Re: Sick IIGS - CMS SCSI Card Combo

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

r_obenauf@mindspring.com (Rayni Obenauf) wrote:

>   I recently received a donated IIGS, ROM 01, pretty much stripped, no
>software, and thanks to Nathan Mates outstanding FAQ pages, pretty much
>figured out how to get it running ProDOS, GS/OS, downloaded software, etc.
>I purchased a Sirius RAM GS card and a CMS SCSI card from Alltech Elec. so
>I could run GS/OS without having to swap floppies. Unfortunately, the CMS
>card came with nothing but the static shield, no documentation, no
>software. After much grief, I downloaded the software from Alltech's web
>site, and succeeded in formatting the hard drive, loading 6.0.1 OS, and
>some apps, getting everything to work.
>   The problem arises from the fact that the combo will work fine for a
>few power-up boots, then refuse to work for the length of my patience.
>When it works, it always works fine till I shut the power off (i.e.,
>through a three fingered salute restart or GS/OS software restart), then
>at next power-up, won't recognize the hard drive. Several hours or days
>later, I come back and it boots from the hard drive again.
>   The configuration is ROM 01, 3.5 800K floppy, Sirius RAM GS w/ 2 meg in
>256K simms, the CMS card (ver. 3.0, I think), and a Micropolis 1747 SCSI
>II drive with term power enabled and parity disabled. I've tried the CMS
>card out in all the slots, I've tried out all SCSI addresses, I've even
>tried out a bunch of combos of jumpers on the card, even though tech
>support at Alltech said only one set actually controls anything (Boot
>delay). The problem doesn't seem to be heat related because it is still
>there long after the components have cooled. Another clue is when it is
>working, the CMS formatting software recognizes the card, when it isn't
>working, the software doesn't. I also returned the first card to Alltech
>in exchange for another, which shows the exact same symptoms. 
>   Has anyone else had the same problems? Can anyone give me a clue where
>to look?

The CMS card is very old, creaky, and slow technology.  The CMS
SCSI card is also not capable of running CD-ROM drives and many
removable media.  There is also no way to break the 32MB barrier
imposed by ProDOS and use HFS.  On most other controllers, you
can go beyond 32MB in each partition if you use HFS.  On the CMS,
because you use jumpers to set partition size and because these
jumpers have a maximum setting of 32MB for each partition, you are
stuck!

Since the CMS SCSI gives you none of the benefits of a normal
SCSI card (like CD-ROM support and expansion), you might as
well return the CMS card to Alltech and trade it in for a Focus drive.
Or, if you want, try to get an Apple High Speed SCSI card or the
Ramfast card from Sequential Systems (www.sequential.com).
Both of these cards are DMA capable with the Ramfast supporting
this with 8MB systems.  Both cards can use CD-ROM drives and
both can partition drives beyond 32MB using the HFS file system.