ASR-10 SCSI Issue

Synth Repair
1

At bootup, my ASR-10 displays “SCSI INSTALLED” and “SEARCHING FOR SCSI DEV”. Should it display something when it finds one? I have had two IOMEGA ZIP 100 drives connected to it (with disks inserted) but when I try to CHANGE STORAGE DEV, I get the error DISK NOT RESPONDING.

2

  1. Is the SCSI chain terminated with either an appropriate termination resistor plug on the very last external port ( probably the 2nd unneeded external port on the last ZIP drive)?

  2. Every SCSI device on each chain must have a unique ID# set on it. Do the cart drives have different ID#s than the keyboard? Check the synth utils menu to determine what ID# is set assigned to the SCSI controller (master).

I assume you can hear the cart drives spin up when powered on or reinserted?

If both mandatory criteria above are satisfied, try powering on chained devices in different sequence orders. Suggested: ext drives first so they will be on and readable during keyboard (SCSI master controller) power-up sequence when the SCSI controller scans the bus for all attached device IDs. Alternatively you can power on all at once (from common power strip switch), hoping the SyJet drives boot faster before the master begins scanning SCSI bus.

Also, answer to your question depends on the master device and it’s OS, but usually SCSI masters have the capability of reporting devices found after scanning completes (or error messages). Probably depends on what the manufacturer implemented in the interface of that model.

My original Korg Triton did indeed provide full display status messages of what was scanned and ID’ed, or else such error messages as you indicated.

Lastly, if not resolved, do process of elimination testing, using just 1 drive attached at a time (with unique ID#). Then replace drive with the other single drive. Is it just 1 that fails to scan? If both fail separately, disconnect cables and recheck all ends for any bent, broken, or PUSHED IN pins damaged. If just 1 fails and the other scans and is reported, mark the suspicious one (removeable tape) and change its ID# and keep trying with power offs and restarts.
Once both are identified individually and all cables and terminator plug(s) are verified undamaged, reattach all in single chain, recheck terminator is securely attached and power on restart again.

Note that ID#s and physical position on bus chain cables are independent. Unique numbering is your choice and has nothing to do with physical attachment positions.

Good luck.