Mega STE original hard disk problems

[RenegadeR]

I bought a Mega STE with french TOS2.05/1MB ram and a 46MB hard drive and a SC1435 monitor, although i cannot get it to boot from that hd.

 

Mega_STe_Harddrive_Language_Disk-English-US_revA <- So i used this floppy and I can format the HD and it does the check for bad sectors and it doesn't find any bad ones, although when I try the HINSTALL.PRG it shows "No available logical drive for installation of driver."

 

When I try the Zero option it shows "C:" "D:" "E:" "F:" and i can zero them all out without problems, so not sure what the problem is?

 

For the rest the machine seems to work fine tested a couple of games and all worked as expected.

[tjlazer]

You need a newer Hard Drive tool.  It's a real pain to try to get it to work.  Save yourself some headache and try HDDRVER V11.  You can try the demo version out first.

[+DarkLord]

And I'd recommend dumping that old clunky hard drive for one of

Lotharek's internal Ultrasatan SD card readers:

 

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=49

 

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=47

 

HTHs...

 

[ParanoidLittleMan]

I don't think that you need new Hddriver for that disk. Old AHDI is fine for 46 MB drive. And is not hard to use, actually easier than Hddriver.

Most likely drive is broken - and not something rare with 30 years old one.  So, yes, if plan to use that machine get some modern and new device.

Not to mention storage capacity.  32 GB instead 46 MB ?

 

[RenegadeR]

Ok thanks for the help, so that ultrasatan sits where the original hd sits if used with that extra cable?

 

Strange that the original HD showed no bad sectors though.

 

Will first try that new hddriver to be sure it's not a software issue.

Edited April 6, 2020 by RenegadeR

[tjlazer]

As an option you can get a SCSI2SD board with a 1GB SD card.  Kind of a pain to get it to work but it will.  I used HDDRIVER, but I also dumped ParanoidLittleMan's 1GB disk image to a 1GB SD card and it seems to be working well too so far!

[+DarkLord]

Yes. the internal version can be mounted several different ways. Using stand-offs

is the usual route. You'll want to replace the LED and get an adapter cable from

the original hard drive P/S to the US.

 

There are several pictures and good info here:

 

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/300934-mega-stett-led-replacements/page/6/#comments

 

[tjlazer]

Here is my SCSI2SD installed in my Mega STE.

[RenegadeR]

Thanks for all the help!

 

So I tested the HDDRIVERV11 demo version and that worked! I copied over some file on it and it seems to work very well even with the restrictions the demo version has.

 

So if someone else has the problem download the demo version here -> https://www.hddriver.net/en/demo.html <-

 

I put it on a floppy and started HDDRIVER.PRG that showed it found a ST157N with the 4 partitions and then I started HDDRUTIL.APP and I just double clicked the C partition and it installed the driver automatically and now it boots fine each time.

 

Small Update:

 

If you just use the HDDRIVER.PRG and start it and then use the original disk you can install the original driver and that also works fine so then you don't have the wait time and it is nice and original again.

 

While the modern solutions are nice I prefer the original hardware and I must say it is pretty fast  the computer was not used much for sure as keyboard feels new and also the monitor has a great picture quality.

 

Just will need to upgrade the memory to 4MB as now it is 1MB only with all slots populated.

Edited April 6, 2020 by RenegadeR

[ParanoidLittleMan]

15 hours ago, RenegadeR said:

....

While the modern solutions are nice I prefer the original hardware and I must say it is pretty fast  the computer was not used much for sure as keyboard feels new and also the monitor has a great picture quality.

....

It feels fast after floppy for sure ? And modern solutions are not just nice but they will last. Surely that Mega STE was not used much, otherwise hard disk would not work anymore. But don't expect that it will work for long. It's simply age, and it matters even if was not much powered on. Btw. funny that there are 4 partitions on 46 MB drive ...

I bought used Mega STE some 13 years ago, was with original 46 MB drive, and it worked. So, I used it little, then it stopped to work. Luckily it was some power regulator error on it's electronic, so was able to fix. And after that it went out from machine, to my personal museum. Tried it once, some 5 years ago, and worked. Of course, it's low capacity was main reason to replace, so I bought some SCSI drives in those years - better years than later ones - in my place we had at least 5 second hand computer shops (now only 1, and poor one) . And need to say that most of those drives broke, and finally even my internal Mega STE ACSI-SCSI adapter broke this year.  Later was not big deal - 8 jumpers, and ACSI port is operational - where I can connect UltraSatan or some other adapter, and they are not limited to 1 GB as internal adapter and what goes on it.

[RenegadeR]

So the 4 partitions was the default option of the install disk I changed it to one big partition now and I put some games on it. The hard disk is really quiet for now that is. For me this is my first Atari as I mostly collected Commodore stuff I have a Pet 2001 8kb with chicklet keyboard which I programmed a multilevel snake game in assembler for some months ago, a C64 and a Amiga 1000 on my desk. Also a TI-99/4a as that was my first computer. Upstairs I have l loads of other stuff like 2 Amiga 2000, Zx spectrum, BBC b, Msx 1+2. But I must say this Mega Ste is my and my 6 year old daughter favorite at the moment. Just got an  Atari 600xl which boots to red screen so will try to fix that one next. No boring times for me in these times of quarantine.

[RenegadeR]

Fixed the red screen problem on the Atari 600xl, the CPU was broken, now just need to upgrade the memory when i get the memory chips in.