Imminent SSD and CPU Fan Upgrade

[bitSync]

Yeah, I just wasn't gonna mess with the CPU until it was last or near to last on the list, despite having been working atop the CPU heat sink earlier. It's just how I roll. Anyways, think of all the fun I would have missed if I went straight for the CPU!

I'm grateful to everybody here who pitched in with excellent ideas! Thank you so much for your help. This is an awesome forum!

Now that the d8b #2 seems to be booting reliably I'm going to try to get this thread back on topic!

Thanks all!

[anyhorizon]

I'm fascinated by the mention of a lever.

Peter

[bitSync]

I'm fascinated by the mention of a lever.

Yep. No gears or pulleys, though. This was one of the newer Celerons.

[bitSync]

I'm fascinated by the mention of a lever.

Yep. No gears or pulleys, though. This was one of the newer Celerons.

Peter,

I presumed this CPU socket lever was on all the mainboards. Maybe not? The lever serves to shift the CPU microprocessor chip laterally, once seated, to pinch its pins into place in its socket. Opening the lever releases the lateral pressure on the CPU pins so it can be easily removed and inserted. It essentially locks the CPU chip into its socket.

[bitSync]

Back on topic...

I succeeded in cloning the HDD to an SSD, at least I think I did. When mounted to the Win7 x64 file system I can see all of the Mackie OS files and directory structure have transferred to the SSD from the HDD. However, so far, I have not been able to boot from the SSD in the d8b. The BIOS cannot see the SSD. I've pinned the SSD as Master, Slave, and Cable, no difference. If I put the HDD back in the BIOS sees it just fine and the system boots. If I swap the SSD back in it's invisible to the BIOS. If I hang the SSD off the Win7 system again I can see everything.

I've been knocking around a few other forums - Acronis, Tom's Hardware, - but no solutions yet. Any ideas why the d8b BIOS can't see the SSD?

[bbb]

When I successfully replaced my HD with a compact flash card as HD, I followed Todd Masten's excellent instructions at this link:

http://www.sonido-7.com/d8b/tpis.html (bottom of the page - Replacing the HDD with a Compact Flash card)

As you have the newer motherboard, I'm not sure if the info. in #8 below will get your bios to recognize the SSD.
If it does, maybe the image you created will work. If it recognizes the SSD but not the image, I would install the OS onto the SSD from floppies with the Format:ON command.
Hope this helps,
Bruce


8. In the CMOS settings you must change one setting that defaults to ON and turn it OFF. Arrow down until you highlight the ON under LMA Mode. Change this to OFF or this, or any other hard drive for that matter, will not boot. The Mackie CPU does not use Large Memory Addressing (LMA) so I'm not sure why it defaults to ON when you scan, but it does.

[bitSync]

Thanks, Bruce. Unfortunately, there's no LMA Mode choice in my CMOS settings.

I tried imaging the HDD again using different software, Macrium Reflect 5.2, with the exact same results. I can't get the d8b BIOS to see the SSD. I don't know if this is fixable. I may try the compact flash instead.

[doktor1360]

Thanks, Bruce. Unfortunately, there's no LMA Mode choice in my CMOS settings.

I tried imaging the HDD again using different software, Macrium Reflect 5.2, with the exact same results. I can't get the d8b BIOS to see the SSD. I don't know if this is fixable. I may try the compact flash instead.

As I stated in the PM reply between us, I can get you the BOM for doing a CF conversion... it's a really easy job if you know how to use a screw driver, and fairly inexpensive... CF's are virtually crash-proof, and FAST - and you need no more than ~ 4GB of space... my D8B's CPU is booting up a CF card and runs like a Scalded fucking Dogg...

Just let me know, Brutha...

Peace

[bitSync]

Yeah, I'm just about at my wit's end. I got these 32 GB Transcend PATA drives because I read in the database that 32 GB was the maximum drive size recognized by the BIOS and that it had to be PATA (IDE). Seems there are other drive technologies that work with the right adapters and 32 GB is vastly more than I would ever use. I wonder if the drive size is right on the edge of being too much for the BIOS to recognize? I don't know. I'm at a loss at this point. What I thought would be a couple of easy, straightforward procedures have been fraught with angst and grief. I'm on the hairy edge of quitting on the 32 GB Transcend SSD and maybe going with the Compact Flash. I think it's time for some deep introspection and several beers...

[bitSync]

A Happy Ending, I think they call it...

After endless disappointments with the 32 GB Transcend PATA SSD I took a new route. I purchased a 4 GB Compact Flash card (TEAM TG004G2NCFJX 233X R) and a back panel bracket style IDE-to-Compact Flash adapter along with a floppy to standard Molex power adapter. I hooked everything up with a USB2-to-PATA external adapter to my host Win7 machine where I had already made an image of the d8b's original Maxtor 20 GB HDD using the free/trial Macrium Reflect 5.2 software. The driver for the IDE-to-Compact Flash adapter installed instantly. I found my image of the d8b HDD and wrote it out to the new Compact Flash card. Took the Compact Flash card, IDE-to-Compact Flash adapter and the Molex power adapter, popped it into the d8b and Wham! Insta-boot! The BIOS identified the Compact Flash no sweat and the system came up with all the old session files, etc. from the original HDD. Total elapsed time, under 10 minutes.

I've got a couple other hot rod things I'm planning, like a fanless power supply. I'll let y'all know how that goes.

I don't know if I've seen this process using the HDD image restore (vs. rebuilding from the DOS and OS floppies). Is it worth writing it up?