Catweasel MK4 - wont work

[stainy]

[wizard66]

Works al fine here read/write no problem at all

[Zetr0]

heys wizzard,

could you give the specifications of your computer including

motherboard <name & revision>
RAM <amount and type>
Processor(s)
Other Adapters <gfx, snd, lan, modem etc>
Operating Sytem <build & patches i.e. WinXP build 3460 + dot net 2.0>

and then details on your catweasel

the revision of the card
the firmware upon the card

the manufactoring details of the floppy drives attached (pc/amiga)

this may (and most likely) help others.

cheers.

[stainy]

Originally Posted by wizard66

Works al fine here read/write no problem at all

Is this with the new driver? and did you have problems before the new driver? or are you one of the lucky ones that it worked straight away

[stainy]

Just got a reply from Jens about the start/stop/start issue with writing disks using the imagetool.
Could everyone that has this issue refer to the bug report.

General description of your setup, meaning
- what operating system do you use, including service packs, patchlevel
and whatever else you feel could be useful info.
- what hardware do you use, especially motherboard and other extension
cards.
- what other drivers are installed
- what catweasel revision are you using, and how exactly is it configured
(are SIDs installed? how many drives are connected, and which kind and
brand? did you connect the onboard passthrough cable? are you using
an amiga keyboard or mouse with it?)

- If you are experiencing crashes (aka the "blue screen of death") Please
write down _exactly_ what is printed on the Bluescreen, even if the
Info might seem cryptic and useless it might contain some useful hints on
where exactly the problem originates from.

- Please try to explain in every possible detail, step by step, what you did
to make the problem occur. Try to replicate it starting with a clean reboot
and the least possible amount of different actions. It is very important for
us to be able to replicate the problem you have. If we can't, its close to
impossible for us to find out how to fix it.

So we could possibly help Jen further into this problem

thanks

I`ll start

[Sandgunner]

I had similar problems even after updating to the latest dirvers.
MK42000 right now. Turns out the drivers were not getting
loaded properly due to the way Windows XP caches device
drivers.

Everytime you load a new device on XP it creates a backup database
for the driver in several locations (under SP2) presummably to fix
a problem with SP1 and the original XP where it completely loses
driver installs altogether.

After doing a CLEAN XP install then the new CAT drivers everything
works exactly as advertised now.
One great fix in the new drivers is that it only loads one time
for the floppy device detection instead of multiple devices under the old drivers.

Now I can read/write under PC control, CAT control etc.
I just wished they would add the MAC 1.44 format to the read
setup.

ANgelo

[Zetr0]

well done sand gunner, glad to hear you figure out the problem you were having, however could you be a superstar and post you system specs that the cat4 is plumbed onto?

also what revision, build etc for the cat4?

it would be a nice to build a database of configurations to assist those still suffering from troubles.

[ElectroBlaster]

Hi guys, I sold my catweasel back along but recently got offered another one for a silly price so ive grabbed it lol

Now the drivers are stable and the pc its in doesnt crash, im having this stupid problem writing to disks... I have to stop and start the imagetool to get working disks?

I sat there last night trying to figure out how perfectly good floppys werent taking the data

[boing_1000]

I want to install the latest drivers! But I'm nervous that I may screw up the ones I've already got. Do I have to copy the new drivers to the same directory and thats it? Or is there something more complicated to it?

[Sandgunner]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

well done sand gunner, glad to hear you figure out the problem you were having, however could you be a superstar and post you system specs that the cat4 is plumbed onto?

also what revision, build etc for the cat4?

it would be a nice to build a database of configurations to assist those still suffering from troubles.

No problem. Sorry I forgot to include that in the original response.

Special note: I could not fix the problem regardless of driver update UNTIL I did a clean fresh install of Windows XP, the exact reasons for
this are unclear but chatting with Microsoft's tech center came to the
conclusion it had something to do with driver cacheing as I detailed before.

Here are my system specs.

OS - Windows XP Professional SP2 and all current updates/patches
Motherboard - MSI K7N2-Delta2-LSR
CPU - AMD Athlon XP 3200+
RAM - Patriot matched pair 1GB DDR-400 modules in dual channel mode
NO overclocking of any bus
Catweasel MK4 PCI - below is the hardware reporting IDs under
System-Device Manager-IndividualComputers Devices-Catweasel controller PCI properties under TAB details.
PCI\VEN_E159&DEV_0001&SUBSYS_00025213&REV_00
PCI\VEN_E159&DEV_0001&SUBSYS_00025213
PCI\VEN_E159&DEV_0001&CC_078000
PCI\VEN_E159&DEV_0001&CC_0780

Catweasel software driver version 2.0.0.0

When installed under this config and device driver there is only ONE
instance of the catweasel floppy drive installed vice the multiple
installs of earlier driver versions.

One last thing the Microsoft tech reccomended was that since this is a
multiple floppy device enumerator to ensure drive letters A and B are
available during install even though only A will show.

Hope this info helps someone out.

[Sandgunner]

Forgot my cabling configuration.

The Catweasel MK4 PCI is between the motherboard floppy controller
and the floppy drive so I can access it as A or catweasel.

Cabling as follows.

Original motherboard floppy cable from the motherboard to the
CAT4 using the connector on the CAT4 marked "To computer"
and using the end connector that has the twist.

From the CAT4 to the floppy drive using the straight through
cable provided with the CAT4 PCI.

This is following the somewhat cryptic install "pamphlet" for having the
CAT4 and the PC able to access the floppy drive.
Actually I just followed the silkscreening on the CAT4 which has
been labeled "To computer" "To floppy"

[Sandgunner]

Originally Posted by boing_1000

I want to install the latest drivers! But I'm nervous that I may screw up the ones I've already got. Do I have to copy the new drivers to the same directory and thats it? Or is there something more complicated to it?

There is a readme that details exactly what you need to do.
It depends on what revision you are running now as file locations
have changed. Be sure to read and follow the driver instructions.

The problem described in this thread can be caused by two things:

1) trying to format a HD disk to Amiga-DD
2) trying for write DD with a drive that can only handle HD.

Unfortunately, some of today's PC disk drives are totally cost-reduced, and they even save the few cents for the HD-Switch, assuming that the drive will most probably only be used once or twice in a lifetime for installing a driver.

If you don't have DD disks, put scotch tape over the HD-hole of the HD-disk, so the write current and the read sensitivity/filters are properly set for Amiga disks. If you're unsure if your drive supports DD disks, please check if the drive has a switch near the HD-hole of the disk (looks the same as the write-protect switch on the other side of the disk slot).

A lot of the problems writing Amiga disks have been addressed with the latest drivers. It took us so long because we could not reproduce the errors on our test machines. One customer was kind enough to send us a drive that he suspected was incompatible. We found that it's an HD-only drive, and also implemented a workaround for writing DD. It cannot be verified, but works int he real DD drives of a Classic Amiga. The workaround is good enough to bridge the time until you find a true dual-mode disk drive. They're still made, for example all Teac drives are true dual-mode.

Get the latest drivers V2.1.0.0 on my website www.ami.ga