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Factory settings Kouwell KW-520D 8-bit floppy drive controller

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Robin4

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 25, 2011
Messages
533
I have bought this floppy drive controller card>

98dsc00230.jpg


It can support 1.44mb floppys on XT pc, but never worked for me..
I bought this card because i want to use 1.44mb floppys on my XT computer without using manupilation software..

Does anybody knows the factory settings? I think the EEPROM is corrupt why it wouldnt work with 1.44mb floppys..

I know about this cheet:

KOUWELL ELECTRONIC CORPORATION

KW-530/KW-530D

Card Type Floppy drive controller
Floppy drives supported 360KB, 720KB, 1.2MB, 1.44MB
Data Bus 8-bit ISA



CONNECTIONS

Function Location

Diskette controller connector CN1

FLOPPY DRIVE CONTROL ADDRESS SELECTION

Address J2

Primary Pins 1 & 2 closed

Secondary Pins 2 & 3 closed

HARD DRIVE CONTROLLER STATUS REGISTER ADDRESS SELECTION

Address J2

1F7H (no hard disk controller Pins 4 & 5 closed
installed)

177H (hard disk controller Pins 5 & 6 closed
installed)

USER CONFIGURABLE SETTINGS

Function Label Position

» Factory configured - Do not alter J1 Unidentified

» Factory configured - Do not alter J3 Unidentified

» Factory configured - Do not alter RP1 Unidentified

» Factory configured - Do not alter RP2 Unidentified

1.2MB or 1.44MB drive installed in SW1/1 On
8086/8088 or 80286/80386 system

1.2MB or 1.44MB drive installed in SW1/1 Off
80286/80386 system only

» Factory configured - Do not alter SW1/2 Unidentified

Drive A is 360KB or 720KB SW1/3 On

Drive A is 1.2MB or 1.44MB SW1/3 Off

Drive B is 360KB or 720KB SW1/4 On

Drive B is 1.2MB or 1.44MB SW1/4 Off

Note: SW1/2 and SW1/3 only function when SW1/1 is in the On position.




But i cant see how Jumper block J2 is factory configured. I tried different settings, but i gave me a lot more problems then solutions..
I also want to know how SW 1/2 is configured. I cant find this back everywhere on the internet..

First time i tried this card, i only could work with 720KB floppy. Then i tried it in a 386 motherboard.. Then it worked good, but i think thats because of the enhanced bios on the motherboard is taking over from the onboard one..
When i configured for my XT systeem, i only could work with 720 kb floppys..

Then i tried different jumper settings. But it locked to boot from the floppy drive.. The floppy drive wont react anymore. Every board i used this card on gave me boot problems on drive A:

I think of dumping this card and try anything else.. this give me alot of headache.

Is there some one that can tell me how to configure J2 jumper block, and know the factory settings off those jumpers.???
 
The good news is that floppy controllers are very similar under the hood.

Do you see a signon message from this card's BIOS when you start your system? If not, then the EPROM might be corrupted (if you have an EPROM programmer, easy to repair by burning another BIOS image--there are a bunch out there).

If there is no existing floppy controller installed, you should leave J2 (1,2 and 4,5) set to the primary setting and SW1/1 on.
 
No i dont see a message from that floppy drive controller card. If i start my XT computer it shows me the STJUKE 1988 motherboard bios only and the begin to count the memory. It a full 1024KB i installed on this motherboard and thats seems to regonized to be good / working. The motherboard iam using is a flytek one (bios v 2.20) an XT clone V20 nec motherboard that looks similair like the normal ST JUKO one, only mine looks cheaper (the PCB)
I also thougt that the bios might be corrupt as well. What i can try is to buy an eeprom flasher en try to backup it. And then flash it again (on an other eeprom chip) An yeah i had SW 1/1 on on 8088 / 80286 / 80386 but bios didnt work.

So iam think iam going to buy an eeprom reader on ebay.. Could you recommend one which is very understandable and very easy to use for the beginner. (i never used it before)
I saw on ebay they selling an willem one.. Could you recommend it or are there easier flashers to find?

Can you tell me which pins nummers are on block J2.. I dont know the digits to read it. And so i dont understand which pin which digit has.

And i have an other question..

80dsc00212.jpg


Under the motherboard bios there an open socket.. Can you maybe tell me where is it for?? Is it possible to flash an eeprom chip with an extension HD 1.2MB /1.44MB bios in it an place it in the empty socket?
So i can use easier normal controller boards with full of HD floppy support??

Thanks chuck!
 
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The jumpers on J2 (12, 45) as nearly as I can tell, should be as shown in your photo, above--that is, both on the "upper" set of pins.

Given that the EPROM on your floppy board isn't labeled, I wonder if it's not someone's attempt at a "hack" to get the card operating.

I'm not familiar with your motherboard, but I suspect that the extra socket is for BASIC or some other special application.

As far as an EPROM programmer, although it's a Chinese make, I've had good results with the TOPWIN TOP853 programmer. If you're an eBay user, you can often snag one for around $25 shipped.
 
I only see one convertor for that topwin top853 programmer..isnt that limited on usage?? I like to have more option to use different types of eproms.. ( if i buy one i will do a good buy)

I like this one more: True USB Willem ECU EPROM BIOS SPI universal Programmer . Yes i know its expensivers. But you have convertors for it.. So you can program different kind of roms too..
And the manual is also written in my own language : dutch.. So its easier to understand the eprom programmer.
 
The TOP853 is no different from other programmers in what it will fit--the ZIF socket is 40 pins with the narrowest spacing between the rows of 300 mils, so it fits everything from small DIPs to the big 40 pin EPROMs. And you can use anyone's socket adapters, should you want to program, say, a PLCC Flash.

I suspect that internally, there's not much difference between the Willem, the Genius and the Topwin.

It works well for me, but is only one of 3 programmers that I have--the other two are old devices and not USB ones.
 
The software of the willem one has multi language support and better clearer software.. The topwin has simpeler software, and doesnt support 12.5volt devices. (mayby i understand it right)
 
Does somebody knows where i can find orginal biosses that working on an bios extension floppy drive card?
 
Do you also have to orginal kouwell one? I dont think an other ROM would work because every FDD controller has its own jumpers and that kind of stuff. So an other ROM wouldnt work i guess..
I would try to look if i can make an copy of the old ROM if its still on the EPROM .
 
If i have some roms i will send those to you so you can put them on your site to.
 
Chuck(G) said:
The good news is that floppy controllers are very similar under the hood.

Do you see a signon message from this card's BIOS when you start your system? If not, then the EPROM might be corrupted (if you have an EPROM programmer, easy to repair by burning another BIOS image--there are a bunch out there).

If there is no existing floppy controller installed, you should leave J2 (1,2 and 4,5) set to the primary setting and SW1/1 on.
Click to expand...

If the eeprom is been corrupted then there isnt any data on it??? (like blank) or the chip is dead and blank)

And do you know where i can find those roms to play with? (the software ones)


And if i have my EEprom programmer (bought yesterday on ebay) whats the best way to save to data? In hex format or in bin format.. (in which type is it the best way to consume it?)

I never worked with an eeprom programmer before..

Is it correct that every kind of eeprom chip has its own voltage (Why exactly??)

And when i read it out it putts the data on the memory (buffer) of the programmer?
 
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Robin4 said:
If the eeprom is been corrupted then there isnt any data on it??? (like blank) or the chip is dead and blank)
Click to expand...
Usually, bits start to fail.
Example.

Good: E2 45 2A
Bad: E2 65 2A

In the example above, a bit has changed in the second byte: 45 (01000101) --> 65 (01100101)

Robin4 said:
And do you know where i can find those roms to play with? (the software ones)
Click to expand...
eBay is one source.

Robin4 said:
And if i have my EEprom programmer (bought yesterday on ebay)
Click to expand...
You should buy an EPROM eraser as well.

Robin4 said:
whats the best way to save to data? In hex format or in bin format.. (in which type is it the best way to consume it?)
Click to expand...
BIN

Robin4 said:
And when i read it out it putts the data on the memory (buffer) of the programmer?
Click to expand...
On the Willem programmers, when you read an EPROM, the EPROM contents go into the 'buffer'.
You then click on the BUFFER tab to view the buffer contents.
You can then save the buffer contents to file by using the SAVE icon.

So the data flow is EPROM --> BUFFER --> FILE

When programming an EPROM, it is opposite: FILE --> BUFFER --> EPROM
 
modem7 said:
Usually, bits start to fail.
Example.

Good: E2 45 2A
Bad: E2 65 2A

In the example above, a bit has changed in the second byte: 45 (01000101) --> 65 (01100101)
Click to expand...

Is it possible to restore it manually if this happends?

I only dont know how binary code work.. and what it needs to be correct it for an fix.

Robin4 said:
And do you know where i can find those roms to play with? (the software ones)
Click to expand...

I did mean the BIN rom files.. not the Eproms.. Without the Bin files you can do nothing with it.
 
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