[Gerry_MAN]

Hi All,

I landed an SGI INDY machine off eBay a while back, and I've been attempting to install IRIX 6.5 onto a "SCSI2SD" drive that I bought online.
It's a "SCSI2SD v5.0b storage adapter" with a SAMSUNG 32GB EVO SD card inserted.

https://store.inertialcomputing.com/prod...-molex.htm

I'm using an old SCSI CD-ROM drive to install the IRIX software, and seems to be working fine...as I can access FX on the inserted Overlays Disc#1 CD.

So I think I'm close to getting it going, but I'm just having an issue getting the install process to start, due to a hard drive error. The issue is with my SCSI2SD drive, not being properly detected.

It says "Unable to Open....no such device". This appears right when I try to run the software installation after partitioning the drive. 
See the Error message below:




I can detect both the CD-ROM and the SCSI2SD drive through the command monitor and I have them set with separate SCSI IDs as shown in the image below: You can see my Environment Variables printed to the screen as well.. (I hope I'm not missing anything there...?):  

SCSI2SD Drive - ID#1  
CD-ROM Drive - ID#4




I've been following this YouTube video that is pretty much running my exact setup.
Sn SGI INDY with a CD-ROM and installing IRIX 6.5 on a SCSI2SD drive.
https://youtu.be/Jy90tmEayjo



I've programmed the SCSI2SD firmware with the same settings as was shown in the video....
My version of the config software is slightly different...an updated version I think.....but I kept the same settings he used regardless.

After setting the Drive, I am able to load FX off the SCSI CR-ROM and proceed to format the SCSI2SD drive, and it seems to respond the same as  was shown in the video.



Partition info below after running FX to partition:


I've attempted to re-partition the drive a couple of times.....and also tried changing around some of my Environment variables....
I hope this was not what did me in.  The "eAddress" may have been changed but not sure..?   I also was trying different "OSSystem" and "OSLoad" partition numbers...but I still can't seem to get around the initial "NO SUCH DEVICE" error. 


Now I also ran a simple "LS" command and it displayed the same error messages for the disk(1) partitions...
As shown at the bottom of the screen image below:   "NO SUCH DEVICE" for both disk(1) partition 8 and 7.



So I'm assuming that I'm either not Partitioning the SCSI2SD Drive correctly, or one of my Environment variables is wrong.... ?

Can anyone see what I might be doing wrong here?   :huh:
Apologies for my ignorance.... SGI Newbie here.  

Any help at all would be appreciated.

Cheers!
-Gerry

[jan-jaap]

Hi,

First of all, did you set the SystemPartition and OSLoadPartition variables by hand? There's no PCI bus in an Indy so trying to boot off a pci() path isn't going to work

The default NVRAM settings should work fine for an Indy, e.g. do a 'resetenv' from the PROM monitor and try again.

Others here know far more about the SD adapters and their revisions, but I seem to recall that the SCSI2SD likes to be the *only* device on the SCSI bus. If that is true you may have other problems waiting. Since an Indy only has one SCSI bus, you'd have to do a network install or clone an existing disk if you cannot use the CDROM.

[Gerry_MAN]

Hi,

First of all, did you set the SystemPartition and OSLoadPartition variables by hand? There's no PCI bus in an Indy so trying to boot off a pci() path isn't going to work

The default NVRAM settings should work fine for an Indy, e.g. do a 'resetenv' from the PROM monitor and try again.

Others here know far more about the SD adapters and their revisions, but I seem to recall that the SCSI2SD likes to be the *only* device on the SCSI bus. If that is true you may have other problems waiting. Since an Indy only has one SCSI bus, you'd have to do a network install or clone an existing disk if you cannot use the CDROM.

Hi jan-jaap,
Yeah, I did set them myself, this was after talking with some other users on Discord.
A few users had passed me some links to some examples...so little did I know that I used the wrong one.    :dodgy:  

I performed the "resetenv" command and that at first, seemed to do the trick. It at least got the variables properly set.
I had the partition# wrong as well for "OSLoadPartition".  I had it set to 7, so it was reset to partition(0).




After this the installation process was able to start...



However, that  issue you were talking about... how the SCSI2SD adapters will only work properly when they are the only device on the BUS.  I'm pretty sure I hit this road block head on...... as I started receiving "BUS Timeout" errors close to the end of the installation.  This was after I ran the "OPEN /CDROM/dist" command....and added all the CDs for the install.


The Memory activity LED on the SCSI2SD adapter just stopped flashing and remained lit and stayed on solid. It seemed to be frozen...  :(





Then the Errors began to show up on the command screen.
As shown below:





Now I wonder about the External SCSI port....is that not on a separate SCSI controller?
I thought there were two controllers in the INDY? external and internal?

I was thinking of using an External enclosure for the CD-ROM........ same as what was shown in the video I was following.

I have both the CD-ROM and the SCSI2SD devices  connected to the internal IDC cable...and have nothing connected to the external SCSI ports.
Does a SCSI Terminator need to be connected to one of the external ports?.... even if I am not using it at all ?

Hmmmm....
Well, I made some progress....but may have to try something else.
I had initially tried the Network setup with DINA...but had issues there getting my PC to communicate...
so this was why I went with the CD-ROM route.

Anyhow,
Any other suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks again Folks!  

Cheers!
-Gerry

[dexter1]

The V5 SCSI2SD will only work when there is no other SCSI device except for the controller on the bus. In the Indy the external and internal connectors are part of the same bus, because it only has one SCSI controller, so putting the CDROM on the external bus will gain you nothing.

I would suggest to you to revisit the network install with DINA and attempt again

[Gerry_MAN]

The V5 SCSI2SD will only work when there is no other SCSI device except for the controller on the bus. In the Indy the external and internal connectors are part of the same bus, because it only has one SCSI controller, so putting the CDROM on the external bus will gain you nothing.

I would suggest to you to revisit the network install with DINA and attempt again

Hi Dexter1,
Ok will do.

I guess it's touch and go with these SCSI2SD adapters? 
The only reason I switched over to try it with the CD-ROM was because of this YouTube user had performed this install successfully.

SGI INDY - Installing IRIX 6.5 on a SCSI2SD drive via CD-ROM.
https://youtu.be/Jy90tmEayjo

Anyhow,
I'll give the DINA route another shot.

Cheers!
-Gerry

[MrWeedster]

I also have SCSI2SD running in my indy, and have no problems.

But i never tried hooking up two devices to the SCSI bus, maybe that's really the issue.

[E]
fyi: I hooked up a CDROM to my indy and it runs flawless.
[/E]

[dexter1]

fyi: I hooked up a CDROM to my indy and it runs flawless.

The person in the aforementioned youtube video is using firmware 4.7.1 on his V5 SCSI2SD, and he seems to install successfully irix 6.5.22

I myself am using firmware 4.8.0 at the moment, but it turns out there is an update which fixes a bug:
Fix bug when writing with multiple SCSI devices on the chain (4.8.1, 6.2.0).

I might have inadvertently tested adding a CDROM on the external SCSI bus with firmware 4.8.0.
Gerry_Man and MrWeedster, what are your firmware versions?

[MrWeedster]

Mine is stone old: 4.2

[Gerry_MAN]

The person in the aforementioned youtube video is using firmware 4.7.1 on his V5 SCSI2SD, and he seems to install successfully irix 6.5.22

I myself am using firmware 4.8.0 at the moment, but it turns out there is an update which fixes a bug:
Fix bug when writing with multiple SCSI devices on the chain (4.8.1, 6.2.0).

I might have inadvertently tested adding a CDROM on the external SCSI bus with firmware 4.8.0.
Gerry_Man and MrWeedster, what are your firmware versions?

Thanks Dexter1,

I see that my SCSI2SD board  V5.0b is now discontinued....This is the smaller RED PCBA.




They have two new board designs released.....V5.1 and V6.0 as shown below:



The V5.0b and V5.01 use the same Firmware and software so that's good.
Firmware and Software are available here:
http://www.codesrc.com/files/scsi2sd/latest/


My SCSI2SD is currently running firmware 4.8.0 also.
I'll give the new firmware a shot. Hopefully this will rectify my SCSI BUS communication issue.

If it doesn't work, I'm going to try the DINA route again.

I'll report back with the results.

Thanks for all the Tips here guys!  
Cheers!
-Gerry

[dexter1]

Try the new firmware for your V5.0.
I have two red V5.0 PCB's as well: It turned out i was still using FW 4.6 on my Challenge S and the other one in my Indy had FW 4.8.0.

Flashed my Challenge S to 4.8.1 and devices attached to the external SCSI connector are now recognized and functional, though i haven't done extensive testing.