I'm following in some others' footsteps putting an SSD into my CMD HD.

The parts I'm using are:

- CMD HD-170
- ACARD ARS-2000SUP
- OCZ Onyx Series OCZSSD2-1ONX32G 2.5" 32GB SATA II MLC Internal SSD

My CMD HD came with Boot ROM 2.78. If it helps narrow things down, I purchased if from CMD in 1996 and the circuit board version is 'HD20100 REV2'.

When I power on the drive, it goes through the diagnostics but ends with both upper and lower activity lights on solid. In this state, the serial bus is locked up and I cannot talk to any devices on it. For instance, if I try to LOAD"$",8 (1541-II) it will hang. If I turn off the HD while this command is hung, the 1541-II begins to behave normally. Putting the old SCSI HD back in puts the CMD HD back to normal operation. Plugging the ACARD in without an SSD in it cause the drive to through normal init routines but instead of putting both activity lights on solid, the bottom light is off and the top light blinks without end and the serial bus still hangs. While I can get programs loaded from the CMD HD tools disk, once I turn the HD back on and try to access it from those programs, the serial bus hangs again.

I cannot find any information in the manual about what it means when both Activity LEDs are on at the same time. It looks like the top one is for the serial bus and the bottom is for SCSI but I don't know why it is hanging on both at the same time or what I can do about it. It also doesn't explain why the top light blinks forever with an ACARD but no SSD.

The ACARD is set to SCSI ID 0 with the 'SCSI Terminator' and 'Terminator On' jumpers connected. All other jumpers are disconnected, but I have tried some other configurations like 'Delay Start' to more closely imitate the spin up time of a SCSI HD and 'Parity Disable' because it was suggested in other forums that CMD HDs do not support parity. The state of these jumpers appear to change nothing.

If I do not have anything connected to the SCSI cable at all, the CMD HD goes into a blinking Error light at startup as expected. About all I can assume from this is that the ACARD is probably terminating properly.

I downloaded and burned BootROM 2.80 and I get the same exact activity. The SSD itself works in my PC. I'm currently looking for a SCSI card for my PC that will let me attempt to use the ACARD/SSD combo and test that it works. I've got a bead on one now, but figured I'd post here anyway assuming it works to see what else we can come up with.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Any idea what it even means to have both activity lights on solid? Any other ideas I can try?

I put a SCSI to IDE converter in mine, and then an IDE to Compact Flash adapter -- works well!

First off, make sure you have boot roms V2.8.

I don't recall all of the steps, but of course, you need the HD Tools stuff so that you can format and partition the drive for CMD's DOS.
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This thread should provide some help for you. It explains how to stop the HD from locking up the serial bus.

Thanks, hurminator! That worked. Funny enough, something I didn't put into my post was that I had tried to go into install mode under 2.78 and it didn't work. Since I was seeing all the other symptoms under 2.80 that I saw under 2.78, I assumed it wouldn't work and didn't try to go into install mode in 2.80.

My CMD-SSD is working now!

You're welcome and its great to hear your drive is working Can you post some pics of the inside for those of us, like me, who are curious?

Sure.

I don't have my web server setup since my move, but I've got pictures ready to post. As soon as I get my server running, I'll link them here.

Or, just select the add image to post option right below the edit box when posting a reply. Works quite well and doesn't bust the width of the forum.
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That sounds like a good idea. Let's see how this turns out.

Step 1 - Acquire the Components

Here is the Full CMD-HD 170:



Here is the ACARD that will go into it:



And here is the SSD:





Step 2 - Remove the Old Drive





Step 3 - Configure the ACARD and SSD

Open the ACARD:



Install the SSD:



Configure the jumpers for SCSI ID 0 and SCSI termination enabled:



Close the ACARD case.

Step 4 - Install ACARD/SSD



Step 5 - Close Case and Enjoy!

Looks good.
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Nice... I bet it is quiet! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the pictures.

Looks nice and neat.

Shane
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Thanks, guys! These ACARDs are a little hard to find and they are expensive but they do work!

It is definitely quiet! The CMD-HD was louder than all of my PCs put together so the room just sounds eerily quiet all of a sudden. But I'm sure I'll get used to it!