HxC Floppy Drive Emulator

Hi, I bought the HxC SD version back in April 2010 and due to life crap and things to sort out, I have only just got around to trying it for the first time! I have the red Rev B 050310 board which I assume is either a March or May production batch, and I wonder if it is possible to just jump straight to the latest firmware in one step, or do I have to upgrade a few times using older firmwares until I reach the newer one?

SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator Update procedure :

For users with the firmware V1.2.0.0 or above jump to the step 2) directly (No Bootloader update required)



1) Bootloader update (for users with a firmware below the version 1.2.0.0)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!! Warning : DO NOT CUT the power supply of the board during the bootloader programming ! !!!
!!! In case of power loss, the device may be unusable and need a factory reprogramming. !!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-> Copy the new bootloader file (HxC_SD_Bootloader_V1_0TOV1_1.upd) to a freshly formated FAT32 SDCard.
-> Insert the SDCard into the emulator
-> Press Left and Right buttons before power up and keep it pressed at least 1 seconds at power up.
-> Wait some seconds. When 2 leds are blinking (Sdcard access led and Floppy Access led) it's done !
(to be sure wait 1 minutes before removing the power supply).

After this the firmware must be flashed. (Please go to the step 2: Firmware update)



2) Firmware update

-> Copy the new firmware file (*.upd) to a freshly formated FAT32 SDCard.
-> Insert the SDCard into the emulator
-> Press Left and Right buttons before power up and keep it pressed at least 1 seconds at power up.
-> Wait some seconds .... its done !



Note 1:
The file must be unfragmented on the sdcard and must be in the first part of the root directory.
For these reasons it is recommended to use a freshly formatted FAT32 SDCard, otherwise you may get the error 4 or 6 (see note 2).

Note 2:
Bootstrap LED error messages:
Error 1 : (blink 1 time and 2 seconds pause cycle) No entry point (->no software flashed)
Error 2 : (blink 2 time and 2 seconds pause cycle) SDCard init error.
Error 3 : (blink 3 time and 2 seconds pause cycle) FAT error.
Error 4 : (blink 4 time and 2 seconds pause cycle) UPD File not found!
Error 5 : (blink 5 time and 2 seconds pause cycle) Bad UPD File header! (bad file)
Error 6 : (blink 6 time and 2 seconds pause cycle) Bad data crc! (file corrupt)
Error 7 : (blink 7 time and 2 seconds pause cycle) Bad data size!
Error 8 : (blink 8 time and 2 seconds pause cycle) Write error (Pic flash error)

Later today I will check here for any replies and then format a Kingston 16GB Class 4 SDHC card, and then copy on the required upgrade files. I assume I can simply plug this straight into my Atari STE without modification, and then select the correct jumper setting?

Not getting anywhere at all and I have been trying all day for hours with my Atari STE. To begin with I just powered up the board to see if it actually worked and find out which firmware version I had (v1.1.0.1 I think it said), because I have not done so since I received it in May / June 2010. It seemed to work and went through various display prompts and finally went into some sort of standby mode, because there was no SD card inserted. So far so good I thought. I then carefully and slowly followed the user instructions and tried to upgrade the bootloader with the single required file in the root of the SD card. The display showed a long line of lit squares and the red LED flashed five times, paused two seconds and repeated. Now the board is stuck at this point and I do not know how to progress.

I have tried downloading the files again from your website, in-case they were corrupted the first time. I have tried five different SD cards, most of them Sandisk or Kingston and most either 1GB or 16GB, and one is even a tried and trusted Sandisk Extreme 1GB. I have used my Win XP Pro to format the cards to FAT32 before I put a file on, and I have done this many times. I have even tried just putting the Quick Install images on there after removing the bootloader file, to see if it could just boot with the firmware it came with but it did the same five LED flash error sequence. Prior to this I have even tried upgrading the firmware with v1.1.2.3 from 2010 and omitting the bootloader upgrade, but again the five LED flash error sequence. I cannot get rid of this damn error!

Any ideas?

That worked! I put the other SD card with the Quick Install images on and managed to load the DSOTS demo. I did not get the onscreen file manager but maybe that is not enabled on the Quick Install config file?

Anyway thanks for the help and any reason why the boot loader did not upgrade for me, and yet the firmware designed for it did? I suppose the firmware made it on there ok as the display now shows v1.6.0.0, so no harm done. By the way is it ok to unplug SD cards while it is powered on?

Just need to study the manual to configure it for my Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum +3 now! Is the 1000 image limit the total for the card or for each folder directory?