🚀 go-pugleaf

Sorry about the sheer bulk of this post, but any help with the following
queries would be much appreciated:


1) Does anyone know what aspect of the data transfer phase produces the
"Data Transfer Phase Error" of MovieShop's vmotion.library?

To explain, I have the VLAB and Toccata installed in an A3000T (Buster
11), WARP Engine 32MB, using a Quantum XP34300 ATLAS 4.3GB HD (also
installed are a TBCPlus, CV64 and OpalVision). I have tried everything I
can think of to get rid of this recurring problem, that often prevents a
clean playback of an entire project without a break. (Note: other SCSI
devices attached and configuration issues are described below in query
#3).

Is it known whether the error is referring to the SCSI or Zorro (or both,
or any other) phases of the data transfer, and what system changes might
influence it?

Also, with (high demand) cards like the VLAB Motion and CV64, does it
matter in what order they are installed in their Zorro slots (ie., closest
to CPU, to furthest away etc)?

                       ---------------------

2) I have also found that both times I have added an external sound track
(ie., take a complete video that is comprised of camera video and audio,
and then add a music track digitised from CD) the playback is now
compromised by instability (irregular, occasional flashing frames) that
makes the video unrecordable.

The first time this happened, the problem mysteriously disappeared as
quickly as it appeared about 2 days later. The second time, it has
gradually improved but not disappeared over the week since it happened.
Any ideas?
                       ---------------------

3) Does anyone know the orientation of the SCSI terminating resistors on
the A3000T motherboard? In the SCSI.FAQ, it mentions that most
controllers' terminating resistor sockets have a square hole, or similar,
to identify pin #1. Naturally, the A3000T is unique in this case, by not
having any identifier whatsoever as to which hole is intended for pin #1
of each terminating resistor.

Basically, I have a terminated external CDROM (SCSI-2 Pioneer DRM-602x as
SCSI ID#2) on the scsi.device (late revision AMD SCSI chip installed).
There are no other SCSI devices, internal or external, attached to this
controller, and it has no terminating resistors on the motherboard. Due to
the problems mentioned above, I wanted to fit resistors to see if it
helped in any way (I have 3 spare 221/331 8-pin resistors, while the
schematics ask for 220/330 resistors. Should these work?).

I also have 3 x SCSI-2 (2 are FAST) HDs and a SCSI-2 Exabyte 4200c DSS-1
(DAT) streamer attached internally to the warpdrive device, configured
thus:

 WARP           ID#0           ID#3           ID#4         ID#1
 Engine -> Quant LPS525S -> Quant ATLAS -> Exa 4200c -> Microp 4110
 (term)    (boot/system)   (video/audio)   (backup)   (general)(term)

I would prefer the chain to flow linearly from ID#0 -> ID#4 (terminated),
but I have no terminating resistors or docs for the DAT unit, making it
hard to terminate or change it's ID#.

I left termination on the Micropolis since it already was (before other
units were installed), and physical placement makes the current config
expedient as far as cabling is concerned.

While I know the warpdrive.device will scan it's SCSI bus from ID#0 to
ID#6, I didn't think this arrangement would produce errors, as long as the
physical chain is correctly terminated. Of course, the parallel existence
of the A3000T's SCSI bus, with one external, and no internal devices
attached, and with no termination on the motherboard throws confusion into
the equation (as far I am concerned anyway).

Does this configuration offer any obvious explanation of problems being
experienced (occasional SCSI READ error with Exabyte 4200c, and more
common "Data Transfer Phase Error" from MovieShop's vmotion.library (that
seems to happen more often with Quantum ATLAS than it did when using a
much smaller partition on the Micropolis 4110 for video
recording/playback)?

Note that in all other aspects, both SCSI busses appear to work extremely
well, both individually and together.

                       ---------------------

Any and all help offered is much appreciated as these problems are
compromising my ability to deliver product reliably and on schedule.

Regards,

         Mark

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   mpa@iig.com.au     -    Ph:+61-70-332930     -         Cairns
   Wishful Vision     -    Fx:+61-70-332931     -      Australia
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