Winuae "block zero failed write" with CF card

[merlinkv]

Normally I use my Amigas but tested the "new" 2.3.2 I also found errors with my CF's (different brands & sizes).

Using the "old" 2.3.1.... everything is OK

About FileSystems:

SFS 1.277 - SFS/00 Identifier: 0x53465300
SFS 1.279 - SFS/02 Identifier: 0x53465302

Blocksize: 512
Mask: 7FFFFFFE
MaxTransfer: 0x0001FE00

SFS/00 Max size partition: 128GB
SFS/02 Max size partition 1TB

For a Boot partiton best is to use no more than 1.8 GB

 

[Jumping Anaconda]

I've got it to boot, but not consistently. I think there could be a power issue.

It seems like there is not enough time for the drive to "spin up" before it reaches the boot screen. If I leave the machine on for a short while, there is a better chance it will boot up from the disk when I reboot. I am not sure what the reason would be for this. Could there be a software setting causing this? I would have thought the drive would have been instantly available. Maybe this will be resolved if I get my memory expansion working again, as that should add some time to the boot up test.

Also, the OS seems to be querying the drive all the time. The only time it does not is when it is at the boot menu, when the disk light remains yellow. I am fairly baffled.

I am going to try unplugging the floppy drive and see if this resolves any issue. I am still suspect of the power supply.

---------- Post added at 17:11 ---------- Previous post was at 17:04 ----------

Actually, I won't bother with the floppy drive yet, as the machine seems to boot stable if I give it a little while to warm up. I suspect the need to warm up is not a good sign for one piece of hardware or another

 

[ptp170]

I had this problem ages ago. Was tearing my hair out over it. I eventually sorted it by doing the partitions on UAE and then using my real amiga to do the formatting. I've also had the intermittant boot issue as well. My board is a 1D4 and as soon as I performed the timing fix on it all the boot issues disappeared

 

[Jumping Anaconda]

I had this problem ages ago. Was tearing my hair out over it. I eventually sorted it by doing the partitions on UAE and then using my real amiga to do the formatting. I've also had the intermittant boot issue as well. My board is a 1D4 and as soon as I performed the timing fix on it all the boot issues disappeared

My board has not had the timing fix, but I thought it only affected machines with 040 or 060 accelerators?

My machine has now gone crazy. I got it so it that it seemed to be reliably booting from the CF if I let it cold boot to the disk animation screen, and then do a soft reboot. Then I tried to get my apparently malfunctioning Wizard MagnumRAM8 to work. After some cleaning of the edge connectors, it worked for a bit. Then it stopped working, and reattaching the CF once again resulted in the drive not being seen at cold of soft reboots of the machine.

Ever since I've had this machine it has seemed like pot luck to get it to do anything. My A500 was very reliable, only software made it fall over, but my A1200 has always be a real dog. I would be very interested to see if the timing fix sorted out the issues, it would explain a lot. I'll have to wait for more disposable income to see if it helps.

---------- Post added at 01:21 ---------- Previous post was at 01:19 ----------

BTW, my motherboard is the dreaded revision 2B, made in the UK.

 

[merlinkv]

What PSU you use?

I use one modded ATX PSU for my A1200 & A600.

 

[Jumping Anaconda]

I can't get any drives to work on the internal ide device now, either internal or external powered. I tried a 3.5 inch hard disk and it would not even spin up when connected to the Amiga with external power.

I am using an A500 4.3 power brick. I don't trust it, but I suspect it may not be the only issue. I am guessing it could be one or both of two things:

1, Faulty power supply
2, Faulty capacitors
3, Some other issue that was never diagnosed and has always been wrong with the Amiga.

I've noticed some other odd behaviour. With nothing on the ide interface there is a delay of 7 seconds or so before the machine reaches the disk animation. With a drive plugged in it reaches the animation almost instantly.

There seems like there is a lot of oxidation on the shielding and some of the connectors. Is a blast of WD40 likely to make any difference? I fear my machine is unwell.

 

[Justin]

there is a built in wait time while the miggy looks for an ide device

 

[Jumping Anaconda]

I thought that might be the case, but the very quick appearance of the boot screen when a drive is attached suggests that it is finding it and then failing somewhere along the line.

 

[fitzsteve]

I thought that might be the case, but the very quick appearance of the boot screen when a drive is attached suggests that it is finding it and then failing somewhere along the line.

That normally means the drive did not spin up in time. Did you try CTRL-A-A reset? (This can also be a timing issue with some CF cards/IDE adapters)

Anyway reading your other posts if defo sound like you have an issue here, maybe caps? (Or timing issues as you thought)

All the best,

Steve.

 

[Justin]

I thought that might be the case, but the very quick appearance of the boot screen when a drive is attached suggests that it is finding it and then failing somewhere along the line.

agreed. did you say you've tried a 2.5" drive?

i have a 4gb drive you can borrow for testing if you like?

 

[Jumping Anaconda]

Thanks for the offer of the drive. I do actually have the original 2.5inch 60meg drive I got with the machine, but I am not confident to switch the cable back over to the 2.5 one to test it.

I am going to try and change the CF card's status from 'Removable' to 'Fixed' and see if this makes a difference...

 

[voyager_1701e]

I know this is an old thread...BUT...this problem was driving me insane!!! After hours of card in / out, diskparts, restarting UAE NOTHING!! Always Windows wont let UAE write MBR.

In desperation (well not quite) I downloaded UAE 2.3.0....and it worked!! Finally I have been able to partition and partition my CF!! Onto installing OS3.1 then 3.5 then WHD

 

[demolition]

What always works for me is by starting WinUAE as administrator (no need for -disableharddrivesafetycheck if it is connected through USB).

 

[voyager_1701e]

What always works for me is by starting WinUAE as administrator (no need for -disableharddrivesafetycheck if it is connected through USB).

Indeed I did try that, still I had to use the older version of WinUAE. The version i am using is 2.6.1...for me even with administrator rights it simply refuses to write to the card. But Im happy Ive got OS3.5 installed and running now