STE w/ICD Link - SCSI drive issues

[+nurmix]

So I dug the 520 STE (4MB / TOS 1.62) out of storage recently, along with my external SCSI drive. The drive is a Seagate ST32155N "Hawk".

 

Now, it's probably been about 20 years since I've worked with SCSI drives. Back in the '90s I had plenty of them, set them up, configured them, etc. Used them with the STE, Falcon, and Ensoniq sampler. But, some of the arcane details have escaped me at this point. Hopefully someone here has better memory recollection on these than I do at the moment...

 

So... the drive powers up, and spins up, and the head un-parks, and moves into place. The activity LED goes out at this point, so I know the drive is ready. However... the drive will only do this when nothing is attached.

 

The external case has two standard SCSI ports on the back. If I put a terminator plug into either port, the drive will power on, but won't spin up / mount. If I plug the ICD Link into either port, same thing - power but no spin-up / mount. This is with the STE off. Turning on the STE doesn't change the behavior either. It will just boot from floppy and not see the hard drive.

 

If I plug just a SCSI cable into either port (or both), the drive spins up and mounts as it should. So I'm guessing this is a termination issue, but I can't for the life of my remember how I had things setup back then, other than I had a SyQuest EZ-135 and a CD ROM drive in the chain, maybe a scanner too. Hard to remember, because a lot of this stuff (including another cased hard drive I have) was later used with my Falcon. But from what I can remember, I don't think ANY of the drives were internally terminated, and parity was disabled.

 

Any ideas?

 

[+SoulBuster]

One of the other SCSI devices you had attached may have been the terminating device in the past. Plug the SCSI cable from the computer into one of the ports and the termination in the other. If it does not work, swap them and try again.

[+nurmix]

One of the other SCSI devices you had attached may have been the terminating device in the past. Plug the SCSI cable from the computer into one of the ports and the termination in the other. If it does not work, swap them and try again.

 

Yeah, the drive probably wasn't the last in the chain back then (I think I had a Reno CD-ROM?). But if my memory of SCSI is right, as long as the last device is terminated - regardless of how many devices are in the chain - it should work.

 

And with this drive, I have tried plugging the cable from the ST into one port, and the terminator plug into the other. Switched them around from top to bottom. If either or both are plugged in to either port, the drive won't spin up.

 

I'll have to go back and get the CD drive and add that to the chain just as a test. Pretty sure I have some docs/notes in that box too.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my Keyboard Component using Jack's Conversational Intelli-talk cassette

[+SoulBuster]

I do not have experience with ICD Link, but you can also try changing the SCSI ID to the first ID. Maybe there needs to be a device on the first ID. Or there could be a conflict on IDs, such as the ICD Link and the hard drive on the same ID.

[+nurmix]

I do not have experience with ICD Link, but you can also try changing the SCSI ID to the first ID. Maybe there needs to be a device on the first ID. Or there could be a conflict on IDs, such as the ICD Link and the hard drive on the same ID.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, Tim. The drive is set to ID 0 (I also tried a couple other IDs with the same results). The Link is ID 6 by default, I believe. But as I said, even if I just plug in a terminator, it won't spin up, so that would seem to rule out an ID conflict.

 

But I've been doing some reading and refreshing my memory on SCSI... I'm wondering if it's a drive jumper set incorrectly for "auto motor start" or "delayed motor start" - like it's waiting for a signal from the computer before it turns on, when it's connected to something (but powering up the ST with it connected still doesn't bring it to life).

 

The thing is I don't remember ever changing anything like that, or that being an issue back in the '90s when I used the drive, but then again, it's a little hazy. Maybe another device in the chain "woke it up" back then, and I just never realized it?

 

Anyway, I located the manual for the drive. I'll open it up and see what the jumper settings are.

Edited April 4, 2017 by nurmix

[+SoulBuster]

We have covered everything I can think of, so good luck with the manual. Post again if you get it going.

[+nurmix]

We have covered everything I can think of, so good luck with the manual. Post again if you get it going.

Thanks Tim, will do.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my Keyboard Component using Jack's Conversational Intelli-talk cassette

[+nurmix]

Success!

 

 

The hard drive wasn't supplying termination power (checked the jumpers), but putting it in the chain with a SyQuest EZ135 (and a CD ROM drive) supplied the termination power to the SCSI bus, and it booted right up.

 

Now I just have to sort through this drive and figure out what's what - I used it with my Falcon030 too, so there's a lot of non-ST stuff here.

 

I also have a second drive that won't spin up, but that's because the external enclosure has a bunch of bad capacitors. I'll replace those and see what's going on with that drive soon enough.

 

 

In the mean time, it's nice to see the old STE back up and running with a hard drive!

 

 

 

Sent from my Keyboard Component using Jack's Conversational Intelli-talk cassette

Edited April 5, 2017 by nurmix

[+SoulBuster]

fantastic, that setup looks sweet.

 

What kind of cable are you using to connect to that flat panel?

[anzac]

i´ve been following this topic with curiosity.

 

couldn´t help because i never had that hardware, but i´m glad things sorted out.

 

congratulations.

[+nurmix]

fantastic, that setup looks sweet.

 

What kind of cable are you using to connect to that flat panel?

It's a small adapter that I got years ago. It allows you to use a VGA monitor for ST High resolution. The guy who made it is Mario Becroft (might be spelled Beecroft). I believe he was in New Zealand. No idea if he's still around or doing anything Atari.

 

 

 

I think Best Electronics sells something similar.

 

 

 

Sent from my Keyboard Component using Jack's Conversational Intelli-talk cassette

[+nurmix]

i´ve been following this topic with curiosity.

 

couldn´t help because i never had that hardware, but i´m glad things sorted out.

 

congratulations.

Thanks!

 

Now I just need to find a permanent place for it in my already overcrowded home office. Any other room in the house is out of the question (I'm married), and the garage arcade isn't really the best place for it. I might end up taking it to my work office. It would be an interesting conversation starter with clients at least.

 

 

 

Sent from my Keyboard Component using Jack's Conversational Intelli-talk cassette

[anzac]

taking it to the office sounds like a great idea!

 

i´ve had my falcon at the office and people were stunned...

 

it IS an excellent conversation starter indeed.