johndias Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 I bought the Lotharek Biggus Dickus SIO2SD. Seems to work fine if I use the LCD screen to load software, but when I try to use the loader it comes up but I can't get the keyboard or joystick to respond and navigate the menu. Am I doing something wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin1968 Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 How much memory do you have on the 400? I know a standard 16K 400 will not work with my SDrive-MAX so assume you would have issued with the SIO2SD as well if you haven't increased the memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndias Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) Ah, it's stock RAM so that must be the problem. What are my options to upgrade the memory? Sorry, it's been a while since I pulled this guy out. It does have the 48k upgrade. Edited July 16, 2020 by johndias Mistakes were made Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StickJock Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Maybe some ram went bad? I had a similar issue on an 800 with a bad ram chip. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrobits Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) I have the exact device from Lotharek and it hung on my 800 too when I first got it. It worked much better when I downgraded to the 2.5 version of the device firmware. It also works much more reliably if the SIO bus has a strong power source (I think my 800 alone was a little weak). I am running mine with his SIO Splitter with a power supply I got on amazon and it is very stable. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0719GY29M Edited July 16, 2020 by retrobits 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndias Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) Hmm, maybe I'll attempt that downgrade. Actually, I see he's got a "fixed" loader for 400/800 on the files section of the product page. Hmmmmmm..... ....annnnnnd that fixed it! Edited July 16, 2020 by johndias 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StickJock Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) Yeah, I forgot about that, but when I first got my SIO2SD, it didn't work on my 800 either. I found the "fixed" version of the loader somewhere online. I don't remember at the moment what the difference was - I think the loader called some OS routine directly instead of through the vector, and as luck would have it, the routine changed addresses between the 800 OS and the XL/XE OS (and it was written for the newer OS). I let him know about it, so I am glad that he added the fixed version to his site to help other 400/800 users. Edited July 16, 2020 by StickJock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 the keyboard issue... a number of times folks patched it up and a couple other bad ideas they found in it, glad he finally downloaded and chose to make something available for the customers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndias Posted July 30, 2020 Author Share Posted July 30, 2020 So, even with the fixed version on Lotharek's website I find that there are some functions that don't work ("?" for search, numbers to load disks) and if I browse into a directory with a lot of files (maybe more than 30?) the whole thing locks up. Any idea where you found your fixed version @StickJock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamm Posted July 30, 2020 Share Posted July 30, 2020 See my post April 22nd in this thread for further details on the origin of the patched loader. If we had source code it'd be easier to make a more...thorough patch, but we don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johndias Posted July 30, 2020 Author Share Posted July 30, 2020 Thanks @jamm agree it would be great to have access to the source code. Are there any other loader alternatives? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StickJock Posted July 30, 2020 Share Posted July 30, 2020 16 hours ago, johndias said: So, even with the fixed version on Lotharek's website I find that there are some functions that don't work ("?" for search, numbers to load disks) and if I browse into a directory with a lot of files (maybe more than 30?) the whole thing locks up. Any idea where you found your fixed version @StickJock? No clue. It was a while back. I don't think that I tried the keyboard functions. I just used the joystick to select the file, and the button to launch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FifthPlayer Posted July 30, 2020 Share Posted July 30, 2020 On 7/15/2020 at 8:37 PM, johndias said: Actually, I see he's got a "fixed" loader for 400/800 on the files section of the product page. Hmmmmmm..... ....annnnnnd that fixed it! I think the issue is that the SIO2SD tries to load a patch to the OS at boot, to enable high-speed SIO operation. But the OS patch fails on the 400/800 ROM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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