At wit's end with HxC...

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Another reminder :

Eh... I just booted it after several hours being away, before trying the new FW, and it worked first time... Seems totally random!

Will try the beta tho and will report in a few.

...
Ok, updated fine, SD card read fine, then copied the HFE that seemed to cause the problem, again SD is read fine. All is fine for now then...

Dodgy power supply... When it's cold -> doesn't work (>5.3V)
When getting warm -> <5.3V - Working again.

I recommend you to add the famous resistor and/or change/check your power supply...

So your system have an issue since years that was never solved.

Please follow my advices, or the root cause of these problems will never be found...
(And for sure the problem still there...)

Please contact me by email to clear definitely this problem. We cannot let you weeping alone cause of a silly problem

[Gryzor]

@00WReX: thanks for the suggestion, I'm attaching the file here

@Jeff: Hello Jeff, thanks for your emails; I was hoping I could get some feedback from other users before resorting to sending you an email. It's a weird problem, and last time I discussed it with you nothing much came out of it (this is not an insinuation or an attack on your support, which is stellar, the device started working again by itself ).

My setup involves this cable which draws power from the Amstrad's monitor. I tried three different data cables, always the same result.

I bought the unit from Lotharek about a year ago. It's the boxed version, and I can't see how I could open it (maybe I should send him an email). I had missed the resistor mod, but can't find any concrete information - just mentions of it; have you made a guide or anything anywhere?

Also, the problem appears no matter what the jumper position (usually set to B: though).

btw, is there a guide to the error codes?

Thanks again
T

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Also, the problem appears no matter what the jumper position (usually set to B: though).

-> Which CPC model are you using ? 6128 ?
-> Firmware version ?
-> Can you take a picture of your jumper setting ?

One important questions :

-> When you got the error 72, did you see the firmware version printed on the cpc screen ?

-> When you do a "cat" on a loaded disk image, which error did you get ? "Disc missing" ?

-> Can you check the monitor +5V power supply at cold state and after some minutes (30min) ?

btw, is there a guide to the error codes?

As i said some years ago, this is pure AMSDOS error code, coming from the read sector function printed in decimal. The error 72 this seems to be a disk missing error. But some AMSDOS specialist should confirm this.

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Also you said that you 2 hxc isn't it?
Have you tried the other one on this machine ?

[Jeff_HxC2001]

@Jeff: Hello Jeff, thanks for your emails; I was hoping I could get some feedback from other users before resorting to sending you an email. It's a weird problem, and last time I discussed it with you nothing much came out of it (this is not an insinuation or an attack on your support, which is stellar, the device started working again by itself ).

Even more important question : The device that you tried yesterday is the same that the last time ?

[Gryzor]

 I don't have the second one, sold it a while ago so it's a different board this time... But I had the same issues with that one, too. I'm starting to think it might be the cabling, indeed. Before I sold my previous one it had played nice for a long time, and the buyer was very happy with it (didn't mention any problems).
-6128.
-have passed through all the FW versions,  currently on 1.7.2.0
-Jumpers (but it doesn't matter, have tried every possible combination ):
[attach=2]


-I get either "Disc Missing" or the computer hangs (that is, stays there, no sounds from the HxC and doesn't return to prompt; I have to reset).
-Not sure what exactly you want me to check (voltage?), but I've had this problem both first thing in the morning and after hours of the CPC being turned on. I'll try and measure it.


Thanks again,
T

[TFM]

Sadly I don't have any really helpful idea. But I'm truly sad to hear about all that sturggles.
Well, once a while it helps to do something different for a while...

[Devilmarkus]

Do you retrieve the power from the CPC?
If yes, are 5v and 12v changed? As you need to do with a regular 3,5" drive.

[Gryzor]

Thanks, appreciate it... going to plug it back in in a few minutes and see if it's still working


Btw, Lotharek told me that mine is a rev.C with no mod, but also said that the mod is not needed for the Amstrad? (he did add I should ask Jeff to be sure though).


Power output seems to be correct (5v is a bit off at 5.15v, stable), but I don't understand what you mean by "chanced" - you mean switched?

[Gryzor]

Ah, still working, after a few hours away and after having plugged and unplugged everything to measure voltage...

[Devilmarkus]

The internal 3" drive has the same plug for power like a 3,5" drive. (Or like the HxC)
But it has 5v where the 3,5" drive has 12v and 12v where the 3,5" drive has 5v.

So, if you use internal power from your CPC, you power up your HxC with 12v instead of 5v.

(Ok I guess its right because you measured 5v)

[Gryzor]

I would think that ikonsgr took care of it there's a junction under some tape on the cables...

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Well, this is look like to be a simple contact problem at the CPC floppy edge connector. I got myself this problem time to time.

My advice : take a cotton swab, some 90° alcohol and clean up the CPC edge connector.

Sure that after 20/30 years this kind of connection are less reliable 

[Jeff_HxC2001]

Btw, Lotharek told me that mine is a rev.C with no mod, but also said that the mod is not needed for the Amstrad? (he did add I should ask Jeff to be sure though).

I think that he talked about the Akai S950 mod. Not needed at all for the CPC.

[TFM]

Btw, Lotharek told me that mine is a rev.C with no mod, but also said that the mod is not needed for the Amstrad? (he did add I should ask Jeff to be sure though).

That's right. The Rev.C has an additional smal SRAM, which is only needed to write some Amiga formats.

[Gryzor]

Thanks for the clarifications about the mod.


As for the contacts, what the heck, let's clean them again. At this point they're cleaner than myself, but oh well

[Bryce]

It might not be dirty contacts that are causing a bad connection. I'd remove and re-crimp the connectors on both ends.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

Oh, good idea, took them for granted but will try it! For the time being it's running stable...