Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

HxC Floppy Emulator on IBM PC and compatible support
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keenerb
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Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2020 6:19 pm

Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by keenerb »

When I attempt to format any floppy image I briefly see "RA" then sometimes "WA" then it appears to eject the disk (display reads "Choose a file").

Any idea what might be going on here? Ive tried many images and several different USB pens.

The error is generally "Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable" and the disk image itself is corrupted/returns "General failure error reading drive A" afterwards. Using MSDOS 3.31 FORMAT command.

keenerb
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Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2020 6:19 pm

Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by keenerb »

The machine formats a 1.44mb physical drive and a 360kb physical drive just fine fwiw.

I'm reverted to an older firmware and it still has issues, so I'm beginning to think the gotek itself has just gone bad...

keenerb
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Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by keenerb »

Nope brand new Gotek flashed with HXC is having same problem.

Really can't understand what is goingi wrong here; writing to disks is fine, I can copy files and make directories and save games and whatnot, I can read 720kb/1.44mb disks fine, but as soon as I try to format something on the gotek everything breaks.

I attached a corrupted(?) disk image that I attempted to format.
Attachments
1_DRDOS7.zip
(137.73 KiB) Downloaded 146 times

norb
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Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by norb »

This image is in .hfe.
Does the same image in .img also do not want to format?

Jeff
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Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by Jeff »

I think that the problem is the image you are using : it's an HFEv3. Formatting it remove all the index opcodes and some others important stuff. That's why the index signal disappear...

The HFEv3 shouldn't used in normal cases. This is just an experimental format to play with some protected stuff in read only mode although simple sector writes seem to work...

In your case use the normal HFE format (attached).
Attachments
Disk_Image.hfe.zip
(27.62 KiB) Downloaded 164 times

keenerb
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Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by keenerb »

Ah hah, I started using that when I started tinkering with the Trackstar 128 apple emulator. I will try other image types.

keenerb
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Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by keenerb »

What's the easiest way to determine an image's HFE version?

keenerb
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Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by keenerb »

Jeff wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:18 am
I think that the problem is the image you are using : it's an HFEv3. Formatting it remove all the index opcodes and some others important stuff. That's why the index signal disappear...

The HFEv3 shouldn't used in normal cases. This is just an experimental format to play with some protected stuff in read only mode although simple sector writes seem to work...

In your case use the normal HFE format (attached).
Still not working with your supplied hfe file. "Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable" after it formats one or two tracks, and then "drive not ready format failure" on any attempt after that.
Attachments
Disk_Image.zip
(29.81 KiB) Downloaded 163 times

Jeff
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Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by Jeff »

Look like both sides of the first cylinder was blanked :
Screenshot at 2021-03-25 14-08-16.png
Screenshot at 2021-03-25 14-08-16.png (37.32 KiB) Viewed 5059 times
I see two possibilities:

- The index signal is not working properly (controller and/or floppy ribbon and/or gotek hardware malfunction)
- The write data signal is not working properly (controller and/or floppy ribbon and/or gotek hardware malfunction)

Since you can write sectors and read them back (have you tested this ?) , i recommend you to check the index signal.

BTW are you using the "normal" 3.5.2.5a or a custom version ?

keenerb
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Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2020 6:19 pm

Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by keenerb »

It may be a bug with the built-in format.com from the bios msdos.

I've been able to format both an HXC from a FF and a FF from a Gotek at this point now that I've tracked down a power adapter splitter so I can use both floppies ;) and boot from MSDOS 6.22 rescue disk and use 6.22 utilities.

I'm using the firmware file provided from your firmware download link.

Jeff
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Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by Jeff »

Is this working with ms dos 6.22 ?

keenerb
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Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by keenerb »

Yes, seems to be fully functional at this point. I will be digging into things a little bit more and see what might be going on when booting from rom dos...

bekean
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Re: Unable to format floppy image on Gotek HXC with firmware 3.5.2.5a

Post by bekean »

keenerb wrote:
Thu Mar 25, 2021 2:09 pm
What's the easiest way to determine an image's HFE version? fnf
Right-click on the HFE image file and select "Properties" (in Windows) or use the equivalent option on your operating system. Look for details such as "File Version" or "Description" that might indicate the HFE version.

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