Opry99er Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 ...i have to remind myself... I liquidated some stuff to buy my house, so I cannot be THAT mad at myself. Still though... Sucks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Schmitzi Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 hmm, so as mentioned before, try to isolate the problem. Use a spare PEB (with your 1 existing flexcable), use a(nother) ONE cleaned floppydrive, use new/other DS-SD-floppydisks, maybe also try SS-SD-floppydisks Don´t use things which are not needed for a plain disktest (32K, RS232, ...) and thereby change/use any part that you have in double (console, .... ) for this test and try to re-produce the error..... The more you change, the more you can get from a test. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 Yeah flakeyness is a sign towards a flex cable issue we really need a modern replacment unit to replace these.. I've worn out the connectors on one at least! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 I will do some testing today. Thanks for the help, guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift838 Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Yeah flakeyness is a sign towards a flex cable issue we really need a modern replacment unit to replace these.. I've worn out the connectors on one at least! sounds like a project for some of our TI Hardware Designers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 Okay.... Been doing some MAJOR work on my system today. Two things discovered. 1) Two of my three 32k cards are bad 2) One of my three 3.5" drives is bad I have been taking a few videos throughout the process and maybe it will help some folks out once I edit it down. I am labeling all my bad hardware parts now... Need to go through and replace some chips... Now I need a way to comprehensively test my disk controller card, because things are still not quite right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Okay.... Been doing some MAJOR work on my system today. Two things discovered. 1) Two of my three 32k cards are bad 2) One of my three 3.5" drives is bad I have been taking a few videos throughout the process and maybe it will help some folks out once I edit it down. I am labeling all my bad hardware parts now... Need to go through and replace some chips... Now I need a way to comprehensively test my disk controller card, because things are still not quite right. Owen, do you have any way to load a program into your Minimem cart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 Nope... No PC interface. I could type one in if needed. I should have a working rs232 soon enough... Then I could do whatever I wanted, assuming the rs232 isnt shot like the rest of my gear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Nope... No PC interface. I could type one in if needed. I should have a working rs232 soon enough... Then I could do whatever I wanted, assuming the rs232 isnt shot like the rest of my gear. OK, I have a program I wrote to test the 32k ram card when you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) I have two bad 32k cards and one that is working beautifully... When I was in Denver, I lived in an old house and we had brown-outs 3-4 times a week... Must have fried my stuff, because before Denver, ALL my gear was in tip top shape. Edited November 24, 2015 by Opry99er Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Yeah, those surges can wreak havoc on stuff... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 Okay, finally got the 3.5 drive swapped successfully and now both 3.5 drives are back to kickin' ass. Hopefully with the cleaning I did on the 5.25 and getting rid of the two faulty 32k cards, I should have a fully operational disk system now. I haven't had the time to test out any old TI disks yet on the 5.25, but both the 3.5s will initialize, save, catalog, and load. That is an AWESOME feeling. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Do you still think you have a disk controller issue? I have a tester card I can send you to test with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted November 24, 2015 Author Share Posted November 24, 2015 (edited) It is possible. I will be doing some hardcore disk system stuff here in the next week or so. I will let you know if any problems persist. If they do, I would appreciate the tester loaner. Edited November 24, 2015 by Opry99er Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Uhg, this is exactly the problem I'm having but I also am trying to use DSHD floppies. OK, I guess I won't know if I can get past disk error 31 until I get the correct disks to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyDean Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 If you are using 3.5 inch floppies, just cover the hole with electrical tape or something, make it look like the one on the right. Just make sure it is firmly in place, as I have had tape poking up and got the disk stuck in the drive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 This is not guaranteed to work, to my understanding. The magnetic surface is different, the head has to use a different magnetic strength. Here is a document that I found on the web: http://www.retrotechnology.com/herbs_stuff/guzis.html 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Uhg, this is exactly the problem I'm having but I also am trying to use DSHD floppies. OK, I guess I won't know if I can get past disk error 31 until I get the correct disks to use. The "Uhg" factor... one of the many reasons I recommend the Lotharek HxC floppy emulator all the time. Unless one is a purist, messing around with old drives can be such a drag. First you have the issue and expense of all the individual disks, and the need to keep buying more as your software library grows. Second, interfacing and compatibility issues can be an issue. After you pay the shipping on all this half worn out mechanical equipment, you'll still need to invest in cleaning supplies for when one of those ancient disks flake off and cause havoc. I love the old computers, but not the aging storage media of the last century. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Yeah, I'm not able to purchase anything more for this. I basically have to get the floppies I need or I'm stuck off the old iron for now. I'll just keep developing in emulation until I can do something about that. I don't even see a point in starting e/a with out being able to save to disk. At least I have tape drive for now. Just gotta keep the code small and extended/basic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I have used HD 3.5" floppies with the hole covered in my TI system, BUT I am also using an HD drive (at low density). It works, but I would never store important data on such a disk. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinphaltimus Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 Well I ordered a box of the correct floppies. I will probably order another box or two over the next few weeks just to stock up on a few.I have several options for storage to explore in the future including the hxc floppy emulator and finding a ti branded rs232 card.For now, I'll rely on the ssdd disks I ordered for storage and a method I have yet to prove out for getting programs to the ti from pc. I can get up to 11k at a time to the ti via my PC using CS1er, then save each piece (one at a time) to floppy, then allegedly; use a merge command to put it all together.So until my floppies arrive (Sept. 6th) I'll keep jugging along in emulation for development and fr99 for gaming. I played Alpiner today for more time than I care to admit. I don't care what anyone thinks, I like that game. Oh and Snake Plissken! Holy cow what a great little game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXB Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 I have used HD 3.5" floppies with the hole covered in my TI system, BUT I am also using an HD drive (at low density). It works, but I would never store important data on such a disk. Why I use SCSI and IDE hard drives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynxHandyCaster Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Okay.... Been doing some MAJOR work on my system today. Two things discovered. 1) Two of my three 32k cards are bad 2) One of my three 3.5" drives is bad I have been taking a few videos throughout the process and maybe it will help some folks out once I edit it down. I am labeling all my bad hardware parts now... Need to go through and replace some chips... Now I need a way to comprehensively test my disk controller card, because things are still not quite right. Correct me if I'm wrong on this but I thought having more than one 32k expansion card in the PEB is overkill (the console can only access one 32k memory expansion card at a time), yet you're using three. Is that correct? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 I'm sure he didn't mean he was using them at the same time. It's worse than overkill, it can actually damage the buffer chips as they all try to drive the bus at the same time. (Hopefully to the same levels, which is less risky, but still not a Good Thing. ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted August 28, 2016 Share Posted August 28, 2016 Some sort of a RAID in memory, but without the advantages. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.