Initiator Mode not working on Xebec 1410 controller with Rodime RO200 series SASI drive

[Crashedfiesta]

I have an ancient UK machine called a Cifer 1887 which has a 10mb Rodime hard disk connected to a Xebec 1410 controller. The interface into the computer itself is actually IEE488 but that's another story... I've never managed to get it boot and it either has a really early Unix on it or possibly a version of CP/M. So I've been looking to try and use a BlueSCSI v2 to image the disk with initiator mode to see what I actually have - and to preserve the data - but I cannot get it to work.

I have the BlueSCSI connected to the 'host' connector on the Xebec card and the hard disk connected with the usual two cables for a HD this age.

When I power everything up, the HD spins up and indicates 'Drive Ready', but there's no activity from the BlueSCSI. After a minute or so the green LED lights on the Pico and then it goes off again after another minute or so.

Termination is 'ON' and 'Back Feed' is also 'ON'.

The BlueSCSI.ini has the following in it:

[SCSI]
InititatorMode = 1
Quirks = 4 ; Xebec
Debug = 1
EnableSCSI2 = 0
DisableParity = 1
MaxSyncSpeed = 0
EnableUSBMassStorage = 0
EnableSelLatch = 1
SelectionDelay = 1

I've attached the log file which I hope might give some clue as to if I'm doing something wrong (or being stupid). To be fair, I do not have any confirmation that the Xebec controller itself is working as I've got nothing else to try it in..

logTermON_BF_ON.txt

[erichelgeson]

Thanks for the details -
Quirks=4, DisableParity=1, etc only affect target mode - they have no effect when running as an initiator. For parity, you'd need InitiatorParity=0 instead.

The Xebec responds to SCSI selection (asserts BSY), but then never starts a command phase (REQ never goes active). You could try hitting the reset button on the BlueSCSI to force a bus reset SW1 once it's in this hung state.

[Crashedfiesta]

So I tried the reset button but (apart from it being a bit sticky as I've never pressed it before!) there was no change in behaviour.

I set it running and left it for some time and I got this log file which suggests it's checking every address but not finding anything. The drive should be ID 0 according to the Xebec card manual - it's certainly never been changed by me and the board looks untouched at the jumper location.

LogTime_OneReset_log.txt

I'm starting to wonder if there is actually a fault on the Xebec controller.

[erichelgeson]

SASI does select slightly differently then SCSI, but it should still work. And yes it's a bit hard to determine if the controller's bad or bug in the firmware.