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Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick
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Author:  tsukasa [ Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

Hello all,

So, I've been working on this for the past few days, and still haven't made any headway.
I built the MyIDE internal interface version 3.1 as per the schematic, and replaced the system rom in my 65XE with MyBios 4.3i on an Eprom.

However, when I boot the system up and load FDISK, I get an HD error, and none of my partitioning information will stick.

I've tried 3 different hard drives so far, including a 2.5" drive, still nothing.

I've triple checked my wiring, tried swapping the chips with others from my parts bin, everything I can think of.

I read in one of the posts that there can be a timing issue with the mexican cpus, I have a Rockwell branded cpu from mexico in my 65XE, could this be the issue?

If not, any ideas as to what else could be the problem?

Thanks in advance

Author:  mr-atari [ Sun Apr 15, 2012 2:26 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

You can try the 74LS573-fix with 220pF on A0-A2

Also use the newer 4.7.x MyBIOS.

Later,
Sijmen.

Author:  tsukasa [ Sat Apr 21, 2012 8:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

Thanks for the quick response. :)
So, I completely rebuilt the interface from the ground up, and replaced the 'LS04 and 'LS32 with F-types, (found em buried in my parts bin).

I made sure to test the parts beforehand also, just in case.

I reconnected everything, and this time around I do get the changing background colors on screen when it's trying to boot.
(I assume this means the Atari is getting data from the drive).

Again, I still get "HD-Error" when I enter FDISK2 by typing BYE at the basic prompt, and the partition information disappears when I save and exit.

So, as suggested, I installed a 74LS373 (Same as 'LS573 but with different pinout) on the address lines between the console and the drive, with (As indicated in another post) a 470pF capacitor on the select line (Pin 19).

Again, I get the colored background but the partition info disappears still.

I haven't updated MyBIOS to 4.7i yet because I don't have any blank EPROMS on me and I don't have my eraser.

Any other suggestions?

EDIT: One sec just found an NVRAM, I'm going to try flashing the new MyBIOS to it and see what happens, stay tuned.

EDIT2: Alright so I've got MyBIOS 4.7i running, it seems to hang on boot though, I have to hit reset before I can do anything.
Once I get to the MyBios menu, I try to init the drive, but it sits there with "Wait!"
The hdd activity LED stays lit, I checked the signal with my scope and it was a stream of pulses, not a solid signal, not sure if that's relevant...

Author:  mr-atari [ Sun Apr 22, 2012 5:30 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

This is very strange......

The new BIOS: hold S+S+O and powerup.
This will get you directly to the Menu.
The bootup wait is a 5 second timeout on IDE.
After this 5 second the system should bootup with MEMO-PAD.

I'll check with a real drive myself and get back later today.
(I always work with CF the last years).

Sijmen.

[EDIT]
Used the latest 4.7.4 I from the forum.
Hitachi 2.5" 2GB (CHS=4188/16/63).
Internal MyIDE with GAL16v8 / LS245 / eeprom (from atarimax)
No problems.....
INIT does a scan through the cylinders 1 second or so.
ESC/SAVE works too.

Tested the time-out, works too, 5 second black screen, then boots from SIO/memopad.

more stranger then the first time now....

Author:  tsukasa [ Sun Apr 22, 2012 11:09 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

Booting with Start+Select+Option held gives a black screen (sometimes white screen) with no drive activity..
Doing it without a drive attached gives me a brownish green screen like an unitialized gtia maybe.

Booting normally with or without a drive attached it hangs, until I hit reset, which takes me to memopad.

If I hold S+S+O with reset from memopad, it takes me to the MyIDE Menu.

I'm wondering if it's compatibility issues between my 65xe and the rom.
Running the latest (4.7.04i) bios.
Hdd is 2.5" Hitachi 60GB c/h/s 16383/16/63

I am using the correct rom right?
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1086
File MyBIOS 4.7 Rom Flash versions.zip
MyBIOS47i.rom

EDIT
I tried reburning the rom to make sure I didn't mess up on doubling it to fit my 32KB chip, still same results.

EDIT2
I found an eeprom in my parts bin, burned the OS to that and now MyBIOS seems to load properly....
Init still seems to hang however.
Could this be related to the large drive size? 60GB

Author:  Sysop*Marius [ Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

In the schematic on Mr Atari site the IDE reset is connected. Do not make that connection!

Does this help?

Author:  mr-atari [ Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

Sysop*Marius wrote:
In the schematic on Mr Atari site the IDE reset is connected. Do not make that connection!
Does this help?

http://www.mr-atari.com/myide.htm
Not sure what Marius means here, the reset must be pulled with 4k7 to 'unfloat' this signal.

I did find some timing issues myself with slow drives, I.E. the spinup-time after 2-3 seconds
wit these 2.5" laptop-drives.... Hmmmm, I think you found a bug in the OS.
Try this version.

Also your disk to to large........
MyBIOS (CHS-modus) detects maximum 65535 cylinders.
So you better do a SHIFT-INIT and enter 65535,16,63
You can still use the part beyond cylinder 65535, but this only accessable with images.

BTW, larger then 4 Gb makes not much sense, there isn't that much software.
Unless you want to do MyIDE-movies ;-)

Later,
Sijmen.

Author:  Sysop*Marius [ Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

[quote="mr-atari
Not sure what Marius means here, the reset must be pulled with 4k7 to 'unfloat' this signal.
[/quote]

Odd. In the MyIDE carts I have from Steven Tucker this is not done. In my own build MyIDE's I disconnected this, which appeared to increase compatibility. With my electronics projects most of the time I have really no idea what I'm doing (like disconnecting this 4k7 resistor haha)... but it looked like improving compatibility.

So it is better to put this resistor back?

Greetz
M.

Author:  mr-atari [ Tue Apr 24, 2012 1:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

Just found something myself about jumpers on a HD.....

You need to set the drive as MASTER and removed the CABLE-SELECT.

Also I tested a 40Gb drive.
It's detected as CHS=65535/16/63 (the maximum for CHS), so drives larger then 32GB should
be detected correctly.

Later,
Sijmen.

to Marius:
Most drives have pin-1 internally pulled to 5 volt.
But to my oppinion it's better to be safe and use a external pullup, just in case.

Author:  tsukasa [ Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

I've had the drive set as master the whole time, Shift+Init to manually set the drive geometry, and I don't hear the drive head doing anything when I save and exit....

I suspect I might be having issues with my burning of the OS, I'll play around with it more tonight and get back to you, my burner has been acting strangely.

Author:  mr-atari [ Wed Apr 25, 2012 1:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

Some drives when set to MASTER expect a SLAVE to be present.
Just check if that drive then needs NO jumpers to be MASTER (without SLAVE)

Later,
Sijmen.

Author:  mr-atari [ Sat Apr 28, 2012 1:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

Any progress?

Author:  tsukasa [ Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:13 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

Unfortunately no, still nothing.
I was able to get my eprom burner working properly (noisy cable)
and burned a couple of eeproms to use for the bios rom.

I've got final exams next week so I won't have time to work on it until the end of next week at the earliest.
I'll post again then.

Thanks for all your help so far.

Author:  mr-atari [ Sun Apr 29, 2012 2:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homebuilt myide internal, partition won't stick

Ok, no problem.

Good luck with your exams!

Give me a pm when you are ready again.
I want to send you some private beta's to see what is wrong.
:-)

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