512k Hyperdrive SSD hack... suggestions? Need to run power.

[max1zzz]

Are you sure it isn't just dual layer? I don't think it is actually that hard to hook up the NCR5380 to the mac, i wouldn't be surprised if it was just 2 layers.

 

[olePigeon]

I have no idea how many layers it is.

 

[techknight]

most apple logic boards are anywhere between 4 to 6 layers. 

 

[olePigeon]

View attachment 6597

Almost!  Unfortunately that's as far as it gets.  I did a System 6.0.8 install for Macintosh Plus.  I may try System 6.0.8 for Any Macintosh, see if that works.  I assumed it was a Macintosh Plus ROM (must be, since it's using the SCSI.)

In any event, at least it sees the drive, which is promising.

 

[olePigeon]

At the moment I simply soldered the molex cable to the bottom of the motherboard.  I'll look into getting some T taps for a nicer look.

 

[olePigeon]

Nuts.  Fresh install of 6.0.8 for Any Macintosh, same result.  I'm afraid it may be a hardware issue simply because I had to do some pretty extensive repairs on the SCSI upgrade.  Had to rerun 2 traces and put new sets of pins on it.

Darn.

 

[olePigeon]

Hmm.  Would a 512k with Plus ROMs still be limited to System 6.0.2?

I'll give it one more go with a lower System.

 

[Paralel]

A system with Plus ROMs should be just as capable, system wise, as a real Plus.

 

[olePigeon]

Hmm.  Installed System 2.1 just incase, but that exhibits the same problem.  Shucks.

 

[techknight]

You might want to make sure the SSD board is good by running it in another machine. 

Otherwise, the ACK/IRQ lines back to the processor from the SCSI controller can cause this. 

 

[Elfen]

Hmm.  Would a 512k with Plus ROMs still be limited to System 6.0.2?

I'll give it one more go with a lower System.

A 512K with Mac Plus ROMs makes it a 512Ke. Memory permitting, you can have it run from system 3.2/Finder 4.0 to 7.1. System 7.1 will not run on a 512Ke unless you expanded the RAM with an extra RAM Card like the Dove Board. I used to have System 7 on a 512Ke with a 2MB Dove Board, giving the Mac 2.5MB!

Otherwise, you can run up to System 6.08 on a Mac 512K provided the system is trimmed down to fit into RAM.

Somewhere I have a System 1.0 disk, and it won't run on a 512Ke or Plus, it always crashes on Boot- Happy Mac and then Sad Mac. It will run on a 512K and 128K with the older ROMs.

Somewhere I remember, anything before System 3.2/Finder 4.0, you need the disk (floppy or hard drive) to be formatted in MFS and not HFS, or else it will also crash on Boot.

 

[olePigeon]

I think it's a hardware issue.  The light on the SCSI2SD stays a solid red while it's stuck at the Welcome to Macintosh.

I'm going to try a different SCSI cable, maybe I messed it up when I crimped the new header on (I hope.)  That'd be a lot easier to repair.

 

[olePigeon]

I swapped the SCSI cable and it booted right up.

However, when I restarted it, it crashed at the Welcome to Macintosh screen.

I can get it to boot at random times.  Not entirely sure what's going on when it does successfully boot.

(It is is crazy fast when it does, though.  Maybe 8 seconds to boot the 512k to System 2.1.  Pretty insane.)

 

[techknight]

thats starting to sound more and more like the SCSI2SD itself. maybe a firmware bug on early SCSI implementations, or SD card issues. 

 

[CC_333]

Well, then I guess the SCSI cable was part of the problem, and there's still some troubleshooting to do.

Either that, or maybe it's just System 2.1. The Plus needs System 3.0 or later, so maybe a 512k with Plus ROMs has the same requirement?

Techknight might also be on to something. It'd probably be good to examine the SCSI2SD closely for errors. Perhaps check for new firmware updates also?

c

 

[olePigeon]

I don't know if the cable was part of the problem, or just coincidence.  I'll need to test that further.

In any event, I can attempt to rule out the SCSI2SD if I attach a real hard drive.  I'll give that a try this weekend.

Also, I have no way of updating the SCSI2SD, nor do I know how.

 

[Elfen]

What kind of SD are you using?

If you can - get a SD to USB adapter (or a multi-car adapter with SD on it) and on a G3/G4 running on OS9 partition it and format it on HFS. Then transfer the system on it.

 

[techknight]

When you use an SD card, or any flash memory for that matter, you need to align the partition on the 1024 boundary. Most formatting software pre-SSD doesnt do this, and you will suffer serious performance issues, and possible corruption/errors if you dont!

So mounting it on a modern mac using some disk utilities may let you do this.

 

[olePigeon]

Well, I'm happy to report that both the SCSI upgrade that I repaired and my home made cable work perfectly fine with a regular older Apple ROM HDD.

So it looks like it's the SCSI2SD that's causing the problem.

When you use an SD card, or any flash memory for that matter, you need to align the partition on the 1024 boundary.

Do what now?  I have FWB Hard Disk Toolkit 2.1, Lido, and Anubis Utilities.  If any of those can do that, then I'm all set.  If not, then I can't.

It's still pretty darn fast even with an old HDD.  Booted just as fast as the SCSI2SD with System 2.1 as far as I could tell.

 

[CC_333]

Could you format the SD card on a modern Mac using Apple Partition Map with the HFS+ filesystem, and then simply take it to an older Mac and reformat the existing partition as HFS standard via Finder's "Format..." command? That shouldn't mess up the alignment of the partitions, should it?

I'm tempted to try this myself (though I first need to get around to setting up a SCSI2SD for an SE/30 I've been working on. Slowly.)

c