Horizon Ramdisk Woes

[sparkdrummer]

In my second TI system I have 2 Horizon ramdisks that format to 1528 sectors.

 

The main one is at cru 1200 and has no issues.

 

The second one is at cru 1500 and always corrupts after power is off and then rebooted after a bit.

 

 

 

As you can see by the above screen shots certain file names get corrupted for some reason.

 

I have ran all the memory tests on the ROS disk for the card and it always passes.

 

Both cards are running the ROS by Tim (Insanemultitasker) which is awesome.

 

Any ideas?

 

Also - to expand the size of these cards is it just a matter of swapping the 32k chips with 128k? If so, is there an inexpensive source for them?

 

 

 

 

[RickyDean]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-SAMSUNG-KM681000LP-10-100NS-LOW-POWER-CMOS-SRAM-1MEG-128Kx8-32PIN-DIP-/391344610664?hash=item5b1df4dd68:g:tSQAAOSw3KFWcxGS may be a good start. Srams are relatively cheap now-a-days.

[+InsaneMultitasker]

Is the corruption happening during the power cycle or after you have used the RAMdisk for a while? If you turn off the RAMdisk for an hour, is corruption more prevalent? Might want to check the battery output voltage. Also, just for giggles, you might try ROS814F to make sure there isn't a bug lurking in the later ROS. (I can't see how ROS would cause this level of random corruption but it is good to rule out).

[sparkdrummer]

It happens after the system has been off for awhile and rebooted. It did the same thing with Ros 814f. Battery voltage is good.

[Stuart]

Any difference if you swap the CRU addresses of the cards? The same card still corrupts?

 

Can you swap RAMs between the first and second cards and see if the problem moves with them? (Yes, you will have to reload the data on each card ...)

 

Are you able to hook up a temporary +5V supply to the RAMs to keep them powered while the rest of the system is off, and see if it still happens? To rule out power problems.

[sparkdrummer]

I suppose I could hook up a VOM to the card to see if the voltage does any funky stuff when powering up or down.

 

Anybody know if the chips shown by RickyDean in the above post would work with these cards? It would be nice if it was just a matter of swapping chips.

[+InsaneMultitasker]

I seem to recall problems with some Horizon models, and that fixes were made to address power-down corruption. Different LED or diode, perhaps? What specific models are these?

[senior_falcon]

The battery holders went bad on mine. The part that touches the battery and the lug the wire is soldered to are two separate pieces crimped together. The contact internally was flaky and no amount of cleaning would fix it. I used copper tape to tape over the corroded terminals and then soldered the negative and positive wires to the tape. In between the batteries I just ran a strip of copper tape from one terminal to the other. Be careful not to short to the battery holder. Also, be sure you don't peel off the tape when you insert the batteries.

 

You might be able to bum 6 inches of copper tape from a stained glass shop.

[marc.hull]

This doc may ( or may not) help. As Tim stated earlier knowing the model number(s) of the cards may be helpful. This is a particularly confusing subject as there are many models of HRD and some have foibles that can be frustrating.

 

(Ed for spelling)

Horizon Change Notice.pdf

Edited July 27, 2017 by marc.hull

[sparkdrummer]

I just replaced the battery terminals in this card with brand new ones so I don't "think" that's the problem. I'm gonna pull the card tomorrow because I can't remember what the model is. Thanks for the pdf Marc!

[sparkdrummer]

Here's a couple of images of the card that screws up. I'll be damned if I know what model it is? I got it so long ago from an ex-TIer I don't remember.

 

 

 

Any help is appreciated as always.

 

 

[+Ksarul]

Look at your serial number and it will show you the model number. In this case, your serial number is 200X (I can't see the last digit in the picture), so your board is an HRD 2000. Only 200 of those were made before Bud changed to the HRD 3000 boards.

 

Based on he components I see (you have a 100 Ohm resistor at one end of the Battery stack and a 33 Ohm resistor at the other) and the big yellow wire, Mods 1 and 2 have been applied to your board. Mod 3 has not--and that mod deals with memory corruption issues caused by using ROS 8.14 and above.

Edited July 29, 2017 by Ksarul

[sparkdrummer]

Thanks Ksarul. The serial is 20054. Mod three looks a pain in ass to me.

[+Schmitzi]

"All RamDisk-related" .... in my list.

 

Maybe you have some ideas And I am looking for more infos on the mods.

At least that I have them in the list (same as for all other given mods, non-HRD-related)

 

 

TI-99-4A-HW-HRD--ALL-RAMdisks-v1.00-beta.pdf

 

[Cat.4] is filtered by "HRD" (what means RamDisks in general, not Horizon only)

yes, it´s real grown

[+Schmitzi]

OK, all MODs / related

 

 

TI-99-4A-HW-MODs--ALL-Modifications-v1.00-beta.pdf