Re: More SCSI Trouble

[hmag@ozemail.com.au (Terry Allen)]

In article <6s39cl$c17@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net>,
alanjhunt@DIE_SPAMMERSworldnet.att.net (Alan J. Hunt) wrote:

> Hi There.  I have a Rom 3 IIGS.  I'm new to Apple machines, so please bear 
> with me if this is something dumb...  Got a couple of problems that I'm
hoping 
> someone here can help me resolve.  I just purchased a RamFAST Rev. D SCSI 
> card.  When I try to boot off this card, all I get is a * prompt, or a string 
> of numbers.  It's acting like a termination problem.  Right?  I'd agree, 
> except that with my Apple SCSI card in place, the same configuration works.  
> The RamFAST manual mentions a conflict with a particular revision of the 
> TranswarpGS.  Specifically, if a particular chip on the TWGS is 2.1A, rather 
> than 2.1B there may be a problem.  Does anyone know if this is behavior that 
> is typical of such a conflict?  Also, if I need to upgrade my TWGS, where can 
> I obtain the necessary chip?
> Secondly, with my Apple SCSI card in place, I can't get my CD drive to work.  
> Its a Sony drive.  I connect the CD to the hard drive and use a terminator on 
> the second SCSI port on the CD.  When I try to boot with this configuration, 
> again I'm getting a string of number.  I've checked the CDROM FAQ but it 
> wasn't of any help in this instance.  
> 
> Any insight on either of these issues would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> Alan
Hi Alan,
   Although I've been using Apple II's since way back, I recently only got
hold of a GS & had similar SCSI problems. After sorting them, I wrote the
following. You may also like to try your CD ROM without any termination as
I've had success on the odd few machines (not only Apple IIs) in the past.
It seems that some SCSI ports supply their own termination at the port,
which makes for difficult troubleshooting. Anyhow, Hope this helps.

Finally got my RamFAST SCSI working, so wrote some simple DOCS for others
having trouble.

   Getting my Mac's Zip drive to work with my GS & RamFAST SCSI card
(Revision C w/256k) required taking a lot of time to scour the various
Apple II resources on the net, including newsgroups & the web.
   After posting in comp.sys.apple2 numerous times, finally someone
(supertimer@aol.com) knew how to get into the SCSI utilities in the
firmware on the card ROM. That wasn't enough to get the card to recognise
the Zip drive though & some more scouring turned up a RamFAST manual in
text format in one of the directories of  ftp://apple.cabi.net/pub/
   This is along with loads of other stuff for the Apple II & IIGS at that URL.
   Anyway, after reading through the manual, I discovered the DIP switch
settings for the card. Apparently some other RamFAST SCSI card revisions
use a jumper block instead of the DIP switch. The only switch positions
mentioned on the 8-position switch on the Revision C card are 1 & 2
   All other switches should be off. If you are using a //e, then all
should be off except switch 2. If you are using a GS, all should be off
except switch 1. In my particular case, I couldn't get the Zip drive to be
recognised until I switched termination off.
   Having termination switched on with switch 1 on caused the machine to
lock up in a condition which even a full reset (OA-Control-Reset) wouldn't
work & couldn't acess anything else either.
   Switching the Zip Drive to SCSI ID 5 with Termination set to OFF enabled
the card to be recognised in the following fashion.
   Start the GS without anything plugged into the SCSI card & enter the
control panel. Make sure the slot your RamFAST SCSI card is plugged into is
set to 'YOUR CARD', then switch off. Plug your Zip drive into the card &
switch it on, making sure Termination is set to OFF.
   Switch your GS on, immediaately pressing the zero '0' key & wait for the
built in utilities to come up. Your RamFAST card should recognise the Zip
drive, in which case you'll be able to format & partition the drive.
Restart the GS with your GS/OS install disk & you'll be able to install the
GS/OS. Once installation is complete, reboot & you'll have a working boot
drive with GS/OS courtesy of your Zip.
   A number of people emailed me regarding this during the course of
getting it to work, with many suggestions. If you have trouble, try
switching the termination to ON or changing the SCSI ID to 6. Not all SCSI
buses need termination as I have found in my troubleshooting with many
pople's Macs & on other Apple IIs.
   Hope this helps someone else in trouble & will be included in the FAQ.

-- 
Bye For Now, Terry Allen

hEARd - Non-profit Promotion For new music.
WWW - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~hmag
Email - hmag@ozemail.com.au

-- 
Bye For Now, Terry Allen

hEARd - Non-profit Promotion For new music.
WWW - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~hmag
Email - hmag@ozemail.com.au