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Re: A X68000 arrived

Posted: 29 Dec 2023 08:29
by Higgy
Just checking, so when you are using the Goteks you are leaving a disk physically in the X68000 disk drive?

If you just have an inline floppy cable it will probably be like my DIY one and you need the physical disks inserted to give Disk Ready signal or whatever it is called. So make sure disks are in the drives.

I have found that game 'Motos' that guy got working (I wonder if Memtest and some games like Motos bypass the OS like most Amiga games so the SRAM config is not used or done differently). I will get it working on my Gotek with FlashFloppy and upload. I did have a game that booted on my dicky Expert 2 but I cant remember, I think it was RType.

Then get to the stage when you can boot Memtest and then try Motos. Hopefully Motos will work, then your getting to the behaviour or my Expert 2, then replacing the SRAM (or replacing with FRAM) could solve it all. - you k how your machine can boot and show low and high res gfx.
I'm sorry that my memory is not so good so I do things and it's gone, ive got out the habit of writing everything down.
I have a feeling that I could load at least one of the disks in the archive called SRAM fix or wipe, as I was using the SRAM wiping program as I thought my SRAM was corrupt initially before I replaced them.
There is also a CMD program for testing all the other memory like Graphics, but I think Memtest does that at the beginning?

Once you get past this fiddly stage she will be rock solid. They are rare outside Japan for a reason :D

Re: A X68000 arrived

Posted: 29 Dec 2023 11:58
by terriblefire
Higgy wrote: 29 Dec 2023 08:29 Just checking, so when you are using the Goteks you are leaving a disk physically in the X68000 disk drive?

If you just have an inline floppy cable it will probably be like my DIY one and you need the physical disks inserted to give Disk Ready signal or whatever it is called. So make sure disks are in the drives.

I have found that game 'Motos' that guy got working (I wonder if Memtest and some games like Motos bypass the OS like most Amiga games so the SRAM config is not used or done differently). I will get it working on my Gotek with FlashFloppy and upload. I did have a game that booted on my dicky Expert 2 but I cant remember, I think it was RType.

Then get to the stage when you can boot Memtest and then try Motos. Hopefully Motos will work, then your getting to the behaviour or my Expert 2, then replacing the SRAM (or replacing with FRAM) could solve it all. - you k how your machine can boot and show low and high res gfx.
I'm sorry that my memory is not so good so I do things and it's gone, ive got out the habit of writing everything down.
I have a feeling that I could load at least one of the disks in the archive called SRAM fix or wipe, as I was using the SRAM wiping program as I thought my SRAM was corrupt initially before I replaced them.
There is also a CMD program for testing all the other memory like Graphics, but I think Memtest does that at the beginning?

Once you get past this fiddly stage she will be rock solid. They are rare outside Japan for a reason :D
I've basically tried everything i could think of. The SRAM wipe disk was in that archive but it refused to run.

I have R-Type on a real physical disk and a Master disk. Neither are happy. Drive spits the disk out promptly.

What would be useful is to get memtest to test the SRAM for me. That way i could know whether thats an issue or not. I think i have spare ram chips that would match the x68000 SRAM for some of the arcade boards i have like operation wolf and chase hq.

Re: A X68000 arrived

Posted: 29 Dec 2023 12:23
by Higgy
Attached 'Motos' works on my Gotek with FlashFloppy firmware.
Motos (1989)(Dempa).zip
Update: I got my SRAM chips 'MB8464A-10L' from ebay - japanretrouk

Re: A X68000 arrived

Posted: 29 Dec 2023 12:31
by stephen_usher
@terriblefire what pin settings do you have in your FF.CFG file?

Re: A X68000 arrived

Posted: 29 Dec 2023 12:36
by terriblefire
stephen_usher wrote: 29 Dec 2023 12:31 @terriblefire what pin settings do you have in your FF.CFG file?
I dont have an FF.CFG. Higgy is running without one.

But the same issue persists even with real drives and real disks.

Re: A X68000 arrived

Posted: 29 Dec 2023 12:38
by stephen_usher
Ah. Hmm.

Re: A X68000 arrived

Posted: 29 Dec 2023 12:41
by Higgy
@terriblefire - interesting I forgot to place a physical disk in my drive and 'Motos' works.

But 'Masterdisk V2' and the SRAM's don't. The drive starts working and then it hangs.
So I would think is there is something up with the Floppy Drive Ready or Disk Inserted signal (again sorry I can't remember what are the special X68000 floppy signals).

If I then insert a physical disk into the floppy drive MasterDisk will then load.

Update: So try 'Motos' if that loads (can then test joystick and sound) then it is looking to be maybe the Microswitch/signal from the disk drive to let the system know there is a disk inserted.

Re: A X68000 arrived

Posted: 29 Dec 2023 15:42
by trixster
Have you tried holding down the OPT.1 key whilst powering on? That should bypass any corrupt SRAM contents and try booting from floppy immediately.

Re: A X68000 arrived

Posted: 29 Dec 2023 16:24
by terriblefire
Higgy wrote: 29 Dec 2023 12:41 @terriblefire - interesting I forgot to place a physical disk in my drive and 'Motos' works.

But 'Masterdisk V2' and the SRAM's don't. The drive starts working and then it hangs.
So I would think is there is something up with the Floppy Drive Ready or Disk Inserted signal (again sorry I can't remember what are the special X68000 floppy signals).

If I then insert a physical disk into the floppy drive MasterDisk will then load.

Update: So try 'Motos' if that loads (can then test joystick and sound) then it is looking to be maybe the Microswitch/signal from the disk drive to let the system know there is a disk inserted.
About to give motos a go..

One thing i have confirmed is that the drive just doesnt work with JC jumpered. I have to remove that to get anything to work.
trixster wrote: 29 Dec 2023 15:42 Have you tried holding down the OPT.1 key whilst powering on? That should bypass any corrupt SRAM contents and try booting from floppy immediately.
So i dont have an actual keyboard. Just a PS2 keyboard and an adaptor. Will need to work out OPT on that.

What I want to do is validate that the SRAM is good or bad somehow

Re: A X68000 arrived

Posted: 29 Dec 2023 17:09
by terriblefire
MOTOS works fine. Game plays great. OPT1 makes no difference. Always get this screen

IMG_0262.jpg