opossumita Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 (edited) Hi all, I'm a noob on these things, sorry if some questions may sound stupid. As far as I've understood it's possible to update Ultimate 1MB firmware on real machine using SIDE LOADER. Well, I've just a SIDE2 with CF and I've found a step by step guide online: http://atari8.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Ultimate-1MB-and-Incognito-BIOS-and-XEX-Loader.pdf Do I have just to flash 'ubios120.rom' and 'upbi180.rom' with uflash.xex? What about 'uload120.rom'? Thanks in advance. Edited September 27, 2016 by opossumita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Use the Flash.rom from that same site. It will do all three in one flash. Power off and Power on required after the flash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Yes: as per the installation guide (step 9), you should repeat the process for UPBIxxx.ROM and ULOADxxx.ROM. UFlash is distributed in the same archive as the ROMs, and it should now be possible to update the entire 64KB firmware ROM at once by flashing FIRMWARE.ROM to the "Firmware" slot as Roy points out, although this is a recent development not mentioned in the manual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 27, 2016 Author Share Posted September 27, 2016 (edited) Thanks for the replies, I'm going to try it later... By the way, How to run .ATR files with the new firmware? I guess some settings have to be changed in PBI Bios menu... With Altirra i was able just to run .xex games... Update: Where should i place the FIRMWARE.ROM? If i place it simply in the root of CF card I can't "see" it in the file list of uflash.xex... Edited September 27, 2016 by opossumita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Turn on the PBI BIOS and - therein - the hard disk, and ATRs will be listed in the loader. There is no directory navigation in the loader's CIO FAT handler, so make sure UFLASH is in the same folder as the ROMs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 27, 2016 Author Share Posted September 27, 2016 (edited) I placed uflash.xex and the firmware rom in the cf card root as well and I can't see the rom in the file list...Also tried to create a directory apart for uflash and rom with no success... :-\ It works in emulator... That's weird. My Atari 800XL was repaired months ago...ls08 faulty chip has been replaced with F08... Maybe it has something to do with this? Concerning Altirra The .atr files are listed in the loader but when i try to run them it just brings me to the READY screen... Edited September 27, 2016 by opossumita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 (edited) Which version of the BIOS and loader are currently on your hardware? There were old versions of the loader which did not have a CIO disk handler at all. Do you see anything in the directory of D1:, or just an error message? The only pre-requisite for ATRs, as mentioned earlier, is that the PBI BIOS and Hard disk are enabled. Pressing Enter on an ATR will then mount it on D1: and reboot the machine from the disk image. Problems may arise in emulation with acceleration patches and the like, and problems may arise everywhere if firmware elements are mixed and matched (since equates may change between releases). Edited September 27, 2016 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 27, 2016 Author Share Posted September 27, 2016 (edited) How can i check which are the BIOS and loader versions on real machine? I can't see anything in file list, not even an error message, if that's what you mean I guess for Altirra I need correct firmware roms... Edited September 27, 2016 by opossumita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 (edited) If the main BIOS menu has a multi-colour logo and the loader has "SIDE" in huge letters at the top, then it's the old firmware. There were several versions of the old loader floating around and I'm not sure which had the CIO disk handler and which didn't. In any case, if you're not getting a nonexistent device error, then I guess the CIO handler is there. If you have SIO2xxx and can perform the update via a serial device, that will get you out of trouble quicker. At least with a known firmware revision, we can troubleshoot more easily. BTW: For Altirra, you just need the complete 512KB U1MB ROM included in the September update from my website. Use that as U1MB firmware. SIDE2 firmware is a "don't care" for the purposes of using the U1MB loader, since neither the SIDE's SDX nor the loader are used at all. Edited September 27, 2016 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 27, 2016 Author Share Posted September 27, 2016 (edited) Bios menu and loader look like this: ... Unfortunately i don't have any SIO2xxx devices... :-\ I guess i should send the Atari to a technician for update... Anything else i can try on real machine? On Altirra I'm using ultfull.rom ... when i try to run .atr games it gets stuck on "READY" screen... I'm using a CF card as physical drive... Thanks. Edited September 27, 2016 by opossumita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 (edited) That's the old loader, but you appear to have the SIDE switch in the lower position. If you're using the device with U1MB, you should have the switch in the "up" position. Similarly, in the emulator, uncheck System->Console Switches->Enable Cart SDX. You could (with reference to the APT manual on my website, which includes a complete walk-through of the procedure I'm about to suggest) prepare a CF card (or card image) in emulation which includes the FATFS.SYS driver in a SpartaDOS X partition. You could then boot SDX on real hardware, and install FATFS.SYS to get read-only access to an "external" FAT16 partition right from DOS. This enables you to launch UFLASH from the SDX prompt, and flash the ROMs direct from whichever drive is your FAT16 partition. Edited September 27, 2016 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 Ok, i managed to make also the .atr files work in Altirra by disabling all the acceleration options. More to come... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 Good Morning I've checked the APT manual and well, it gets way too complicated to me. I've noticed the firmware update guide mentions a stand alone flasher - NEWBIOS.XEX - as an alternative to UFLASH.XEX, and I'd like to try it. Where is it? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 I've noticed the firmware update guide mentions a stand alone flasher - NEWBIOS.XEX - as an alternative to UFLASH.XEX, and I'd like to try it. Where is it? Most if it's still in my head, since I didn't finish it yet. If you're having difficulties getting moving stuff from the PC to the Atari (without SIO2xxx) prior to the firmware update, this isn't necessarily going to be much easier after the update. What specific areas of external FAT creation are causing problems? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 (edited) I didn't configure the hd myself, I'm using a pre-prepared image with games and all made by the guy who sold me the SIDE2 both on real 800xl and Altirra...I'm very, very ignorant Anyway, I never had any problems moving stuff from the pc to the atari, just copy new material from the pc to the CF, insert the CF in SIDE2 and run... Hope that's what you mean...Have you got a pre-prepared image which will allow me to launch UFLASH from the SDX prompt? I haven't understood why UFLASH can't see the firmware roms on real machine... It works on emulator with the last bios... I must update the firmware! Edited September 28, 2016 by opossumita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 No problem. Quote me a CF card size and I will prepare a raw image which you can copy direct to the physical card. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 No problem. Quote me a CF card size and I will prepare a raw image which you can copy direct to the physical card. You're amazing!!! I have a 4GB CF card ready to use... I look forward for image and instructions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Try this: opussumita.zip Ensure this image is copied to the raw card (overwriting everything), not to an existing MBR partition. Drive 6 (F:) is a 32MB FAT16 partition, while drives 3-5 (C-E) are 32MB SDFS formatted APT partitions. If you enable SIDE Hardware in the U1MB BIOS, enable SDX, and ensure the SIDE switch is in the upper position, you should boot into SDX from partition C:. CONFIG.SYS installs the FAT driver (I just copied all the FAT driver stuff to the root of C:), and if you then type DIR F:, you should - after a short pause - see the contents of the FAT16 partition (a bunch of ROMs and UFLASH). If you then log F: (by typing F: at the prompt), then type UFLASH.XEX, the flasher will load from the FAT partition, and you can use the file selector to log F: and see the ROM files. I noticed a possible bug in SDX (4.48) while preparing this image. If ATARIDOS.SYS is loaded prior to FATFS.SYS, the FAT16 partition on this card image is misidentified as DOS 2.x format, resulting in a garbage directory listing. If, on the other hand, FATFS.SYS is loaded first (presumably placing it ahead of ATARIDOS in the file system handler table), the FAT is correctly identified. CHKFAT run on the FAT partition states the FAT is valid. Anyway: let me know if you get stuck. Bear in mind that if you have a bad flash for any reason, you'll probably need a USB programmer to get back up and running. Problems are rare, but it's usually the folks without the necessary failsafe gear who end up bricking the machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 I unzipped the image with 7zip (Winrar said the file was corrupt)... When I try to write in on the card with WinImage it gets stuck at 93% saying "Error writing disk Disk1, error 27: The drive can not find the sector requested"... ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Odd. It was created with WinRAR. Will check later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Downloaded and extracted without problems. If the image is short of sectors (I simply created a 4GB VHD in the MS Disk Management console), it shouldn't matter at all since the top end of the disk is unused anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 (edited) That means the image is usable even if I get that error at 93%? Edited September 28, 2016 by opossumita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 (edited) Should be. There is only about 1MB of data which isn't zeros. Edited September 28, 2016 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opossumita Posted September 28, 2016 Author Share Posted September 28, 2016 Something must have gone wrong... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 The FAT driver needs a later SpartaDOS X version... sigh. You should replace FATFS.SYS with the one from the SDX 4.46 Toolkit ATR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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