HXC Slim drives A+B together on Amiga

[_Jackie]

It works
After power OFF and ON, DF1 is visible.
THANKS

[seldon]

I thought it might be power supply cable, as when I moved it the emulator restarted (I can tell by the beeps). But I have changed the cable and the problem remains.
It looks like this: workbench starts loading, but there are 1 or 2 resets of emulator (I think so, because besides standard drive sounds I hear beeps). But even though it still continues to load. Finally the emulator hangs - the led stops blinking (sometimes it lights, sometimes it is turned off) and pressing the button doesn't make any beeps. In this moment of course Amiga cannot read anything so it displays read error message. If I disconnect and reconnect power from emulator now, it will continue.
The problem is what is the cause? The power cable was loose before, but I replaced it. The voltage seems to be constant - 4,85-4,95V. Theoretically this could be very short voltage drops, that multimeter cannot indicate - maybe I could add a capacitor between ground and +5V to make it more stable?
Still even if it is caused by voltage drops, the emulator should simply restart and not hang (or not?). Could this be caused by software? How can I confirm that firmware is flashed properly? Also, could you send me my previous firmware (V2.0.1.3a) just to test?

[Jeff]

The firmware v2.0.2.2 is provided since some month without any problem.

Since i am very suspicious about your board bootloader & firmware (you shouldnt' have the buggy v2.0.1.3a...) , the thing to do is to exchange it. Lotharek will advice you.

[lotharek]

SELDON -- Please contact me to lotharek@lotharek.pl

[Jeff]

No change for me, I still have to have a non booting Autoboot.hfe in df0: for DF1: to show up.

and without the harddrive ?

[Arnie]

Without the HardDrive, bootable autoboot.hfe, no force loading of autoboot.hfe......

Switch on Amiga, leave card out, wait for boot screen, insert card, boot to Workbench.

No DF1:

Soft reboot.

No DF1:

Switch on Amiga, leave card in, boot to Workbench.

DF1:

Soft reboot.

DF1:

Soft reboot, remove card, wait for boot screen, insert card, boot to Workbench.

No DF1:

[_Jackie]

The second day of testing: It's OK, both drives from HXC work.
But there is something that can be improved.
When I connect an external drive to the Amiga computer should see it as DF2 (DF0 and DF1 emulates HXC).
However, the Amiga does not see the external drive, but DF1 from HXC working together with external DF2.
When reading a floppy disk with DF1, I hear it works external DF2, and vice versa.
Can it be improved? I know that I can turn off the emulation DF1 and then everything is ok, but I would like to emulate two drives from HXC plus the external DF2.
DF2 its real external Floppy Drive.

[Jeff]

The second day of testing: It's OK, both drives from HXC work.
But there is something that can be improved.
When I connect an external drive to the Amiga computer should see it as DF2 (DF0 and DF1 emulates HXC).
However, the Amiga does not see the external drive, but DF1 from HXC working together with external DF2.
When reading a floppy disk with DF1, I hear it works external DF2, and vice versa.
Can it be improved? I know that I can turn off the emulation DF1 and then everything is ok, but I would like to emulate two drives from HXC plus the external DF2.
DF2 its real external Floppy Drive.

This is not an HxC problem. Just set the external drive jumper to DF2 and all should be fine.

[seldon]

Hi Jeff,

I'm still having problems with my HxC, I think I checked everything - power supply, updating procedure and it still doesn't work. There is only one issue to check - maybe my update file is damaged. Could you please verify that attached file I'm using is correct?

[Jeff]

Hi Jeff,

I'm still having problems with my HxC, I think I checked everything - power supply, updating procedure and it still doesn't work. There is only one issue to check - maybe my update file is damaged. Could you please verify that attached file I'm using is correct?

Have you read these messages ? :

The firmware v2.0.2.2 is provided since some month without any problem.

Since i am very suspicious about your board bootloader & firmware (you shouldnt' have the buggy v2.0.1.3a...) , the thing to do is to exchange it. Lotharek will advice you.

SELDON -- Please contact me to lotharek@lotharek.pl

Last try : Please post a picture of your board : i want to see the switches and the floppy cable.

[seldon]

I did contact Lotharek, and that was his idea to check firmware file (maybe to exclude that my copy is damaged or I'm using the wrong file), before I send my HxC to him. I have problems contacting him, so I thought I'll confirm it with you. I would post a picture, but I have it packed and ready to send. But if you think it is necessary I'll unpack it and make a photo. Though I can assure you, that I have set 1. and 6. DIP-switch, and I'm using non-twisted cable (like this one).

[Jeff]

ok so no need to unpack it.

[seldon]

I just wanted to write, that all my problems have been solved. I received my HxC from Lotharek back and everything works as before, as well as both drives A and B. The problem was probably my SD card.

[Jeff]

I just wanted to write, that all my problems have been solved. I received my HxC from Lotharek back and everything works as before, as well as both drives A and B. The problem was probably my SD card.

Thanks for the feedback.
I got your sdcard here to study it in order to check there is a compatibility problem.

[Arnie]

Sorry to say this but, the latest firmware didn't make any difference.

I still need to have the SD card inserted and a non bootable AUTOBOOT.HFE file loaded at startup for DF1: to show up.

Its the same without the HD connected.