Issues with 4GB Sandisk SDHC card

[rpineau]

I just got my HxC Floppy Drive Emulator from Lotharek.
I have a 128MB card that works but I have a brand new Sandisk 4GB SDHC card that seems to not work properly.
I formatted as FAT32 (on a Mac : sudo newfs_msdos -F 32 -v "Falcon HxC" /dev/rdisk1s1) but when I put the card in the HxC it says "Reading FAT ..." (or something similar as I don't have the reader on right now) and the left LED blink .... forever.
I know the reader works as it works with an only 128MB card (IO-Data).
Any idea of what can be the problem ?

Thank you,
Rodolphe

PS : you can reply in French if it's easier as I speak both French and English.

[Jeff]

May i have some details about this card ? a picture ?

[rpineau]

No problem, here is the card :

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006E2 ... UTF8&psc=1

Regards, Rodolphe

[rpineau]

Here are more infos.
This is the partition table of the 4GB card (the one with the "issue"):

Code: Select all

Disk: /dev/disk1	geometry: 960/128/63 [7744512 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: 0B    1   2   3 -  960  48  48 [      8192 -    7736320] Win95 FAT-32
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      

and the partition table of the 128MB card (the one that works) :

Code: Select all

Disk: /dev/disk1	geometry: 995/4/63 [250880 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: 0B    0   1   1 - 1023 254  63 [        63 -     250803] Win95 FAT-32
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      

The main difference is the start sector for the FAT32 partition.

I also have a 32MB card that is not recognize as FAT32 even though it is formated with a FAT32 partition :

Code: Select all

Disk: /dev/disk1	geometry: 241/4/63 [60800 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1: 0B 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [        51 -      60749] Win95 FAT-32
 2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      
 4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused      

Here too the first sector is different.
Does your FAT32 code assume the first sector of the first partition is sector 63 (very common but not always the case) ?

Regards, Rodolphe

[Jeff]

Does your FAT32 code assume the first sector of the first partition is sector 63 (very common but not always the case) ?

Regards, Rodolphe

No, nothing is "hard coded" into the FAT layer.

I think that this more an sd init problem. The firmware you got have some improvement on this point. So try it and tell me if things are better.

[rpineau]

Hi Jeff.
That's what I thought.
I should have time to install the new firmware this evening (USA - PST).
I'll report as soon as it's installed and tested with the 4GB Sandisk SD card

Regards, Rodolphe

[rpineau]

Hi Jeff.
I updated the firmware with the one you sent me.
Unfortunately I still get the same result :

- 128 MB IO-Data : works
- 4GB Sandisk : still says "Reading FAT ..._" forever
- 32 MB Canon : says "Non FAT32 DS ! Please format it" even though it is FAT32 formated.

Thank you
Rodolphe.

[Jeff]

so i must have this sd to solve the issue...

[rpineau]

I can send one to you if you want. They are very cheap here so I don't mind if this helps other people. That will be my contribution to the project.
Regards, Rodolphe

[Jeff]

I can send one to you if you want. They are very cheap here so I don't mind if this helps other people. That will be my contribution to the project.
Regards, Rodolphe

Thanks !

You can find my address at the page 2 :

https://hxc2001.com/download/floppy_driv ... al_ENG.pdf

[rpineau]

Ok no problem. I'll end it today or tomorrow. It'll come from USA so it usually take 5 to 10 days to arrive in France.

Ok Pas de problème. Je poste ça aujourd'hui ou demain. Comme ça viens des Etats-Unis ça prends 5 à 10 jours pour arrivé en France.


Regards, Rodolphe

[rpineau]

Hi Jeff.
Did you ever received the 2 SD cards I sent you ?

Regards,
Rodolphe

[Jeff]

Hi Jeff.
Did you ever received the 2 SD cards I sent you ?

Regards,
Rodolphe

Yes Thanks ! I will works on this soon !

[rpineau]

There is no emergency as I have a class 10 4GB SD card that works. So take your time (i'd rather use the same one as the one I sent you as class 10 is probably overkill for floppy access but I have something working for now).

Regards, Rodolphe

[Jeff]

Ok so:

The 4GB SDcard: I have corrected some stuff in the sd layer, but the main problem with this card is that some sectors are unreadable... And after some of my tests this even worst : The sdcard seems to be unwritable now ...
My advice : Please avoid this model, this seems to be a very bad sdcard ...
I can send you the corrected firmware if you want.

The 32MB SDcard : THe card is formatted in FAT12. A 32MB disk cannot be formatted in FAT32 with a normal formater.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463/en

A FAT32 volume must contain a minimum of 65,527 clusters. You cannot increase the cluster size on a volume that uses the FAT32 file system so that it contains fewer than 65,527 clusters.