Difficult case of "Checksum error" WinUAE CF-card

[Dajo]

Hello

I recently bought an Amiga 1200 and I am trying to set up a CF-card in WinUAE as a HD, but I am experiencing an extreme case of "checksum error".
I have tried different CF-cards (4 and 8 gb) from Kingston and Sandisk, different PC:s, different CF-adapters for the PC. But i always end up with checksum errors on random blocks. This especially occur when i'm transering large amount of files to the CF-card.

I have searched and read "all" forum posts regarding this problem, but nothing seeems to work. I will try to explain how i do the setup and see if anyone can help me find a solution:
In WinUAE i'm using 68040, JIT, fastest possible and 64 MB z3z (have also tried slower settings).
I start workbench 3.1 via the install disk and the CF mounted as Uae or IDE-HD (tried both). In hdtools i partition the CF to 3 partitions (300 MB, 1750 MB, 1750 MB) and name them DH0, DH1 and DH2. Maxtransferrate 0x1FE00. DH0 bootable. Save changes. Reset and do quick format on the partitions. Restart.
Then i transfer systemfiles from a mounted HDF (Classic WB) to DH0. Restart with CF mounted (UAE or IDE) and it all works fine and boots into CWB.

I start transfering games to DH1 and DH2 and that's when i get irregular checksum errors. Sometimes after 1 gb is transfered and sometimes after all files are transfered and i move or copy files to the partitions.

I'm getting really frustrated and would appreciate any ideas!

David

[thomas]

MaxTranfer is not a rate, it is a unit size. It has nothing to do with speed.

After save changes, go back into partition drive and check if MaxTransfer is still set. You have to press the Enter key or the Tab key while the cursor is in the input field, otherwise the change will not be recognised.

Make sure that you set MaxTransfer for every partition.

Please explain what you mean by "transfer". Which tool did you use to copy files? Did you try different tools?

Which file system is used?

[Dajo]

Hi Thomas!

I've checked and the Maxtransfer stays at 0x1fe00 for every partition.

By transfer i mean that i copy gamefiles from mounted PC to CF-card.
But i also get checksum when i transfer between partitions within UAE.

I have tried Dopus and copying between drawers in Workbench.
I use the standard filesystem (FFS?) in HDTools.

Could i set an even lower maxtransfer when i create the partitions?

[thomas]

UAE controller does not have a MaxTransfer issue, so that is not your problem.

How many buffers does each partition have? You could try to add some more buffers.

If you make a 4gig HDF and use the HDF instead of the CF card, do you get the same errors?

Did you always use the same card reader? Could you try another one or another USB slot?

Do the checksum errors go away if you reboot the virtual Amiga or is the partition bad after it happened once?

[Dajo]

I have not set any specific buffer. How much do you recommend?
I have tried several USB-ports, adapters and CF-Cards.
It does not go away when i restart, all partitions has had problems at some point. Ive reinstalled the WB at least 10 times. Could the HDF i'm using to copy systemfiles to the CF be corrupted (probably not the problem)?

Could you kindly instruct me how to make a 4 gb HDF in WinUAE?

Since i often manage to transfer systemfiles to cf without problems (not always), maybe i should insert the cf into the real Amiga and try to transfer files via PCMCIA? I cant try it now since i'm not at home at the moment.

[Toni Wilen]

Does it only happen when copying deep and long directory paths? It can cause stack overflows with default stack size but it usually causes crash, not filesystem corruption.

Does it work if you use C:Copy ("copy <from dir> <destination dir> clone all") in shell to copy? (run "stack 100000" to guarantee more than large enough stack)

[Dajo]

Hi Toni!

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Does it only happen when copying deep and long directory paths? It can cause stack overflows with default stack size but it usually causes crash, not filesystem corruption.


Does it work if you use C:Copy ("copy <from dir> <destination dir> clone all") in shell to copy? (run "stack 100000" to guarantee more than large enough stack)

No it can happen no mather directory path
I tried to use Shell to copy but i still get checksum....

[thomas]

Originally Posted by Dajo

Could you kindly instruct me how to make a 4 gb HDF in WinUAE?

Click on Add Hardfile, enter 4000 into the MB input field, check dynamic HDF and click on create. Give it a name and click on save. Now click on full drive / RDB mode so that is is greyed out and on ok. Continue as if it was a CF card (i.e. boot from the install ADF, run HDToolbox, initialize drive, create partitions).

Originally Posted by Dajo

No it can happen no mather directory path
I tried to use Shell to copy but i still get checksum....

Did you check for viruses?

[Dajo]

Originally Posted by thomas

Click on Add Hardfile, enter 4000 into the MB input field, check dynamic HDF and click on create. Give it a name and click on save. Now click on full drive / RDB mode so that is is greyed out and on ok. Continue as if it was a CF card (i.e. boot from the install ADF, run HDToolbox, initialize drive, create partitions).



Did you check for viruses?

I will try to make a 4gb hdf.

Is VirusZ i Classic workbench a good virusscanner? I will try to scan all the partitions and see what happens. Is virusinfections common on Amiga nowadays? Could the virus infect my PC-laptop?

[meynaf]

This smells like the usual >4GB problem doesn't it ?
Try lowering the size of DH2 (everything else remaining equal) and see if that helps. The 4000MB HDF should work too.

[Dajo]

Originally Posted by meynaf

This smells like the usual >4GB problem doesn't it ?
Try lowering the size of DH2 (everything else remaining equal) and see if that helps. The 4000MB HDF should work too.

Thank you
The CF only has 3,7 gb availiable. But you mean that DH2 that is 1,75 gb is too big? I tried to make 4 partitions (300, 1200,1200 and 1000 mb) but i still got checksum error on DH3. I am only using WinUAE at the moment, but i had similar problems on the Amiga.

I also tried to add buffers but it didnt work...

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by Dajo

Thank you
The CF only has 3,7 gb availiable. But you mean that DH2 that is 1,75 gb is too big? I tried to make 4 partitions (300, 1200,1200 and 1000 mb) but i still got checksum error on DH3. I am only using WinUAE at the moment, but i had similar problems on the Amiga.

I also tried to add buffers but it didnt work...

Using addbuffers will do you no good.
I doubt viruses mess up the file system like that.
As you've tried several CF and several adapters, hardware problems seem to be ruled out - or you got really unlucky, with several faults...
Even a system with MaxTransfer problems doesn't seem to do this if files are copied from WB (you just get bogus file contents, not checksum errors).

But your CF shows the same behavior as drives bigger than 4GB that are used with regular FFS. The problem is when the partition crosses the 4GB boundary, hence it doesn't happen before some level of filling.
However if it's only 3.7GB then it's becoming more mysterious...

Perhaps you could try to prep your drive with HdToolbox rather than HdTools.
And, of course, try the hardfile as suggested.

[Dajo]

Originally Posted by meynaf

Using addbuffers will do you no good.
I doubt viruses mess up the file system like that.
As you've tried several CF and several adapters, hardware problems seem to be ruled out - or you got really unlucky, with several faults...
Even a system with MaxTransfer problems doesn't seem to do this if files are copied from WB (you just get bogus file contents, not checksum errors).

But your CF shows the same behavior as drives bigger than 4GB that are used with regular FFS. The problem is when the partition crosses the 4GB boundary, hence it doesn't happen before some level of filling.
However if it's only 3.7GB then it's becoming more mysterious...

Perhaps you could try to prep your drive with HdToolbox rather than HdTools.
And, of course, try the hardfile as suggested.

Actually it is HDtoolbox that i have used, my bad.

I'm curious why i should make a 4 gb hdf? Is it to see if it is a hardware or software failure (or wrong settings)?

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by Dajo

I'm curious why i should make a 4 gb hdf? Is it to see if it is a hardware or software failure (or wrong settings)?

It is something that *must* work.
If it doesn't, it should be easier to find out what's going on (pure software problem in a well known environment).
And if it does, changing things step-by-step will lead to what's wrong.

[Dajo]

Originally Posted by meynaf

It is something that *must* work.
If it doesn't, it should be easier to find out what's going on (pure software problem in a well known environment).
And if it does, changing things step-by-step will lead to what's wrong.

Great! I really appreciate all the help from you guys.
I will report back when i've tried the 4 gb hdf.

[Dajo]

Originally Posted by thomas

UAE controller does not have a MaxTransfer issue, so that is not your problem.

How many buffers does each partition have? You could try to add some more buffers.

If you make a 4gig HDF and use the HDF instead of the CF card, do you get the same errors?

Did you always use the same card reader? Could you try another one or another USB slot?

Do the checksum errors go away if you reboot the virtual Amiga or is the partition bad after it happened once?

Originally Posted by meynaf

Using addbuffers will do you no good.
I doubt viruses mess up the file system like that.
As you've tried several CF and several adapters, hardware problems seem to be ruled out - or you got really unlucky, with several faults...
Even a system with MaxTransfer problems doesn't seem to do this if files are copied from WB (you just get bogus file contents, not checksum errors).

But your CF shows the same behavior as drives bigger than 4GB that are used with regular FFS. The problem is when the partition crosses the 4GB boundary, hence it doesn't happen before some level of filling.
However if it's only 3.7GB then it's becoming more mysterious...

Perhaps you could try to prep your drive with HdToolbox rather than HdTools.
And, of course, try the hardfile as suggested.

Hi!

I made a "HDF-cf card" in WinUAE that was like my real CF-card regarding the total size (3,7gb) and the size of the partitions.
When i created the hdf/cf card i mounted it as UAE and changed scsi.device to uaehf.device. When i have mounted my real cf-cards i have used both IDE and UAE with the same result in the end (checksum error). Which way is correct for a real CF-card?

Copying games to the partitions seemed to go faster and it went fine, no checksum errors. I filled the partitions twice with files that i have on my PC (mounted) and i also copied files between the partitions. So, it worked.

Since it is working fine it must be hardware failure of the cf-cards and/or the readers, which in theory i guess i highly unlikely given that i have tested different types of hardware.

The cf-Cards i have tried is a 8 gb Sandisk which i deleted to about a little less than half the size and made 3 partitions. I have also tried 3 different 4 gb Kingston. All cf cards got checksum errors at different points. I have also used two different readers, one of them was very cheap and the other one a little more expansive, both where no-name though. I have also tried two different laptop PC:s.

Is your recomendation to buy a third type of cf-card and card-reader?
I thought both Sandisk and Kingston was two good alternatives, but obviously not...

I am thinking as a first step to transfer the game-files via PCMCIA and see what happens, what do you think? Then atleast the game files wont go through the same CF-card/Card reader.

[thomas]

Before you buy new equipment you should test if you can write a HDF image to a CF card successfully. Create a new HDF without dynamic HDF checked which is as large as (or smaller than, but not bigger than) the CF card. Use the add harddrive window to see how many megabytes the card has, then use that number in the create hardfile window.

Create partitions and fill them like you want them to be on the CF card. Then shut down WinUAE and use a tool like Win32DiskImager to write the image to the CF card.

PCMCIA will probably be very slow compared to WinUAE.

[Dajo]

I created a hdf like i did earlier but without Dynamic hdf checked.
Last time i got a .vhd, now i get a .hdf-file. I get this message when i try to read configuration in HDtoolbox : "drive does not support the SCSI Inquiry command!"

[idrougge]

Kingston is a bit hit-and-miss. They don't make their own cards.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Dajo

I created a hdf like i did earlier but without Dynamic hdf checked.
Last time i got a .vhd, now i get a .hdf-file. I get this message when i try to read configuration in HDtoolbox : "drive does not support the SCSI Inquiry command!"

You probably didn't tick "RDB mode".

btw, it is probably good idea to run h2testw tester program to confirm there is no hardware level problems.