EIII: Compact Flash installation woes

[ditabeardmemo]

Hi everyone:

I'm in the process of installing the IDE/CompactFlash card drive in my Emulator III keyboard and have encountered a major hiccup. I followed Rokuez's instructions from this post (http://eiiiforum.com/index.php?topic=4.60) and assembled the SCSI/IDE/Compact Flash system. I double checked all my jumper settings to ensure they were correct. Beforehand, I also made a copy of my operating system (2.42) from the internal SCSI hard drive to two separate 3.5" floppy disks.

After disconnecting the internal hard drive and installing the SCSI/IDE/CF device, I closed the unit and powered it on with my 3.5" floppy disk in the drive. The EIII powered on as normal, displayed the Firmware version, checked the floppy, then cycled through each SCSI device number. And kept cycling. And cycling. It would never fully boot. I inserted my second OS 2.42 floppy in the drive, and the drive light lit up, and then kept cycling endlessly through the various SCSI device numbers.

Can anyone suggest how I start troubleshooting this? I don't even know where to begin, unfortunately.

Thank you!

[dr.c]

Every device has a SCSI ID.

Normally, your HARD DISK (the one you disconnected) is on ID 1
Your EMU itself (it has to have a SCSI ID as well) should be to... lets say... 6

Why 6 ? Just because if you plug a Mac, its board is going to be on 7, its CDRom drive will be on 3, and its hard disk is goping to be on 0

So, there will only be free the following IDs : 2-4-5

Put back your disk, retart your machine, look at the ID of your Emu, I think its by the "Special" menu.
Be sure your SCSI IDE card is not in confict with it, that it doesn't have the same number.

If you have a Mac, open it, disconnect the CDRom unit and put the card in place.Check what ID is the card. You won't destroy anything, don't worry...

It can, as well, be a termination problem.

[ditabeardmemo]

Thanks Dr. C!

I know for a fact that the EIII's internal hard disk was set to SCSI ID 1. As such, when I disconnected the hard drive and connected the SCSI/IDE converter (the Acard), I set the Acard to SCSI ID #1 using the jumper (as described in Rokuez's post). I also put jumpers on JP2 and JP4 per his instructions. On the CF-IDE40 adapter, the jumper is on posts 2/3.

Since I'm certain SCSI ID 1 wasn't in use by anything other than the hard disk, and the hard disk is disconnected, can I rule that out? What termination settings should I check?

Thank you again!

[dr.c]

The termination settings should be enabled. On the same page, there are the instructions for setting the termination.
I never used that card, I wish I had one to try it over.

[ditabeardmemo]

Good news: problem solved! As it turns out, the software did not copy to the two floppy disks properly, so the EIII was searching for the software to load. Once I created a floppy disks and confirmed that it contained the system software, the EIII booted without issue.

The other good news is that I followed Rokuez's instructions, and the SCSI/IDE/CompactFlash installation worked perfectly. The EIII saw the CF card right away, and  format/verification took about 2.5 hours. I then tried to write an empty bank to the card, but encountered a SCSI media error (others here experienced something similar if I recall correctly.) I then power cycled the EIII and successfully copied the system software to the CF card. I power cycled the EIII again, it booted successfully from the CF card, and at that point I was able to save an empty bank to the card.

For the record, I used one of the 1GB Kingston CF cards with the white flower and purple triangle. The copyright date on the back of the card was 2003. This might be useful for those of you trying to source older Kingston CF cards for your units.

My next project is to get the second CF card installed. So thank you to Rokuez and everyone else who compiled those instructions, as well as Dr. C for his troubleshooting!

[dr.c]

Wonderfull !!!!!

Its a pleasure !!!!

[ditabeardmemo]

So I'm preparing to install a second CompactFlash/IDE/SCSI device in my EIII, but I have a couple questions that I want to check before I proceed.

1. Is this the type of internal SCSI cable that I need to purchase:

http://www.pacificcable.com/Picture_Page.asp?DataName=SCS3

2. After I have insataled both cards and they're running properly, how do I know if I need to calibrate my power supply? Is it absolutely necessary?

3. When calibrating the power supply, what brands of PCB cleaner would be acceptable for this job? Can I use Caig D5 DeOxit? I searched for the cleaner that Dr. C mentioned in his original PSU calibration post, but couldn't find it.

4. Should I disconnect any of the internal units (the card cage, the floppy drive, etc.) during the PSU calibration?

Thanks!

[dr.c]

Topic Summary
Posted by: ditabeardmemo    Posted on: Today at 12:07:58 AM

So I'm preparing to install a second CompactFlash/IDE/SCSI device in my EIII, but I have a couple questions that I want to check before I proceed.

I am not sure you can do this...


2. After I have insataled both cards and they're running properly, how do I know if I need to calibrate my power supply? Is it absolutely necessary?

I just understood. You want to put this hard disk INSIDE the EIII ? What do you want to do ?

3. When calibrating the power supply, what brands of PCB cleaner would be acceptable for this job? Can I use Caig D5 DeOxit? I searched for the cleaner that Dr. C mentioned in his original PSU calibration post, but couldn't find it.
4. Should I disconnect any of the internal units (the card cage, the floppy drive, etc.) during the PSU calibration?

NEVER DO THIS !!!! STOP MESSING AROUND WITH MACHINES IF YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ELECTRONICS !!!!!!!!

[ditabeardmemo]

Hi Dr. C:

According to Rokuez's instructions in this post, you can install two separate 1GB CompactFlash cards inside an EIII. I successfully installed one card already, and plan to add the second as soon as I confirm which type of internal SCSI cable I need.

What I'm trying to confirm:  Once the two CompactFlash cards are installed instead of the original hard drive, how do I know if the power supply needs to be calibrated?  And if it does, what brand of PCB cleaner should I use?

I understand now that nothing should be disconnected in the machine when calibrating the PSU.

Thank you!

[dr.c]

In this case, you don't need to recalibrate the power supply.

[midipuppies]

Mine formats and mounts, I can save blank banks to it, but it won't let me copy software to it. Just says 'bank does not exist'.

[dr.c]

Can you save blanks wich are not blank ?

[midipuppies]

Somehow it has now decided to write the software to the card. I did nothing that I have not done ten times before, but..........
Anyway, the O.S. is now on the card but will not boot from it. Tried all variations of SCSI ID's and all variations of jumper settings.
Just keeps scrolling through SCSI numbers until I shove the floppy back in. Then it boots right up.
Funny thing though.... when I go into modules like Master etc, I can see the O.S. accessing the C/F card drive, but any changes made save right to the floppy. Very confusing.
Anyhow, what am I missing for getting the thing to boot from the card now?
Like I said, tried all jumper variations and internal SCSI ID on the machine.
Jay

[ditabeardmemo]

Jay, what brand of CompactFlash card did you use? Do you know when the card was manufactured? There may be a copyright date on the back of the card.