Performa 550 not seeing any disks, getting errors in log.txt on BlueSCSI

[Sani]

I have a Performa 550 that I upgraded a few years ago with 36 MB RAM and an additional 256K VRAM to support thousands of colors. I also replaced the PRAM battery. It "ran when parked" — it still had the original 160 MB SCSI hard drive. After completing my SE/30 restoration, I decided to pull the Performa out of storage and see if I could get it up and running. I turned it on, and I got a chime, a gray screen and a mouse cursor, but that was it. I tried putting a random floppy in the drive just to see if it would spit it out, but no dice. I restarted it, and it spit out the floppy. So I tried hooking up my DB25 BlueSCSI v2 on the back. This time, I got a floppy disk icon, but it didn't flash either an X or a ?. It just froze empty.

I went in and double-checked the motherboard to make sure nothing appeared to have exploded or leaked, and everything looked good. I thought maybe the Farallon LC ethernet card I'd previously installed was the problem, so I took it out. I also removed the internal hard drive, in case there was some sort of SCSI conflict. I put everything back together and tried again but still only got the empty floppy disk.

I shut it down, took off the BlueSCSI, and removed the SD card to check out the log.txt file, and I'm wondering if anyone can help me decipher the errors. See below:

Platform: BlueSCSI
FW Version: 2024.04.02-release Apr  3 2024 02:22:50
Flash chip size: 2048 kB
 
=== SD Card Info ===
SD card detected, exFAT volume size: 29499 MB
SD Name: SD32G, MID: 0x27, OID: 0x50 0x48
 
=== Global Config ===
Config file bluescsi.ini not found, using defaults
Active configuration:
 
=== Finding images in / ===
== Opening /HD60_512 ALSR CD.hda for ID: 6 LUN: 0
---- WARNING: file /HD60_512 ALSR CD.hda is fragmented, see https://github.com/BlueSCSI/BlueSCSI-v2/wiki/Image-File-Fragmentation
---- Image ready
== Opening /CD30_Apple_Legacy_CD.iso for ID: 3 LUN: 0
---- WARNING: file /CD30_Apple_Legacy_CD.iso is fragmented, see https://github.com/BlueSCSI/BlueSCSI-v2/wiki/Image-File-Fragmentation
---- Configuring as CD-ROM drive based on image name
---- Image ready
== Opening /HD10_512 750MB.hda for ID: 1 LUN: 0
---- Image ready

=== ROM Drive ===
Platform supports ROM drive up to 1692 kB
---- ROM drive image not detected
 
=== Configured SCSI Devices ===
* ID: 1, BlockSize: 512, Type: Fixed, Quirks: Apple, Size: 768048kB
* ID: 3, BlockSize: 2048, Type: Optical, Quirks: Apple, Size: 663482kB
* ID: 6, BlockSize: 512, Type: Fixed, Quirks: Apple, Size: 2097152kB
 
Initialization complete!
INFO: Pico Voltage: 3.258V.
--------------
WATCHDOG TIMEOUT, attempting bus reset
Platform: BlueSCSI
FW Version: 2024.04.02-release Apr  3 2024 02:22:50
GPIO states: out 0x16A8FEFF oe 0x0ADF8FFF in 0x16A9FEFF
scsiDev.cdb: 0xEE 0xEE 0xEE 0xEE 0xEE 0xEE 0xEE 0xEE 0xEE 0xEE 0xEE 0xEE
scsiDev.phase: 7
SCSI DMA state: IDLE
Current buffer: 0x00000000/0x00000000, next 0x00000000 bytes
SyncOffset: 0 SyncPeriod 0
PIO Parity SM: tx_fifo 0, rx_fifo 0, pc 1, instr 0x000060C8
PIO Data SM: tx_fifo 0, rx_fifo 0, pc 9, instr 0x000090A0
PIO Sync SM: tx_fifo 0, rx_fifo 0, pc 0, instr 0x00000000
DMA CH A: ctrl: 0x0002B021 count: 0x00000000
DMA CH B: ctrl: 0x001FC007 count: 0x00000000
DMA CH C: ctrl: 0x00034009 count: 0x00000000
DMA CH D: ctrl: 0x00014809 count: 0x00000000
GPIO states: 0x16A9FEFF
STACK 0x20041EE8:    0x10031427 0x16A9FEFF 0x20041F1C 0x20000918
STACK 0x20041EF8:    0x10031427 0x00000000 0x20041F68 0x00000000
STACK 0x20041F08:    0x200193A0 0x0000000C 0x20041F24 0x00000001
STACK 0x20041F18:    0x00000000 0x00000000 0x00000000 0x1001A281
STACK 0x20041F28:    0x00DEDAED 0x00000010 0x400140FC 0x20000845
STACK 0x20041F38:    0x2000921C 0xD0000000 0x000001FF 0xFFFFFFF9
STACK 0x20041F48:    0x00DEDAED 0x00000400 0x400140FC 0x00020000
STACK 0x20041F58:    0x04000000 0x100148D3 0x10014902 0x61000000

Any ideas of where to start?

 

[eric]

As always start with the "What to try first" section of the troubleshooting guide - can rule out the easy things first - https://bluescsi.com/docs/Troubleshooting#what-to-try-first

It looks like the bluescsi is seeing "junk" on the data lines - they're all EE. So in addition check the cables/connectors/etc to make sure everything is seated properly. Report back after those steps.

 

[Sani]

OK, I ran through the troubleshooting steps. Before I made my first attempt with the BlueSCSI, I used the SD Formatter tool to do an overwrite format on the SD card, and I updated the BlueSCSI to the 2024.04.02 firmware.

I put only the Mac OS 7.6.1 CD image on the SD card along with a bluescsi.ini file to put it in debug mode to get more details. I double-checked that the motherboard was firmly seated into the edge connector inside the case. With the 160 MB internal SCSI drive installed, it would just give me a gray screen and pointer, never getting to either a Happy Mac, flashing ?, or flashing X.

With the internal SCSI drive removed, something interesting happened. It will start up and show a Happy Mac icon before suddenly restarting about half a second after the Happy Mac shows up. On the second attempt, it finishes booting up from the Mac OS 7.6.1 CD image. I tried reinstalling the hard drive, but when I do that, it can't get past the gray screen and pointer. Taking the hard drive back out got it to where it loaded from the BlueSCSI again, but it did the same spontaneous restart behavior as well.

The log file is quite big, so I've attached it. I noticed several "SD card readSector(XXXXX) slow transfer" lines. The SD card is a Micro Center 32 GB Class 10 card. I bought a five-pack on Amazon for $23.01, and looking now, I see the listing is entirely gone, which doesn't fill my heart with confidence. Maybe better SD cards are my next Amazon purchase?

Everything looks clean on the motherboard, but the computer is 30+ years old, so my other thought is to send off the logic board to Rochester to have it recapped.

 

[eric]

I've had good luck with MicroCenter, but your instinct is correct- there is some issue reading the SD card. Sometimes it can be as simple as dirty contacts on the card or port itself - make sure it's making good connection - a bit of IPA and a cleaning might help. A different brand - like Samsung High Endurance or WD Purple are good well tested choices too.

 

[Sani]

I ordered some Samsung High Endurance SD cards, and I'll see if those work. Thanks for your help!