BlueSCSI Issue With Performa

[Megaboz]

I recently inherited what appears to be a fully functional Performa 6360, and am trying to replace the internal hard drive with an external v2 BlueSCSI. I'm a first-time BlueSCSI owner, so I'm hoping I'm just making a n00b mistake with the configuration, but the 6360 refuses to boot from the micro SD card. I created the .hda file using Disk Jockey 2.5.2.2, specifying the 6360 configuration option and setting the image to HD0 (and including the ROM drive), and then installing OS 7.6.1 using Sheepshaver 2.5 (if it matters, I'm on a 2019 MacBook Pro running OS 14.3). I also made a folder with CD-ROM images, CD1. My SD card content looks like this:

CD1/
HD00_512 Performa 6360 1200MB.hda
HD0.rom

When I boot using shft-opt-cmd-del to bypass the internal drive, I just get the "?" Mac icon. The blue power LED is on on the BlueSCSI, but there are no other LEDs indicating errors.

Is the 6360 just not compatible with the BlueSCSI? Is my BlueSCSI a dud? Assuming nothing's broken, what am I doing wrong?

 

[eric]

I'd suggest you start with the Trouble Shooting guide first to rule out any of the simple things.

If the internal HDD works then you can always just boot up and see if you see the BlueSCSI drive as well.

 

[Arbystpossum]

If your problem is the same as the one I had once before, then use those blank images provided on the troubleshooting page, install your OS to the blank with an emulator like basilisk 2 or whatnit and use that.

 

[Fizzbinn]

I just tried my BlueSCSI v2 external DB-25 with my Performa 6360 and it worked fine. Absolutely could be another issue uncovered by the above mentioned troubleshooting steps but are you sure you have v2?

I only ask because I was never able to get my BlueSCSI v1 external DB-25 to work with that machine (or my PM 4400 or Umax C500). That's never been a big deal for me as I tend to use my BlueSCSI's on my pre PowerPC Macs. My external v1 works fine with my older Macs and even my PM 6500 so my completely unscientific guess is that it could be something with the SCSI setup of Alchemy & Tanzania architecture based PPC Macs.

 

[Megaboz]

Thanks to all of you for replying. Along with the Performa 6360, I also have a fully functional Mac SE (dual floppy) I used for testing -- I've never gotten the SE to boot off the BlueSCSI, either. It took me a while to run through everyone's suggestions (my vintage collection is at my office, and I mostly work from home), but here are my results on both machines:

• I haven't been able to update the firmware as yet -- my micro-USB-->USB-A cables are MIA.
• I tried booting BlueSCSI with an RPi power supply, and it was unrecognized. The blue power light is on, and the micro SD LED flashes quickly, but that's it -- I still only get the question mark Mac icon of doom.
• I removed all the files and folders from the SD card except the .hda file, and the BlueSCSI was still unrecognized.
• No other SCSI devices are plugged into either the 6360 or SE, so that doesn't seem to be an issue.
• My external BlueSCSI model lacks jumpers, so I'm unable to configure anything -- that includes anything regarding SCSI termination. I'm assuming termination is built-in.
• Both the 6360 and SE are compatible with BlueSCSI without needing to jump through hoops according to the docs.
• The disk images I used should be formatted correctly since I was using Disk Jockey's pre-configured images.
• Both the OS installs I made using Sheepshaver and the verified working premade images linked to from the BlueSCSI docs page failed to be recognized on either machine.
• When I boot the 6360 off the internal hard drive, it does not see the BlueSCSI drive on the desktop.
• I'm almost positive the BlueSCSI I own is v2. I mean, that was what I specifically ordered, and the included RPi board is a Pico W. I don't see a version label on the BlueSCSI board itself, but I would think the Pico W would be a giveaway that that is what I have here.

Unless the firmware is the issue, at this point I'm pretty sure the BlueSCSI is defective; I'm almost at a complete loss with this thing. I formatted the SD card with macOS's Disk Utility using a GUID partition map and ExFAT, and just left the volume name as "Untitled." Could any of those things be causing conflicts with the BlueSCSI board?

 

[Megaboz]

Alright, I managed to find a data-friendly micro-USB cable and updated the firmware to v2024.02.22. I followed the docs for the USB install method. The board mounted on the desktop just fine, when I dropped the .uf2 file on the board it ejected as described, but the RPi LED adjacent to the USB port began flashing green non-stop. No idea what that means, if anything -- the docs don't mention that happening.

One thing I left out before: the micro SD card I'm using is an 8GB Transcend Premium.

Newly updated firmware in place, I inserted my SD card into the BlueSCSI, plugged in the BlueSCSI to the USB power cable (which caused the green LED next to the USB port to flash three times), and plugged the device into the 6360. I first tried booting from the internal drive to see if the SD card mounted on the desktop -- nope. I then forced the computer to boot from the SCSI port, and got nothing but the question mark Mac icon yet again.

Since the 6360 install failed, I tried the BlueSCSI out on the SE using the updated firmware and the OS 6.0.8 .hda file from the Mega archive. No love there either. I plugged the power cable into the BlueSCSI (the green LED by the USB port flashed three times and stopped just as with the 6360), plugged the BlueSCSI into the SE, switched it on, and got the question mark of death again. I lack an adapter to daisy-chain the BlueSCSI to the external hard drive I currently have connected to the SE so I can't check to see if the SD card mounts on the desktop, but given the 6360's behavior I doubt it would work as well.

The basic problem seems to be that the BlueSCSI is not recognizing any hard drive images on the SD card, although it can at least tell there's a card inserted. Having gone through all the troubleshooting steps, is there anything else I can try to get this thing to work or am I just out of luck?

 

[eric]

Flashing 3x means no images were found on the SD card - (also meaning communication with the SD card is working. Can you provide a log file?

 

[Megaboz]

Honestly, I have no idea where log files are supposed to be located. If they're supposed to be visible on the SD card, the only thing I see when I plug it into my MacBook Pro is the .hda file, nothing else. If they're supposed to be written to the BlueSCSI, I didn't see a log file after plugging in the board to the MacBook to run the firmware update, either.

 

[eric]

The log file is just on the root of the SD card. If it is not being written to that would be odd - Does your SD card have a "lock" slider on the side? Some SD cards have this to write lock them.

Can you take a screen shot of the root of the SD card?

If you are comfortable with the CLI or following some CLI instructions I can have you hook up and log the Serial output (would be the same as the log, but since we cant get a log, this would be the only way to see whats going on)

Lastly I assume you've tried other SD cards correct?

 

[Megaboz]

The micro SD card lacks a lock as far as I can tell -- even if it has one, I've been copying files back and forth on it during troubleshooting so it can't be in write-only mode.

Here's a screenshot of the card's root (not much to see since there's just the .hda on it):

Aaaaaand with invisible files visible, I see this:

I'm up for getting my hands dirty with a command line, sure . Just let me know what I need to do. Never accessed the CLI on a pre-OS X Mac, so if that's what you're referring to it should be an adventure!

Yep, I tried using a 128GB micro SD as well, and the same behavior with the 6360 occurred.

 

[eric]

<rant> there are no good serial apps for the mac like terraterm or putty</rant>

anyways after getting some CLI foo ready for @Megaboz we got the debug logs - and the culprit was the SD card had 2 partitions (first one hidden, i've seen this a few times on a few drives). A full overwrite format with SD card formatter resolved the issue of not seeing images. I've adjusted the wiki to make it clear to always do this first - as 99.99999% of the time with SD card issues, this is the fix