Lost in Gotek space

[Chipmunk03]

Hi all,

I'm new here. Recently I bought myself an Amstrad/Schneider PCW8256. The German variant of the Amstrad PCW8256. It came with 512KB of memory installed and a second 720KB floppy drive, printer, CPS8256 serial/centronics interface and software. The belts of the drives were gone. After cleaning and installing new belts in the drives everything works fine. The only thing is it came with no spare disks. Everything is original.
To not mess up the originals I went out looking for spare disks, but, man, they are expensive! I started looking for an alternative and came up with a Gotek. Five 3" disks are as expensive as a new Gotek.
Since I do have other equipment with Goteks I thought this would be the way to go. Much easier and in the long run less expensive. But, I would like to use the 720K drive, so I can use the originals in future.
I ordered a Gotek with a 34 pins to 26 pins  adapter, made myself a power connector (switched the 5V and 12V). The Gotek I received is a SFRKC30,AT3. I thought it would be a peace of cake replacing the 180K with the Gotek and use the B: drive as well.

But, what ever I do, every time a try to access the B: drive it says:
"B: track 0, sector 0, missing address mark -Retry, Ignore or Cancel?"

I tried different combinations of pin02 and pin34 in FF.CFG, I switched 'S0' and 'S1' on the Gotek, I made a motor on/off construction explained on an Italian site (but that's for a 9256 not a 8256) and a Spanish site (using two 1n4148 diodes and a 10K resistor and some DuPont female connectors). Different CP/M boot disks with or without .FIB or .FID files. Nothing works. Only shortening the 'mo' jumper on the Gotek makes the Gotek work. But he B: drive is not accessible.
After Googling, watching YouTube video's on the subject, reading and trying a lot I came to the conclusion that the Gotek I received (SFRKC30,AT3) is not working in combination with a second (B:)720K drive. I see lots of solutions with reusing the A: drive (180K) as a second drive (B:), but no solution at all for a Gotek and an already installed 720K B: drive. So, since it is not there, nobody has issues with it, I think, and it must be the Gotek version in combination with the 720K drive I have. Switching with my other Goteks makes no sense, because they are all the same.

I am completely lost in Gotek space. Is the one I have not capable for using as drive A: and the original 720KB drive as B:? Or am I doing something wrong or am I missing something? If my Gotek version is not working, which one is? Should I buy the 'Enhanced Gotek'? All Goteks since 2021 are Artery based. If I buy a new one, it will be an Artery and probably the version I have, I guess.

[retro space]

Did you try a regular 3,5" floppy drive? Those are very cheap, so are the disks.

[eto]

Just to be sure: You flashed FlashFloppy successfully to the Gotek?

Retrorecipes installed a Gotek as A. Maybe the videos bring some clarity:

[Chipmunk03]

Hi Eto,

Thanks for your reply. I watched the video's of Retro Recipes several times again. But if you watch closely, you can see a twist in the cable and the drives are swapped. Can't tell if the lower one is a 180K or a 720K. And it doesn't show which version of the Gotek they're using. So, for me it still a big question how they achieved this.

[Chipmunk03]

o, and one more thing: I think they received the Gotek from P5ychoFox. The Gotek looks diffrent to the one I have. I think its a STM32 based Gotek. But, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Chipmunk03]

I looked back the Retro Recipes YouTube video, and the gotek is the SFRC922D. It's an Artery 435 64 pins MCU. I also saw the motor pin was not shortend and still wander why there is a twist in the cable. Looks like pin 4 and 6 are swaped. Pin 4 is Disc Select 0 and pin 6 is Disc Select 1. 

So, I think I've got the wrong Gotek board. I've got an Artery AT32 415 48 pin version 3.

Are there any others with the same board as I have and experience the same issue?
Is the Enhanced version a better option or the SFRC922D? The Enhanced is about 15 Euro's more expensive and since it has to come from Spain, shipping cost will be higher as well.
Please, let me know.

[Chipmunk03]

My Gotek version does not support a second drive 'out-of-the-box'. I tried the solution of Fabrizio de Vitorrio and that one works fine. Problem solved.