Using WinUAE with a Generic 8GB CF Card previosly setup with PFS3-AIO Partitions

[dannyboy_77]

Hi all Amigan's from all over the world,

Let me introduce what I've got. I've got an AmigaCD32 with my new upgraded Hardware piece of kit, the TF330. this H/W is simply amazing! Anyway, the supplied card came with a 4GB SanDisk Ultra II Card, stripped down with tinylauncher and it has non AGA/CD32 games... What's more strange is the OCS/ECS WHDLOAD games are incomplete due to the size of the card. So i've ditched that card, as I'll be selling it with my older TF328 Expansion card.

So I'm using my older "Generic brand" 8GB CF Card which was supplied by the seller with my TF328. It has a lot more WHDLOAD Games on it. Probably updated from early 2018. What I'm trying to do is add additional WHDLOAD Games from my recent collection, WHDLOAD Demos, latest Amiga Programs and lastly my Commercial Amiga CD Games to run from the CF. That way I can preserve my original games by not using the CD Discs. This also adds value to my retro collection. :-) Here's what brand of the CF card looks like:



===> Now onto my problem!!! I'm using the latest WinUAE x86 version downloaded from the internet. I'm making sure it is firstly up to date, which it is from the author's website. I've setup WinUAE with A1200 KS3.1 Rom, 2mb chip, 128mb fast ram, CPU is 040 running JIT and sharing a PC Folder named "WinUAE Working Folder"...

I've deleted a folder which contained duplicate WHDLOAD Games with letter E.... this was a test to see if it works. Located on a Work Partition. But when i do that, a message came up saying, "Block error... " blah blah blah... Then when operation was done, resetted the emulator, and my CF Card is corrupted! It won't boot, just stays at the Kickstart Screen. Luckily before working on it, I had a backup and restored it using WinImage. This was successful, as I re-ran WinUAE and thought the emulator was running too fast. So I turned off JIT option under CPU Settings...

I tried again deleting that small folder of games. No errors this time, rebooted the emulator, same thing! It's driving me mad!! I've tried the CF Card to see if it boots on my Amiga CD32 to no avail. Once again I've restored it using WinImage.

Next test was seeing if Scalos is interfering with PFS using it's right click pop up menu, using delete command. I booted using the Amiga CLI via the Early Startup-menu without loading Workbench. eg.I typed delete #? all command. Also deleted folder name. Deleted successfully, rebooted emulator, still corrupts my card!!! Ughhh

I've tried all settings, such as trying 030 CPU and 64mb Fast ram... to no avail. For the life of me I cannot get to write on my CF Card. It reads fine, but as soon as i perform a write operation it get's screwed up. I've also read about ensuring Buffer's on each partition is between 200-500 max using HDToolbox. Could it be this? I've used the AddBuffers command to the CLI but the same problem occurs.

Has anyone experienced this? I've got an expensive (good brand) Memory card reader, not a cheap trash generic unit. I've also tried another Memory card reader and does the same symptoms. I know it's not WinUAE doing this, nor my memory card readers. Perhaps it's the brand of card i'm usiog, but I do not know for sure. As mentioned previously, it was sold to me, so they must've used WinUAE to set it up and was working fine! You tell me! Who knows?!! lol Anyway I can't work out for life of it PLEASE HELP! Any pointers or suggestions? What the heck is going on?? Very strange indeed.... It's driving me nuts

Carry on Amigan's because Amiga rulez forever,

x signed by Dannyboy in OZ

[thomas]

AmigaOS has a 4 GB harddrive limit. You cannot use 8 GB without updated drivers.

Run this and attach the report here: http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online.../hddreport.lha

Also read this: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=61666

[dannyboy_77]

Originally Posted by thomas

AmigaOS has a 4 GB harddrive limit. You cannot use 8 GB without updated drivers.

Run this and attach the report here: http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online.../hddreport.lha

Also read this: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=61666

Thanks Thomas! I shall run thar hddreport and get back to you tonight! I have read the thread regarding hdd limitations, but this one is for sure has the latest scsi.device library file I remember it being 43.45 updated fronm OS39. Also has PFS on all partations, including boot drive. I'm not sure if Winuae's device driver has a limitation under emulation, as it's using it's own IDE interface. Anyone know?

[thomas]

Another test could be to make a copy of your backup image and mount that one as a hardfile. Then try the operation on it. Does it fail, too?

If it does not fail you could use it a s a workaround: make the changes on the image and then write it to the CF card with WinImage.

If it fails on the image, too, then the issue is not caused by hardware.

[dannyboy_77]

Originally Posted by thomas

Another test could be to make a copy of your backup image and mount that one as a hardfile. Then try the operation on it. Does it fail, too?

If it does not fail you could use it a s a workaround: make the changes on the image and then write it to the CF card with WinImage.

If it fails on the image, too, then the issue is not caused by hardware.

Hi Thomas,

Okay I have extracted the HDDReport Archive, ran the HDDReport Icon and it successfully generated the report. It can be found here:

HDDReport.txt

Can you see what is wrong with it? I can see it has the PFS3-AIO, unsure if it is the latest version (unless I check your HDD FAQ you've sent me). I hope this stumbling block can easily be fixed. I am hoping it doesn't require re-formatting and loosing all my data.

Cheers,
Dan

[thomas]

No, I am afraid the report shows nothing wrong.

Did you try the same on a copy of the harddisk image as I suggested?

[dannyboy_77]

I will try it soon probably tomorrow as work is hectic at the moment..

I will try to mount the image file as a HD file and see if I can change contents. Very strange as I prefer writing it directly to the CF for easier sakes... thanks Thomas as your the only one who is helping me :-)

[dannyboy_77]

Originally Posted by thomas

No, I am afraid the report shows nothing wrong.

Did you try the same on a copy of the harddisk image as I suggested?

Okay It actually DID WORK using the image file mounted as a HDD File! It worked like a charm!!

Most importantly not one error I encountered whilst changing the contents. So now I know it's not my Computer, OS, WinUAE and the CF Card. It seems to be pointing towards the Memory Card Reader. The brand is a Fission 62-in-1 card reader / writer bought from ALDI.

It does a GREAT job on READING but not WRITING!! Very strange, anyone else experienced something similar with their memory card reader? I am curious to know as to why! I'm so glad there was a workaround and thanking you THOMAS!!!! God bless....

[Toni Wilen]

This is not first time, I have seen few other reports (one or two here in EAB) where the adapter was silently corrupting data.

[AC/DC HACKER!]

Originally Posted by dannyboy_77

It does a GREAT job on READING but not WRITING!! Very strange, anyone else experienced something similar with their memory card reader? I am curious to know as to why! I'm so glad there was a workaround and thanking you THOMAS!!!!

I've been through a couple that didn't do well. As Toni and others have commented. I bought an "Insignia" that is 3-In-1 and my CompactFlash hasn't corrupted at all with PFS3 AIO--that I've noticed so far and I've done a lot of re-writing, deleting to test PFS3. USB 3.zero connector. Here are more information if you want it.

https://www.amazon.com/Insignia-Adva...0125013&sr=8-7