Atarimax Product Discussion Forums
https://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/forum/

Hardware support?
https://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2533
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Author:  walterg74 [ Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:22 pm ]
Post subject:  Hardware support?

Hi all, does anybody know what the process is for hardware support?

I purchased a couple of MyIDE-II carts, and one of them seems to be DOA... :(

Author:  mr-atari [ Thu Apr 26, 2018 1:35 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Again sorry to hear this.

(Out of curiosity, what does it do? Just boot it with out a CF-card inserted.)

Just contact Steve and he will refund or send you a new one.
After contact, send the defective one back.

I know he can be slow with contacting, but he always does his best he can.
You have life-time guarantee on his products.

So don't worry, everything will work out fine.

Author:  walterg74 [ Thu Apr 26, 2018 2:13 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Thanks for the info. Hard for shipping and Stuff since I am in Argentina.. :(

When plugging it in I either get a blank screen or sometimes it will go into the computer’s self-test menu.

Author:  mr-atari [ Thu Apr 26, 2018 3:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Could be the FLASH-content is not good/present.

Do you have SIO2PC or something like that?
I can send you a ATR-file, you can boot with the atari.
That will ERASE/PROGRAM your "defective" cartridge.
Gives an error when "no" MyIDE-][ is found.

Grtz,
Sijmen.

Author:  walterg74 [ Thu Apr 26, 2018 6:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

I don’t but I can ask if anybody I know in my area has one. Is there a chance this coukd help “save” the cartridge if it cam reprogram it?

Author:  walterg74 [ Thu Apr 26, 2018 7:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Hey wait... I was just re-reading your post...

You asked if I had a sio2pc so you can send me “an .atr file”to run on the Atari.

Well, I don’t have that, but I have a second perfectly working cart and a working real floppy...

Can’t I just transfer that .atr to a real disk (as we’ve been discussing on the other post) and just run the software from the drive?

Author:  mr-atari [ Thu Apr 26, 2018 9:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Ok, that might just work.

Attached is the zip file, the ATR is 122k actual size.
So in theory it fits on a Medium Density diskette.
I was worried it might be 512k (this will never fit on a physical disk).
But the shipping content is not a full cartridge..... ;-)

You could have some issues transferring this with the manager, since its not exactly 130k.
But perhaps it will auto patch it to the correct size.

When you have this on disk, just try to boot it with the defective cartridge.
Holding OPTION will bypass the cartridge (in theory) and the disk will boot.
Try this a couple of times, if it does not boot, read the next part.

If it does not bypass the cartridge and boot, you can try the "hot plug" method.
Boot the disk then insert the cartridge.
Screen will scramble, or not, try [Y]es or reset, try again.
This is a tricky operation and need some trail and error, it will work, keep trying.
It's the only way to re-flash a wrongly programmed Atarimax-cartridge.

When the disk eventually boots, it will detect the cartridge and run the flash-software.

Author:  mr-atari [ Thu Apr 26, 2018 9:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Ok, uploaded, success !

I'm 24 hours offline, read your reply tomorrow evening.

Grtz!
Sijmen

Author:  walterg74 [ Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Ok, something is definitely wrong here...

I got really happy first, and then it all went away.. :(

Image transfer went perfect, booted up the disk fine, and was able to boot from it with no issues. On boot, the cart WAS found, and I was able to flash it also with no issues!

Power cycled the computer and menut came up, was able to go into mybios, etc.

After hiting ESC to quit got a weird boot error, which kept repeating continuosly, and now we are back to the beginning... The cart either boots to blank screen or computer goes into self test :(

Author:  walterg74 [ Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Error screen

Author:  mr-atari [ Fri Apr 27, 2018 9:43 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Yes, better contact Steve then.
Something is wrong.

Author:  walterg74 [ Thu May 17, 2018 5:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

mr-atari wrote:
Yes, better contact Steve then.
Something is wrong.


Hey there!

So.. good news/bad news...

I contacted Steve, he sent me a replacment cart and it arrived today!

That’s the good news... the bad news is that something seems to be wrong with this one too :(

I first tried it and thought it was weird that instead of going to the main menu (where you pick mybios, fat32 loader, etc. ) it went straight to the mybios menu. Tried a few more times and I did get the main menu, but others it woukd go back to booting up mybios menu, and others it would seem to bypass the cart and boot a floppy (real one) from the 1050 drive...

Was just trying a few more times and now it seems it just goes to self test every time :(. WTF..? :(

Author:  mr-atari [ Fri May 18, 2018 2:25 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Sorry, to hear this.
I can't help you with hardware issues....
You could try to re-flash the cartridge like before.
But it seems to me the default boot-up bank is random.

When you contact Steve again, ask why the other MyIDE][ works OK.

Also check your cartridge slot or clean it.
Do you have another Atari to check this cartridge?

Grtz,
Sijmen.

Author:  walterg74 [ Fri May 18, 2018 2:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

Yes, I sent him a message anyway meanwhile mentioning these oddities.

The Atari does have some weird mod on the SIO port, so I will try on a other computer too, however, I have not just one but two other MyIDE carts that seem to work fine.

One strange thing I noticed on this cart, if when Imturn on the machine I see the blue screen and curaos while it initializes, if I quuickly flick the machine off/on, 99% of the time the cartridge DOES come up, although sometimes in the proper menu, and sometimes to the mybios menu (and of course it’s not a proper way to operate it anyway)

Author:  mr-atari [ Sat May 19, 2018 2:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Hardware support?

That is indeed strange.

When you powerup, the cartridge should init
and select the first bank (0) to boot.
Here the atarimax menu is stored.

Try this:
Hold and keep holding reset.
Powerup, keep reset down.
Cartridge gets power and starts, but there is no activity, since the Atari still is in reset.
Wait 1-2 second, now release reset.
-does it boot correctly now?

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