CF Card issues.

[CritAnime]

Hi guys.

I have been having issues with my CF HDD. When i transfer files over to the HDD from WinUAE it sometimes locks up.

For example today I downloaded the 68k version of classic wb, GAAE version, and the first few draws went over without a hitch. Come to the Lib draw and it locks up. I tried this draw again and it did the same thing again. Same draw and issue.

Sim City again did this exact same issue when I tried to copy it over. Just locked the emulator completely up.

Whats really anoying is that it causes the system to spit out a Validation or Checksum error. Which then means having to mess around trying to fix the issue with a disk tool.

Is this possibly an issue with the HDD or is it because I am using FFS. Should I try reformatting the HDD or should I try converting the system to PFS. Its just odd that it is happening with some files and draws but not others. And whats really annoying is that I have found a workbench that actually suits my needs.

Please help.

PS if I need to format the system again then can you please link me to a guide to preping a CF HDD in WinUAE as I am missing my 2.1 install disk but I do have 2.1 thanks to Amiga Forever.

[Arnie]

How are you connecting the CF card to the PC?

[thomas]

The usual issue: MaxTransfer not set correctly.

Explanation there: http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=759918&postcount=25

[CritAnime]

Hi guys. I think it was a max transfer issue. I am just in the process of doing a fresh format of the card and set the max transfer to 0x1fe00. Lets see how this goes on. It's slow work formatting the card but if it works then I will be happy. I so want to use the GAAE version of Classic WB. Seems like a lot of love and effort went into it.

[Toni Wilen]

Lock up = emulator hang (Windows says "is not responding") or AmigaOS hang?

If first and hang ends if you eject the card: probably hardware problem with card or adapter.

[thomas]

Originally Posted by CritAnime

It's slow work formatting the card but if it works then I will be happy.

Use quick format. Never use full format on flash memory. It only produces hot air and reduces the card's life time.

And of course you don't need to reformat the card after changing MaxTransfer. You only need to copy the corrupted files again (files bigger than 130560 bytes).

[CritAnime]

@toni
The Workbench becomes unstable then hangs. When I reset the system it then crashes the emulator, reset through f12, where I have to end the process. It seems to be only the odd file it seems to do it on though so I am thinking its a card speed error.

@thomas
I probably won't full format the card again after this. Just figured I would do it to make sure it was clean before starting fresh.

Didn't think of life expectancy on the card. Will keep that in mind for the future.

Hopefully this will sort things anyway.

[Toni Wilen]

Always report the problem using more than single word

Max Transfer should not cause any problems if using latest WinUAE, it is now emulated as ATA-1 spec says. (+ message logged to warn that there may be problems when using real Amiga and most modern drives and CF cards)

[CritAnime]

Well I have tried, tested, teased and cried at the sodding card. It is still doing the same thing even after setting the maxtransfer. Most files transfer fine and installs work fine yet transfer programs and lib draws and it throws a fit.

What am I doing wrong. Do the Amiga gods hate me.

At least now it is giving me a checksum error more often now.

Thing is I bought this from amigakit and I doubt they will be taking it back considering its had a format. But it was doing this before the format anyway......

Argh!!!

[Arnie]

Humour me, 'How are you connecting the CF card to the PC?'

[CritAnime]

Lol sorry must have missed your post. Through the cf port on my computer. I have a multi card reader built into my pc tower. It was bought like this from pc world.

[Arnie]

Have you got a Pcmcia slot on the PC? I would either try another method of connecting it to the PC or buy an Easyadf+adapter from Amigakit to transfer PC to Amiga.

I bought one a couple of weeks back and it worked first time and flawlessly ever since.

I connect to my laptop through the expresscard via a Pcmcia adapter, load the Amiga stuff on it then plug it into the Amiga and transfer the files.......simples

[CritAnime]

I have just bought a usb based CF adapter to see if that works. I tried a SD card in it and it had trouble reading it. So I dunno if the crappy adapter built into my pc is causing issues.

[CritAnime]

Well after sevral days af smashing my head against a brick wall i have concluded the card must be the culprit.

The card will now make windows spaz out when inserted and if it's left in the reader when my PC boots it makes the BIOS lockup. Needless to say I could cry.

I have just been on eBay and bought 2 more 2gb generic cards, look like cheapie Chinese knockoffs, for £4 each. lets see what these do.

[CritAnime]

HI guys.

Well I got some new CF cards. And I ran into a little hiccup. I am using Kickstart 37.300 and I am now having trouble getting the Amiga to read the HDD. I followed the guides and configured the partitions properly. The CF size is 1gb. The CF adapter also seems to work as the disk activity light flashes on this too.

The Amiga powers on fine and the HDD light on my keyboard lights up and flashes. As if it's reading from the disk. But then it goes onto the purple insert floppy screen. When I load WB via disk the HDD icon doesn't show up on the desktop. Have I run into the dreaded 37.300 bug?

[Cammy]

Hi CritAnime,

Grab the Amiga911 boot disk I have put in the Zone. It should load in a newer scsi.device and has the 68000 version of PFS3 in it, so you can use it to detect, prepare and format your CF card.

If you need me to walk you through it in real time come back on IRC and I can help.

[CritAnime]

Thanks cammy. I will try that disk now