
    
    If you have the old EPROM's, you should try to get an update.
    
    (Here in the Netherlands, Commodore is updating A26x0 and A2091 FREE!)
    
    Ave, Frank
    
    P.S. look in the other topics about 2091, there are quit a lot of
    them...
5307.2LODGE::LENDavid M. LenMon Dec 30 1991 11:4710
    re: .1
    
    I just bought the 2091, and I made sure that it came with v6.6.
    
    I did a title search on 2091, and didn't find anything that answered
    the question of 2091 external SCSI termination.
    
    I have been reading this conference for quite awhile, and I have
    followed the topics about SCSI termination, and connecting TK50's. But
    I don't remember anything that covered my question there either.
5307.3Easier than it looksULTRA::KINDELBill Kindel @ LTN1Mon Dec 30 1991 12:1029
    Re .2:                                               
    
>   I did a title search on 2091, and didn't find anything that answered
>   the question of 2091 external SCSI termination.
>   
>   I have been reading this conference for quite awhile, and I have
>   followed the topics about SCSI termination, and connecting TK50's. But
>   I don't remember anything that covered my question there either.
    
    I've connected an external RZ23 drive to my A590, which is effectively
    an A2091 clone.  You won't need to do ANYTHING to the controller.  If
    you're mounting the TK50 INTERNALLY (presumably in the 5�" drive bay,
    with some hackery of the front panel), then it will share the flat SCSI
    cable with your internal disk drive.  The unit on the end of the cable
    should have termination resistors; the other unit should not.  (Try it
    first -- with such short cable lengths, you may well be able to skip
    termination altogether.)  Simple enough?
    
    If you're mounting the TK50 EXTERNALLY (which is much more likely),
    you'll need a Macintosh-style SCSI cable to connect the 25-pin D-sub
    jack on the back of the A2091 to the SCSI-1 (50-pin Centronics) jack on
    the cabinet.  The TK50 must have termination resistor packs.
    
    Regardless of WHERE/HOW you mount the TK50, you'll need to avoid SCSI
    address collision.  Many drives come pre-set to address #6, which I
    believe is hard-wired in the TK50.  Use the A2091's HDtoolbox to
    display the current SCSI address(es) known to the controller.  You'll
    also need to use this tool to reset the "last unit" switch so unit
    numbers higher than that of your boot device are seen at startup.
5307.4TK50 Scsi IDMEDDLE::ANUSZCZYKPrepare for ludicrous speed!Tue Dec 31 1991 12:5314
Actually, I believe the TK50 comes preset to be unit number 5.  This can be 
changed by moving the unit id jumpers on the TK50 internal controller board.
Also, I'm not sure if this is true for the Amiga, but for a PVAX you need to
remove the internal termination jumber on the TK50's controller board.

Also, it helps immensily to have the latest ROMS for the TK50.  At least in ZKO,
a great number of the TK50's in a box had less than new ROMS.  The result was
when used with a VS2000 it worked fine.  But try and use it as a PVAX SCSI
device and "strange" things happened.  Using new ROMS solved all the problems
and made the TK50 become a properly behaved SCSI device.

Don't know if any of this will help, but more info is better than less :-)

  - Jeff