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XTIDE tech support thread

...soon, very soon.

I have 10 PCBs that I'm kitting up for resale. My parts order from Jameco and mouser are in delivery right now.
Of my 10 PCBs, I have to build up several of them. When I do this, the wiki will get a full update with my parts list and I will post build pics and everything else. I don't want to post my exact parts list just yet, as I have not confirmed that the cards can be built 100% with what I have.

edit:
here's a picture of a completed card.
http://s870.photobucket.com/albums/ab264/hargle/?action=view&current=IMG_01581-1.jpg

I don't think the jumper settings are correct in this picture; I will post the right ones when I update the wiki.
 
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Hi all and my greetings to the whole community.

I'm looking for 2xIDE-XT isa cards to complete my Euro PC - Euro PC II machines with CF HDD style drives.

Sorry if i'm posting in wrong way but i'm interested in 2 XT-IDE ISA cards with the components assembled as i'm not very experienced with the soldering iron and i do not have a soldering station.

Thanks.

PS

@hargle

In the photo of your link is this a MOLEX powwer connector ? Where can be used ?
 
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I have my two built up and working perfectly. A big thanks to Andrew and all those that have worked on this design!

Matt

P2020008.jpg
 
Matt, what oscillator value are you using for the UART?
I'm doing some tests with 7.3728mhz. At this speed, you can boot to a disk image across a serial line at "local" speeds, which is really amazing. It's even better than CF at this point since the hard drive is technically on another machine, and it's super easy to add/modify/backup your XT's hard drive that way.
 
I am using the standard 1.8432 mhz at the moment. I wanted to be able to run qmodem with standard baud rates to test the HW.

The high speed serial link for remote disk access is a great idea. I was thinking that 24 mhz is the max clock speed for the 16550 so you might be able to squeeze a little more out. The notes say 1.5 mpbs is possible although I have never tried it.

Matt
 
the molex (or in matt's case, pig-tail) can be used to power a drive from the card itself. Used whenever the power supply has no spare power connectors.
Technically I suppose it should be a male ended molex connector, to stop people from actually plugging the card in to the power supply (that would be a bad idea)
 
I really went cheap on that pigtail. I carved it out of pc carcass so I wouldnt have to dis-assemble the compaq portable to get at the drive PS connectors during testing. I will probably replace it as some point.

Matt
 
I finally assembled and installed a revision 1 XTIDE and in my XT, but each time I run IDECFG.COM (8 times now) the cursor jumps down a line and just blinks, the system hangs, nothing else happens, it never gets any farther. one time it actually said divide overflow but thats it. using dos v5. each time I end up having to reset it to get out of it.

(Improvised screenshot)


usually

A:/IDECFG.COM
_


and once

A:/IDECFG.COM
Divide Overflow
_


thats all that ever happens on my screen, it hangs like that.
Shouldn't the program at least run? even with out the XTIDE installed?

Any ideas whats wrong?
 
Sounds like a corrupt copy to me. How did you get the file from the internet onto your floppy disk?
Do other programs run off your floppy disk work properly?

the program should run with or without the card installed in the machine. It's got to be your local copy that is corrupt.
 
Thanks that's what it was, the drive in the 98 computer was acting up so I used the xt's drive in the 98 to save the file off the internet and it worked.
however. Now that that's working I have a new problem. Ran the config tool now no matter how I try it I get "Timeout error when polling EEPROM!"
 
ryaninspiron said:
Now that that's working I have a new problem. Ran the config tool now no matter how I try it I get "Timeout error when polling EEPROM!"
Click to expand...
If you read the following earlier thread, you'll see where hargle posts (July 2nd, 2010, 06:36 AM) possibile causes of that error.

http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/archive/index.php/t-12359-p-6.html

Later in the thread, you'll see that cauldron discovers that the cause of the error message for him was bad solder joints.
 
yep, that's usually the message when the flash program can't find the eeprom itself in memory. Check your dipswitch settings and its solder connections. Make sure it's D000, or if you've moved it on purpose, the default address in xtidecfg has to be changed to where ever you've mapped the eeprom.
Or, you're using a different brand of eeprom than what xtidecfg can support. Try the software data protection settings in the flash menu too. Try setting it to Disable and also None.
 
Could it be that I used 74hc688 because my electronics shop had only 74hc688 and not 74ls688, so I took what I could get. The HC series is more picky about its high level voltage threshold on the inputs than the ls series. That would definitely cause my problem right?
 
I have built a working board with that chip. However as you say it is working with CMOS levels (Vih=0.7xVCC, 3.5V) so I guess it might not work in every machine (TTL Vih=2.4V).
 
I've built one with the HC688, but the HCT version might work better for you. I was mildly surprised when I didn't have any problems with a fully populated bus. If your bus is heavily populated, you might pull a few cards to see if that has any effect.

If you can't program your EEPROM on the board, try using an external programmer to do the job. If you're running your board in turbo mode, you should drop it into normal mode.
 
I need some help, I am trying to flash my 1.0.0RC2 XTIDE card but it keeps on giving timeouts.
I removed everything I dont need from my XT but still no go, also stepped down from msdos 6.22 to 5.0 but still nothing.
All jumpers are in their default positions, the other cards still in the XT are a VGA video card and a floppy controller.
 
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