HxC on Gotek, I can't get anything to run properly

[enthusednewb]

Greetings All, I have been banging my head hoping to find a simple solution , or even a complicated one but nothing I have tried so far is working and so I hope someone with much more experience can point me in the right direction.

I have an Atari 520ST, It is one of the first models I believe, without an internal floppy drive.

I recently bought a Gotek drive emulator, and I flashed HxC onto it, and set up my USB drive for Autoboot mode.

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Also this is the artery gotek with the teeny tiny chip the model is SFRKC30.AT2, I heard these models have less memory or something? maybe something to consider for the problems I'm having?

The flash and install to my ST all went smooth and I am able to access the file selector and set the slots, etc.

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Now no matter the format, no matter the image, I get some sort of error, and they are different errors for different files.

For example when I boot the paperboy image I get a black screen with BDOS error, the little bit I read online leads me to think this is an address error or its looking for an image on the wrong side of a disk? Forgive my ignorance I'm still learning lol.

Another example is on the Rampage image I get a weird "kein Virus in bootsektor" error.

In both the above cases, once this error pops up the LCD on the Gotek shows three lines on the top and three on the bottom and will not do anything until I reboot.

Yet another example is the one that got my hopes very high is the "darkside of the spoon" image as when I booted it the sweet clear sound of theme music started to play, I waited in anticipation only to not get a picture, just lines of static as the awesome music blares on:

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In this case, the LCD on the gotek stays lit at the 001 position, as I assume it should. I can even progress through screens of the game by pressing keys and the sounds lead me to believe that its actually responding to the presses, just no picture at all.

I am using the SM124 monochrome monitor, not sure if that has anything to do with why a picture wont show.

So there you have it, my dilemma so far. If anyone has questions for diagnosing this problem please feel free to ask me. I have tried about every format and every combination of jumpers and what not that I've read about and have not been able to successfully boot a single image.

I have tried placing the jumper on just S1, just S0, S1+S0, M0+S0, and M0+S1 and nothing seemed to make a difference, except for when there was a jumper in the M0 spot, the system wouldn't even boot to the desktop.

Also I am not using an existing floppy drives board to power and hook up to the ST, I got this interface that provides power to the gotek and connectivity to the ST, I bought it on a website https://5vsupply.com/ I believe I have everything on that correctly hooked up because I am actually accessing the gotek and my ST recognizes it. The only way I can see this causing any issues is that since its powered separately when I'm in autoboot mode and hit F7 to save the slot 1 and reboot, the gotek actually doesn't reboot with the system so I have to time it and manually turn on the gotek and immediately turn on the ST and then it autoboots to whatever I assigned to slot 1.

Maybe trying a different usage mode might fix these issues? I haven't tried any other mode , autoboot seemed intimidating enough for a newbie like me, lol.

I know this was long and probably boring, I just wanted to give as much info as I can think of to hopefully get some help. Please if you need pictures or anything to see what I have going on just ask.

I appreciate any advice or troubleshooting you can send my way and look forward to being a part of the community.

[ijor]

I am using the SM124 monochrome monitor, not sure if that has anything to do with why a picture wont show.

Unfortunately most games and demos run don't run on a monochrome monitor.

First, get some simple images without games to make sure your Gotek and your ST are working fine. Then you can try some games that do work on monochrome, search the forum and there should be a list.

Then consider getting a solution to connect to a color monitor.

[enthusednewb]

I am using the SM124 monochrome monitor, not sure if that has anything to do with why a picture wont show.

Unfortunately most games and demos run don't run on a monochrome monitor.

First, get some simple images without games to make sure your Gotek and your ST are working fine. Then you can try some games that do work on monochrome, search the forum and there should be a list.

Then consider getting a solution to connect to a color monitor.

Thanks for the answer

I do have the SC124 but I cant get a picture to show on it, it powers on and it will get warm but no picture. maybe the cable is faulty. And I'm afraid to work on anything like that, too many horror stories about getting shocked to death. Do you know off hand if the RF output on this is any good, I guess i could try hooking it up to crt tv.

[saulot]

As a test I would check RF output on crt tv. And yes SM124 is not suitable for games/demos. The only games which can run in mono are for example Silmarils games(e.g Colorado).

[enthusednewb]

As a test I would check RF output on crt tv. And yes SM124 is not suitable for games/demos. The only games which can run in mono are for example Silmarils games(e.g Colorado).

Thanks for the info all, unfortunately I still cant get a simple word processing image or monochrome games to boot either lol When I try something like word processor or calculater images, the st goes to the desktop with floppy A and floppy B Icons, I open floppy A and get a drive not responding error, is that to do with my jumper settings possibly? I have jumped S0 and S1 could it be my version of TOS that Isn't compatible with the images I try?

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On another note, I used the RF on a crt tv and the picture was pretty scrambled, I see you can change the channel setting on the back of the ST but I think over the years that switch got broken off. I have to open the atari up and see whats going on there but that's a project for another day.

[enthusednewb]

It's obviously seeing the image...I can access them on the desktop, just when I try running them the drive not responding error shows.

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Also, Do the 6 dashes on the gotek when I'm in the file selector mean anything, the same dashes show up when the "Drive Not Responding" errors show up.

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[enthusednewb]

**update**

Just to see if I get different results I ran HxC in indexed mode and when I get the drive not responding error, I power off the gotek, turn it on again then hit retry, it will execute the command that it previously errored out on. I was able to get all the way to an install screen before the bombs came and froze up the system, Maniac mansion also seemed like it was going to boot up when I couldn't get past the drive not responding screen with this trick. And the most simplistic of images, a calculator, actually worked!! its not much but its progress. Does what I describe point to a problem with a certain component that you can think of?

YAY !!

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[tzok]

I have jumped S0 and S1

Can you show how exactly you have put jumpers on your Gotek unit? And how are you connecting it to your ST (as it doesn't have an internal drive)?

[enthusednewb]

I have jumped S0 and S1

Can you show how exactly you have put jumpers on your Gotek unit? And how are you connecting it to your ST (as it doesn't have an internal drive)?

It's currently set at S1. I tried many other jumper placements and combinations I have seen on various forums, only conclusion I have from that is when there's a jumper on M0 or M1 (alone or combined with S0/S1) the gotek is never recognized.

If your unfamiliar with this interface www.5vsupply.com makes these initially with the ST with no internal FDD in mind. The switch's purpose as far as I know basically is if you have it switched to PC then the drive ID is set to 0 if the switch is set to Atari, then the ID is set to 1. Also afaik the ribbon cable is oriented correctly pin 1 on the interface is aligned with pin 1 on the gotek.

any tips or advice is much appreciated.

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[ijor]

It's obviously seeing the image...I can access them on the desktop, just when I try running them the drive not responding error shows.

This means that your Gotek (and your computer) is more or less functional. It means that the jumpers are correct and the cable is in the right flipped position. Otherwise you shouldn't be able to read anything from the Gotek at all.

I understand you don't have another Gotek/Drive, or another computer? Because otherwise it is difficult to be sure if the problem is your Gotek or your computer.

Also this is the artery gotek with the teeny tiny chip the model is SFRKC30.AT2, I heard these models have less memory or something? maybe something to consider for the problems I'm having?

You should carefully read the HxC release notes. Some Artery models are supported, some are still in development. You might want to take a good picture of the Gotek motherboard and contact HxC. You already paid for the firmware and Jeff (HxC) normally gives very good customer support.

Also, Do the 6 dashes on the gotek when I'm in the file selector mean anything, the same dashes show up when the "Drive Not Responding" errors show up.

Do you get this 6 dashes all the time? Or normally you get the "1" selection in the display?

[enthusednewb]

It's obviously seeing the image...I can access them on the desktop, just when I try running them the drive not responding error shows.

This means that your Gotek (and your computer) is more or less functional. It means that the jumpers are correct and the cable is in the right flipped position. Otherwise you shouldn't be able to read anything from the Gotek at all.

I understand you don't have another Gotek/Drive, or another computer? Because otherwise it is difficult to be sure if the problem is your Gotek or your computer.

Also this is the artery gotek with the teeny tiny chip the model is SFRKC30.AT2, I heard these models have less memory or something? maybe something to consider for the problems I'm having?

You should carefully read the HxC release notes. Some Artery models are supported, some are still in development. You might want to take a good picture of the Gotek motherboard and contact HxC. You already paid for the firmware and Jeff (HxC) normally gives very good customer support.

Also, Do the 6 dashes on the gotek when I'm in the file selector mean anything, the same dashes show up when the "Drive Not Responding" errors show up.

Do you get this 6 dashes all the time? Or normally you get the "1" selection in the display?

When I was using autoboot, the 6 dashes would be there while I was in the file selection menu. When I set an image to slot 1 and rebooted, then the LCD would read 001. The 6 dashes come up whenever the drive wont respond so I was just relating that to a possible issue, but I think it probably just means there's no image present yet?

I moved from autoboot to indexed mode for testing since then and I actually prefer it.

If I would have known to look for an older model gotek I would have but I didn't know they released this one and as luck would have it I ended up with it It looks from the release notes as though he has it dialed in, but still WIP. I am going to try the pull up resistor fix on the floppy controller first. Just from playing around on this I have a gut feeling the problem is with the ST itself. What problem it may be, will be an adventure trying to figure out as I'm quite new to the system.

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also, found out the RF works !!(faulty cable)

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[ijor]

I am going to try the pull up resistor fix on the floppy controller first.

What pull-up fix??? I wouldn't install any pull-up fix blindly.

also, found out the RF works !!(faulty cable)

Well, that's some good news

[enthusednewb]

I am going to try the pull up resistor fix on the floppy controller first.

What pull-up fix??? I wouldn't install any pull-up fix blindly.

also, found out the RF works !!(faulty cable)

Well, that's some good news

I read about it on another forum, not sure on the rules if we can link to other forums, I will explain it just to be safe and if its ok to post the link I will.

original Atari floppy drives had internal pull ups on some of the signals so the thought is to apply the same thing to the floppy controller on an ST board that doesn't have an internal floppy, I believe HxC addressed this on his emulators, but with a gotek, its possible this can help with the drive not being found, intermittent read/write issues etc. So the fix is soldering 1k resistors to the controller chip and connect to 5v.

[ijor]

I read about it on another forum, not sure on the rules if we can link to other forums, I will explain it just to be safe and if its ok to post the link I will.

original Atari floppy drives had internal pull ups on some of the signals so the thought is to apply the same thing to the floppy controller on an ST board that doesn't have an internal floppy, I believe HxC addressed this on his emulators, but with a gotek, its possible this can help with the drive not being found, intermittent read/write issues etc. So the fix is soldering 1k resistors to the controller chip and connect to 5v.

All Gotek drives I've seen have internal pull-ups, and never heard about one without them. It is very unlikely your Gotek doesn't have pull-ups. Either way, as I said, wouldn't install this fix blindly. Open the Gotek and measure resistance across the relevant pins. The "old" Gotek schematics are available online. The new ones with the Artery chip are probably a little bit different.

[tzok]

If you connect Gotek as an internal drive in STf/e or external in SF314 enclosure (or compatible), the Gotek should be always set to S0. Motor ON signal (M0) should not be used.

I'd suggest trying with a different, freshly FAT32 formatted pendrive.

[ijor]

If you connect Gotek as an internal drive in STf/e or external in SF314 enclosure (or compatible), the Gotek should be always set to S0. Motor ON signal (M0) should not be used.

Seems he is using an adapter for multiple platforms that switches the signals.

[enthusednewb]

If you connect Gotek as an internal drive in STf/e or external in SF314 enclosure (or compatible), the Gotek should be always set to S0. Motor ON signal (M0) should not be used.

I'd suggest trying with a different, freshly FAT32 formatted pendrive.

Ok I will Try that out with S0 jumped. I tried that before with the same exact results but another try wont hurt

My particular ST its just a 520ST before any of the STf versions came out it Never had an internal drive. An external drive on a internal drive-less ST would always be drive A...correct?

[enthusednewb]

If you connect Gotek as an internal drive in STf/e or external in SF314 enclosure (or compatible), the Gotek should be always set to S0. Motor ON signal (M0) should not be used.

Seems he is using an adapter for multiple platforms that switches the signals.

I am using this adapter: https://5vsupply.com/products/idc14-to- ... -usb-power it does have a switch, essentially when switch is on "1" the Jumper placement has to be on S1 for it to work, same exact thing if I have the switch placed on "0" it wont work unless the jumper. The main reason I got this adapter is because it was a much more reasonable price than getting a ridiculously over priced OEM DIN14 plug as this adapter converts that cable to a standard 14-pin IDC header.

[enthusednewb]

Got it! Of all things I decided just on a whim to try another 34 pin cable and sure enough it worked. One of the wires must've been faulty.

Thanks for all the help and tips yall.

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