SCSI problem

Feuille wrote:@LADiego Thanks for all these informations man. I currently have the 1.20 version installed, but I think i'm going to go back to the 1.14. I'll ask the seller on which version of the MPC he tested the drive. Is it possible that my MPC require other internal settings?
Anyway, the best would be to find someone that has that same device and that could explain to me how the thing is reacting when the MPC is "scanning" it.

i have the same device. my pcd-60b is set to scsi id 2 and termination is set to ON. my mpc2000xl has the 1.14 operating system and lets me use any size flash card up to 16gb. I have no problems and it works perfectly when using the pcmcia slot. if you decide to stick to 1.20 then you are limited to 1gb regardless of the size flash card. either way will work. The drive is hot-swappable. you need to check the jumper settings on the pcd-60b.

reference the chart on the underside of the pcd-60b, set to any scsi id except 6 because it is reserved for the sampler, and make sure the jumper is set to termination ON. also check the jumpers to check they are making contact. sometimes these jumpers are faulty. try different jumpers to see if you get different results.


i think you need to check your scsi port works fine. test with another drive like a zip drive or hard drive or cd-rom drive to make sure it is recognized. this would check scsi port.

sometimes a new scsi cable can be faulty (rare occurrence but still possible). if you have another cable laying around, test with that cable.

let us know what the seller comes up with in terms of support.

Thanks again, will check that tonight if I have enough time.
The seller thinks that my SCSI fuse is blown. So he redirected me on a page from this forum in order to sort this out, but I couldn't find accurate informations about this.
I have a SCSI hard drive but I don't own the right cable to plug it to my 2KXL. That's the only other SCSI device I have. (and I don't have another cable to do the test with the card reader)
Anyway, I'll go back to 1.14 in order to use bigger cards (and the termination etc inside the drive) and then I'll tell you if it still doesn't work. Thanks again for your time, it's really nice man

Feuille wrote:Anyway, I'll go back to 1.14 in order to use bigger cards (and the termination etc inside the drive) and then I'll tell you if it still doesn't work. Thanks again for your time, it's really nice man

Going to 1.14 doesn't make any difference to a SCSI connected drive/reader.

1.14 only restricts formatting of drives/cards connected to the internal IDE/ATAPI port to a maximum of 1GB, and in 'PC' format, it doesn't make any difference to the maximum formatted size, or format type, on the SCSI ports.


The SCSI termination fuse can be tested with a multimeter, internally for continuity if the MPC is turned off, or externally/internally for voltage if the MPC is turned on (if very careful so that you don't blow the fuse if not already blown).

The external SCSI termination plug that was provided should work in the same way as the internal terminator built into the card reader.

LADiego wrote:my mpc2000xl has the 1.14 operating system and lets me use any size flash card up to 16gb.
...
if you decide to stick to 1.20 then you are limited to 1gb regardless of the size flash card.

No.

1.20 only restricts formatting of a drive or memory card that is connected to the internal IDE/ATAPI port to a maximum of 1GB size, in a 'PC' type format.

It makes no difference to formatting of drives or memory cards that are connected to either the internal or external SCSI ports, and still lets you use larger formatted drives and memory cards connected to the internal IDE/ATAPI port, it just does not let you format them to a larger size than 1GB, or any other format type than a single 'PC' partition.

SimonInAustralia wrote:

LADiego wrote:my mpc2000xl has the 1.14 operating system and lets me use any size flash card up to 16gb.
...
if you decide to stick to 1.20 then you are limited to 1gb regardless of the size flash card.

No.

1.20 only restricts formatting of a drive or memory card that is connected to the internal IDE/ATAPI port to a maximum of 1GB size, in a 'PC' type format.

It makes no difference to formatting of drives or memory cards that are connected to either the internal or external SCSI ports, and still lets you use larger formatted drives and memory cards connected to the internal IDE/ATAPI port, it just does not let you format them to a larger size than 1GB, or any other format type than a single 'PC' partition.

I respect your explanation but let me explain my experience and in plain and understandable lamen terms so others can understand.

I think what LADiego meant to say is that when using 1.14 os you can have up to 16 partitions (1gb max each) on a 16gb card. Or you can have up to 8 partitions (1gb max each) on an 8gb card. Etc.

With 1.20 os you can have only 1 partition (1gb max) with any size flash card greater than 1GB. For example, if you have a 2gb card, then there will be only one partition (1gb) and 1gb will be unused on card. With a 4gb card, there will only be 1gb usable and 3gb unused.

This has been my experience with 1.14 and 1.20. With 1.20 I was limited to only 1GB of memory on larger size cards. Therefore I picked 1.14 os for all my projects which allows me to use more memory on larger cards.

hope this explanation helps others.

Mad_MPC wrote:I think what LADiego meant to say is that when using 1.14 os you can have up to 16 partitions (1gb max each) on a 16gb card. Or you can have up to 8 partitions (1gb max each) on an 8gb card. Etc.

With 1.20 os you can have only 1 partition (1gb max) with any size flash card greater than 1GB. For example, if you have a 2gb card, then there will be only one partition (1gb) and 1gb will be unused on card. With a 4gb card, there will only be 1gb usable and 3gb unused.

This has been my experience with 1.14 and 1.20. With 1.20 I was limited to only 1GB of memory on larger size cards. Therefore I picked 1.14 os for all my projects which allows me to use more memory on larger cards.

No, the single/max 1GB partition limitation is only for formatting cards/drives on the internal IDE/ATAPI port.

That limitation does not apply to the SCSI ports, or to previously formatted cards/drives on the IDE/ATAPI port.

I quite see what you meant here Simon. I think I'll drop the idea going back to 1.14 simply cause I'm too lazy to turn on my PC with my floppy drive ahah.
Anyway here are some news about my story :
This morning I opened up the device and... I saw that the card reader inside wasn't connected to the SCSI port (through the multicolor ribbon cable) u___u and also, the "cache" that was originally protecting the card reader was not sitting in its location.
So I plugged the ribbon, and tested it... It works ! (like a charm, even !)
Once I did all that, I began to put back the cache in place and here I discovered that there were a bent hook. So I don't know at all what happened there, I'm going to report this to the seller. Anyways, I managed to put it back in place but it's kinda shifty. Here are some pictures :


We can clearly see the bent hook on that second picture. It's on the right.

Two things left to ask you guys :
-I set the drive on ID 5 but the MPC saw it on 0. Why ? It's not really a problem but I found it weird.
-Does this card reader needs such a powerful (noisy) fan ? It makes like 10 times more noise than my PC ! Quite annoying.

Thanks again to all of you, you've been a great help here.

Good news!

I wouldn't worry about the bent hook/tab, doesn't look like it does anything, and no other visible damage near it.

Feuille wrote:Two things left to ask you guys :
-I set the drive on ID 5 but the MPC saw it on 0. Why ? It's not really a problem but I found it weird.

Where are you setting it to SCSI ID 5, on the external drive case, or on jumpers on the card reader PCB itself?

If setting it using a switch on the rear of the drive case, maybe that switch is not connected internally to the SCSI ID jumper block on the card reader?

Feuille wrote:-Does this card reader needs such a powerful (noisy) fan ? It makes like 10 times more noise than my PC ! Quite annoying.

I reckon you could disconnect it, just maybe keep a check on the temperatures of the case, so that the power supply in it does not overheat without the fan running.

Where are you setting it to SCSI ID 5, on the external drive case, or on jumpers on the card reader PCB itself?

If setting it using a switch on the rear of the drive case, maybe that switch is not connected internally to the SCSI ID jumper block on the card reader?

I set the ID on the external case, but it seems that everything was properly connected apart from the main ribbon inside the device. Anyway, I'll put it externally on 0, I don't need to have it on 5 anyway.

I reckon you could disconnect it, just maybe keep a check on the temperatures of the case, so that the power supply in it does not overheat without the fan running.

Ok, good to know. Maybe I'll replace it with a quiet one, but for now on, I need to build up my sample library (been waiting for months to do this)

I just tried putting my PCD-60 drive in my 2000XL... The SCSI was set to SCSI-0 with the termination ON. I tried setting the MPC to look for SCSI-0 first as the default drive... still nothing... I am spent for now and will try to install it some other time... or install some other SCSI drive or something in the future. For now the external setup will have to do. Besides, I have an IDE CF reader which is working out well (the Startech IDE) until I get in the mood to try that PCD-60 again.

auscience wrote:I just tried putting my PCD-60 drive in my 2000XL... The SCSI was set to SCSI-0 with the termination ON. I tried setting the MPC to look for SCSI-0 first as the default drive... still nothing...

...using the PCMCIA slot, with an adapter for CF or SD?

SimonInAustralia wrote:

auscience wrote:I just tried putting my PCD-60 drive in my 2000XL... The SCSI was set to SCSI-0 with the termination ON. I tried setting the MPC to look for SCSI-0 first as the default drive... still nothing...

...using the PCMCIA slot, with an adapter for CF or SD?

I use the PCMCIA adapter for CF