Amiga 1200 Compact Flash set up issues

[RetroClarence]

Hi all.

New member here so I'm sorry if this has been posted a thousand times. I've been trying to set up WHDLoad on a Compact Flash in WinUAE and haven't got very far.

I've been using this guide:
https://johan.driessen.se/posts/Sett...miga-600-1200/

It feels like I've followed it to the letter but when I've finished partitioning the drive as per the instructions and reboot, my partitions do not appear.

Is there an obvious error I am making? I am using a 4gb "Transcend" CF card. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Chris

[Fastdruid]

How did you reboot?

Did you remember to "save changes to drive?"
Does HDTools "see" the drive once you rebooted?

Is the CF card still mounted as a HD to WinUAE?

[RetroClarence]

Thanks for the response.

When I start HD Tools before I partition I get a message advised that "Drives have been added or removed from the system". When HD Tools starts it shows the CF as "changed" in status. That seems to be slightly different to the image in the guide which shows it as "unknown". It also states that my drive type is "Generic" whereas it's blank in Johan's guide.

I hit "save changes to drive" and that box greys out. I went back into "partition drive" and my partitions where shown.

I then hit "exit" and it prompts me to reboot. I "continue" and it reboots. When it reboots my partitions do not show as NDOS drives. If I go back into HD Toolbox I get the same message about drives being added and my CF is showing just as it did at the start. There are no partitions, it's status is "changed" and I'm back to the start.

If I hit F12 and go back to WinUAE the CF is still showing as an IDE:0 volume HDF.

For some reason, the partitions I create are being wiped and reset when I reboot the virtual Amiga.

Thanks for your help.

[Fastdruid]

Did you run WinUAE as an administrator?

What does your HD setup look like in WinUAE? Mine looks like the attached. I don't think the instructions are _wrong_ as per se however if I follow those I get a type of UAE where as if I do it as type UAE it picks up the *actual* drive type (the same it would in a real Amiga).

FWIW I'm using WinUAE 4.3 here

What version of WB/HDTools are you running?

When I run the 3.1 installer disk on mine it picks up the Drive Type but has a status of "Not Changed" see attached.

If the RBD doesn't match the current setup (eg I've changed the HD or the type) I get "Unknown".

[RetroClarence]

Yes, I'm running as administrator.

My HD setup in WinUAE looks like yours, only I'm setting my drive as an IDE rather than UAE.

Yes, using 4.3 too with WB 3.1.

Interestingly, if I set as a UAE drive in WinUAE nothing shows up in HDTools!! Progress, of sorts?

[Fastdruid]

Just as a double check, you did click "save changes to drive" before exiting HDTools and restarting?

[RetroClarence]

Yes, I did. It then forced me into a reboot.

[Fastdruid]

I'm afraid I'm out of suggestions. The only thing I can suggest is that when you set any options (eg max transfer) you have to hit enter after entering the value. That caught me out when coming back to it (particularly as last time I did anything to do with Amiga HD's it was about 15 years ago!)


Might be worth trying to perform that initial prep in your actual hardware. Trickier to stick PFS3 on (it's on my list to do for mine) but you could always do that after you've partitioned it.

[RetroClarence]

Thanks for the help Fastdruid. I may try and track down one pre-prepared. My IDE to CF adapter arrives today so perhaps doing it on real hardware is the answer. I may also try a different PC in case it's something within my setup.

[Toni Wilen]

It could be also as simple as your CF card not working in Amiga internal IDE. Not all of them are compatible for some reason.

[Fastdruid]

There does seem to be some oddities with them.

I'd love to know why mine doesn't work properly in my A500+ with a CF-IDE40 adapter.
Thread here: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=101971

The CF Card works perfectly fine in the PC in WinUAE, works in a different CF adapter in the A500+, works fine in a right-angle CF adapter in the A1200. Doesn't work properly in two of the CF-IDE40 adapters. Don't know if it's the adapter or the CF card. I think at this stage I'm just going to buy a copy of 3.1.4 on CF with an adapter.

At least then I have a "known working" solution.

[Vypr]

I've had this happen multiple times with SD cards, what usually works is to switch it to a WinUAE drive.
Then when in OWkrkench, go to HDToolbox Info and change the device type from scsi.device to uaehf.device, it should then see the card and allow you to partition it.

[Fastdruid]

Could you be hitting this issue? http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=875632&postcount=70

[arkiruthis]

Apologies for posting on a year-old thread, but like the OP I really struggled with this the other day (the CF Card just not being partitioned on reboot) until I realised it's a change in WinUAE you need to be aware of.

As it's not mentioned in the thread (and this thread appears in a Google search for me) I hope it will also help other people struggling with the issue in future.

I'm using the same card as the OP (Transcend 4GB).

1. Clean the CF card in DISKPART.
2. Run WinUAE as Administrator.
3. Add the CF card to the Hard Drives section, choosing Auto IDE. Probably appears in the list as [UNK]
4. IMPORTANT BIT - You now need to click on the Hard Drive you added in the list and select the PROPERTIES button.
5. You must click the "Full Drive/RDB mode" button. (shown in the attached image).
6. Once clicked, the button will be greyed out, along with some other options like surfaces, sectors etc.

Without this, the partitions never actually get written or saved in WinUAE when you're using HDTools. It's also the reason you get those pop-ups about the drive having changed which you never see in the Youtube vids of people setting up the CF card. Once you've done this, you get prompted to reboot, rather than it forcing you to do it on exit.

Now start the emulation (with the workbench install floppy) and proceed to set up the partitions as before.

When you've set up the partitions, save the changes and exit HD Tools. I usually close WinUAE at this point, open WinUAE again in Administrator and re-attach the CF hard drive.

It should say [RDB] rather than [UNK] this time, which is a good indicator that the drive was properly written to this time.

You don't need to do step 4/5 every time, just the first time you partition the CF. My drive is now working fine here.