TheRogue Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Ok I have no idea what's wrong with this thing and I'm ready to rip my hair out over it can anyone help me? I have a 1040STe with 1 Meg of RAM and TOS 1.06, and I have 2 hard disks, a MegaFile 30, and an ICD AdSCSI Plus ACSI-to-SCSI controller. With either hard disk, whenever I try to format a new disk and set it up for use, it just doesn't work. With the MegaFile 30 it says the drive is full of bad sectors, and then the partitions I just made will show up as not existing when I try to install them from the desktop. With the ICD controller, the drive will format perfectly, I've done it both with the default settings and with my own settings, using ICDs AdSCSI tools, and there will be no errors at all, but when I try to install the partitions at the desktop it says they don't exist, and when I try to find them with the ICD tool, it says they don't exist. What the hell!?! I have a drive that came with my ICD controller that was preformatted, and that works fine on bootup, but if I try to copy anything over a few kb to the drive, the folder, or sometimes the whole partition I copied to will become corrupt. I'm at my whits end here. Could it be the cable I'm using to connect the drives, it's the same one I use for both drives. Could my ACSI port be damaged? Do I need to upgrade my TOS version?! Please help! My Atari has been sitting dormant for months because of the problem with the MegaFile. I just got the ICD for free from a buddy, and I thought my problems would be over, but the same thing is happening. I also forgot to mention that the MegaFile came preformatted as well, and that worked GREAT for a long time, then one day I tried to copy to it and the partition I copied to became corrupt, just in the same way as with the ICD. Please help me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonsunnyboy Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Maybe you have a bad DMA chip in your STE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandler Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 Maybe you have a bad DMA chip in your STE? TOS 1.06 and the bad DMA chip usually come together if you have a bad DMA then you will most likely have TOS 1.06 and vice versa could well be the dreaded STE DMA issue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRogue Posted June 22, 2009 Author Share Posted June 22, 2009 Maybe you have a bad DMA chip in your STE? TOS 1.06 and the bad DMA chip usually come together if you have a bad DMA then you will most likely have TOS 1.06 and vice versa could well be the dreaded STE DMA issue! How can I fix this problem? Is the "dreaded STE DMA issue" that you mentioned the same as having a bad DMA Chip or is that something different? Is the DMA chip a DIP chip I can change myself or it is something I'm going to have to send off to get fixed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 The problem is that there is nobody to send it off to (unless somebody looks on you kindly). It might be easier/cheaper to get another one off ebay instead of covering the cost of postage twice and a repair bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chandler Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 (edited) The problem is that there is nobody to send it off to (unless somebody looks on you kindly). It might be easier/cheaper to get another one off ebay instead of covering the cost of postage twice and a repair bill. i can sort the problem for you but as the other person said by the time you have sent it to me and i've sent it back to you that's £20! already (if you live in the UK that is) the only problem with the DMA issue and "getting another one off ebay" is that there is absolutley no way whatsoever of knowing if the machine has the bad DMA till you open it and physically look at the chip so when you go buy that cheap one on ebay basically you take pot luck, you maybe lucky or you may get another dodgy one! PM me if you want some help Edited June 22, 2009 by Chandler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anzac Posted June 22, 2009 Share Posted June 22, 2009 well, there weren´t that many units with the bad DMA chip at the time... a good way to tell was by TOS version.. AFAIK, no machines with TOS 1.62 have the problem and "only" a limited number of machines with TOS 1.60 have it... little consolation for the unlucky one, i know, but really, it´s a whole lot easier and cheaper to get your STe fixed or another one (being VERY unlikely that it also has the DMA problem) than fixing and/or finding another hard drive for your machine.... so... it is the lesser of two evils... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRogue Posted June 23, 2009 Author Share Posted June 23, 2009 Well I figured out what was wrong and it was so easy I feel like a retard. I opened up my computer to reseat the chips, but that wasn't the issue. When I hooked my machine back up, I neglected to re-connect my external SF354. It seems it had gone bad and was messing up the DMA controller with faulty signals. I didn't even think it was turned on, but it seems as though it was left on one day, and something had gone wrong in it, because the power or busy LEDs wouldn't light, but it was still turned on. When that was disconnected, everything worked beautifully. Thanks for all your help anyway guys, you've been great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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