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XTIDE tech support thread

Since I am running a XT-CF-Lite v4 card and not XT-IDE card, this may be the wrong support thread. The thing I would like to know is if it is generally safe to remove a CF card from a working DOS setup and connect the card to a USB CF reader to copy files to and from the card. I am just concerned that Windows 7 (64 or 32bit) may modify the cards structure rendering it unusable to the DOS machine. Since many users are having success with the CF and IDE cards, I am interested in their results.

I currently rely on a Zip-100 parallel setup on the DOS machine and a USB Zip drive on my Windows box for transfers.

Thanks!
 
I have found that if you format the card on the vintage system, Windows will copy files to/from it just fine and it will still boot on the vintage system. However, I've also found that sometimes extended partitions, logical drives, etc. don't show up properly in Windows, so you might only be able to copy files to/from the primary partition.
 
Tomn8tr said:
Since I am running a XT-CF-Lite v4 card and not XT-IDE card, this may be the wrong support thread. The thing I would like to know is if it is generally safe to remove a CF card from a working DOS setup and connect the card to a USB CF reader to copy files to and from the card.
Click to expand...

Yes it is safe, provided the DOS machine is powered-down, i.e. the card is NOT hot-pluggable. As noted, extended partitions can be problematic, but this has been improved with the recent re-write of the translation logic (so R566 might work OK - it would be something to test).
 
Hi, I recently got around to assembling my XT-IDE v2 (incl. the UART circuitry). I've got it working in my Tandy 1000 SL/2 with a 512mb CompactFlash card (with 1 32mb partition). Well, everything functions as expected except my mouse no longer works when the XT-IDE card is installed. I tried changing the IRQ on the card from 2 to 5 to no avail. I'm sure that there is a conflict somewhere, but it's been so darn long since I've messed with a PC of this vintage (old video game consoles are more of my "specialty"). FWIW the Tandy is running it's stock DOS 3.3 and DeskMate GUI.

Aside from the mouse issue, I'm very impressed with this card. It's so much faster than the old 20MB Hard Disk Card that it replaced. Has anyone out there encountered a similar issue or have any tips that might resolve this? Thanks!!
 
mcfly88dmc said:
Hi, I recently got around to assembling my XT-IDE v2 (incl. the UART circuitry). I've got it working in my Tandy 1000 SL/2 with a 512mb CompactFlash card (with 1 32mb partition). Well, everything functions as expected except my mouse no longer works when the XT-IDE card is installed. I tried changing the IRQ on the card from 2 to 5 to no avail. I'm sure that there is a conflict somewhere, but it's been so darn long since I've messed with a PC of this vintage (old video game consoles are more of my "specialty"). FWIW the Tandy is running it's stock DOS 3.3 and DeskMate GUI.
Click to expand...
Welcome to these forums.

Maybe the conflict is in the I/O addresses. Have you tried changing the base I/O address used for the card's UART ?

Note that as a new member here, all new posts that you make need to be approved of by a moderator before they appear in the thread. So, for all I know, you have already fixed the problem and a post indicating such will appear shortly.
 
Hi Modem7, thanks for the links. I'll read up on some of those in my down time this week. I didn't realize I hadn't posted before under this name before, as you can see I made my account a while back ^_^

Unfortunately I'm still having the issue after spending several hours on it yesterday. Looking at the jumper settings on the project page, it looks like the IRQ settings aren't actually used by the XTIDE BIOS? I have changed the I/O address of the IDE Interface (P10) around several times to no avail. It looks like the UART I/O address can be configured using block P12, but there is a note "No known configurations, leave empty." Is there a jumper that I'm not seeing that just disables the UART? I don't really need the functionality it provides, I just wanted to build the card with all of its features "just in case." I also tried holding CTRL at bootup to bypass the card, but that did nothing (perhaps due to the Tandy's non-standard keyboard). Changing the boot ROM's address probably wouldn't help in my situation, right?

I didn't notice any jumpers or DIP switches on the motherboard when I had it out to replace the electrolytic capacitors. Just to make sure I didn't muck anything up during that ordeal, I verified that the mouse works right away when I boot without the XT-IDE installed. If this was just an old DOS-only XT machine I probably wouldn't care all that much, but it really helps having mouse functionality in the Tandy's Deskmate GUI (plus games like Lemmings are more enjoyable with a mouse!). Thanks again!
 
mcfly88dmc said:
Looking at the jumper settings on the project page, it looks like the IRQ settings aren't actually used by the XTIDE BIOS?
Click to expand...
Correct.

mcfly88dmc said:
It looks like the UART I/O address can be configured using block P12,
Click to expand...
P12 together with JP3.

mcfly88dmc said:
but there is a note "No known configurations, leave empty."
Click to expand...
There is a second set of jumper diagrams on the page [here]. They show the options for P12/JP3.

mcfly88dmc said:
Is there a jumper that I'm not seeing that just disables the UART? I don't really need the functionality it provides, I just wanted to build the card with all of its features "just in case."
Click to expand...
As you suggest, removing the UART functionality would quickly indicate whether or not the interference is coming from the IDE functionality or the UART functionality.

There is no jumper. What you could do is remove all of the chips that are associated with the UART functionality.
Your card would end up looking like the one [here].
Of course, I am presuming that you have used IC sockets on your card.
You could probably get away with removing less, but removing all UART related chips will help convince yourself that the UART functionalty is gone.
 
It's alive! It did turn out to be an I/O conflict. I found an old datasheet online for the Tandy 1000 series that listed the I/O addresses (free/reserved/etc.). Sure enough, the COM1 (mouse) port of the SL/2 is 03F8, which is default (jumperless) address of the UART! I set the IDE I/O to 0320, which is the recommended Hard Drive address on the Tandy. Once I set the UART I/O to 0330, the mouse sprang back to life. I can't believe I missed that UART config diagram, thank you for pointing that out to me! Now I can start reloading the programs and games. It's pretty awesome having this machine functioning again, as it was my first computer. This whole experience has turned out to be quite the nostalgia trip!

Thanks again, I'll be sure to post anything interesting I learn from using this XT-IDE card with my Tandy in case anyone finds it useful. FWIW I'm using it with a 512MB Centon CompactFlash card and one of those IDE-to-CF adapters w/the ISA bracket - works a treat!
 
Hello everyone. I noticed an issue today when the Miniscribe 8425 in my Leading Edge Model D went bad (FAT sector bad or corrupted) and I attempted a low-level format with my backup drive (XTIDE with CF card, address set at E800, 0340h) via debug (g=C800:5). I assumed there wouldn't be a conflict here, but there is definitely something going on. With the XTIDE unplugged, low-level formatting works fine. But if the XTIDE is plugged in, I get a "completion code 80" on the low-level format program. I think it's a timeout? I tried the same configuration on a different machine (IBM 5150) in case it was the Model D that was causing problems (which I've had trouble with in the past) with the same results. I also noted that on the IBM 5150, with the XTIDE plugged in and operational, the keyboard input is a little delayed. Odd (?).
After the corruption on the Miniscribe and before attempting low-level format, I tried running Scandisk. It attempted to fix the FAT, but failed with a "Memory Parity Non-Maskable Interrupt" at C800. I don't know if it is all related or not. As far as I've been able to tell, everything has worked fine until this point, but I also hadn't tried a low-level format with the XTIDE plugged in up to this point either. And perhaps the hard drive itself caused the NMI.

XTIDE BIOS is 1.1.5, and the card is revision 01.

Any input appreciated. Thanks!
 
relocating this thread:
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcf...000-RL-HD-with-Keyb-Mouse&p=339545#post339545
over here to try and keep all the tech support questions together.

dr.zeissler said:
"Replacing it with a XT-IDE Controller (in the 8Bit-Slot) with a CF-Card does not seem to work [in my Tandy 1000 RL-HD]. There is no Bootscreen and I have read some posts
about the IRQ-Problems etc."

More details please.
Which XT-IDE card are you using? There are several variants now. Add a picture if you're not sure. A picture of jumpers/dipswitches would also help.

What exactly does "no boot screen" mean? Does your machine not display anything at all when you power it on, or does it just not show the XT-IDE bios screen?
Does your system boot to floppy with the XT-IDE controller installed?

There are a couple users here with Tandy-RL boxes, and I think some of them have XT-IDE controllers too.
Can you link to the posts you'd read about "IRQ problems, etc"?
 
Hi,

I bought this.

I then bought this.

When I boot up my Tandy 1000 TL, I know the BIOS is recognized because I can choose to boot from my floppy drive or my MFM drive. I go into FDISK and it finds the second drive and sees 8 GB. Also, it says Lexar Pro ATA when it boots. When I delete the partition and then then go back in to create the primary, the HD LED goes on, and it just hangs. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Chris
 
chjmartin2 said:
When I boot up my Tandy 1000 TL, I know the BIOS is recognized because I can choose to boot from my floppy drive or my MFM drive. I go into FDISK and it finds the second drive and sees 8 GB. Also, it says Lexar Pro ATA when it boots. When I delete the partition and then then go back in to create the primary, the HD LED goes on, and it just hangs. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm guessing it only appears to hang. Be patient! :fishing:
 
Hi guys,

I have a question about flashing the XT-IDE v2 card and hope this is the right place/forum/thread?

I've built a v2 card (finally came around to finishing it) and am unable to flash the BIOS chip. Could this be because it's not an actual 28C64 chip? I've used a XICOR X2864BP chip, the seller in the electronics store had no 28C64 type available but was pretty sure a "normal one" should work as well. I've set the cards jumpers for mostly default settings, address C800h. The flash program gives me some error about not the same bit/byte being returned as expected and flashing failed.

So maybe I should go look for an actual 28C64 chip?
 
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