Akai S950

[Jeff]

Now here is my problem...
I cannot seem to get an image of the S950 onto the card and be read. When I have placed an S950 formatted floppy into my PC and tried to read it with the HxC software I have no success (am probably making a foolish error!).
When I have tried downloading an S950 image from the HxC site and placing it on the SD card, when inserted into the HxC reader the display reads " HXCSDFE.CFG not found!"

Please can somebody advise.

https://hxc2001.com/floppy_drive_emulat ... Manual.pdf
Page 13:

Copy the file HXCSDFE.CFG into the SDCard

The SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator need the HXCSDFE.CFG be present on the
SDCard. This file contains the floppy emulator settings and the path of last floppy images
used/selected.

The HXCSDFE.CFG file can be created with the HxC Floppy Emulator software or
can be found in the firmware zip file:
https://hxc2001.com/floppy_drive_emulat ... rmware.zip
For more informations about the SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator settings please go to the
SDCard HxC Floppy Emulator settings window chapter (page 19).

And also:
https://hxc2001.com/floppy_drive_emulat ... Images.zip

[Juppdich]

have you already tryied to change the floppy disk cable ?
are you using a twisted floppy cable ?
Have you a picture of your setup ?

I am using non Twisted Cable.
Tryed 3 different ones, including the Original one.
I used standard normal PC Cables wich i simply cut off.
Picture will follow this afternoon.

Should i try a twisted one?
Could the Problems origin from a bad Grounding on some Part?

I tryed one of my very Old Disks on the Real Floppy Drive and it loads completely.
But new saved Samples on a fresh Disk and also on the HxC wont load.
It seems to depend on the Sample size. Small samples wont make any Problems.

Now i replaced nearly every suspect Capacitor ond all three Boards.
While doing this i noticed at a closer look some repairs done to the Akai in it´s past. Obviously done by some mad scientist.
Maybe Problems come from this. I think about buying another untouched Unit off Ebay....
Do you have an Adress or know somebody with a very good knowledge of the S-Class Samplers? Like an Akai Specialist?

[Juppdich]

OK, Fuck all what i posted!
It seems to have been a Problem with the Midi Sample Dump.
Could that really be the case?
At the Moment and after a lot of testing and soldering it looks so.

Sampled the whole 9860ms sucessfully to disk and loaded them back again.
I will try another Sample Dump Program, but the whole Thing look like its working right now.
What is the Best Way to transfer my Samples from PC to Akai? I thought trough midi?

Btw.: I did an Image of an Old Floppy with adisk4.exe launched under real Win98 Dos.
I converted the resulting .igm file with the HxC software, but the S950 keeps saying "Unformatted" upon mount.
I also want to read my old Floppies, so what else could i try?

[banksy76]

Ok, I have located the CFG file and transfered that to my SD card along with the floppy image of the S950 that I obtained from the HxC website. It appears that I am able to save and load new samples and programs to the SD card. So far, so good.

I now need to be able to transfer my library of S950 floppy discs onto the SD card, am I able to do this using only the HxC software? If this is indeed possible, how do I go about doing this?

Many thanks.

[Jeff]

I now need to be able to transfer my library of S950 floppy discs onto the SD card, am I able to do this using only the HxC software? If this is indeed possible, how do I go about doing this?

Many thanks.

You may use the floppy dump function :

https://hxc2001.com/floppy_drive_emulat ... Manual.pdf

[Jeff]

OK, Fuck all what i posted!
It seems to have been a Problem with the Midi Sample Dump.
Could that really be the case?
At the Moment and after a lot of testing and soldering it looks so.

Sampled the whole 9860ms sucessfully to disk and loaded them back again.
I will try another Sample Dump Program, but the whole Thing look like its working right now.
What is the Best Way to transfer my Samples from PC to Akai? I thought trough midi?

Btw.: I did an Image of an Old Floppy with adisk4.exe launched under real Win98 Dos.
I converted the resulting .igm file with the HxC software, but the S950 keeps saying "Unformatted" upon mount.
I also want to read my old Floppies, so what else could i try?

Send me your .img file.

[Juppdich]

img is here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MRGXMK5T

You know there is a Ram test on the S950?
Press +/0/- and then "Letter"
Mine Says: Ram Test and then ICL1 Bad.
I Guess that is not cool.
Google knows nothing about this.
Another Guy @ MPC Forums had a IC1H Bad Error.
Which IC should ICL1 be?
I´m just guessing, but maybe H means high --> Upper Board and L means Low --> Lower Board.
Could someone else please do this test and post some results.

[Jeff]

img is here:
You know there is a Ram test on the S950?
Press +/0/- and then "Letter"
Mine Says: Ram Test and then ICL1 Bad.
I Guess that is not cool.
Google knows nothing about this.
Another Guy @ MPC Forums had a IC1H Bad Error.
Which IC should ICL1 be?
I´m just guessing, but maybe H means high --> Upper Board and L means Low --> Lower Board.
Could someone else please do this test and post some results.

mhh very interesting. So your problem is not an HxC or FDC problem but a RAM problem

[banksy76]

Re: Jumper settings.

Looking at the rear of my cased HxC there are 3 rows of 4 pins...

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
8 10 11 12

Could you please verify for me which of these pins should have a 'jumper' applied.

[Jeff]

Re: Jumper settings.

Looking at the rear of my cased HxC there are 3 rows of 4 pins...

1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
8 10 11 12

Could you please verify for me which of these pins should have a 'jumper' applied.

[banksy76]

I assume that I do not need to place a jumper for the B drive so on the 'A' drive settings do I place the jumper on 0, 1, 2 or 3?

[Jeff]

I assume that I do not need to place a jumper for the B drive so on the 'A' drive settings do I place the jumper on 0, 1, 2 or 3?

0 i think.

[banksy76]

Ok, jumper settings are correct (0).
HxC software is now reading S950 floppy discs (Had to install extension driver for floppy drive on PC)


If i use the blank S950 floppy image from the site, the title of the file appears on the display of the HxC in UPPER CASE and I am able to save and load new data/samples no problem.

However, when I perform the sample dump function using the HxC software the file appears on the HxC in 'lower case' and the S950 doesn't recognize any data from that file. Also, if i try to save any data on that file the S950 reads 'Disk is unprepared. You must FORMAT it"

[Jeff]

Ok, jumper settings are correct (0).
HxC software is now reading S950 floppy discs (Had to install extension driver for floppy drive on PC)


If i use the blank S950 floppy image from the site, the title of the file appears on the display of the HxC in UPPER CASE and I am able to save and load new data/samples no problem.

However, when I perform the sample dump function using the HxC software the file appears on the HxC in 'lower case' and the S950 doesn't recognize any data from that file. Also, if i try to save any data on that file the S950 reads 'Disk is unprepared. You must FORMAT it"

Send me your file.

[banksy76]

Here is the floppy image of a blank disc that has been formatted by my akai s950 and converted to hfe format using the HxC software.