MPC3000 & MPL MCDISK-E-1 HOT SWAP

Hi Guys

Im in need of help ;-(

So I got the drive last year from ebay. From a guy on this forum I think.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MPL-MCDISK-E- ... 7675.l2557

Only just got round to installing it

MPC3000
Valixi OS
MPL MCDISK-E-1

I got a sandisk ultra 11 1GB and a sandisk PCMCIA Adapter.

Installed the drive Monday and was getting Error FF48 which after researching this board points to the F901 fuse.

So ordered new resettable fuse as advised here.

Just fitted new fuse and I'm still not getting anything.

Zip drive does work, just tried that. (I know this would work even if scsi fuse was blown due to termination, but thought it may be helpful)

So this is what I'm getting...... (in both standard and hybrid)

I get to the option in format, where I can choose hard, soft or partition. Press partition.... Hybrid. Then get 'hard disk format failure. please check hard disk is turned on and properly connected'

Error...... FF51: 302/3A/51

Checked all connections

Sometimes it doesn't even let me get to the option to select type of format and instead gives me Error FF48.... I tried another F901 (ordered 5) in case I had a faulty one

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Mark

P.S

I did see another thread where someone mentioned they thought they had a problem with the F901 but it turned out the ribbon cable had shorted.... Not got a clue what that means as far as ribbon cables go, or how to fix it?

Thanks for the reply Simon.

Forgot to mention that I have already done that.

I've checked out every thread on this forum regarding my problem and still no joy

Was the termination power fuse actually blown, did you check it for continuity before replacing it, or for power to the termination pin, and is there termination power through the fuse now?

How is the drive setup, in terms of jumper settings?

Is the SCSI bus terminated at the last device on the cabling?

How is the cabling setup?

Have you tried a different CF card?

Thanks again for your reply Simon

Was the termination power fuse actually blown, did you check it for continuity before replacing it, or for power to the termination pin, and is there termination power through the fuse now?

Not sure? No I didn't check as I don'y have a multi meter (assuming thats how I would test)


How is the drive setup, in terms of jumper settings?

Not sure, I'll attach a pic

Is the SCSI bus terminated at the last device on the cabling?

Not sure how to check

How is the cabling setup?

See pic

Have you tried a different CF card?

3 different cards (same brand)

2 x Sandisk ultra 11 - 1GB

1 x standard Sandisk 256mb

It looks like the CF reader is at the end of the SCSI cable, so it needs to be terminated.

If you don't have a manual for a drive, get onto the MPL website, find the manual for it, check exactly what the jumper settings are, and make sure that SCSI termination is enabled on the CF reader.

There is one red jumper on the CF reader jumper block, in the photo, is that enabling SCSI termination?

If the SCSI cable is connected to the rear panel SCSI port, before connecting to the CF reader, try it without anything externally connected to the rear panel SCSI port.

And yes, you would check the SCSI termination power with a multimeter, being very careful not to short the power to ground, which would blow the fuse again, if not already blown.

It looks like the CF reader is at the end of the SCSI cable, so it needs to be terminated.

Yup and it is. After reading manual jumper needs to be between pins 2 & 3 which it is (of 4 pins)

If you don't have a manual for a drive, get onto the MPL website, find the manual for it, check exactly what the jumper settings are, and make sure that SCSI termination is enabled on the CF reader.

Done, Thanks for the tip ;o)

There is one red jumper on the CF reader jumper block, in the photo, is that enabling SCSI termination?

Thats correct it is.

If the SCSI cable is connected to the rear panel SCSI port, before connecting to the CF reader, try it without anything externally connected to the rear panel SCSI port.

Not sure I understand what you mean there?

The CF is connected via rear port scsi?

Try what without anything externally connected?

Just wondering if the SCSI cable is connected from the MPC SCSI PCB, to the rear SCSI port on the rear panel of the MPC, and then to the internal CF reader.

If it is, just wanted to make sure you are trying it without any external SCSI device connected to the external SCSI port on the rear panel of the MPC.

EDIT: Just noticed the photo showing the full cable setup, and it is not connected to the rear panel at all, so you can't use an external SCSI device anyway.

I just tried connecting pin 6 to 12 (not sure why as I'm finding this very confusing) But it says thats for single scsi Id??

But its says the drive is set default to scsi id 3

Now I'm just getting Error FF48 again arrrhhhhhh!!!

Edit.... Is it possible I could have messed up F901 when fitting??

The CF reader is set to SCSI ID 0, in the photos, since it has no jumpers on the SCSI ID jumper pins.

Are you trying to format SCSI ID 0 from the MPC?


Maybe you could try enabling SCSI termination power on the CF reader?

Not sure if that would damage anything if the MPC is already supplying SCSI termination power correctly.

Maybe also try turning on CIS mode, which the manual says is the default setting, by removing the red jumper on the other jumper block.

And maybe try turning parity on, to see if that makes any difference.

Not sure if Rohan (MPC3000LE) had any instructions or suggestions for those settings in his forum discussions about the MCDISK readers.

Mark Andrews wrote:But its says the drive is set default to scsi id 3

What says the drive is set default to SCSI ID 3?

In the photo, it looks like there are no jumpers on the SCSI ID pins on the CF reader, which would mean it is set to SCSI ID 0, and that is what you should be setting the MPC to work with.

Mark Andrews wrote:Edit.... Is it possible I could have messed up F901 when fitting??

Anything is possible, without being able to test for SCSI termination power getting through the F901 SCSI termination power fuse, to the SCSI cable, there is no way of knowing if the SCSI termination power is working correctly or not.

You can turn on SCSI termination power at the drive itself, which will overcome a blown F901 SCSI termination fuse preventing SCSI termination power from reaching the CF reader from the MPC.

But as I said, I am not sure if it will cause any problems if the MPC SCSI termination power fuse is OK, and you get SCSI termination power from both the MPC and the CF reader.

Mark Andrews wrote:I just tried connecting pin 6 to 12 (not sure why as I'm finding this very confusing) But it says thats for single scsi Id??

Are you sure you are trying to connect pin 6 to 12?

The manual says that connecting pin 6 to 11 (1) sets it to dual SCSI mode, leaving the pins off 6-11 (0) sets it to single SCSI mode.