Emax

--- In emax@yahoogroups.com, "Ted Summers" <djtbs1@...> wrote:
>
> Esynthesist-
> 
> After all you have done to help this group as you have, I think I
speak for
> most of us, if not all, when I say your posts are welcome, whatever
they may
> be.....
> 
> I noticed the inability to scan earlier posts myself recently.
> 
> I dunno what may be wrong. I am not sure.
> 
> .....termination pwr jumper missing for the drive or missing termination
> resistors?
> ....the drive is on the last connector of the cable....correct?
> You say no external HD is hooked, do you have an external Zip hooked????
> 
> Can you clarify exactly the scsi chain-
> 
> for example:
> emax board ------   scsi cable------  last connector of cable ------ HD
> HD settings- which HD and what jumpers are there....
> Confirm value of the termination resistors- they should be 220/330ohm.
> 
> My Compact Flash drives are set as ID 0 on my Rack and keyboard. I
have slim
> floppy on both units.
> They work as you describe  in the "bottom line" section of your post-
> If floppy is present, boot from it, if no floppy, boot from CF/HD......
> 
> I am using SE Plus 1.0 OS.
> 
> Regards,
> Ted
> 
> 
> On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 8:22 AM, esynthesist <esynthesist@...> wrote:
> 
> >   The problem below has probably been posted here before, but the
> > search engine on the yahoo groups seems not to scan older messages
> > anymore, so I thought I'm "allowed" give it another try:
> >
> > I just connected a hard disk to my Emax Plus Rack. Except for the
> > floppy drive, no other hard drive is connected to the Emax. The SCSI
> > ID of the HD is set to 0.
> > The problem is: the Emax only wants to boot from the floppy. Once
> > this is done, it recognizes the HD on SCSI ID O and I can load/unload
> > banks from it. The HD also contains the Plus operating system: it has
> > been formatted by the Emax and I performed an additional "copy
> > software" just to be sure...
> >
> > Now I read about this "cheat" of the floppy connector on the
> > motherboard (jumper between pins 25 and 26).
> > But that's mainly used for replacing the floppy drive by an internal
> > ZIP drive and making sure that the Emax still thinks a floppy drive
> > is connected. That's not what I want.
> >
> > Bottom line: I don't understand this boot issue with the Emax. In the
> > original documentation of Emu, it seemed perfectly possible to have
> > an Emax with both an internal HD and a floppy drive. When booting,
> > the Emax should first check the floppy drive; if no floppy disk is
> > found, the Emax should boot from the HD on SCSI ID 0.
> > It doesn't do that on mine, it doesn't even check the SCSI chain, it
> > immediately asks to insert a disk.
> >
> > So what do you think I'm doing wrong ?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > ///E-Synthesist
> >
> > 
> >
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
As with all computer equipment there can be low level problems that
ultimately can be traced back to the button battery as in a CMOS/BIOS.
 Have you ever replaced the internal battery?

EASY SOLUTION:  On an Emax II make sure your SCSI boot ID is right,
which is MASTER 9,6.  Validate beforehand with DRIVE SELECT and the
DATA slider what SCSI ID is your HDD.

BACKGROUND:

I own an Emax II 2212 and have an external SCSI drive connected with
an ACTIVE TERMINATOR on the 'out/chain' connector of the box, in my
case, the top connector, the bottom has the cable.  I booted with the
floppy and then followed the EMAX II manual for formatting a HD with
the OS included.  It is a Connor 540mb so it took something like
nearly two hours to format by the Emax.  Everything went well, etc.
and through 'DRIVE SELECT' and the DATA slider the settings I was able
to make sure what the true SCSI ID of the drive was, and through
MASTER 9,6 to make the SCSI BOOT ID the same value.  In my case the
first boot ID was the SCSI 1, as an EMAX II considers the floppy as
SCSI 0.  As long as I had it plugged into power it worked fine, even
being off for days at a time.  Once I disassembled the setup and moved
it to another location, it did not want to recognize the SCSI device
first and asked for the floppy.

I was puzzled so went back into DRIVE SELECT and the Data slider and
verified the location of the device on the chain, it was being seen
fine.  Then I went into MASTER 9,6 and found that it had reverted back
to SCSI 0 which is the floppy. I just assumed that it got 'knocked
out' somehow just like needing to calibrate the sliders from time to
time, they just fall out for whatever reason.

I don't know how different the Emax Plus rack model is from an Emax
II, but here are the steps as it pertains to my situation:

0. Verify you have an active terminator on your SCSI device!  Mine has
a LED so I know it is working as it should.
1.  Make sure the external HD is well powered up before turning on the
Emax. I usually wait 10-15 seconds.
2.  Turn on the Emax and watch the display immediately.  This can give
you alot of information in about one half second of time.  As you
said, it is not searching the chain, so it is probably going straight
for the floppy.
3.  Go ahead and insert the floppy disk when prompted, let it boot
into the OS and then follow the instructions above, namely make sure
you know what the Emax is seeing your external HD as through DRIVE
SELECT and the data slider, then go into MASTER 9,6 to make sure it is
choosing that number to boot from over the floppy, which usually takes
up SCSI ID 0.

I don't know why mine fell out and had to be reset like that, but I am
assuming it needs a new clock battery (as well as a backlight and B key!)

GOOD LUCK!