Hello everyone from Peru - Help with my new Harmony

[MikiPERU]

Good afternoon friends, the new Harmony cartridge has just arrived, perfectly packed in a box, with its color manual, it is the model with microsd. I have a 2Gb microsd memory and I formatted it in FAT32 format, load the Atari roms and then install the program and drivers on my laptop (windows 10), load the eeloader (C:/Program Files (x86)/HarmonyCart/ arm/eeloader_ntsc.bin) and update it; and then load the hbios for NTSC (C:/Program Files (x86)/HarmonyCart/arm/hbios_106_NTSC.bin) and flash it to the microsd. But here is the problem, when I go to the Atari console, I put the cartridge, the Ying/Yang appears and then the color screen with the message "FAT filesystem not found / Press fire to trie again", I have tried with more roms, minus roms, normal FAT and formatting memory in Windows 8.1 and nothing. What can be my mistake? Big Greetings from Lima - Peru, South America.

 

PS: Excuse my English.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Why did you flash the Harmony? AFAIK it comes with an NTSC BIOS installed, so it works out of the box. Did you try before flashing?

[+jgkspsx]

Doesn’t the SD card need to be legacy FAT instead of FAT32? I an certain the problem is how the SD card was formatted.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

1 hour ago, jgkspsx said:

Doesn’t the SD card need to be legacy FAT instead of FAT32? I an certain the problem is how the SD card was formatted.

Nope, the Harmony manual clearly states that FAT32 is the best format:

Quote

Ensure that the SD card is FAT formatted (FAT32 is best, but FAT16 or FAT12 will
work). SD cards are normally supplied FAT formatted, but some new SD cards contain
unnecessary files that may interfere with normal operation of Harmony, so it is best to start
with a blank, freshly-formatted card. If you purchased a Deluxe Harmony cartridge, there is
no need to format the included SD card as it is FAT32 formatted and ready to use.

 

[MikiPERU]

I bought the model that didn't come with an SD card because I already have a microSD, I've even tried it with a 16Gb microSD and the same thing happens, and the only thing I did was follow the step by step of both the manual and the installer program itself, for that enter the eeloader and put the bios.

I didn't try it before because it didn't have games included.

Should I reload the eeloader and bios(NTSC)? And if so, which one do you recommend? Is it correct that I use the BIOS Update option, isn't it?

[MikiPERU]

I have tried with the Development option loading a single rom of a game and it runs immediately when I turn on the console... does this open a cartridge program or replace it?

[+batari]

First, and this is mostly for others who may see this message: The Harmony cart is ready to use when it arrives and it comes with the latest firmware. There is no need to update firmware with a USB cable before you use it for the first time.

 

The error shown above will of course come up when a proper FAT format is not found, but it's also happened due to a card that was not clean, or was otherwise not making good contact in the slot.

 

That being said, I would try the following:

 

Reformat the card using a computer, in case you formatted it using some other device (phone, camera, etc.)

 

Make sure the card is clean - wipe the contacts with a cloth, with isopropyl alcohol if available, and to help insure good contact, you can put a bit of alcohol on the card when inserting it, and insert a number of times to ensure that the internal contacts are clean. If you do not have isopropyl alcohol, you can try inserting and removing the card and number of times to improve the contact.

 

Lastly, if you have another card to try, I would try that. Incompatible SD cards are rare with Harmony carts but I have come across a few here and there.

[MikiPERU]

Hello friends, I found a 4 Gb microSD memory, I formatted it on my tablet (lenovo) and gave the option to store files as FAT 32, then I installed it on the laptop, copied all the Atari ROMs and finally installed it ONLY the hbios.bin. I did the process of ejecting the microSD from the Laptop and put it in the Harmony cartridge. I put it in the Atari 2600 console and... IT WORKED!

 

Thank you all very much, I'm still going to see if I can rescue the 2 Gb microSD, I'm going to format it on the Tablet. I'll comment on them.

[MikiPERU]

An additional topic, as you know I am from Peru, South America, and the truth is that this Harmony cartridge system is spectacular... I want to make a small contribution, I have downloaded the manual and translated it into Spanish, if it is not a problem, I would like to send it to whom it may concern (Batari?) so that they can include it in their manual, that it be a bilingual version, again, thank you very much!

[+batari]

I would like to see the translated manual, for sure! You can post it here or PM it to me, and I will see what I can do to get it properly formatted so I can get it online - Unless, you have used a PDF editor, and managed to maintain the page formatting?

 

Thanks

Fred