Roydea6 Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 I used this to update my Incognito on an NTSC 800. The XL self-test no longer executes the sound test correctly. Is that expected behaviour or did I miss a step? And just what is it that you used.... the rom just up from this post is for the U1m Bios and the Incognito bios is not the same.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Oh well I gotta go, so not wishing to trash anything I'll hold off on doing anything until I hear back on how I should proceed. - Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) Oh well I gotta go, so not wishing to trash anything I'll hold off on doing anything until I hear back on how I should proceed. - Michael Just do it you can't use it the way it is now.... Just remember You may have to power off and on to get it to stick.. Edited May 17, 2016 by rdea6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Just do it you can't use it the way it is now.... Just remember You may have to power off and on to get it to stick.. OK sounds like a plan. But it'll have to wait until tomorrow, since I am home and my Atari system is at my shop. Also kind of curious what FJC is going to come up with, which may or may not influence my decision depending on what it is. - Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 If flashing the whole ROM, it might be an idea to use version 1.0 of UFLASH from my website. It doesn't understand the new BIOS but should properly configure when there's no signature info. You'd just flash Roy's ROM, reboot, then revert to the latest flasher. I'd feel more confident about fixing the current version, though. Will try to take a look today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) I used this latest updater and the 2016/04 Incognito Firmware Package from http://atari8.co.uk/firmware/incognito to update my Incognito on an NTSC 800. The XL self-test no longer executes the sound test correctly. Is that expected behaviour or did I miss a step? This is my first time trying to flash the Incognito using the uflash tool. I do recall some Incognito issue regarding the Self-Test (not related to the new BIOS)... I cannot recall exactly what. Anyone? OK sounds like a plan. But it'll have to wait until tomorrow, since I am home and my Atari system is at my shop. Also kind of curious what FJC is going to come up with, which may or may not influence my decision depending on what it is. Try this: uflash_v.1.25.zip If the hardware isn't auto-detected, manual selection now defaults to the old BIOS type if no signature information is found. This is all becoming toweringly complex, so it's time for a big code refactoring, but I did some quick tests here with three BIOS types (old w/o signature, old with signature, and new BIOS) and it appeared to detect and flash them all. Make sure you update main BIOS, PBI BIOS and loader, then do a power cycle. Edited May 17, 2016 by flashjazzcat 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) If flashing the whole ROM, it might be an idea to use version 1.0 of UFLASH from my website. It doesn't understand the new BIOS but should properly configure when there's no signature info. You'd just flash Roy's ROM, reboot, then revert to the latest flasher. I'd feel more confident about fixing the current version, though. Will try to take a look today. Hi Jon, yes I'd like to give you the chance to come up with 'an old hardware' solution not just for my sake, but for others that might be in my same predicament. And I do appreciate Roy's efforts as well, but I also think it's good that I learn to work through this process utilizing UFLASH as you described it in your manual (which BTW is an absolutely beautifully executed document), and to also take advantage of the opportunity to be a guinea pig test for your latest UFLASH changes. Try this: Attachment uflash_v.1.25.zip If the hardware isn't auto-detected, manual selection now defaults to the old BIOS type if no signature information is found. This is all becoming toweringly complex, so it's time for a big code refactoring, but I did some quick tests here with three BIOS types (old w/o signature, old with signature, and new BIOS) and it appeared to detect and flash them all.Make sure you update main BIOS, PBI BIOS and loader, then do a power cycle. I'll be heading over to where my system is at in a couple of hours and will give this a try. Thanks, - Michael EDIT: I just left you a little present for all that you do. I hope it helps Edited May 17, 2016 by mytekcontrols 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 Hi Jon, yes I'd like to give you the chance to come up with 'an old hardware' solution not just for my sake, but for others that might be in my same predicament. One of the awkward problems is that it's very difficult to differentiate between Incognito and Ultimate via software once the configuration is locked (which it is by the time the OS boots). We can't depend on detecting extra joystick ports (since these may be disabled), the extended RAM emulation is identical in XL/XE mode, PBI HDD works the same (and this may be turned off anyway), SDX banking register is the same... So, when there are no signature bytes in the BIOS, the onus is on the user to select the correct hardware, otherwise it's brick time. In any case, it makes sense to default to the "old" firmware when there's no signature, since the oldest firmware is the only thing lacking same. I wasn't sure there were still any boards out there with very the early revision BIOS, so this has been quite useful. I'll be heading over to where my system is at in a couple of hours and will give this a try. OK - fingers crossed. I just left you a little present for all that you do. I hope it helps More than you can probably imagine! Many thanks indeed for your generous support Michael. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 In any case, it makes sense to default to the "old" firmware when there's no signature, since the oldest firmware is the only thing lacking same. I wasn't sure there were still any boards out there with very the early revision BIOS, so this has been quite useful. Can you post a zip of ROMs that don't have a signature? The originals I've seen have "BIOS ROM" encoded in Screen Text, not straight text. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 Yep: all the original BIOS ROMs have sigs using internal encoding IIRC, but the one Michael dumped doesn't appear to have the information which distinguishes U1MB from Incognito. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Hi Jon, OK here are my results with the new UFLASH (v1.25) utility... It also didn't recognize my hardware automatically, but this time it did when I entered it manually (also showed Ultimate 1MB on the header for the device list). However when trying to load the ubios100.rom from the zip on your website, at first it tried, but then errored out with a message something like the file was too short 8 vs 16K (I could have the specifics wrong, but you get the general idea). So I tried again, and got the same result. Also the 'reading' status bar only got to one segment during these attempts. Anyway I ended up loading in Roy's ROM, and the whole procedure executed perfectly. Sorry to jump ahead on you like that, but I just wanted to see if there truly was a problem with the ROM file. Once I started, I figured I may as well let it go to the end. - Michael 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 Sounds like the 8KB PBI BIOS being applied to the 16KB main BIOS slot? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) Sounds like the 8KB PBI BIOS being applied to the 16KB main BIOS slot? Would you like me to try loading in the ubios100.rom file again just to see what will happen? - Michael EDIT: You know I think you just clued me in to what the problem was. Yes I was hovering over the chip name at the time I tried to load that first ROM file. So I should be on the BIOS slot instead (duh). Edited May 17, 2016 by mytekcontrols 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Yep: all the original BIOS ROMs have sigs using internal encoding IIRC, but the one Michael dumped doesn't appear to have the information which distinguishes U1MB from Incognito. Hmm, TRG does recognize it as a U1MB ROM, I'll see what I'm checking and pass that on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) OK I just ran through the whole sequence... Select BIOS in device list -- then hit return -- select ubios.rom -- then hit return -- new main bios flashed successfully Select SIDE LOADER in device list -- then hit return -- select uload.rom -- then hit return -- new loader flashed sucessfully Select PBI BIOS in device list -- then hit return -- select upbi161.rom -- then hit return -- new pbi bios flashed successfully Powered down and back up with HELP pressed -- entered new U-1Meg Config screen -- Success!!! Things work better when you do the right thing So now off to find some Language and Game ROMs for my other slots I love UFLASH!!! - Michael Edited May 17, 2016 by mytekcontrols 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 Things work better when you do the right thing Excellent - glad it worked, and thanks for testing. Hmm, TRG does recognize it as a U1MB ROM, I'll see what I'm checking and pass that on... OK, thanks. I just compared it to the first gen BIOS I was using before I wrote the new one, and it lacks "ultimate" at $3FF0-$3FF7 which is in the later Candle ROM. I guess there are other ways of detecting if it's a valid BIOS, but the important thing here is to differentiate between U1MB and Incognito, since we're not validating the BIOS ROM but trying to deduce the hardware based on the ROM content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariGeezer Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 OK, thanks. I just compared it to the first gen BIOS I was using before I wrote the new one, and it lacks "ultimate" at $3FF0-$3FF7 which is in the later Candle ROM. I guess there are other ways of detecting if it's a valid BIOS, but the important thing here is to differentiate between U1MB and Incognito, since we're not validating the BIOS ROM but trying to deduce the hardware based on the ROM content. Okay, I'm checking for the existence of two more strings, at $2305 for "hardware" and $2355 for "with button". Rev 1 - U1MB Bios ROM will have these, Rev 2 will not. Rev 2A (that has SIDE Loader Support) has "ultimate" at $3FF0 as you have pointed out... In my code, I refer to your ALT Bios as Rev 3... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) Well all is good except for one thing... my SIDE2 no longer works with the U1meg. Whenever the SIDE2 is plugged in it goes to the self test screen on boot up. It still works in a non-U1meg machine. So I have the following setup in U1meg... PBI BIOS: Enabled PBI Device ID: 0 Hard Disk: Enabled ATR swap button: Disabled Boot Partition: Disk (also tried Disabled) HDD write lock: Disabled Drive 1 swap: Disabled High-Speed SIO: Disabled - Michael Edited May 17, 2016 by mytekcontrols Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) Okay, I'm checking for the existence of two more strings, at $2305 for "hardware" and $2355 for "with button". Rev 1 - U1MB Bios ROM will have these, Rev 2 will not. Rev 2A (that has SIDE Loader Support) has "ultimate" at $3FF0 as you have pointed out... Thanks. If I can work this into the detection code without it being too burdensome, I'll do it, although thankfully boards with the Rev 1 BIOS seem to be very thin on the ground these days. Well all is good except for one thing... my SIDE2 no longer works with the U1meg. Whenever the SIDE2 is plugged in it goes to the self test screen on boot up. It still works in a non-U1meg machine. So I have the following setup in U1meg... PBI BIOS: Enabled PBI Device ID: 0 Hard Disk: Enabled Boot Partition: Disk (also tried Disabled) HDD write lock: Disabled Drive 1 swap: Disabled High-Speed SIO: Disabled Ensure the SIDE2 button is in the upper (loader) position, and that you either have SDX enabled on the U1MB or some bootable disk attached. You're effectively booting with no DOS or bootable media (and presumably BASIC is bypassed for whatever reason). Everything on the SIDE2's ROM is totally surplus to requirements when it's plugged into an U1MB machine. Edited May 17, 2016 by flashjazzcat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) Ensure the SIDE2 button is in the upper (loader) position, and that you either have SDX enabled on the U1MB or some bootable disk attached. You're effectively booting with no DOS or bootable media (and presumably BASIC is bypassed for whatever reason). Everything on the SIDE2's ROM is totally surplus to requirements when it's plugged into an U1MB machine. Yep that did it. I had the switch in the other position which was how it used to work. So without the U1meg, this switch position on SIDE would have put me into the loader menu (where I have a bunch of games). Not to sound dumb, but how do I get there now? - Michael EDIT: Never mind I just figured it out -- go to Side Loader from within U1meg from Ultimate Setup Menu. Edited May 17, 2016 by mytekcontrols Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) Yep that did it. I had the switch in the other position which was how it used to work. So without the U1meg, this switch position on SIDE would have put me into the loader menu (where I have a bunch of games). Not to sound dumb, but how do I get there now? The U1MB has the new loader built-in. You can get at it in several ways. XEX Loader menu in BIOS Setup Press 'L' anywhere in BIOS Setup Press 'L' on startup (i.e. on the U1MB splash screen) By setting the BIOS to boot to the loader There's a build of the new loader for the SIDE2 as well, in case you want to use the SIDE2 on a non-U1MB machine (and assuming you want the new loader there too). So: when SIDE2 is paired with U1MB, the cart's ROM isn't needed and you put the switch in the loader position. When there's no U1MB, you put the cart switch in whichever position you like (down to boot SDX, up to boot the loader). Edited May 17, 2016 by flashjazzcat 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Yep that all works fine. So speaking of using the loader to run a game. Is there anyway to bail out of said game and directly back to where you were in the loader menu? - Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 (edited) Much depends on the game. The loader sets the init vectors so that Reset should jump back into it, but rarely are those vectors left alone by games and applications. A jump through DOSVEC also restarts the loader, but in neither case does it attempt to "pick up where you left off", so to speak, aside from the fact it always opens the last used FAT partition (the MBR is CRC'd so any change to the partition structure invalidates this). Note that hitting a key takes you straight to the first title beginning with that letter, and you can progressively disambiguate the search by typing more of the filename. So you can usually run - for example - "Yoomp!" with about three keystrokes. Edited May 17, 2016 by flashjazzcat 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 Not to be a pest (although I am ) is there anyway to prevent the CAPs state from being reset after going to and coming out of the Setup Menu? So for instance if I am in lowercase, have it stay in lowercase when returning (it currently resets it back to uppercase). I know its a small thing, but if it was easily fixable that would be terrific. Thanks, - Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 Not to be a pest (although I am ) is there anyway to prevent the CAPs state from being reset after going to and coming out of the Setup Menu? So for instance if I am in lowercase, have it stay in lowercase when returning (it currently resets it back to uppercase). I know its a small thing, but if it was easily fixable that would be terrific. Unfortunately not, since the BIOS isn't resetting the state of the caps lock in the first place: it's the OS (which necessarily undergoes a warm reset every time you leave setup) which is resetting the caps lock, as well as everything else which is normally set to default values on reset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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