exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

alenppc wrote: 24 Jan 2021 15:12

lilwashu wrote: 23 Jan 2021 14:16 Does anyone have any recommendations for a CF-IDE adapter to be used in an A2000 and mounted in one of the rear slot brackets? I bought one which turns out to be a V.D2 adapter, plus a 44-40 pin IDE cable for connection to my TF536 with buffered IDE and it doesn't see any CF cards. A Sandisk Extreme isn't seen at all and an Extreme 3 causes HDToolbox to pause for a long time when scanning scsi.device, long boot time, etc.

Let me get a few things straight first. When you say HDToolbox takes a long time, does that mean that the card is eventually found and it boots from it even if slowly? Do you get any error messages?

With the Extreme 3 (4GB or 2GB) It sits on "scanning scsi.device unit 0" for about 30 seconds, then goes back to the normal screen and doesn't show anything in the list. With the Extreme (8GB) it sits on that message for about 2 seconds then goes back to the normal screen and doesn't show anything in the list.

I have also noticed that with the 8GB card, I get faint activity on the CF adapter LED, but on the other cards I get nothing at all.

OK, this tells me this is either a bad IDE cable or an incompatible CF adapter. For the CF adapter, you want something that is as simple as possible. For example, check this pic:
This is a very simple 40-pin adapter that will work. However, I am wondering whether it would be easier for you to get a 44-pin one and mount it in the bracket instead of the one that you have right now. Then you just need a simple straight 44-pin cable without additional power connections etc.

You may also want to try a different 40-pin cable with the one you currently have, and don't forget to connect power too.

Thanks - I'll give this a try.

lilwashu wrote: 23 Jan 2021 14:16 Does anyone have any recommendations for a CF-IDE adapter to be used in an A2000 and mounted in one of the rear slot brackets? I bought one which turns out to be a V.D2 adapter, plus a 44-40 pin IDE cable for connection to my TF536 with buffered IDE and it doesn't see any CF cards. A Sandisk Extreme isn't seen at all and an Extreme 3 causes HDToolbox to pause for a long time when scanning scsi.device, long boot time, etc.

I have a rear bracket Cf adapter (cheap from ebay) on my 2000, It works a treat, using a buffered TF536 and also working IDE CD-ROM connected.

To compare the adapters IMHO it would be nice to check:
CF(9) = GND? (TrueIDE)
CF(36) = VCC?

Check if you have a (U)DMA capable adapter or not.
(U)DMA:
CF(43)->IDE(21) = DMA REQ and CF(44)->IDE(29) = DMA ACK.
Non DMA
CF(43)= floating and CF(44) = 5v

Also the newer cards are probably all (U)Dma and you probably need PIO4 for Amiga!?!

I received a V.H2 adapter today and all appears to be well - the 4GB and 2GB cards are detected and work fine with a short 44-pin cable from an A1200. I've bodged it into the slot bracket from my other adapter and am just waiting for a longer cable to turn up so I can finally put all the screws back in.

ADRRichard wrote: 27 Jan 2021 14:21

lilwashu wrote: 23 Jan 2021 14:16 Does anyone have any recommendations for a CF-IDE adapter to be used in an A2000 and mounted in one of the rear slot brackets? I bought one which turns out to be a V.D2 adapter, plus a 44-40 pin IDE cable for connection to my TF536 with buffered IDE and it doesn't see any CF cards. A Sandisk Extreme isn't seen at all and an Extreme 3 causes HDToolbox to pause for a long time when scanning scsi.device, long boot time, etc.

I have a rear bracket Cf adapter (cheap from ebay) on my 2000, It works a treat, using a buffered TF536 and also working IDE CD-ROM connected.
jhj.jpg

What CD-ROM drive did you use? I've been trying to get CD-ROM drives working without luck so far =/ Also, what cables / adapters did you use to go from the smaller size IDC connector to the larger one that CD-ROM drives use? I am guessing its the adapters I am trying to use.

GadgetUK164 wrote: 28 Jan 2021 00:04

ADRRichard wrote: 27 Jan 2021 14:21

I have a rear bracket Cf adapter (cheap from ebay) on my 2000, It works a treat, using a buffered TF536 and also working IDE CD-ROM connected.
jhj.jpg

What CD-ROM drive did you use? I've been trying to get CD-ROM drives working without luck so far =/ Also, what cables / adapters did you use to go from the smaller size IDC connector to the larger one that CD-ROM drives use? I am guessing its the adapters I am trying to use.

I used one of these adapters plugged straight onto the TF536 I used an ultra IDE cable (that's all I had here long enough) from the TF straight to the CD drive (actually a DVD drive) I will get the make later after work... The cable then goes to the back into a cheap China IDE/CF adapter. (using 32gb Sandisk CF)

Thanks, I will give that a go!

The first 40 pins on the 44 pin IDE is equal to the 40 pin IDE pinout.