Catweasel MK4 - wont work

chaoticjelly · 10 August 2006, 01:13

Just got a Catweasel MK4 today, from Amiga Super Bit in Spain, the card wont work.

I connected my PC's floppy drive to the Catweasels black connector, then I connected the whire connector to the motherboard floppy connector using one of the supplied cables.

I installed the drivers, 5 times for each of the different formats it can do and the card was installed successfully.

I wrote disks with the Catweasel Disk Image Tool, they seemed to write ok? no errors? but no confirmations that they wrote correctly..

So I tried to "read" these disks I wrote.. none of them will read! Sometimes error at block 0.. other times error at block 138, 139 etc etc, errors all over the place.

Then I find that my drivers are older than the ones on the ami.ga site so I upgrade my drivers and restart, now I have a verify option.

Disks written wont verify, they wont read, and im not sure whether they even work yet.

So whats the problem with this card? Is it just a piece of s**t and did I throw my money down the drain?

dirkies · 10 August 2006, 16:54

good to know, I am tempted to buy one too from eBay (official KDH shop) but reading all this, it seems to be a hopeless piece of buggy hardware...??

Zetr0 · 10 August 2006, 20:35

I have read on these forums that there are a lot of issues with the catweasel mk4 and specific hardware/xp configurations. but i believe that most have got them all working in some manner.

try this
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...=Catweasel+mk4

and this
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...=Catweasel+mk4

hope it helps.

10 August 2006, 22:07

Hello,

I have a catweasel MK-4 running on Windows XP.

With the help of the builder of the catweasel I was able to fix all the issues that I had with the card and now it works perfectly.

Several points to check:

-The brand of your floppy drive. The Catweasel does
not work with Mitsumi (Newtronics) floppy drives. Teac drives, Sony, Panasonic, Nec, Matsushita and most other brands are fine. It's just Mitsumi that you need to avoid. My drive is a Sony.

- I use last version of the drivers (v.0.1.0.9.), downloaded from individual computers website. Not the version provided with the card.

- Use the floppy cable that came with the card and not the original from your PC

- Use DSDD disks if possible and not HD floppy disks. Sometime I not able to write on some HD floppy brands. But always works with DSDD disks

- I removed the cable between the catweasel and the motherboard floppy controller and let only the floppy cable between the catweasel and the floppy drive. I cannot anymore access the floppy drive thru XP but for me it's doesn't matter because I never use it on XP.

- I also connected the floppy drive to the connector in the middle of the floppy cable. When I used the one at the end of the cable it's was not working properly

So I hope that it will help to fix your issue with the catweasel because it's a good product but a little bit difficult to setup.

Regards,
Fab

chaoticjelly · 13 August 2006, 01:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by thefab

Hello,

I have a catweasel MK-4 running on Windows XP.

With the help of the builder of the catweasel I was able to fix all the issues that I had with the card and now it works perfectly.

Several points to check:

-The brand of your floppy drive. The Catweasel does
not work with Mitsumi (Newtronics) floppy drives. Teac drives, Sony, Panasonic, Nec, Matsushita and most other brands are fine. It's just Mitsumi that you need to avoid. My drive is a Sony.

- I use last version of the drivers (v.0.1.0.9.), downloaded from individual computers website. Not the version provided with the card.

- Use the floppy cable that came with the card and not the original from your PC

- Use DSDD disks if possible and not HD floppy disks. Sometime I not able to write on some HD floppy brands. But always works with DSDD disks

- I removed the cable between the catweasel and the motherboard floppy controller and let only the floppy cable between the catweasel and the floppy drive. I cannot anymore access the floppy drive thru XP but for me it's doesn't matter because I never use it on XP.

- I also connected the floppy drive to the connector in the middle of the floppy cable. When I used the one at the end of the cable it's was not working properly

So I hope that it will help to fix your issue with the catweasel because it's a good product but a little bit difficult to setup.

Regards,
Fab

Hmm, thanks for the words of advice..

I checked my floppy and its Samsung.. so it should be ok.. I have a couple more floppies I can try later if I get really stuck..

Im using the drivers from the website too..

Im using the cables with the card..

Im using DD disks so thats okay

Hmm.. I will try the middle connector.. I have it on the end connector, but my case is a full tower.. so im not sure if it will reach on the middle connector..

Thanks Fab, I'll update with results shortly..

chaoticjelly · 13 August 2006, 01:49

Hmm well I turned my pc off, I cant connect to the middle connector because it doesnt reach in my tower case.

Tomorrow I'll try a different floppy, but im really not impressed.. I heard this was a nice piece of kit, I didnt know it would be such a nightmare to get working..

chaoticjelly · 14 August 2006, 12:14

Ive tried another floppy drive, still doesnt work.. exactly the same problem.. what a rubbish piece of hardware..!

Zetr0 · 14 August 2006, 15:47

you know i am almost interested in buying one of these for the challenege of installing it!!!!

dirkies · 14 August 2006, 16:19

I get the same itch as Zetro! but 100 euro is quite a lot for what it is

tin · 16 August 2006, 23:14

Hmm how interesting, I might give this a try, I have an underused CatIV in my PC. I've written 5.25" c=64 disks with no probs whatsoever, if that provides some optimism for you

_ThEcRoW · 17 August 2006, 04:08

Writing Amiga floppies is fine here.
Also using hd ones as dd on the 500 for games, and no probs.
I don't understand the middle connector issue, it should work with the top of the cable, unless you want to use a 5,25 drive for commodore 64 or old Amiga floppies.
I just plug mine trhough the mobo controller and has no probs here, if i want to use a pc floppy, i just disable the driver, and have acces to it.

_ThEcRoW · 17 August 2006, 04:09

I forgot to mention that there is a thread where i and other friends of the forum talked about the methods of writing succesfully disks, check it out!

stainy · 17 August 2006, 15:49

Yes we did!

stainy · 28 August 2006, 13:08

Just noticed there are new drivers as of Aug 24th for the CW!

Catweasel drivers

Anyone care to try these out ??

I would love to buy another card!

But I need to know that some of the writing problems are fixed!!

stainy · 28 August 2006, 13:12

Interesting... some notes from the readme!

`There have been too many changes in the driver to list them here. The most important is probably that you won't see any more "blue screens" and that the floppy-passthrough (the "Kylwalda part") has been activated with this driver`

350 changes over the 4 driver files apparently!!

_ThEcRoW · 28 August 2006, 21:53

Cool!!! New drivers for the Catweasel and the drive is now accesable in win.

stainy · 28 August 2006, 23:01

Yep! activated when the image tool isn`t in use! !!

_Thecrow : I remember you saying you never had problems writing ? or do you ? I`m guessing you had the random blue screen reboots etc?

_ThEcRoW · 29 August 2006, 15:10

The random blue screenreboots appeared sometimes, but most often when disabling the driver for access to pc disks. Now with the new driver, it is not needed as the passthrough works very well. I had blue screens on xp, but some months ago i went the win2000 way, and never had a blue screen with the catweasel. About writing disks, yes, it write well the disks but doing some tricks that was explained in previous threads on this board. Have to try the new driver at writing and then tell you and the others of the forum how it all went, at the time only tested the passtrough feature and that works.
Stay tuned for my writing review.

stainy · 01 September 2006, 10:06

Any update! ?

_ThEcRoW · 05 September 2006, 17:34

For writing, still is needed to made the trick of stopping it and then pushing the button again
its sad that the new driver doesn-t corrected that.
Still, will do more tests to trying to solve this problem once for all.
Stay tuned!

10 August 2006, 01:13	#1
chaoticjelly Registered User Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: UK - Lancs Age: 38 Posts: 80	Catweasel MK4 - wont work Just got a Catweasel MK4 today, from Amiga Super Bit in Spain, the card wont work. I connected my PC's floppy drive to the Catweasels black connector, then I connected the whire connector to the motherboard floppy connector using one of the supplied cables. I installed the drivers, 5 times for each of the different formats it can do and the card was installed successfully. I wrote disks with the Catweasel Disk Image Tool, they seemed to write ok? no errors? but no confirmations that they wrote correctly.. So I tried to "read" these disks I wrote.. none of them will read! Sometimes error at block 0.. other times error at block 138, 139 etc etc, errors all over the place. Then I find that my drivers are older than the ones on the ami.ga site so I upgrade my drivers and restart, now I have a verify option. Disks written wont verify, they wont read, and im not sure whether they even work yet. So whats the problem with this card? Is it just a piece of s**t and did I throw my money down the drain?

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10 August 2006, 16:54	#2
dirkies Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Belgium Age: 51 Posts: 1,296	good to know, I am tempted to buy one too from eBay (official KDH shop) but reading all this, it seems to be a hopeless piece of buggy hardware...??

10 August 2006, 20:35	#3
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	I have read on these forums that there are a lot of issues with the catweasel mk4 and specific hardware/xp configurations. but i believe that most have got them all working in some manner. try this http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...=Catweasel+mk4 and this http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...=Catweasel+mk4 hope it helps.

10 August 2006, 22:07	#4
thefab Posts: n/a	Hello, I have a catweasel MK-4 running on Windows XP. With the help of the builder of the catweasel I was able to fix all the issues that I had with the card and now it works perfectly. Several points to check: -The brand of your floppy drive. The Catweasel does not work with Mitsumi (Newtronics) floppy drives. Teac drives, Sony, Panasonic, Nec, Matsushita and most other brands are fine. It's just Mitsumi that you need to avoid. My drive is a Sony. - I use last version of the drivers (v.0.1.0.9.), downloaded from individual computers website. Not the version provided with the card. - Use the floppy cable that came with the card and not the original from your PC - Use DSDD disks if possible and not HD floppy disks. Sometime I not able to write on some HD floppy brands. But always works with DSDD disks - I removed the cable between the catweasel and the motherboard floppy controller and let only the floppy cable between the catweasel and the floppy drive. I cannot anymore access the floppy drive thru XP but for me it's doesn't matter because I never use it on XP. - I also connected the floppy drive to the connector in the middle of the floppy cable. When I used the one at the end of the cable it's was not working properly So I hope that it will help to fix your issue with the catweasel because it's a good product but a little bit difficult to setup. Regards, Fab

13 August 2006, 01:49	#6
chaoticjelly Registered User Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: UK - Lancs Age: 38 Posts: 80	Hmm well I turned my pc off, I cant connect to the middle connector because it doesnt reach in my tower case. Tomorrow I'll try a different floppy, but im really not impressed.. I heard this was a nice piece of kit, I didnt know it would be such a nightmare to get working..

14 August 2006, 12:14	#7
chaoticjelly Registered User Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: UK - Lancs Age: 38 Posts: 80	Ive tried another floppy drive, still doesnt work.. exactly the same problem.. what a rubbish piece of hardware..!

14 August 2006, 15:47	#8
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	you know i am almost interested in buying one of these for the challenege of installing it!!!!

14 August 2006, 16:19	#9
dirkies Zone Friend Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Belgium Age: 51 Posts: 1,296	I get the same itch as Zetro! but 100 euro is quite a lot for what it is

16 August 2006, 23:14	#10
tin Registered User Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: chester Posts: 415	Hmm how interesting, I might give this a try, I have an underused CatIV in my PC. I've written 5.25" c=64 disks with no probs whatsoever, if that provides some optimism for you

17 August 2006, 04:08	#11
_ThEcRoW Amiga NetRunner Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Spain Age: 45 Posts: 941	Writing Amiga floppies is fine here. Also using hd ones as dd on the 500 for games, and no probs. I don't understand the middle connector issue, it should work with the top of the cable, unless you want to use a 5,25 drive for commodore 64 or old Amiga floppies. I just plug mine trhough the mobo controller and has no probs here, if i want to use a pc floppy, i just disable the driver, and have acces to it.

17 August 2006, 04:09	#12
_ThEcRoW Amiga NetRunner Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Spain Age: 45 Posts: 941	I forgot to mention that there is a thread where i and other friends of the forum talked about the methods of writing succesfully disks, check it out!

17 August 2006, 15:49	#13
stainy Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Concord, NC, USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,712	Yes we did!

28 August 2006, 13:08	#14
stainy Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Concord, NC, USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,712	Just noticed there are new drivers as of Aug 24th for the CW! Catweasel drivers Anyone care to try these out ?? I would love to buy another card! But I need to know that some of the writing problems are fixed!!

28 August 2006, 13:12	#15
stainy Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Concord, NC, USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,712	Interesting... some notes from the readme! `There have been too many changes in the driver to list them here. The most important is probably that you won't see any more "blue screens" and that the floppy-passthrough (the "Kylwalda part") has been activated with this driver` 350 changes over the 4 driver files apparently!!

28 August 2006, 21:53	#16
_ThEcRoW Amiga NetRunner Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Spain Age: 45 Posts: 941	Cool!!! New drivers for the Catweasel and the drive is now accesable in win.

28 August 2006, 23:01	#17
stainy Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Concord, NC, USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,712	Yep! activated when the image tool isn`t in use! !! _Thecrow : I remember you saying you never had problems writing ? or do you ? I`m guessing you had the random blue screen reboots etc?

29 August 2006, 15:10	#18
_ThEcRoW Amiga NetRunner Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Spain Age: 45 Posts: 941	The random blue screenreboots appeared sometimes, but most often when disabling the driver for access to pc disks. Now with the new driver, it is not needed as the passthrough works very well. I had blue screens on xp, but some months ago i went the win2000 way, and never had a blue screen with the catweasel. About writing disks, yes, it write well the disks but doing some tricks that was explained in previous threads on this board. Have to try the new driver at writing and then tell you and the others of the forum how it all went, at the time only tested the passtrough feature and that works. Stay tuned for my writing review.

01 September 2006, 10:06	#19
stainy Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Concord, NC, USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,712	Any update! ?

05 September 2006, 17:34	#20
_ThEcRoW Amiga NetRunner Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Spain Age: 45 Posts: 941	For writing, still is needed to made the trick of stopping it and then pushing the button again its sad that the new driver doesn-t corrected that. Still, will do more tests to trying to solve this problem once for all. Stay tuned!

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