Gotek HxC and Model III No Joy

[johndias]

My TRS-80 Model III has two working floppies, but I wanted to add the Gotek mod as an external drive(s). Everything looks OK, and I've tried multiple cables from the disk connection on the bottom to the Gotek (one factory made the other I made). I only have two physical floppies, LDOS 5.1.3 and Super Utility. Even though I have a disk mounted in the Gotek, the computer doesn't recognize that the drive even exists.  Any ideas on what could be wrong with my setup?

[+arcadeshopper]

My TRS-80 Model III has two working floppies, but I wanted to add the Gotek mod as an external drive(s). Everything looks OK, and I've tried multiple cables from the disk connection on the bottom to the Gotek (one factory made the other I made). I only have two physical floppies, LDOS 5.1.3 and Super Utility. Even though I have a disk mounted in the Gotek, the computer doesn't recognize that the drive even exists.  Any ideas on what could be wrong with my setup?

You need a terminator probably

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[Turbo-Torch]

How are you assigning drive numbers?  Stock from the factory removed pins from the cable.  Aftermarket used standard cables and drives 0 to 3 are configured with jumpers on the drive itself.  If hooked to the external port with a full cable, you'd need to assign it as drive 2.  External drives also need a terminating resistor on the last drive.  I've never used a Gotek, does it have a terminating resistor option?

I also think floppy emulators need a proper bios flash (d/l costs a few $$) for the TRS-80.

 

[+arcadeshopper]

How are you assigning drive numbers?  Stock from the factory removed pins from the cable.  Aftermarket used standard cables and drives 0 to 3 are configured with jumpers on the drive itself.  If hooked to the external port with a full cable, you'd need to assign it as drive 2.  External drives also need a terminating resistor on the last drive.  I've never used a Gotek, does it have a terminating resistor option?
I also think floppy emulators need a proper bios flash (d/l costs a few $$) for the TRS-80.
 

It does not

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[Turbo-Torch]

23 hours ago, arcadeshopper said:

It does not

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk
 

 

I guess at that point you remove drive 1, make a nice face plate and mount the Gotek inside as 1.  Popular mod at Tandy Assembly.

If both floppy drives are wanted; replace drive 1 with a half height, assign it as drive 2, add a terminating resistor and loop the cable to the external connector.  Then mount the Gotek in the open half space, assign it as drive 1 and connect it to the internal controller connector.  Looks goofy but it's a self contained reversible mod.  Actually you can leave both full heights in place, get creative with the cables and still have the Gotek outside.  It'll be weird having drive 0 internal, 1 external and 2 internal but I think LDOS will let you reconfigure the drives, so it may be possible to have drive 0 lower, drive 1 upper and Gotek 2.

 

Optional...leave both full heights in place and cut an opening between the two drives (after removing the TRS-80 emblem) and mount the Gotek there.  It looks ok and yet it's cringe worthy at the same time...once you cut the case, there's no going back.

 

Or just go with a FreHD and keep your 0 and 1 floppies as usual, drives 2 through 7 will be super fast hard drives. win/win situation and you don't even have to open up your computer.

[Texas Tandy restorations]

1. make sure your Gotek has the D0/DS0 jumper on and not DS1/D1

 

2. The model 3 uses an internal termination on the floppy disk controller, and you do not need to add one.

If you are using LDOS, you have to tell the DOS that the drive is available. 

 

try to boot from LDOS

type: SYSTEM (DRIVE=2,ENABLE)

type: SYSTEM (DRIVE=3,ENABLE)

then try: DIR 2

If that fixes the problem  then set the boot dos to always enable external drives on startup.

SYSTEM (SYSGEN, ON)

 

---------------

TRS-80 MODEL 4, 128K RAM, Internal: 360K FDD, Gotek USB FDD & FreHD HDD Combo, External: 360K & 720K FDD, RS232-WIFI MODEM, DWP-210
Web Site: https://texastandyrestoration.com/ - Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TexasTandyRestorations/

Edited August 9, 2020 by Texas Tandy restorations

[johndias]

On 8/9/2020 at 6:57 AM, Texas Tandy restorations said:

1. make sure your Gotek has the D0/DS0 jumper on and not DS1/D1

 

2. The model 3 uses an internal termination on the floppy disk controller, and you do not need to add one.

If you are using LDOS, you have to tell the DOS that the drive is available. 

 

try to boot from LDOS

type: SYSTEM (DRIVE=2,ENABLE)

type: SYSTEM (DRIVE=3,ENABLE)

then try: DIR 2

If that fixes the problem  then set the boot dos to always enable external drives on startup.

SYSTEM (SYSGEN, ON)

 

---------------

TRS-80 MODEL 4, 128K RAM, Internal: 360K FDD, Gotek USB FDD & FreHD HDD Combo, External: 360K & 720K FDD, RS232-WIFI MODEM, DWP-210
Web Site: https://texastandyrestoration.com/ - Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TexasTandyRestorations/

OK, gave that a shot but still get Illegal drive number ... here also are my cables and jumper settings.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2020 by johndias

[Texas Tandy restorations]

well hate to point the obvious, but your NOT plugged into the external drive port on your computer, the one with the arrows in your picture below is where it should be connected to. try it there and try again, and do connect it only when the computer is turned off

 

 

[johndias]

OK thank you! I was looking at a blog on the Model 4 so that's why I was in the wrong port.

 

However, I did change it and the result is that it takes several seconds longer to return the illegal drive error.

[johndias]

Never mind, it's working now thanks everyone - final issue was a bad disk image!