Help installing a HD (CF-SCSI) in a early X68000 (SASI)

[mauroxavier]

Hello, friends.

I have a X68000, the first and original model.

Recently I tried to install an internal HD in it, but without success.

I used a SCSI-IDE Yamaha V769970 and follow all instructions to create a cable 26 to pin 50 according to the Wiki.

I soldered all the tracks of the GND pins of the SCSI adapter and also in the IDE, as recommended.

The problem is that I've tried everything, I used two types of CF-IDE adapter, and I've tried over 10 types of CF card and the device is not detected. I also tried to change the ID of the adapter 0-6, changed the jumpers "parity", "terminator", "block size" and everything, and even tried using real IDE HDs from 7.5 Gb to 80 Gb, and nothing too.

By using the program SCSIFORMAT.X, when trying to choose the ID 0-7, the light of the CF-IDE adapter to get to flash, but does not detect anything.

I restored the image of 777 Mb, even tried by changing SWITCH.X to boot via the HD0 HD3 of the 2HD0 2HD13, and nothing ... Obviously I know that in this case should not even boot, because my SASI is X68000 and this would only work if the system were SCSI.

I was even thinking if it is the case I use a CF card industry, which has a fixed mode of operation (instead of the removable so), does that help?

Anyway, if anyone has any idea for me to test here, I will be grateful.

PS.: Sorry for my English.

[SuperDeadite]

Your machine is SASI, therefore you need to use a special driver, SxSI (I think), in order to use a SCSI drive.

[mauroxavier]

Sorry, I had forgotten to say that I used the Master Disk, and also got to use the HumanDOS 3.02 and put the drivers SXSI 4.0 and 5.0 above then, according to Wiki.

I also came to install the drivers on boot SRAM, and was not recognized. Only the CF adapter light flashes when listing the devices at boot, but does not recognize anything, appears only the first one listed as "SASI", which is standard.

[caius]

Hi,
I had a similar problem when I tried the CF mod on my CompactXVI.At the end I found it was matter of connecting every  GROUND pins each other.I know you have aready done this but I recommend you to double-check it.Please, let us know about.

[mauroxavier]

I checked everything several times, did the grounding of all points and measured on the multimeter and nothing yet ...

[eidis]

Hi Mauroxavier,

Here's what I did when I was trying to figure out how to connect a hard drive and boot from it, long before the HDD Wiki article. First of all connect the Yamaha V769970 to PC and see if it is working and if you can access the attached HDD or CF. If yes then make sure that your CF adapter and the Yamaha V769970 are receiving power when connected to X68000. I would suggest using 2.5" IDE HDD's for testing because it will be easier to tell what is going on. Clear SRAM. Set the jumpers in your SCSI to IDE adapter as shown in the Wiki article, boot from the Master Disk and install SxSI to SRAM. Now pay close attention to the HDD when you switch on your X68000. At the SxSI splash screen, when it shows detected devices, you should hear a tick from your hard drive. If you hear it, then the cable should be good. If in doubt, check once again that all ground points on each side of the cable are tied together. If you get your HDD recognized but it does not see a CF card, make sure that you are using a single slot CF adapter, set to master, and that it is receiving power. Try these steps and please let us know how it went.

Best of luck !
Eidis

[mauroxavier]

I tried exactly as you said... I rear the HD clicks on SRAM SxSI disc recognition, but none has detected.

I will sell thix X68000, but who knows, maybe in the future I will buy another model with SCSI port.

Thanks for support.

[eidis]

 Hi !

Don't sell it, yet. I really think that the issue could be linked to not enough ground or bad wiring. Try to tie the ground signal from PSU to ground signal of the cable. It could be that your custom cable is picking up noise from the nearby components along the way. Make sure that the cable is not too long, that you are using quality wires and that every signal is received by motherboard. Use continuity test and double check the diagram in the Wiki. If that does not help, please post pictures of your setup, especially the cable and SCSI to IDE adapter with CF adapter and provide us with pinouts which you are using for the cable.

Best of luck !
Eidis

[mauroxavier]

I had picked up the GND from the floppy drive cable and tried to use it directly on the adapters.

But it's ok, I'll try it again but this time I will get another cable and make it from scratch.

[mauroxavier]

I remade all the cables from scratch, checked with multimeter all the wires and attached all the GND points, and the HD has not been detected yet.

Is there something about the capacitors on the bottom of the X68000, those who are close to the I/O circuit?

[eidis]

 Hi !

I'm afraid that it could be a similar scenario as in this thread:
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4131.0

Maybe your SCSI to IDE adapter is not compatible with your setup. Acard AEC-7720U should be easy to obtain, though it is very expensive and there is no guarantee that it will fix the problem.

Eidis