Just throwing this out there... I don't know anything about this particular system. What wattage power supply does the system have and have you tried a different one?

I know on my IBM PC with the original 62.5W power supply it's so close to the limit with a 3.5" MFM hard drive, 5.25" and 3.5" floppies and multiple cards that the hard drive doesn't always initialize properly if I merely have the door locked shut on the 5.25 floppy because this makes it spin for a while during startup... Presumably drawing too much juice for the hard drive to function.

Most systems aren't this limited, but I figured it'd be worth mentioning.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2023-01-16, 14:03:

Just throwing this out there... I don't know anything about this particular system. What wattage power supply does the system have and have you tried a different one?

I don't think that's the case. I have got a 200W PSU here.
And its always not working on the twisted side of cable. I can swap drives i have same result "twisted one" don't work

twisted ?

don't those drives have a common cable and a separate cable? No twist required.
the data cable being common, straight cable for all connectors
the control cable being separate per drive.
and maybe also a termination resistor to be removed.

a floppy drive "needs" a twist, but an mfm/rll drive... I doubt it.

weedeewee wrote on 2023-01-16, 16:35:

twisted ? […]
Show full quote

twisted ?

don't those drives have a common cable and a separate cable? No twist required.
the data cable being common, straight cable for all connectors
the control cable being separate per drive.
and maybe also a termination resistor to be removed.

a floppy drive "needs" a twist, but an mfm/rll drive... I doubt it.

Not sure I can help OP - but I was recently setting up a NEC D5126 MFM drive, and it wouldn't initialise with a straight cable. It's only when I used a twisted cable that I managed to get it working 🤷

MMaximus wrote on 2023-01-16, 19:49:

weedeewee wrote on 2023-01-16, 16:35:

twisted ? […]
Show full quote

twisted ?

don't those drives have a common cable and a separate cable? No twist required.
the data cable being common, straight cable for all connectors
the control cable being separate per drive.
and maybe also a termination resistor to be removed.

a floppy drive "needs" a twist, but an mfm/rll drive... I doubt it.

Not sure I can help OP - but I was recently setting up a NEC D5126 MFM drive, and it wouldn't initialise with a straight cable. It's only when I used a twisted cable that I managed to get it working 🤷

I think I made a mistake, it's separate data cable per drive, and combined control cable.
so that would impy either jumpering the drive to the correct id, or have the cable with a twist.

https://arvutimuuseum.ee/th99/h/txt/4017.txt
JP7 seems to be the one

If you have the twisted cable, both drives must be jumpered the same

weedeewee wrote on 2023-01-16, 21:04:

maxtherabbit wrote on 2023-01-17, 03:24:

If you have the twisted cable, both drives must be jumpered the same

Thank you, it helped a little.
Now PC sees two drives. But on second one (slave,twisted...) data is seen as garbage.
When i swap drives it sees only one drive.
What now? One of them is defective?
They both work properly in one drive configuration.

http://www.uncreativelabs.de/th99/c/M-O/20151.htm

The DIP-switch settings on your photo are different than any of the settings listed there...
but the description isn't clear, we need the original manual.
Also, it would be a good idea to enter the LLF utility, and see what's in there...

Grzyb wrote on 2023-01-17, 09:46:

The DIP-switch settings on your photo are different than any of the settings listed there...

That is why i posted this photo. This is original setting that i got when i received this mashie.
I don't Know how it should be set.
Changing to:
4/612 (first one)
#2 - controller posts "logically partitioned hard disc"
#1 - system hangs while booting from HDD

4/612 (second one)
#2 - nothing changed, system boots, second disc is garbage.
#1 - "non system or disk error"

Grzyb wrote on 2023-01-17, 09:46:

Also, it would be a good idea to enter the LLF utility, and see what's in there...

I didn't check it with LLF utility but CheckIT sees second drive (in two drives setup, when second drive gets recognized) as 11MB, so that's not right...

ST-225 is 4 heads, 615 cyllinders
there's no exact match in the description, so 4/612 should be good enough...
Checkit reports a single drive as 4/612, right?

But I don't trust that description, eg. 4/1024 and 7/820 have the same settings...

The proper manual is a must, otherwise try all 256 combinations, or disassemble the BIOS and figure out how it reads drive parameters...

A wild guess:
it's possible that the switches 1..4 are for the first drive, and 5..8 for the second...
So, what happens when you set 5..8 exactly like 1..4 ?

funny... the link I posted states CHS 615/4/17 precomp 300 LZ 670

nevermind, your link is about the controller 😁

Grzyb wrote on 2023-01-17, 15:56:

A wild guess:
it's possible that the switches 1..4 are for the first drive, and 5..8 for the second...
So, what happens when you set 5..8 exactly like 1..4 ?

It worked!
Both drives work!
Consider yourself my personal superhero.
Many thanks!

What on earth are you going to do with so much storage? Host a MUD or BBS?