A1XE won't instal HDD's

Hi folks. I really need some advice on this one!

For a long time now, (several years, 8 HDD's) I have had a situation where, when I try to install a new PATA HDD into my A1XE,it will allow me to install a SLB and partition the new drive. When I restart in order to format the partitions, it is unable to find an SLB and then won't recognise that there is a drive there at all!

Because I have now wiped the MBR, neither will Windows,Mac or Linux.

What the heck am I doing wrong?

It doesn't help that I work away from home and rarely get time to do any in-depth work on my Amiga, but it's definitely one I'd like to solve

@OldAmigan

Quote:

Can you boot from CDROM?
How do you install SLB2? Did you copy it to sys:L, or do you use Media Toolbox?
Are the partitions bootable?
Is the boot priority correctly configured?
Is the kickstart folder on the first bootable HD partition?
What ATA/SATA controller card do you use?
Is the UBOOT Amiga multiboot set to boot from HD or CD?
Is the a1ide_conf configured correct?
Is the cable connected like the a1ide_conf describes the devices to be connected?

Quote:

Linux does support RDB. But most Linux kernels is not compiled with it, to enable RDB, you need to download the kernel source code, and compile the partition table kernel module for RDB. see the readme included with the source code.

You can't mount SFS2 or FFS/7, but you can use DD to make a disk images of partitions, or you might be able use the partitions in UAE for Linux. I do not guarantee this will work.

@LiveForIt

Many thanks for replying. Answers to your questions

Can you boot from CDROM? Yes

How do you install SLB2?
Did you copy it to sys:L, or do you use Media Toolbox? Used Media Toolbox.

Are the partitions bootable? DH0 is bootable

Is the boot priority correctly configured? I believe so

Is the kickstart folder on the first bootable HD partition? Yes

What ATA/SATA controller card do you use? Either onboard or SIL0680

Is the UBOOT Amiga multiboot set to boot from HD or CD? I usually set 1st boot from CD, 2nd from HD but I've also manually changed the sequence between installation and booting from CD only to HD only.

Is the a1ide_conf configured correct? I believe so, do you have an example?

Is the cable connected like the a1ide_conf describes the devices to be connected? I believe so.

@OldAmigan

Is the PATA HDD you're trying to install on the Sii0680 interface a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) HDD?

I ask because I too have had recent troubles trying to install new hard-disks onto a Sii0680 card in my XE. When it came to install OS4.1FE I wanted to use a new hard-disk. Whatever settings I tried it just would not behave correctly. This was a non RAID specified HD. I managed to obtain another RAID HD (the existing working HD was RAID) and this installed perfectly! I can't say for sure that this is a cure, because others have reported that their particular non-RAID hard-disk would work ok.

You could try going down to UDMA 0 for the drive in U-Boot and see if that helps matters.

@Lemen

Thanks for your suggestion but as far as I can remember, none of the HDD's I've tried have been RAID. Not sure why being RAID would affect it but it's worth thinking about.

I'll try going down to UDMA0 though.

@OldAmigan

OK, so I've checked out all the HDD's I have and re-formatted them for DOS/Windows. I found three dead ones, so I put one of the good ones into my A1XE, which I've also stripped dowb to bare bones - just motherboard, video card (PCI Radeon 9250) and a DVD-RW. I've removed the Sil card and I'm plugged into the IDE port on the motherboard, using an 80 pin cable and Cable Select.

I've written a new copy of OS 4.1 Update 1 and booted from that by stopping the boot menu, going to the U-boot prompt and typing 'boota'

Booted into OS 4.1 - so far so good.

Selected to use Media Toolbox, a1ide device and it recognised the HDD straight away. Clicked Install and then edit/reinstall, OK so far.

Didn't have an SLB installed, so I installed it, then clicked 'OK to save changes' and 'Save to Disk'

Next, I clicked 'Edit partitions and filesystems' and set up DH0 as Sys, Automount and Bootable ticked. I set the partition up as SFS/00 with Long name support, blocksize 512 and 1000 buffers. Clicked on OK, then OK again and saved to disk again.

Got:
Guru Meditation 80000003
Task 0x6f5c5c30 ("Media Toolbox"
generated an error of type DSI (Data Storage Interrupt)
on address 0x013a4db4
Redzone was not damaged
Stackpointer is inside bounds

I haven't got the slightest clue what's going on here.

@OldAmigan


I've now tried from the start with another of the HDD's I formatted as FAT.

I also went back to Master on the HDD rather than CS.

Again, Media Toolbox allowed me to edit/reinstall the RDB. I saved to Disk, then set up just Sys - 2Gb, SFS/00, at the beginning of the drive and SWAP at the end of the drive, making sure to use the drive parameters in the OS4.1 Quick Start Handbook

OK to accept then went to Save to Disk again - and got the same Guru Meditation again!!!!!

This sounds similar to a problem i had on my pegasos1, it was solved by replacing the ide cable.

@smf


Thanks. I'll try that tomorrow.

@smf

Great suggestion. Replaced the cable (and, thinking back, I've had to do this before) and I can now step on a bit further.

I don't get a lot of time to have a go at this, so the process is somewhat 'bitty'.

I'm still trying to load OS4.1 Update 1 but I think it's a combination of HDD problems - I've possibly goosed them all trying them so many times - and I think I've still got hardware problems on the A1.

It will hang part way through the installation process or a couple of times it's not wanted to format the drive after setting up partitions, etc.

Next, I'm going to check the voltages on my power supply to see that theyare all in spec and try again...