AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

HxC Floppy Emulator on Atari ST support
Jeff
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by Jeff »

telengard wrote:Just to be sure, I switched the HxC over to the external power supply and I'm still seeing the !!<<bad file>>!!. Might not be related, but I'd be curious to know what causes that.
"!!<<bad file>>!!" means that you are trying to load a file that isn't a HFE file.

Other possiblities :
-> You have removed the HFE file from the SD without removing it from the slot.
-> You have corrupted the CFG file or the HFE file. This may happen if the ST is going to be completly nuts and write bad data to the SD with the AUTOBOOT software. Try to use the emulator without the AUTOBOOT software (use a normal cfg file).
A last possibility : overvoltage on the hxc ( > 5.6V ), which produce communication error with the SD Card. Again : Check your PSU voltage, and/or try another SD brand & model...

yerzmyey
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by yerzmyey »

Jeff wrote: Which is a very bad pratice : The external and internal power supply have for sure a voltage difference... This produce communication error between the ST and the external device ( the HxC ). Please always use the same power source as the FDC...

Well, I don't know what is FDC, but anyway I use Atari 520ST and Lotharek said it has no "power support" inside and that I will need an external power-supply unit. Which he chosen and adapted. So I assume it's OK.

telengard
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by telengard »

Jeff wrote:
yerzmyey wrote:Yes, my HxC works with the external power supply, while the error appears.
Which is a very bad pratice : The external and internal power supply have for sure a voltage difference... This produce communication error between the ST and the external device ( the HxC ). Please always use the same power source as the FDC...
I always do that, I was just trying it to see if the <<!!bad file!!>> showed up that way. I had made the image using the hfe program and it didn't say anything about errors.

telengard
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by telengard »

Ok, spent this afternoon working on this. Just for a note this is a NOS Atari 1040 ST I got from Best Electronics and was working with the HxC flawlessly last time I had it out.

- Checked out the 12V and 5V line with my scope, looked fine, power supply itself showed no signs of trouble (bulging caps, etc... it looks brand new)
- Reconnected my ST drive and loaded Goldrunner fine, did this many times and it worked consistently
- Tried 2 different SD cards and reformatted (not quick), copied over my autoboot and then cfg file

Regardless of jumper settings the floppy light is staying on. I normally used ID0 and pin 1 is lined up normally.

I'm sure I'm doing something wrong here, I'm just not sure what...

Jeff
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by Jeff »

Please use a -clean- cfg file, regenerated from the hxc software or the ones available on the zip files, and don't use one cfg file coming from another sd...

EDIT: Same remark about the autoboot : please use the one available on the HxC website... your autoboot may be infected by some viruses...

Jeff
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by Jeff »

yerzmyey wrote:
Jeff wrote: Which is a very bad pratice : The external and internal power supply have for sure a voltage difference... This produce communication error between the ST and the external device ( the HxC ). Please always use the same power source as the FDC...

Well, I don't know what is FDC, but anyway I use Atari 520ST and Lotharek said it has no "power support" inside and that I will need an external power-supply unit. Which he chosen and adapted. So I assume it's OK.
FDC: Floppy Disk Controller.

I am curious to see this power supply...

telengard
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by telengard »

Jeff wrote:Please use a -clean- cfg file, regenerated from the hxc software or the ones available on the zip files, and don't use one cfg file coming from another sd...

EDIT: Same remark about the autoboot : please use the one available on the HxC website... your autoboot may be infected by some viruses...
Ok, I just did that... downloaded the latest, formatted, dropped on the cfg then the autoboot for my ST. Same exact behavior. Not booting. I also tried creating a new cfg and writing it to a freshly formatted SD card and dropping a .st image converted to .hfe. Could select the image but couldn't load from it.

Pretty much no activity over the floppy cable from what I can tell. The light is permanently on, but no jumper setting works (this had previously worked w/ ID0 drive A). To be sure I tried every setting for Drive A. Same behavior.

Jeff
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by Jeff »

Are you sure that you are connecting the floppy ribbon into the right way?
Can you see the Drive A on the GEM desktop ?

telengard
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by telengard »

Jeff wrote:Are you sure that you are connecting the floppy ribbon into the right way?
Can you see the Drive A on the GEM desktop ?
I finally managed to get a disk to load after trying many times formatting and placing a cfg and disk image on the SD card. The ST was soft resetting while loading but after a few tries it loaded and continued to load after that. I didn't have that issue w/ the Goldrunner disk at all, but now I'm wondering if this is an issue that goes away as the ST is warmed up.

Back to the bench...

Jeff
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by Jeff »

Warm up problem : PSU instability due to aged/bad capacitors.

BTW : The main difference between the HxC and the Floppy drive is that the HxC drawn lesser current and don't use the +12V power supply line.

Other possiblity : Bad contact at the PLCC support.

telengard
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by telengard »

Jeff wrote:Warm up problem : PSU instability due to aged/bad capacitors.

BTW : The main difference between the HxC and the Floppy drive is that the HxC drawn lesser current and don't use the +12V power supply line.

Other possiblity : Bad contact at the PLCC support.
I'll check out both of those, thanks.

~brian

TeaTimeMyDear
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Re: AUTOBOOT - a strange problem.

Post by TeaTimeMyDear »

Hi.

I got the same problems so i do not autoload autoboot.HFE fiile anymore.
Instead, i autoload standalone.HFE file furnished with firmware package to get straight on desktop.

Then, i run manualy HxC Manager from desktop and no more bombs anymore !.
That's the way i fixed it. :P

Bye.

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