PowerBook 550c SCSI2SD internal with SCSI2SD external

[AlpineRaven]

G'day all,

I have came to a problem, My PowerBook 550c (same logicboard as PowerBook 540c) has SCSI2SD for PowerBook in it and if I connect up my external SCSI2SD to it, you cannot get it started and it'll have grey screen with mouse pointer for several minutes then flashing floppy icon comes up. It works fine in my PowerBook 540c but it has a spinner Hard Drive in it.

Turn it off, remove SCSI devices, turn it on - it won't boot unless you put an floppy disk in to boot it up, then restart then the SCSI2SD internal Hard Drive will load up.

I have kept the SCSI ID separate and its not conflicting at all - I have checked like 5 times now hehe.

Why is it doing that? Have I configured something wrong?

Cheers

AP

 

[Crutch]

I assume your external Scsi2sd is terminated right?

 

[pcamen]

I had issues like this with my SE/30; it seems like there are some strange cases where the right thing is not intuitive.  In the case of my SE/30, if I apply power to the SCSI2SD external board, I get the situation you have.  Remove the power and it works fine.  Not sure what that is all about.  I believe that I did not have power applied to the internal one when that happened. 

I also use an external SCSI2SD with my PB 540c.  I found that for that one it does require power to the external SCSI2SD or it won't recognize it; If I recall, I get the same issue as you, in that it won't boot at all in without power to the external SCSI2SD.  I also have an internal SCSI2SD in it as well.  I can't help but wonder if the two of them together are using too much power for the SCSI bus to provide. 

Have you tried applying power to the external SCSI2SD unit? 

You might also try to fiddle with termination.  As @Crutch said, are you sure both internal and external units are terminated?  If they are, try taking the termination off of the external one.  I know it sounds wrong, but you never know.  For a long time SCSI2SD just worked for me, but lately I've been seeing all kinds of strange and un-intuitive stuff. 

 

[AlpineRaven]

Sorry I didn't comment re; termination and power - 

Yes to both - It is terminated and I do have Power to it. (it has custom built PSU to power it for Macs that cannot supply power via SCSI2SD)

I am puzzled and its doing my head in wondering what isn't right? or you cannot use both 2x SCSI2SD on one mac?

Cheers

AP

 

[pb3623]

AR - I just got a 550c with 167 MHz PPC and LOVE IT! I also put a SCSI2SD in it over the weekend. Internally, it works great.

One of the things I saw on Low End Mac, after a ton of troubleshooting is that neither the PB 100- nor 500-series supply termination power to external SCSI (in our case the HDI-45)... at first I thought it was the adapter or the nature of the HDI interface but it's apparently a model "feature" or limitation. I can take the drive, plug it in to the DB-25 on my TAM and it books right up.

I don't have a 5V adapter via molex or barrel adapter so I can't test using external power but thought I would share this. This made things a major pain in the ass, trying to upgrade from a physical drive to SCSI2SD. I had to use the TAM as temporary storage to copy folders over.

 

[pcamen]

This IDE / SATA to USB adapter has a nice compact power supply for supplying the SCSI2SD units, and, if memory serves me, even comes with the adapter to convert to the floppy type power fitting.  Only $20.24.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E7EPKUO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a Powerbook version inside my 540c and I also use an external SCSI2SD v6 for ferrying stuff on and off the PB easily.  But lately, for some reason, files won't copy onto the SCSI2SD.  It tries and then just fails at the copy.  I've used it a ton, so not sure what is going on.  I verified that termination is set to on, and the power is on to the SCSI2SD board (it won't see it at all without power). 

 

[pcamen]

@AlpineRaven somewhat stale thread but I've been playing around with a couple of 540c's lately and am definitely having weirdness with my SCSI2SD v6.  The firmware seems problematic.  I am back to ver 6.2.5 as with any newer version I have issues copying files to/from the v6.  One PB has the 550c processor in it, one does not.  The one that doesn't has an internal PowerBook edition SCSI2SD v5.0, other other one has a spinner hard drive. 

Your symptoms are not quite the same as mine, but perhaps if you haven't figured this out already it is something to try, either upgrading or downgrading the SCSI2SD firmware. 

 

[AlpineRaven]

@AlpineRaven somewhat stale thread but I've been playing around with a couple of 540c's lately and am definitely having weirdness with my SCSI2SD v6.  The firmware seems problematic.  I am back to ver 6.2.5 as with any newer version I have issues copying files to/from the v6.  One PB has the 550c processor in it, one does not.  The one that doesn't has an internal PowerBook edition SCSI2SD v5.0, other other one has a spinner hard drive. 

Your symptoms are not quite the same as mine, but perhaps if you haven't figured this out already it is something to try, either upgrading or downgrading the SCSI2SD firmware. 

I have not found an solution - in these days now I rarely connect SCSI2SD with PowerBook 550c as I'll use ethernet from the server if i need some files.

Cheers

AP