E-mu Emulator Sampler User Forum for the EIII EII EI and EIII XP

General Category => EIII Technical Issues / Tips => Topic started by: ghunter on October 16, 2015, 07:39:12 PM



Title: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: ghunter on October 16, 2015, 07:39:12 PM
I'd like to replace my internal hard drive with a SCSI2SD device.  I have one of these installed in my E4X Turbo and it works very well.  Lower power consumption, less noise, not prone to mechanical failure.

However, I have a problem when I disconnect the internal hard drive and try to boot from the floppy drive.  The screen just stays blank and the unit doesn't boot.  I tried hooking up the SCSI2SD but I get the same problem - blank screen.  I plug the internal drive back in and it boots just fine.

The SCSI2SD is terminated, and is set up for ID's 1-4 with 1GB partitions on each unit.  It has the latest firmware, and works fine in other samplers.

Any ideas on what I can do to make this work?


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: midipuppies on October 16, 2015, 08:55:32 PM
Are you trying to put this in an EIII?


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: dr.c on October 18, 2015, 01:10:43 PM
Your EIII will NEVER work without a hard disk. When I had EIII blank, first thing I did, was to put a known working HD, look at PWRTERM configuration on your disk and do the same on the SCSI2SD.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: ghunter on October 28, 2015, 01:26:27 PM
Yes, I'm trying to put this into an EIII (rack).

I have the PWRTERM jumper set now which fixed the initial problem, but it's only recognizing one of the four devices on the SCSI2SD.  I'm going to scale it back to 1 device and see if that changes anything.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: ghunter on October 28, 2015, 02:08:17 PM
For some strange reason my EIII will only recognize the SCSI2SD on device ID 3.  Formatting takes a few seconds, and then verifying freezes after about five minutes.  I can reboot and it sees the device, I can rename the drive, but get a SCSI error trying to save a bank to the drive.

Here are the SCSI2SD settings - do any look obviously wrong for an EIII?

Enable Parity - OFF
Enable SCSI2 Mode - OFF
Enable Unit Attention - OFF
Disable Glitch Filter - OFF
Sector Size - 512 bytes
Sectors - 2097152 (1 GB)


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Wolfram on October 29, 2015, 02:24:45 AM
Which firmware do you use on the scsi2sd?
Formatting (verifying) dose not freeze, it will take a long time. 1GB 30minutes or more.
Just to limit the problems make a 100MB drive on the scsi2sd card and format it.
The verify Prozess should take 5 or 10 minutes now.

Use Master / Disk utility / Copy Software to copy to OS from the HD to the scsi2sd drive.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: ghunter on October 29, 2015, 08:51:59 AM
I'm using the old larger board with the latest firmware (4.04 / August 2015), and I'm now using an older SanDisk 2GB SD card.

I just set it up as a 50MB device and it took a little over 10 minutes to verify.  Yesterday with the 1GB device the little spinning clock stopped spinning, but once I get the smaller device size working I'll know to be more patient.

The 50MB device finished verification, and saving an empty bank to it caused the "SCSI Hardware Error!" message.

- Enabling parity allowed the device to mount but there was a SCSI Hardware Error at the start of the format process.
- I enabled SCSI2 Mode and the device wouldn't even mount.
- Turning on device attention doesn't do anything (as expected as this is a feature for hot-swap)
- Disabling the glitch filter did nothing, same result after formatting

Is the sector size correct at 512?





Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Wolfram on October 29, 2015, 09:37:32 AM
Do you use it as internal device or external?
The EIII has different SCSI busses (internal and external) so each buss must be terminated one time.
So if you use it as a internal drive, parallel to the HD, you must remove the resistor array to disable the termination on the scsi2sd.

Try different modes (Hard Disk, Remove able Drive)

BlockSize 512 is right.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: ghunter on October 29, 2015, 02:33:41 PM
I want to use this as an internal drive to replace the existing hard drive.

If I remove termination then the sampler won't even boot.

I've tried reconfiguring it as a removable device and the device won't boot when I do that either.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Wolfram on October 30, 2015, 02:36:40 AM
To build a boot able device do this...
1. remove the two resistor arrays
2. set the SCSI ID of the scsi2sd drive to a different as the internal HD
3. connect both. HD and scsi2sd to the internal bus
4. boot the EIII and format the scsi2sd drive
5. copy the OS from the internal HD to the scsi2sd drive (MASTER / Disk until. / Copy Software)
6. replace the resistors and set the ID of the scsi2sd to the same as the HD
7. remove the HD and boot.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: ghunter on October 31, 2015, 03:43:42 PM
I've just tried that, same result (formats, but can't write files to disk).  I've also swapped out the older SCSI2SD board for the newer smaller version but it does exactly the same thing.

I've sent an e-mail to Michael at codesrc for his guidance.  At this point it looks like I'll be leaving the old drive in there to boot from and will be using an external SCSI drive for mass storage.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: ghunter on November 01, 2015, 08:35:35 AM
Update: Michael has told me that a lot of people have had issues with the EIII and the SCSI2SD.  He's working on a firmware update that adjusts the timing and should address this.  I'll be testing an early build of this new version and will post the results as soon as possible.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Wolfram on November 12, 2015, 09:34:00 AM
I don't know what you doing wrong. My SCSI2SD works on my EIII.
I boot from it and read / write data.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: nuipb on December 04, 2015, 10:52:01 AM
Hi ghunter and Wolfram, it seems you succeeded to power your SCSI2SD from the EIII. My SCSI2SD doesn't get enough power if any from the external SCSI connector, I need to add a powered external Syquest drive in the chain between the EIII and the SCSI2SD to get the needed power. Any tip how to get the needed 5V from the EIII SCSI external connector ?


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Wolfram on December 05, 2015, 03:18:06 AM
Hello nuipb,

the SCSI2SD drive works on may EIII with just a SCSI connection. It takes the 5V from the SCSI bus,
but I don't recommend that!.
If you want to use it external you can use any housing and a 5V power supply. You can get such a power supply for 5€ / $5.
For a internal connection just use the internal Molex plug.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: nuipb on December 05, 2015, 08:13:59 AM
OK thanks for your answer. And may I ask why you don't recommend taking the 5V from the SCSI bus ? And would you have a link (eBay, Amazon or whatever) for the needed 5€ power supply ? so that I can understand what it looks like..


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Wolfram on December 05, 2015, 11:24:42 AM
Because I don't know how much mA the SCSI bus of the EIII has.
If the SCSI2SD drive needs more as the EIII has the EIII will be damage.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: nuipb on December 06, 2015, 03:41:35 PM
Thanks for your replies Wolfram.

Update: Michael has told me that a lot of people have had issues with the EIII and the SCSI2SD.  He's working on a firmware update that adjusts the timing and should address this.  I'll be testing an early build of this new version and will post the results as soon as possible.
@ghunter
Did you eventually test that firmware update ? And did you get better results ? If yes what settings did you use ?


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: rectape on January 13, 2017, 06:34:30 PM
Hi,

I got an eiii rack on the way and wanted to know about scsi2sd compatibility. Is everything ok now or is it better to buy an adapter like the acard?

Also, can I have a scsi2sd as a HD and an oder scsi cf card reader in place of the actual floppy?

Thanks.

Franck


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: ACEOFBASS on May 28, 2017, 09:41:55 AM
This forum has gotten a bit necrotic  ::)

Update: Michael has told me that a lot of people have had issues with the EIII and the SCSI2SD.  He's working on a firmware update that adjusts the timing and should address this.  I'll be testing an early build of this new version and will post the results as soon as possible.

Any follow-up?   Did you get it working?


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Wolfram on May 28, 2017, 01:39:36 PM
I put a sd2scsi into my EIII one year ago.
It was plug and play.

For those who do not know the basic SCSI functions.
If the sd2scsi drive is the only scsi drive on the EIII it must be terminated.
The EIII has, unlike the EMAX, two scsi busses. External and Internal.
If you have one internal and one external dive both must be terminated.
You can use the scsi IDs from 1-5 on the sd2scsi drive. (If you did not change the EIII scsi settings)

 


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: synthwalker on January 03, 2018, 11:21:02 AM
I just installed a SCSI2SD V6 in my EIII rack.
Here's some tricks that can be useful.
The EIII had an internal 1 GB SCSI CF converter installed on SCSI 1 (boot HD)
1. I put the EIII on SCSI 0
2. Removed the floppy drive
3. Put 6 SCSI partitions on the SCSI2SD, 1 GB each, on a 8 GB SDHC card. After the 10 seconds formatting process, switched of the EIII (don't need to wait for the verify process on removable drives)
4. Copied the OS in each SCSI drive
5. Installed the SCSI2SD in the floppy bay with a 3D printed case https://durhamcardco.com/scsi2sd-v6-internal-case-preorder-.html (https://durhamcardco.com/scsi2sd-v6-internal-case-preorder-.html). I asked for a 3 cm high special printed case since the EIII floppy is higher than the standard floppy size (2,5 cm).
6. Connected both CF card converter and SCSI2SD

The EIII now works on 7 SCSI partitions of 1 GB : SCSI 1 (CF) and SCSI 2-3-4-5-6-7 (SCSI2SD)
It seems that removing the floppy drive lets you put the EIII on SCSI 0. Don't know why...
The SD cards in SCSI2SD are of course hot swappable...

I tried to format 7 SCSI partitions on SCSI2SD (1 to 7) and remove the existing CF converter but this did not work (the EIII checks the SCSI bus over and over and never boots...).

Hope this helps...


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Stephencl on January 13, 2018, 08:41:42 PM
This is really great feedback...

My hard drive is just about dead...I have a new display, new fans and a scsi2sd v6 card waiting...

Any photos would be great!

Stephen


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: synthwalker on January 17, 2018, 01:47:25 PM
Here's the picture I took after installing the drive
SCSI2SD V6 in the floppy bay with the special printed case and CF drive on the original HD plate
New SCSI ribbon with 3 connectors

(https://scontent-bru2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/26231416_10210957070064738_5560003217606973014_n.jpg?oh=22ef35d477b9dc95d7546be52e582866&oe=5AB19051)


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Wolfram on January 17, 2018, 02:55:41 PM

I tried to format 7 SCSI partitions on SCSI2SD (1 to 7) and remove the existing CF converter but this did not work (the EIII checks the SCSI bus over and over and never boots...).

Hi synthwalker,
did you setup the SCSI2SD as Hard drive?
Also try turn off hot swapping.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: synthwalker on January 27, 2018, 07:43:19 AM
Hi Wolfram,

Yes, every SCSI2SD ID is set up as Hard Drive...
Where can I turn off hot swapping ?

It may also be the startup delay. I put it to 0 ms like the SCSI2SD of my Emax. Maybe it's too fast for the EIII to see it ?


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Stephencl on February 05, 2018, 10:48:48 PM
What SD card did you use?

I am using v6 SCSI2SD and the latest firmware, I keep getting SCSI hardware error when trying to write to the media following formatting. I also have the latest OS and Firmware on the Eiii. I can run a lexar 128meg CF in my aztecmonster just fine. But not the newer 1 Gig Scandisk card.

I think speed is a big problem.

Any guidance would be appreciated.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Stephencl on February 06, 2018, 12:15:47 AM
Okay,

I have some big news to report on this front.

1) i was able to format a 1GB card on my eiiixs using interleave of 9. This worked on my eii keyboard. I was able to save both the software and a bank to the disk. It works great.
2) I tried this trick on the SCSI2SD with no luck. I created 4 1GB paritions and formatted each one with the interleave set at 9. I can copy the software, but I am still getting the scsi hardware error when trying to save a bank.
3) it would be really helpful to know what firmware version is being used on the v6 card. Also, what media at what speed. I really think the transfer rates are the core issue. But what do I know. Pretty pumped to get the Razinmonster working. Now just need to get the SCSI2SD working.

Thanks.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Wolfram on February 06, 2018, 03:27:22 AM
Just use the last firmware of the scsi2sd drive.
You can use any card because of the EIII is very slow (5MB/Sec).


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: Stephencl on February 06, 2018, 07:17:28 AM
I'm running the very latest firmware. It's the one from a couple weeks ago.

Just loosing too much sleep over this. I bought an older and smaller SD card. We will see how the slower cars works.

I am thinking there is also a hardware version issue. With a few of us having the exact same problem, my guess is that e-mu made a hardware change during production. It doesn't make any sense that it is plug and play for some, but doesn't work for others. I am running the 2.0 firmware on the Eiii.

Thanks for everyone's help.


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: 5c4r7 on June 30, 2019, 07:44:54 PM
I also have the same issue with my friend's EIII (Firmware v2).  His internal HD is not functioning. I cannot seem to get a floppy to boot stand alone either.  I have a PC with omniflop so, I did attempt to make a new boot floppy but, it is still not loading.

My friend bought a v.6 SCSI2SD drive that came with a 16gb SDHC Sandisk SD card for his EIII.

I have configured 1GB partitions on the card using the SCSI2SD software and then formatting it with matching SCSI2SD settings on EMXP with the 4.24 EIII Operating System  (*with some extremely helpful details from e-synthesist*)

I have tried the following combinations with configure/formatting SCSI ID's so far:
- ID's 1-7
- ID's 3-5
- ID1
- ID3

However, each time it looks like the EIII is about to load.  It shows the correct software version on the screen.  It displays "Mounting Drives" and then hangs on "Checking Drives..." forever.

I feel I am very close.  If there is no working internal HD, can the SCSI2SD replace it? 

Should I use the internal or external SCSI cable to connect the SCSI2SD?

Do I need an image on the SCSI2SD beyond the OS for it to load?

How does the EIII know which partition to boot from if there is no internal HD?  Is this set to a default SCSI ID?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

-s*


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: brian_ronn on July 03, 2019, 12:07:36 AM
Hi 5c4r7

Yes the original HD can be replaced by the scsi2sd V6. I have the V6 card running in my EIII without the floppydrive installed.

I will be able to provide you with a working V6 setup file for the EIII if you need it.

Yes you should use the internal HD scsi cable and connecting the power as well.

But maybe your problem lies elsewhere. Are you sure that your EIII doesn't have the same scsi ID as one of your V6 partitions. Are you sure that your 50-pin scsi cable is working?

Best regards Brian


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: synthwalker on July 10, 2019, 11:32:03 AM
Activate ID1 to 7
Copy OS to ID1 only
Put EIII to ID8


Title: Re: Troubleshooting SCSI2SD
Post by: roisto on October 14, 2019, 02:22:48 AM
does 5.1 work with EIII or should I buy v6 instead?

edit:

I got V5.0a (https://www.itead.cc/scsi2sd.html) printed mounting bracket and replaced floppy drive with it. Then used EMXP / Esynthesist excellent route (restore 953mb image to the first partition, then copied system to other three partitions with sampler) http://users.skynet.be/emxp/EIIIOS2_42_HardDiskImages.zip My EIII scsi id is 0, partitions are 1,2,3,4. Everything worked from the first try!