GOEX Questions

[TGB1718]

I bought a GOEX and up until now, I've not been able to get it to read any disk images, I also had problems

with my old floppy drives, so couldn't be sure it wasn't a problem with my ST's, I found the direction line

on my 1040 STE wasn't toggling and replaced the 7406, I managed to clean up one of my old floppy drives

and got some response, but not great, I did the 10K pullup resistor mod to the 1772/DMA chip data lines

and now my floppy reads fine, also my hard drive always worked and still does.

 

On the 520ST I put the pullups in and reseated all the socketed chips and now it reads normal floppy drives too,

so my question is do I have to use any specific type of disk images for the GOEX to work.

 

I put the GOEX in the STE and attached my external floppy as drive B:, the GOEX still can't read any images,

the floppy is fine.

 

I've tried 3 different SD cards in the GOEX, added a FF.CFG file to change the default parameters and it reads

the file and changes the parameters, it does load the last mounted image, so it appears the GOEX is working,

but always fails any floppy disk access.

 

All the disk images I have I created using Floimg.exe some years ago.

 

Does anyone here have a GOEX and can advise if I'm doing something wrong or missing something

 

Thanks

 

[leech]

Does it boot to the FF.HFE image?  From there you should be able to select ATR files to use as floppy disks.

[TGB1718]

7 hours ago, leech said:

Does it boot to the FF.HFE image

Sorry, don't know what you mean, what is FF.HFE ?

 

The only way I can select images is using the wheel to scroll through the images on the OLED display,

then press the wheel to select it.

[ijor]

22 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

All the disk images I have I created using Floimg.exe some years ago.

Would you mind posting a couple of those, please.

Did you try other images?

3 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

Sorry, don't know what you mean, what is FF.HFE ?

I guess he means AUTOBOOT.HFE which is available at the FlashFloppy download archive. See this page for instructions about that mode:

https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Initial-Setup#hxc-compatibility-mode

 

Btw, did you contact the Goex manufacturer?

[ParanoidLittleMan]

It is possible to DL pleeeenty of ST, MSA images for Atari ST . Like here:  https://www.planetemu.net/machine/atari-st

But I really don't know what file formats GOEX support - ST and MSA are most used formats for sure .

[leech]

5 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

Sorry, don't know what you mean, what is FF.HFE ?

 

The only way I can select images is using the wheel to scroll through the images on the OLED display,

then press the wheel to select it.

Oops, yes I meant AUTOBOOT.HFE.

[leech]

1 hour ago, ParanoidLittleMan said:

It is possible to DL pleeeenty of ST, MSA images for Atari ST . Like here:  https://www.planetemu.net/machine/atari-st

But I really don't know what file formats GOEX support - ST and MSA are most used formats for sure .

Should run anything FlashFloppy does.

https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki

[TGB1718]

3 hours ago, ijor said:

Would you mind posting a couple of those, please.

Here's 2 of the ones I tried, they all work in STeem

 

First Basic.ST CBreeze.ST

[leech]

14 hours ago, TGB1718 said:

Here's 2 of the ones I tried, they all work in STeem

 

First Basic.ST 729 kB · 6 downloads CBreeze.ST 720 kB · 7 downloads

These work for me.

 

[TGB1718]

2 hours ago, leech said:

These work for me.

Many thanks for testing those for me, looks like I'll be sending the unit back.

[leech]

17 minutes ago, TGB1718 said:

Many thanks for testing those for me, looks like I'll be sending the unit back.

Wonder if you could fix it with the firmware update.  Basically download the firmware from the flashfloppy github, extract the .upd file to the root of the SDCard and push in the roller and hold it a bit while you turn the power on.

[TGB1718]

1 minute ago, leech said:

Wonder if you could fix it with the firmware update.

Thanks again, will try it later

[ijor]

Did you try the AUTOBOOT.HFE image?

Just in case, did you try SDHC cards, 4GB-32GB, as I recommended, right? Not the older and smaller, not the bigger and newer SDXC ones.

And once again, contact the manufacturer, he might suggest some other tests.

 

[TGB1718]

3 hours ago, ijor said:

Just in case, did you try SDHC cards, 4GB-32GB,

I've tried a 1GB, 2GB and a 32GB (this is a micro SD in an adaptor)

also flashed to the latest FlashFloppy but still the same

[ijor]

29 minutes ago, TGB1718 said:

I've tried a 1GB, 2GB and a 32GB (this is a micro SD in an adaptor)

also flashed to the latest FlashFloppy but still the same

Once again, did you try the AUTOBOOT image?

[leech]

By default it will mount up the AUTOBOOT.HFE, so if you put that on there and it doesn't load, then there is an issue.  That lets you build the list of available floppy images.

Otherwise I think you will end up only able to load the last file that FAT32 sees.

[TGB1718]

1 hour ago, ijor said:

Once again, did you try the AUTOBOOT image?

Sorry, forgot to try that, will put it on the card tomorrow

[ijor]

1 hour ago, leech said:

By default it will mount up the AUTOBOOT.HFE, so if you put that on there and it doesn't load, then there is an issue.

 

Not sure if it's the default or not, but certainly it depends on the configuration. So again, check the following page at the wiki:

https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Initial-Setup#hxc-compatibility-mode

[leech]

31 minutes ago, ijor said:

 

Not sure if it's the default or not, but certainly it depends on the configuration. So again, check the following page at the wiki:

https://github.com/keirf/FlashFloppy/wiki/Initial-Setup#hxc-compatibility-mode

Okay, let me restate that.  With the GoEX specifically, it should, unless already messed with, load AUTOBOOT.HFE by default if it's on the SD Card.  As the hxc compatibility should already be there.  That initial setup is if you bought a gotek with one of the other firmware and you have to flash it yourself.

Fairly certain all of the GoEX should be shipping with 2.14?  Unless he's updated them since I got mine a few weeks ago.  But 3.16 came out less than a week ago, as the first 'stable' release of 3.x

[TGB1718]

I copied those files on the SD card and booted the ST, still no floppy access.

 

Not sure what to expect when AUTOBOOT.HFE and HXCSDFE.CFG are on the root of the SD card,

all I notice is that the only file I can now see on the OLED is AUTOBOOT.HFE , rotating the wheel

does not display any other files on the SD card even though they are still there

[leech]

54 minutes ago, TGB1718 said:

I copied those files on the SD card and booted the ST, still no floppy access.

 

Not sure what to expect when AUTOBOOT.HFE and HXCSDFE.CFG are on the root of the SD card,

all I notice is that the only file I can now see on the OLED is AUTOBOOT.HFE , rotating the wheel

does not display any other files on the SD card even though they are still there

What is supposed to happen, you load up AUTOBOOT.HFE, it gives you a menu to select which virtual disk images you want to put in a list.  Then you scroll through that list via the riller switch, then reboot with that image selected.

I will see about making a video or something.

Edited August 27, 2020 by leech

[bfollowell]

Still, if has has those files on the root of the SD card and he's booted the ST and he's not getting the FF menu, then something other than having or not having those files on the card seems to be at play. Either the cards he's tried don't like the Goex or there's something wrong with the Goex. Either way, you'd think the manufacturer would be able to help him get it sorted out relatively quickly.

 

[leech]

2 hours ago, bfollowell said:

Still, if has has those files on the root of the SD card and he's booted the ST and he's not getting the FF menu, then something other than having or not having those files on the card seems to be at play. Either the cards he's tried don't like the Goex or there's something wrong with the Goex. Either way, you'd think the manufacturer would be able to help him get it sorted out relatively quickly.

 

Yeah, seems he said that one image, but only the one would actually show when he'd move the wheel.  Which means they haven't been added to the list.  But it really should default to booting to AUTOBOOT.HFE if it's there and the sdcard can be read.

Ha, I got bit in the ass with the SDrive-Max when I first got it because something in Windows said it should be exFAT... so I know to look out for that.

[ijor]

It is certainly about time to contact the manufacturer. That's one of the advantages of buying a Goex instead of a Gotek. You can get some manufacturer support.

 

[uko]

Hi,

I suppose this won't help you a lot, but only confirm the need to get manufacturer support:

I have just installed a GOEX yesterday in my STE, and it has accepted all .ST files (downloaded or generated with Hatari) that I have put directly on a blank SD card.

I have not put configuration files at all on the SD Card. 

Hope you will solve this problem !