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XTIDE tech support thread

Well my new XTIDE is having some trouble. I think it's because I am trying to use TTL 2764 EPROMs with the generic image (both XT and AT). I can't figure out a way to save a .bin file from idecfg so I can use my EPROM burner. I have a 2864 300ns (actually I see it's 250ns) SEEQ but it says "timeout error" and I'm not sure if it's even good or fast enough.

I have many more 2764 so would rather use them. Is there a way to save the .bin file or am I just blind?
 
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sombunall said:
I can't figure out a way to save a .bin file from idecfg
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Just change some settings and try to exit from idecfg.com. It will then ask if you want to save changes.

I have a 2864 300ns SEEQ but it says "timeout error" and I'm not sure if it's even good or fast enough.
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You need to set SDP command to "none" for SEEQ eeproms. I don't recommend SEEQs unless you write protect it with a jumper after flashing.
 
aitotat said:
Just change some settings and try to exit from idecfg.com. It will then ask if you want to save changes.


You need to set SDP command to "none" for SEEQ eeproms. I don't recommend SEEQs unless you write protect it with a jumper after flashing.
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Can't get the 250ns 2864 SEEQ to work even with that. I think it's borked.

Well good news! It works with a 2764! I was able to write, read and boot with a Maxtor 120mb. This is in a AMD 386dx-40. I couldn't get it to boot in a Harris 286-25 with PC chips chipset but that sucker won't boot hardly anything including freedos or any dos above 6.3.

The best part is I never soldered a PCB before and it works on the first try! :D

Also I have a whole bunch of hard drives to test for compatibility. Is there a place to submit results?
 
I finally got around to plugging the XT-IDE board into my Leading Edge Model D...with the default settings, the BIOS picks up but fails to recognize any attached hard disk. Since the Model D has a lot of integrated hardware, I figured it was most likely the piece that was the least standard causing the trouble; that is, the RTC. The Model D has a nonstandard battery-backed RTC, requiring a special driver for DOS to grab the correct date. One may disable it by pulling jumper #2 of the 5-position jumper block near the power supply connectors. I suspect re-flashing the XT-IDE BIOS to use a different I/O port and setting the switches accordingly will avoid this problem! I'll test that out once I get the floppy drive working, which has apparently decided to fail.
 
sombunall said:
Also I have a whole bunch of hard drives to test for compatibility. Is there a place to submit results?
Click to expand...
Add 'em here!
http://www.wiki.vintage-computer.com/index.php/XTIDE_TestResults

I finally got around to plugging the XT-IDE board into my Leading Edge Model D...with the default settings, the BIOS picks up but fails to recognize any attached hard disk. Since the Model D has a lot of integrated hardware, I figured it was most likely the piece that was the least standard causing the trouble; that is, the RTC. The Model D has a nonstandard battery-backed RTC, requiring a special driver for DOS to grab the correct date. One may disable it by pulling jumper #2 of the 5-position jumper block near the power supply connectors. I suspect re-flashing the XT-IDE BIOS to use a different I/O port and setting the switches accordingly will avoid this problem! I'll test that out once I get the floppy drive working, which has apparently decided to fail.
Click to expand...

interesting. I'd never suspect an RTC to cause a conflict, but 300h does seem to be a somewhat popular IO address for cards, particularly NICs.
and without a floppy drive, it will most certainly be difficult to do a quick scan of IO using debug to see if anyone is there before putting the card in.

I would love to see the above link updated to not only show drives tested, but also machines known to have been successful on getting the card to work on. You very well may be the first to put one on a leading edge box.
 
Firstly my huge thanks for the folk that have produced XT-IDE - made up my first board today and it worked straight away :D

However I have an issue in that I can't boot from an SD card in an adapter (click for picture).

Booting from a hard disk (250GB Samsung) works fine. Booting from floppy, the SD card behaves perfectly too, it just won't boot. The 'boot sector found!' comes up but then the machine hangs. Tried DOS 3.30 and Windows 95.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. BIOS is 1.1.4.

Cheers
 
MBR must be recreated for many CF cards before they can be booted. Most likely the same thing is true for SD cards. FDISK with /MBR switch should help.
 
Error codes are those used by INT 13h functions. XTIDE Universal BIOS does not use error code FFh so most likely it is returned by Tandy BIOS for some reason. Do you use XT or AT build? TL/2 is XT with 286 processor so you should use AT build now that there is no XT+ build anymore.

How much RAM does your TL/2 have? If 640k then you must disable full operating mode. If it is already disabled (XT build default), try to enable it even with 640k. It will relocate drive parameters to another location. You could also try to enable late initialization (XT build default). Make sure that IDE settings are correct for XTIDE if you are using AT build (bus type = 2x8-bit, ports 300h and 308h, Enable interrupt = N).
 
aitotat said:
Error codes are those used by INT 13h functions. XTIDE Universal BIOS does not use error code FFh so most likely it is returned by Tandy BIOS for some reason. Do you use XT or AT build? TL/2 is XT with 286 processor so you should use AT build now that there is no XT+ build anymore.

How much RAM does your TL/2 have? If 640k then you must disable full operating mode. If it is already disabled (XT build default), try to enable it even with 640k. It will relocate drive parameters to another location. You could also try to enable late initialization (XT build default). Make sure that IDE settings are correct for XTIDE if you are using AT build (bus type = 2x8-bit, ports 300h and 308h, Enable interrupt = N).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply! I updated my thread with how I was able to resolve this. A combination of two settings got me through (I tried almost every imaginable permuation, and if these two settings are not set the way they worked for me, I run into issues)... 1) Late initialization was enabled, so I disabled it... I'm guessing it needs to load before the TL/2's built-in controller? 2) Manually set CHS information.

Following the Help function you provided in the BIOS, I had already figured that Full operating mode was a bad thing... So that's disabled. (my TL/2 has 640k)

BTW, I'm running AT build.

Seems to be working fine now. :)

Thanks again!
 
Can you try one thing? Now that you got it working, do not use manual CHS but keep all other settings the same. Does it stop working with auto detected values?
 
So the only necessary thing to make it work was to disable late initialization? Strange since late initialization should be more compatible except that it will not work if something installs INT 19h handler after XTIDE. Did you see boot menu when late initialization was enabled?

Are you sure that the TL/2 build in hard drive controller won't use the same ports as XTIDE?
 
aitotat said:
So the only necessary thing to make it work was to disable late initialization? Strange since late initialization should be more compatible except that it will not work if something installs INT 19h handler after XTIDE. Did you see boot menu when late initialization was enabled?

Are you sure that the TL/2 build in hard drive controller won't use the same ports as XTIDE?
Click to expand...

I have a more "standard" configuration working right now. It puzzles me that settings sort of "trickled" into a working state.

I'll confirm when I get home but right off the top of my head here's how things are configured and working on my 1000 TL/2 right now:

- Using AT build 1.1.4 BIOS on D000 (whatever the default address is)
- Addresses 300 and 308 specified in the relevant settings
- Dual-port 8-bit
- Auto-detect geometry (no user defined CHS)
- Late initialization: Yes
- Block transfer mode: Y
- Interrupt: N
- Swap drive IDs: Y
- Enable ROM option: Y (since I do like to use DeskMate 3.03 on occasion...)
- Menu selection timeout: 5 seconds
- Default drive: 80h

I'll confirm all the settings I'm using and edit this post, as a reference for anyone using an XT-IDE with a TL/2 (and, perhaps, the same model WD drives...)

Thanks for all of your help troubleshooting this when it wasn't working! It's in a fairly stable state right now. :)
 
pearce_jj said:
Any ideas why the board won't recognise directly connected (i.e. no cable) known-good SD card adapter like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260379676332

A cabled-attached variety (same chipset) works fine. Perhaps it is something to do with cable select master/slave?

Cheers!
Click to expand...

Is the orientation correct? One thing to note is that, as far as I remember, getting the orientation wrong can damage the device/controller card. So, hopefully that's not the case.
 
Thanks - orientation is OK, as I've used one of those 'socket' type keyed 40-pin headers.
 
Please forgive me for not reading the thread up to now, just going to explain my issue and someone can tell me if it's been addressed or not.

I've got the newest BIOS on my card (or, newest as of perhaps a month ago, if there's been a release since then mine is outdated).

I formatted and did an MS-DOS 5 install in another computer on a 12GB Travelstar laptop hard drive (one 2GB partition, max FDISK creates). Then, put it on an XT clone motherboard with XT-IDE, booted successfully, made some edits to autoexec.bat and rebooted...only to find myself being informed that I had no operating system.

Hooked it back up to the other system (set up drive and installed OS in VMware, using IDE/ATA bridge) and find the contents of the drive are useless. So, I figured "perhaps VMware does something XT-IDE doesn't like" and I then set up another mobo test 'station', booted with an MS-DOS 5 boot floppy. FDISK'd, formatted and sys'd the drive (and copied the rest of the stuff from the floppy as I need one or two other items, and the 8-bit system has no removable storage capabilities at present).

Tossed it back on the XT-IDE. Booted just fine, verified the stuff I needed was there. Ran EDIT, made changes to autoexec.bat...rebooted...corrupt again.

Is this documented? I sure hope it isn't expected behaviour, cross-system drive swapping was one of the bragging points of this card I thought.

corrupted1.jpgcorrupted2.jpg

Also, cannot use a (known working) CF card with a (known working) CF/IDE adapter card. Tries detecting for quite a while before coming up empty handed.
 
It sounds to me that either your XT-IDE board has an issue or possibly the old XT as a whole - have you checked PSU outputs for voltage and ripple?
 
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