Re: RAMFast

[lkhaider@mail.sstar.com (Laer Haider)]

bpvh@primenet.com (Bradley P. Von Haden) wrote:

>lkhaider@mail.sstar.com (Laer Haider) wrote:

>>I need to connect an Iomega Bernoulli Transportable 150 or an
>>Iomega Jaz drive to my Apple IIgs and it seems that the Apple II
>>High Speed SCSI card can't handle it.  Can the RAMFast SCSI card
>>work with these devices when connected through a 105MB SCSI
>>PowerDrive HDD?  If so, where can I order one of these cards? 
>>About how much does one cost? Your help is appreciated.

>What are the specific problems you are having getting the Iomega Jazz
>and Apple II High Speed SCSI card to work together?  Did you try
>booting the IIgs after all the scsi drives had already spun up? (Jazz
>with cartridge in and spinning)

The external Jaz drive has not been released by IOMega yet, but I have
one on order.  What I do have is the Bernoulli Box 150 Transportable.
This is a SCSI-1 cartridge drive that works fine on my PC.  On the
Apple HS SCSI, the Apple IIgs just locks up.  I can't even get the HD
to boot.

>Is the SCSI chain properly terminated?  Only the last physical device
>on the SCSI chain should be terminated.  Is the PowerDrive internally
>terminated or did it have an external terminator block?  If

Yes, the chain has been properly terminated, and because of SCSI
voodoo, I've tried every combination of termination that I could thik
of.  I've removed the internal termination on the PowerDRIVE and use
an external terminator block; it's easier to deal with.

>internally terminated and the removable drive chained after it, the
>removable drive will not work, regardless of SCSI card.  Either the
>internal termination must be removed or the Iomega Jazz placed before
>the PowerDrive on the SCSI chain.

I've tried putting the Bernoulli Box in front of the PowerDRIVE with
no help.  The machine still locks.

>Is the SCSI chain receiving sufficient termination power?  The Apple
>HS SCSI card does not provide termination power to the SCSI chain. 
>Many newer drives either supply no termination power or just enough
>to power its own part of the chain.

>The RamFAST can be set to supply termination power to the SCSI chain.
> It costs about $130 and is available from Scranton/Quality Computers
>(800-890-8263) and from Sequential Systems (800-759-4549).

Thanks Brad for your input, but I'm in deeper Kimchee than that.

I just bought a RAMFast from Quality Computers (due to many
recommendations here), and this doesn't work either.  GS/OS doesn't
even recognize 4 out of 6 of my PowerDRIVE HD's partitions with the
RAMFast, even without the Bernoulli connected.  ProDOS does recognize
all of the HD's partitions through the RAMFast, and even recognizes
the second partition of the Bernoulli Box.  But I can't get the other
two (1 and 3) partitions on the Bernoulli to work.  I was even able to
copy to the Bernoulli and run a program off of it.

Quality Computers tech support referred me to Sequential Systems tech
support, but the guy there is stumped too.  Does any of this sound
familiar to anyone?  Anyone have any suggestions?  Answers?  I'd
REALLY like to get this thing working.  It can save me from having to
use my PC for everything!

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Laer Haider       lkhaider@mail.sstar.com