moulinaie Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 Hello, I have some problems with the CF7+ card. Little programs or text files slowly loaded are OK, but large files can't be loaded anymore, they hang the system. The system reports a physical error (parity or else). Bouh...!!! I can't work anymore on MLC ! Has anyone some knowledge in this: repair the CF7 ? What are the other solutions to get files easely from the PC to the TI ? Guillaume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 (edited) Hi Guillaume ! an italian user wrote on the forum of my website about a similar problem on loading programs... well... the problem was solved with another AC Power Adapter... the old AC Power Adaptor broken and the output was 4.5V and not 5V ... check the voltage of your AC Adapter too... this problem could be the same Bye Edited September 2, 2012 by ti99userclub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moulinaie Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 Hi Guillaume ! an italian user wrote on the forum of my website about a similar problem on loading programs... well... the problem was solved with another AC Power Adapter... the old AC Power Adaptor broken and the output was 4.5V and not 5V ... check the voltage of your AC Adapter too... this problem could be the same Bye That's an easy thing to do... I have a question... Should I check the voltage while the CF7 is powered on or off ? Guillaume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 (edited) check the voltage only by the AC Adapter connector... without connect it to CF7... Edited September 2, 2012 by ti99userclub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moulinaie Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 The voltage is OK, I have even replaced it with another PSU, same behaviour. Could it be a bad soldering at the power pins on the card??? Guillaume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 You could trace the tracks to the on/off switch on the card, and check the voltage there? Have you got a CF reader on the PC that you can test the CF card with? Copy a volume off and look at it using TI99 or something to check it isn't garbage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moulinaie Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 The CF works well on the PC, I can read and write volumes on it. Do you think that this adapter could work on the CF7 ? I suspect that after a lot of plug/unplugs this part could be faulty: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.fr%2FDual-CF-Compact-Flash-to-40-pins-IDE-Hard-Disk-Drive-SSD-Male-Power-adapter-%2F170787551204%3Fpt%3DUK_Computing_Drive_Cables_Adapters%26hash%3Ditem27c3bb37e4 Guillaume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 maybe this is better: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.fr%2FCF-Compact-Flash-to-40-Pin-IDE-Female-Adapter-Converter-Bootable-%2F221038252032%3Fpt%3DUK_Computing_ComputerComponents_InterfaceCards%26hash%3Ditem3376e81000%23ht_2539wt_1399 but i do not think this is the problem.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moulinaie Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 maybe this is better: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.fr%2FCF-Compact-Flash-to-40-Pin-IDE-Female-Adapter-Converter-Bootable-%2F221038252032%3Fpt%3DUK_Computing_ComputerComponents_InterfaceCards%26hash%3Ditem3376e81000%23ht_2539wt_1399 but i do not think this is the problem.... I was thinking of another solution because this one has a female connector. And if I use a male one, I can easely plug a IDE flat cable between the CF7 and the CF board. This way, plugging or unplugging doesn't apply any strenght on the different connectors. Guillaume; Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 ..... I can easely plug a IDE flat cable between the CF7 and the CF board. .... yes you could try but prest attenction that tha flat cable is not so long... i think 9-10cm is the maximum... otherwise i believe could be transmission problems... but you tried to contact Custodio Malilong ? maybe he can help with this problem for your card... some weeks ago with a problem on mine he changed it with another one... i sold about 25 CF7 Cards for my TI Italian Club i know that now Custodio have another Project for become better the CF7... one SD card Reader for TI99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moulinaie Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 (edited) ..... I can easely plug a IDE flat cable between the CF7 and the CF board. .... yes you could try but prest attenction that tha flat cable is not so long... i think 9-10cm is the maximum... otherwise i believe could be transmission problems... A good advice thanks. but you tried to contact Custodio Malilong ? Unfortunately, I don't have any mail address to get in touch with him. Guillaume. Edited September 3, 2012 by moulinaie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti99iuc Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Ok Guillaume ... you have a PM ! Good Luck ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moulinaie Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 Hello, I need the help of a tester with real hardware : TI99 with CF7+ and F18A. I have attached a DSK file that you can directly copy to the CF card, mount the disk as DSK1 and, from Extended Basic: OLD DSK1.MULTI1 RUN Tell me if you can see the Multicolor mode in action! For me this program stops some seconds after "Loading MLC compiler..." (sometimes with a continuous sound or reset to the "welcome" screen. THen: OLD DSK1.MULTI2 RUN This works well for me although it is REALLY long to load the MLC compiler in this case (more than one minute...). If you don't own a F18A, I'm still interested in the results with TI99 + CF7+ Thanks to everyone!!! Guillaume. TEMP.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Hello, I need the help of a tester with real hardware : TI99 with CF7+ and F18A. I have attached a DSK file that you can directly copy to the CF card, mount the disk as DSK1 and, from Extended Basic: OLD DSK1.MULTI1 RUN Tell me if you can see the Multicolor mode in action! For me this program stops some seconds after "Loading MLC compiler..." (sometimes with a continuous sound or reset to the "welcome" screen. THen: OLD DSK1.MULTI2 RUN This works well for me although it is REALLY long to load the MLC compiler in this case (more than one minute...). If you don't own a F18A, I'm still interested in the results with TI99 + CF7+ Thanks to everyone!!! Guillaume. Hi Guillaume, I have the same results with CF7: MULTI1 - hangs just after "Loading MLC compiler..." with a long beep, locked up. The read LED blinks about 7 times then stops. MULTI2 - runs fine with about 1.5 min load time. With a TI99 and PEB: MULTI1 - after about 10 seconds after "Loading MLC compiler..." I get a "syntax error in line 120". MULTI2 - runs fine with about the same load time. I do not have F18A. Fritz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moulinaie Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 Hi Guillaume, I have the same results with CF7: MULTI1 - hangs just after "Loading MLC compiler..." with a long beep, locked up. The read LED blinks about 7 times then stops. MULTI2 - runs fine with about 1.5 min load time. With a TI99 and PEB: MULTI1 - after about 10 seconds after "Loading MLC compiler..." I get a "syntax error in line 120". MULTI2 - runs fine with about the same load time. I do not have F18A. Fritz That's more than strange to me... Because both programs work well with CLASSIC99 !! So it's not a problem with my own CF7 because yours and the PEB react the same. I know that the problem comes from a LOAD command in assembly with a file less than 8192 bytes. I thought that under this limit there was no problem. Guillaume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+retroclouds Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 (edited) That's more than strange to me... Because both programs work well with CLASSIC99 !! So it's not a problem with my own CF7 because yours and the PEB react the same. I know that the problem comes from a LOAD command in assembly with a file less than 8192 bytes. I thought that under this limit there was no problem. Guillaume. Well don't forget that classic99 is an emulator; it's not an exact copy of a TI-99/4A. If it runs well in classic99 you might try to run it wit MESS and see what happens there. I remember that while developing Pitfall I had situations where it did work in classic99 but not on the TI-99/4A. Most of the time I then did a cross-check with MESS and it did not work there as well. MESS is very accurate as far as emulation is concerned. It might be that you have hit a bug in classic99, or things like memory initialisation or VDP setup (for PABs) may also play a role. Edited September 18, 2012 by retroclouds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 I remember that while developing Pitfall I had situations where it did work in classic99 but not on the TI-99/4A. Most of the time I then did a cross-check with MESS and it did not work there as well. MESS is very accurate as far as emulation is concerned. It might be that you have hit a bug in classic99, or things like memory initialisation or VDP setup (for PABs) may also play a role. Agreed. I had this many times with TF. The one area where classic99 is very different is disk access. This is because it simulates (does not *emulate*) the TI Disk system. For example, there is no TI DISK DSR in classic99. Therefore, you can use all of VDP in classic99, but not on a real 4A. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Maybe it's a bug in the CF7 DSR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moulinaie Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 Maybe it's a bug in the CF7 DSR? That's what I thought, but the problem is the same with TI99 + PEB... Guillaume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Hmmm... Check the header of the file you are loading. Is the header correct? LOAD can load program image files into VDP. The max file size for each is 8192. You cannot use VDP after >37D8. Maybe the file you are loading is writing over >37D8... ? *Maybe* you can use after >37D8 if you do a CALL FILES(1) or CALL FILES(0). Not sure about that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moulinaie Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 Hi Guillaume, I have the same results with CF7: MULTI1 - hangs just after "Loading MLC compiler..." with a long beep, locked up. The read LED blinks about 7 times then stops. MULTI2 - runs fine with about 1.5 min load time. With a TI99 and PEB: MULTI1 - after about 10 seconds after "Loading MLC compiler..." I get a "syntax error in line 120". MULTI2 - runs fine with about the same load time. I do not have F18A. Fritz Hello Fritz, Can you please redo the same tests with this new version??? I cut my large file into two pieces and looks like it works again on my CF7. Tell me if it works on yours and if it's Ok with the PEB! Your results will be a precious information! Guillaume. TEMP.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Therefore, you can use all of VDP in classic99, but not on a real 4A. Classic99 now 'reserves' the same amout of VDP RAM as the TI Disk Controller for the sake of compatibility (mostly with BASIC), but it still doesn't use that memory for anything. Also the CF7 reserves an additional 6 bytes of VDP memory compared to the disk controller card, which are used to tell it which disk image is mounted in each drive. So you have to stay out of that area. CPU address >8370 points to the top of VRAM, you can't use anythng higher than what is pointed to there (on all systems). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz442 Posted September 18, 2012 Share Posted September 18, 2012 Hello Fritz, Can you please redo the same tests with this new version??? I cut my large file into two pieces and looks like it works again on my CF7. Tell me if it works on yours and if it's Ok with the PEB! Your results will be a precious information! Guillaume. Both programs run fine. With a TI99 and CF7 MULTI1 - loads in about 6-7 seconds and runs fine. MULTI2 - runs fine with about 1.5 min load time. With a TI99 and PEB: MULTI1 - loads in about 10-11 seconds and runs fine". MULTI2 - runs fine with about the same 1.5 load time. Hope this helps. Fritz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moulinaie Posted September 18, 2012 Author Share Posted September 18, 2012 Both programs run fine. With a TI99 and CF7 MULTI1 - loads in about 6-7 seconds and runs fine. MULTI2 - runs fine with about 1.5 min load time. With a TI99 and PEB: MULTI1 - loads in about 10-11 seconds and runs fine". MULTI2 - runs fine with about the same 1.5 load time. Hope this helps. Fritz Wonderful! Thanks a lot for your time and work. So I can consider that I solved the problem for now... But this doesn't explain clearly why it won't load the other large file. I rewrote part of my loader/saver and put everything on my page as version 1.31 for MLC and the PreCompiler. Guillaume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic1975 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Hello! I need help with memory when i type size command in extedend basic. I have TI 99/4a ,CF7+ and speech synthesizer. When I type size, it show this: 11832 bytes of stack free 24488 bytes of program When I type size in classic99, it show this 11840 bytes of stack free 24488 bytes of program Why is there diference in memory size? When you look in Extended basic handbook, there memory size is diferent too! When I type size without CF7+ connected to computer, memory size is like in handbook. Can sameone explain it to me? Greetings from Croatia! Dalibor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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