12 replies to this topic

[sloopy]

I received an sio2sd from a member here, and it seemed the Atmega needed to be re-programmed.

I still had issues with it not responding to the A8, and acting flakey with regard to the buttons, so i put a new Atmega in it, programmed with 3.0rc5, and it was rock solid and worked fine

I sent it back, and they have it now, and its having issues. On their one 800XL it wont respond at all, and on other machines it will stop before it fully loads. (i.e. Yoomp!)

The machines the person has tested it on were:
800 (No response, nothing , still there SIO2SD Load software on the top of screen).
800XL
65XE
130XE
1200XL (This one is rather strange, when I hold Option and press start and it threw back to "Atari Logo" Trademark)

and none seem to work with it... and before the Atmega went bad, it worked fine.

yes the fuse bits were set correctly, and the Atmega was brand new, and the cable for progamming i have used to program other Atmega's for the SIO2SD with no problems...

anyone have any ideas?

thanks,
sloopy.

[AtariGeezer]

With 3.0rxx, it won't work on an 800, that warp speed i/o just kills it. I have had to go back to 2.5 for it to work on my 800's...
Also, the 3.0rxx didn't like my 800xl either. I think FJC was having the same issue too.

Jay

[flashjazzcat]

AtariGeezer, on Wed Nov 16, 2011 5:23 PM, said:

I think FJC was having the same issue too.

Yep - I couldn't get 3.0rxx to work stably with SDX, so I downgraded. Seems OK with DOS 2.5, though. To be honest I haven't seen any persuasive reason to upgrade from 2.5, which is much easier to navigate IMO.

[_The Doctor__]

Yes, I have the same problems with one of mine, no help from the guy who made it and sold it to me. He basically made a derogatory comment about my being from the United States and told me to go fish... My good one has a green board with nice traces and all the led's as well as potentiometer installed.... the one that is flakey has a red board and he did not install any led's or pots the traces are thinner and is overall not as quality as the first. Sticking with the older firmware is a good idea... the other problem discovered was the supplied sio cord was flakey this caused power to be fluctuating and as the atmega saves to itself and the sd it causes corruption. My solution was to rework the sio cord and put the missing components on the board. I moved the chip from the working unit to the repaired unit and it works fine. Then I put the atmega's back in their original devices and found that the atmega was faulty as suspected. still no help or replacement came so now I need to get the atmega reprogramming done or replaced. Sounds like you are in the same boat. Make sure the cord is rock solid, rework the board and atmega and do not use the 3.xxx firmware use 2.3, 2.4 or 2.5 as stated. She is using one that has version 2.3 firmware and if there are bugs I have not run into them yet.
Until I get the atmega replaced I will have to go without. My daughter has the good green pcb sio2sd with 2.3 firmware. it ain't broke we ain't messin with it!

Edited by _The Doctor__, Thu Nov 17, 2011 11:38 AM.

[Caterpiggle]

First of all, I thank you, "sloopy" user who post those issues for me. I recently sent my SIO2SD (older version). He did upgrade to 3.0CR5 and I tested on all my 8 bits expect XEGS that I have not been tested yet. However, all of my 8 bits are NOT working with 3.0CR5 version firmware. Only 2.5 does works fine. I brought SIO2SD older version from eBay. He does say the same thing "fish". So, I go ahead contact to Sloopy for help out.

Strange is that Sloopy's computer does working fine with 3.0CR5 with my SIO2SD but not on my computers ?? Sloopy told me that SIO pins must be clean and I re-check my older photo of 65XE and it is clean.

So are you suggest that I must go back to 2.5 downgrade for the best on all my 8 bits computers ?

[_The Doctor__]

I see 2.4 no longer exists on gucio site... perhaps I need to get rid of it as well...

my best advice 2.3 or 2.5

http://sio2sd.gucio..../SoftwareAVR_en

looks like 3.xxx is still work in progress based on comments and personal experience.

edit: in fact confirmed 3.xxx is release candidates. not final release.

Edited by _The Doctor__, Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:25 PM.

[Caterpiggle]

When will be final release for STABLE firmware for all 8 bits included 800 ? And who write those firmware ? In Poland ?

[Philsan]

Caterpiggle, on Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:29 PM, said:

When will be final release for STABLE firmware for all 8 bits included 800 ? And who write those firmware ? In Poland ?

What do you mean exactly?
SIO2SD (firmware v2.5) with my 800XLs and 130XEs is perfectly stable.
A few times I tested it with my 800 too.

Firmware v3.0 has release candidate status so it's not finished yet.

Firmware developers website: http://sio2sd.gucio.pl/wiki/English

[Caterpiggle]

Hello "Philsan",

Mine are not stable. I don't know why ....

Maybe is works fine on PAL system included yours. Mine is NTSC system. I has one PAL 800XL and I have not tested yet ... I will try to test out on NSTC Monitor and it will display only black & white screen. And are your 800 PAL ?

[Caterpiggle]

2.5 is stable yes BUT not to 3.0CR5 is not stable yet .... Philsan.

[Philsan]

Caterpiggle, on Thu Nov 17, 2011 1:01 PM, said:

2.5 is stable yes BUT not to 3.0CR5 is not stable yet .... Philsan.

OK, now I understand.

I had problems with firmware 3.0 and IDE Plus 2.0 (but perhaps it was my fault); anyway, I decided to continue to use firmware 2.5.

I don't know when final 3.0 version will be released.

[sloopy]

Caterpiggle, on Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:58 PM, said:

Hello "Philsan",

Mine are not stable. I don't know why ....

Maybe is works fine on PAL system included yours. Mine is NTSC system. I has one PAL 800XL and I have not tested yet ... I will try to test out on NSTC Monitor and it will display only black & white screen. And are your 800 PAL ?

this may have been the reason i had issues with the original Atmega on your board, and replaced it with a new one. the 3.0 firmware may have bugs... this weekend i will put the 2.5 firmware on that atmega and try it out...

also, you want me to send you out a new Atmega with the 2.5 firmware on it?


sloopy.

[Caterpiggle]

Please check your private messages there, Sloopy ....