Still no luck with nibwrite & ZoomFloppy

[Gerrit Hansen]

Hello,

since my ZoomFloppy was fixed by Jim (thanks again!), I finally had the
time to try if nibwrite finally works here, this time with cbmxfer.
Still no luck. I even think I have the same errors that I had back then.
Luckily cbmxfer creates conienient log files, so please see them
attached to see the error for yourself. I'm using Windows 7 64Bit german
edition.
My only guess is that something went wrong with soldering the parallel
port cable to the chip on my drive. I have one of those unlucky ones
which can't be modded solderless. BTW: If someone has a spare one that
can be modded solderless I'm willing to buy it, preferably in germany or
other european country to keep shipping costs reasonable. Until then I'm
trying to solder everything again...I have used the backside of the
board (in correct (mirrorred) order when compared to the manual for the
parallel cable of course), maybe I try and use the frontside, through my
limited knowledge tells me that should make no difference. Right....?

Translation of german error messages:
"Ein an das System angeschlossenes Gerï¿œt funktioniert nicht." <- A
device attached to the system isn't working.
"Das System kann die angegebene Datei nicht finden." <- The system can't
find the specified file.
"Das Gerï¿œt erkennt den Befehl nicht." <- The device doesn't recognize
that command.

Regards
Gerrit

[Nate Lawson]

On 4/25/2011 9:37 AM, Gerrit Hansen wrote:
> since my ZoomFloppy was fixed by Jim (thanks again!), I finally had the
> time to try if nibwrite finally works here, this time with cbmxfer.
> Still no luck. I even think I have the same errors that I had back then.
> Luckily cbmxfer creates conienient log files, so please see them
> attached to see the error for yourself. I'm using Windows 7 64Bit german
> edition.

The relevant part of the log:

###
Drive Version: 73,CBM DOS V2.6 1541,00,00

Drive type: 1541
Bumping...
Initializing
Uploading floppy-side code...
Starting custom drive code...
Passed basic parallel port checks.

Testing track capacity at each density
--------------------------------------------------
Density 0: 6218 6224 (301.40rpm) margin:6
Density 1: 6638 6634 (301.39rpm) margin:4
Density 2: 7113 7116 (301.22rpm) margin:3
Density 3: 7656 7653 (301.50rpm) margin:3
--------------------------------------------------
Drive motor speed average: 301.38 RPM.
Track capacity margin: 16

1.0: (3:7822) [rsync:76 trunc:108 ] (7638) [badgcr:1] (fill:$55)
2.0: (3:7824) [rsync:72 trunc:114 ] (7638) (fill:$55)
Resetting drive...
###

So it appears the parallel port works fine. And it looks like the first
track got written ok. The problem is that the drive never finishes
writing track 2. Perhaps Pete can say what is happening at this point in
nibwrite.

Your drive speed is a little high but not too far out of line.

I've seen this sometimes with bad media. Try a different blank floppy?
Or try cleaning the drive head.

Does nibread always work ok?

> My only guess is that something went wrong with soldering the parallel
> port cable to the chip on my drive. I have one of those unlucky ones
> which can't be modded solderless. BTW: If someone has a spare one that
> can be modded solderless I'm willing to buy it, preferably in germany or
> other european country to keep shipping costs reasonable. Until then I'm
> trying to solder everything again...I have used the backside of the
> board (in correct (mirrorred) order when compared to the manual for the
> parallel cable of course), maybe I try and use the frontside, through my
> limited knowledge tells me that should make no difference. Right....?

If you pass nibread -t, it's not the parallel cable. And if you can
write a track, it's probably not the ROM or light sensor.

--
Nate

[Pete Rittwage]

Can you post the exact command line you used to get these errors?

-Pete

On Apr 25, 2011 12:37 PM, "Gerrit Hansen" <fire...@animexx.de> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> since my ZoomFloppy was fixed by Jim (thanks again!), I finally had the
> time to try if nibwrite finally works here, this time with cbmxfer.
> Still no luck. I even think I have the same errors that I had back then.
> Luckily cbmxfer creates conienient log files, so please see them
> attached to see the error for yourself. I'm using Windows 7 64Bit german
> edition.
> My only guess is that something went wrong with soldering the parallel
> port cable to the chip on my drive. I have one of those unlucky ones
> which can't be modded solderless. BTW: If someone has a spare one that
> can be modded solderless I'm willing to buy it, preferably in germany or
> other european country to keep shipping costs reasonable. Until then I'm
> trying to solder everything again...I have used the backside of the
> board (in correct (mirrorred) order when compared to the manual for the
> parallel cable of course), maybe I try and use the frontside, through my
> limited knowledge tells me that should make no difference. Right....?
>
> Translation of german error messages:

> "Ein an das System angeschlossenes Gerät funktioniert nicht." <- A

> device attached to the system isn't working.
> "Das System kann die angegebene Datei nicht finden." <- The system can't
> find the specified file.

> "Das Gerät erkennt den Befehl nicht." <- The device doesn't recognize
> that command.
>
>
>
> Regards
> Gerrit

[Gerrit Hansen]

Hello,

sorry for answering that late, job has kept me too busy.

In this case I didn't use the windows command line, I simply used
cbmxfer so I don't know which command line options was created by that,
or is there a log file for that somewhere set by cbmxfer per default?

>Try a different blank floppy?
>Or try cleaning the drive head.

Tried both, no luck. I even simply tried to format a disk after
selecting parallel transfer mode instead of auto in cbmxfer which
shouldn't concern nibtools, so I'm very convinced it's my drives fault
or since I really don't have confidence in my soldering skills I think I
might have done something wrong while soldering the parallel adapter.

Again I would be glad if someone has a solderless-modable 1547 for sale
since I think I can throw mine on the garbage.

Regards
Gerrit

Am 28.04.2011 05:49, schrieb Pete Rittwage:
> Can you post the exact command line you used to get these errors?
>
> -Pete
>
> On Apr 25, 2011 12:37 PM, "Gerrit Hansen" <fire...@animexx.de

> <mailto:fire...@animexx.de>> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > since my ZoomFloppy was fixed by Jim (thanks again!), I finally had the
> > time to try if nibwrite finally works here, this time with cbmxfer.
> > Still no luck. I even think I have the same errors that I had back then.
> > Luckily cbmxfer creates conienient log files, so please see them
> > attached to see the error for yourself. I'm using Windows 7 64Bit german
> > edition.
> > My only guess is that something went wrong with soldering the parallel
> > port cable to the chip on my drive. I have one of those unlucky ones
> > which can't be modded solderless. BTW: If someone has a spare one that
> > can be modded solderless I'm willing to buy it, preferably in germany or
> > other european country to keep shipping costs reasonable. Until then I'm
> > trying to solder everything again...I have used the backside of the
> > board (in correct (mirrorred) order when compared to the manual for the
> > parallel cable of course), maybe I try and use the frontside, through my
> > limited knowledge tells me that should make no difference. Right....?
> >
> > Translation of german error messages:

> > "Ein an das System angeschlossenes Ger�t funktioniert nicht." <- A

> > device attached to the system isn't working.
> > "Das System kann die angegebene Datei nicht finden." <- The system can't
> > find the specified file.

> > "Das Ger�t erkennt den Befehl nicht." <- The device doesn't recognize
> > that command.
> >
> >
> >
> > Regards
> > Gerrit

[Steve Gray]

Hi

----- Original Message ----
> From: Gerrit Hansen <fire...@animexx.de>
> To: zoomflop...@googlegroups.com
> Sent: Sun, May 8, 2011 2:58:52 PM
> Subject: Re: Still no luck with nibwrite & ZoomFloppy
>
>
> In this case I didn't use the windows command line, I simply used cbmxfer so I
>don't know which command line options was created by that, or is there a log
>file for that somewhere set by cbmxfer per default?

In the General tab, you can select "Log all commands" and the exact commandlines
will go to a log file. The "Show Log" button will view it.
You can enable "Preview shell commands" to see what commands are being executed
and confirm the operation.
All errors and command output are directed to files. you can see the output file
in the main window by pressing the "Results" button.
The output and error files are stored in the temp directory.

Steve