| Computers Forum Index » Computer - Emulators (CBM) » XA1541 trouble... |
|
Page 1 of 1 |
|
| Author |
Message |
| Joe Forster/STA... |
 Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 1:57 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Test your cable/adaptor at low level with XCTest (http://sta.c64.org/
scextprg.html#xctest ). |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Christian R. Larsen... |
| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 6:35 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
"Joe Forster/STA" <sta at (no spam) c64.org> wrote in message
news:47fd3277-419a-45a8-b2b5-6884c9a08074 at (no spam) a12g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
Quote: Test your cable/adaptor at low level with XCTest (http://sta.c64.org/
scextprg.html#xctest ).
Do I need any additional hardware in order to test the adaptor? |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Wolfgang Moser... |
| Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:12 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Hi Christian,
Christian R. Larsen schrieb:
Quote: "Joe Forster/STA" <sta at (no spam) c64.org> wrote in message
news:47fd3277-419a-45a8-b2b5-6884c9a08074 at (no spam) a12g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
Test your cable/adaptor at low level with XCTest (http://sta.c64.org/
scextprg.html#xctest ).
Do I need any additional hardware in order to test the adaptor?
the more basic tests described in section 3 don't
need additional equipment beside your PC running
under plain old DOS, the XA adapter, an IEC bus
cable and an IEC device.
The test description will tell you, if the adaptor,
the cable and/or the drive should be connected to
the PC's parallel port, switched on or off.
The more advanced tests of section 4 additionally
require a multimeter, so that you can measure out
voltage levels for the different parallel port
lines.
Womo |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Christian R. Larsen... |
| Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:04 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
On 6 Feb., 16:12, Wolfgang Moser <wn0... at (no spam) d81.de.invalid> wrote:
Quote: Hi Christian,
Christian R. Larsen schrieb:
"Joe Forster/STA" <s... at (no spam) c64.org> wrote in message
news:47fd3277-419a-45a8-b2b5-6884c9a08074 at (no spam) a12g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
Test your cable/adaptor at low level with XCTest (http://sta.c64.org/
scextprg.html#xctest ).
Do I need any additional hardware in order to test the adaptor?
the more basic tests described in section 3 don't
need additional equipment beside your PC running
under plain old DOS, the XA adapter, an IEC bus
cable and an IEC device.
The test description will tell you, if the adaptor,
the cable and/or the drive should be connected to
the PC's parallel port, switched on or off.
The more advanced tests of section 4 additionally
require a multimeter, so that you can measure out
voltage levels for the different parallel port
lines.
Womo
OK - thanks. I moved on with XCtest and here's what I got.
The situation: I'm on the newer Dell PC (newer dual core machine).
I actually tried different settings with the LPT-port but finally
ended up recognizing that XCtest detects it as ECP no matter what I
set it to.
When using LPTdetect, the port is detected as ECP but the ECP-mode is
detected as follows in LPT-detect:
AT-mode in BIOS detected as byte-mode
ECP-mode in BIOS detected as ECP-mode
EPP-mode in BIOS detected as EPP-mode
Back to XCtest:
I ran through the various tests specified in the XCtest manual chapter
3. These were all run in ECP-mode and EPP-mode with the same result.
Test 1:
The adaptor is removed, nothing connected to the parallel port.
When altering the four outputs, the inputs still remain the same.
I tried letting it detect port modes - for some reason, it detects a
X1541 cable and sets this option. Then, when running the same tests as
before, all input lines change as they should.
Test 2:
Only the adaptor in place - no cable connected.
All four outputs set to low one at a time - all other outputs are kept
at high. Atn, Data and Reset inputs all change mode following their
corresponding outputs. Clock doesn't - Clock's always high.
Test 3:
The adaptor in place, the cable connected, the drive switched on.
Drive-Loop test:
All four outputs set to low one at a time - all other outputs are kept
at high.
Failed. Atn and Data change mode following their corresponding
outputs. Clock input doesn't change and when altering the Reset
output, both Clock, Data and Reset inputs shifts state.
Drive-Reset test:
Passed.
Drive-Detect:
Failed. Set clock to low, alter Atn - data and Atn should both change
state following Atn output. However, only Atn output changes state.
Data input remains high.
Drive-detect-inv:
Failed. Only Atn changes state, Data remains high.
Drive-Detect-Combo:
Failed due to the same lack of ability to make Data react as described
above.
Drive-Detect-Jitter:
Seems to work though Data doesn't react every time it should.
Then I tried XCDETECT 0.18:
LPT1 at 0x378, ECP
Preinitialised port 0x378 for XA1541 (signal inversion detected for
ATN)
let bus devices calm down after possible bus resets
Searching for cables (DelayOffeset: 5)...
(can only be found, if IEC devices are connected and switched on)
Testing for cable: XA1541
XA1541 connected to port address 0x378
Searching for IEC floppy devices:
Floppy devices connected to port 0x378: 8<NC:0x83> 9<NC:0x83> 10<NC:
0x83> 11<NC:0x83> |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Wolfgang Moser... |
| Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:37 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Hey Christian,
did you make some progress with the
recommendations from Joe and me?
Womo |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Joe Forster/STA... |
| Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 11:43 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Quote: I actually tried different settings with the LPT-port but finally
ended up recognizing that XCtest detects it as ECP no matter what I
set it to.
When using LPTdetect, the port is detected as ECP but the ECP-mode is
detected as follows in LPT-detect:
AT-mode in BIOS detected as byte-mode
ECP-mode in BIOS detected as ECP-mode
EPP-mode in BIOS detected as EPP-mode
This might be caused by LPTDetect using (the C port of) an older _and_
modified version of Star Commander's parallel port access routines
while XCTest is using the latest one without modifications. I think
Womo spent his time with expanding them with a query of the current
submode of the ECP port while I never bothered. ;-)
Quote: I tried letting it detect port modes - for some reason, it detects a
X1541 cable and sets this option.
XCTest doesn't detect the cable type, you need to set it manually.
(That's the point of the software, complete control: you select what
you want and see if the reaction of the setup - PC, cable and drive -
is correct.)
The results of tests 2 and 3 seem obvious to me: the Clock line is not
working correctly. Continue with the multimeter testing and see where
the Clock line is cut or short-circuited. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Joe Forster/STA... |
| Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 3:40 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Quote: well, LPTDetect was always developed on its own.
But for XCDetect I'm in fact relying on some
older Star Commander detection routines.
Whoops, sorry then, I mixed up the two. < |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Wolfgang Moser... |
| Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 6:38 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Hi Joe,
Joe Forster/STA schrieb:
Quote: I actually tried different settings with the LPT-port but finally
ended up recognizing that XCtest detects it as ECP no matter what I
set it to.
When using LPTdetect, the port is detected as ECP but the ECP-mode is
detected as follows in LPT-detect:
AT-mode in BIOS detected as byte-mode
ECP-mode in BIOS detected as ECP-mode
EPP-mode in BIOS detected as EPP-mode
This might be caused by LPTDetect using (the C port of) an older _and_
modified version of Star Commander's parallel port access routines
while XCTest is using the latest one without modifications. I think
Womo spent his time with expanding them with a query of the current
submode of the ECP port while I never bothered. 
well, LPTDetect was always developed on its own.
But for XCDetect I'm in fact relying on some
older Star Commander detection routines.
The detection result above tells us, that the
BIOS does not configure different LPT ports
hardware wise (e.g. LPT or Super-I/O chipsets
from Winbond do support this), but it just
preinitializes the ECP mode. Therefore the
selected LPT hardware implementation is always
ECP, but the ECP submode is configured to
different types.
Quote: I tried letting it detect port modes - for some reason, it detects a
X1541 cable and sets this option.
XCTest doesn't detect the cable type, you need to set it manually.
(That's the point of the software, complete control: you select what
you want and see if the reaction of the setup - PC, cable and drive -
is correct.)
And, additionally, cable types can only be
detected automatically, when an IEC bus device
is connected and switched to on. At least the
reliability of the detection is improved a lot.
Quote: The results of tests 2 and 3 seem obvious to me: the Clock line is not
working correctly. Continue with the multimeter testing and see where
the Clock line is cut or short-circuited.
I would say that the output trace of the CLOCK
line is not working correctly. This includes
pin 14 of the DB-25 connector, the resistor
and the transistor following this track.
Either your LPT port is not able to drive pin
14 as expected or there is some sort of cold
soldering point for the resistor or transistor.
Have a look here (take note: This is my version
of a XA1541 schematic, not NKC ones):
http://d81.de/R.I.P/png/XAP1541V2-sch.png
I was talking about the line O_CLOCK above.
Womo |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Christian R. Larsen... |
| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:49 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
"Christian R. Larsen" <crlarsen at (no spam) hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:498bed64$0$90267$14726298 at (no spam) news.sunsite.dk...
All of you, thanks so far. I won't be working on my little problem for the
next couple of days but I'll get back asap.
I have a suspicion that one of the transistors on the adaptor has a bad
soldering - it's not quite in place. But more about that later... |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Wolfgang Moser... |
| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:46 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Hi Christian,
Christian R. Larsen schrieb:
Quote: "Christian R. Larsen" <crlarsen at (no spam) hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:498bed64$0$90267$14726298 at (no spam) news.sunsite.dk...
All of you, thanks so far. I won't be working on my little problem for the
next couple of days but I'll get back asap.
many thanks, I always appreciate feedback much
being it positive or negative.
Quote: I have a suspicion that one of the transistors on the adaptor has a bad
soldering - it's not quite in place. But more about that later...
You may want to have a talk with NKC electronics
first. You may lose warranty, if you try to
repair it on your own (assuming that the adaptor
really is defective).
Womo |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Joe Forster/STA... |
| Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:29 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Womo, this should be a lesson for us. We need to advertize XCDetect
and XCTest more agressively, with stress on when to use which (first
XCDetect, then XCTest), along with a guide about _interpreting_
unexpected results (XCDetect doesn't find the drive or XCTest tests
fail). Let's talk about it in E-mail. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Joe Forster/STA... |
| Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:53 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Quote: It took me quite a few read-throughs to understand the point of chapter 3 in
the XCtest doc.
Good. Then you can help us. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Christian R. Larsen... |
| Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:58 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Just wanted to follow up om this.
I haven't got my new adapter yet but yesterday I got impatient and decided
to use a little 'violence' on the misplaced transistor that has caused my
XA1541 not to work. I simply moved it slightly so that it's now on place.
That did the trick. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Wolfgang Moser... |
| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:55 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
Hi Christian,
Christian R. Larsen schrieb:
Quote: Just wanted to follow up om this.
I haven't got my new adapter yet but yesterday I got impatient and decided
to use a little 'violence' on the misplaced transistor that has caused my
XA1541 not to work. I simply moved it slightly so that it's now on place.
That did the trick.
thank you very much for your feedback. So
I can complete my support database's entry.
So what may have happened to your cable?
Either the manufacturer's testing procedures
are leaky or your adaptor was damaged on
shipping, a so named "dead on arrival".
Womo |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
| Christian R. Larsen... |
| Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 2:38 pm |
|
|
|
Guest
|
"Wolfgang Moser" <wn0612 at (no spam) d81.de.invalid> wrote in message
news:gnhp3f$dt0$1 at (no spam) vs5413.trikaliotis.net...
Quote: Hi Christian,
Christian R. Larsen schrieb:
Just wanted to follow up om this.
I haven't got my new adapter yet but yesterday I got impatient and
decided to use a little 'violence' on the misplaced transistor that has
caused my XA1541 not to work. I simply moved it slightly so that it's now
on place.
That did the trick.
thank you very much for your feedback. So
I can complete my support database's entry.
So what may have happened to your cable?
Either the manufacturer's testing procedures
are leaky or your adaptor was damaged on
shipping, a so named "dead on arrival".
My best guess is that it wasn't tested thoroughly enough. The transistor is
positioned un a place where it dosn't seem vulnerable to that sort of
damage. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
