HxC Floppy Drive Emulator

Hi, I'm working through getting a broken-since-I-got-it Emulator II up and running. This machine has a Debug facility which can be used by swapping-in a special debug EPROM and using a "dumb terminal" to communicate via the machine's Serial Port.

I'm almost certain that I put the .EII and .emuiios files on the HD Card correctly. I followed the directions very, very, carefully. The machine/memory itself tests to be healthy. The disk tests fail, however:

1) There's a "Test Disk Burst (Index) Timing" command which, according to the Service Manual, should return a hex number between 0060 and 0070. The number returned is 015F.

2) The "Test Disk" command fails with lots of CRC errors.

The Burst Timing does not appear to be adjustable in the HxC UI, and I couldn't find anything in the .cfg files that was human-readable. Is this a "bug" or should I keep searching for the problem?

Thanks,
rs

According to the user manual you must convert these files to the HFE format.

Try these ones :
http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emu ... Images.zip
(Unzip SDHxCFE_Emu_Emulator_II.zip on a FAT32 SDCard)


http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emu ... l#download

Can you try this with the normal EPROM ? (not the special test mode...)

Thanks for replying. I should have clarified that I went through the whole process, including converting the files to .HFE.

Also, I tried some of these files. Exact same problem occurs.

rs

With the normal EPROM ?

That's correct, normal EPROM. I only switched to the Debug when the regular one wasn't working right.
rs

Correct?!? Is it working or not ? Can you boot on it ?

(I must leave now... i will come back monday...)

The problem (which is that the keyboard is not booting from disk) occurs when the standard EPROM is plugged in.

The *only* time that I switched to the Debug EPROM was to run the system diagnostics.

Otherwise the standard EPROM is running. And the problem persists.

rs

Ok so how is the floppy disk access LED on the floppy emulator ? If it is always on, try to revert the floppy cable.
If it is always off, check your jumper setting.

Have tried to change the floppy cable ?

Did you see the floppy emulator reacting when the Emu II try to access it ?

The disk access LED on the HxC blinks on and off as the Emulator2 tries to access it. The Emulator2 does appear to be accessing the HxC and the HxC does react. It will read about 3 sectors then stop, which according to the Emulator2 Service Manual means that there's possibly a drive-related problem. (That's where the whole Burst Timing thing came in, since that's the only verifiable thing I could get to fail.)

I've tried multiple cables (twisted and untwisted) and multiple drive jumper settings.

rs

You mean track i suppose ?

Is the Emu II working with it's floppy disk drive ?

This issue remember me something. Where and when did you get this Emu II ?

Yes, "Track", not Sectors.

I bought it broken on eBay about a year ago. The original floppy drive never worked though it got "farther" in the load process than this one.

rs

Did you have the name or nickname of the seller ?

eBay seller was ocdepot.04. It looks to be a Government/Technical Surplus outlet. From the auction listing I didn't get the impression that it was a "music person" at all.

Why do you ask?

rs

Because this remember me an issue with another user a year ago,... so i want to check that this is not the same Emu II

To make short :

-> The SDcard and files on it are ok (Anyway have you tried another sdcard ?)
-> the floppy cable and jumper settings seems ok.

So the last 2 possibles issues are :

-> a hardware problem with the floppy emulator :
-----> Can you try it on a PC or something else ?
(Some images for PC : http://hxc2001.free.fr/floppy_drive_emu ... Images.zip )

-> An hardware problem with the Emu II :
-----> Have you checked the power supply ? (recommended voltage for the HxC : 4.75V - 5.25V. If possible check it with an oscilloscope)
-----> Something wrong around the Emu II FDC : Oscillator/PLL problem ? (Is there an PLL calibration on this machine ?)

I've tried multiple SD cards, and the HxC works great on a Windows XP Desktop PC I had lying around.

I'm in the process of going through the Service Manual for the Emulator2. The voltage is perfect.

According to the Service Manual, there are a variety of timing issues you can check with an oscilloscope (I've already fixed one) and there are still hardware items I can go through. (I'm in the process of replacing about USD $5 worth of ICs, Gates and Muxers and such, that the Service Manual says might be the problem.)

If the problem with "Burst Timing" is definitely not related to the HxC software, I'll keep researching the Emulator2 hardware. I just wanted to cover that base, so thanks!

rs