FZ-35S and GMC 2003.5

Seems weird it gives a black screen when no HDD is connected, does IMSA boot with HDD installed? Also, did you format the HDD prior to connecting it to the FZ-35?

Strange thing is, i can't remember that configuration error when i disconnected my HDD.

 

I picked up a 20GB HDD and Y power connector cable. Fingers-crossed, I can get past the "Now Loading" screen.

How long after "Now Loading" screen does it take before the next screen appears?

 

The problems with the DVD-drive are solved now? Anyway, it takes about 15 to 20 seconds from 'now loading' to the installation screen. It's already installed on my system, so maybe it takes longer when it starts from scratch.

 

I picked up two DVD drives as well (one a Matushita SR-8586-B). Hopefully one of them will do the trick.

If not, the unit will go up for sale shortly on eBay for parts

 

For me, 15 minutes maybe but you can see read access on the DVD drive.
After you have the loading screen and 30-45 minutes later, the DVD is installed. I think it depends from the hard drive speed.

 

I have set dip switch #4 to up position (dip #1, #2 and #3 down), using a Maxtor 20GB hard drive set to slave and Toshiba DVD set to master.

Oddly, the Matsushita drive worked on my desktop PC, but failed to boot media on the M2.

Right now I'm at the 'Loading Data screen'.

 

The progress green icon spun around a little bit and then stopped. While it was spinning, it sounded like the HDD was initialized or was written to.

Now the HDD is quiet and DVD access light is flashing.

 

HDD was formatted with one large FAT32 partition using all available space.

 

A small step forward. After trying out yet another DVD drive (LG this time), I was able to get the Cadillac demo to this point after about 10 minutes of loading. This time I could hear the hard drive being accessed.

Unfortunately it is asking for a second disc. Does anyone have the 2nd disc?

 

Seems that your Cadillac DVD isn't complete.. It should contain 4 CD images, formatted with the opera file system.

Like this:

Opera00.dat (655MB)
Opera01.dat (655MB)
Opera02.dat (655MB)
Opera03.dat (208MB)

 

I found the Cadillac demo on a Russian site. It was a 2GB .nrg file. Let me fire up the OperaFS tool to see what the burned disc looks like.

Are there any other sites with this demo, or a known working copy of IMSA racing?

I haven't been able to get it to boot at all. I have tried burning with Nero and ImgBurn at 16x, different brands of CD-R, all with the same result

 

I downloaded the DVD image from the same site. The DVD itself is formatted with the UDF filesystem (readable with windows) but the CD image files it contains are formatted with the Opera filesystem (only readable with M2 devices, or the tools you're referring to).

What do you mean with 'not been able to boot it'? The fact you get to the installation screen means it booted atleast the Opera00.dat image. Maybe you should also burn at a lower speed, say 4X

 

I should have been more clear in my wording. The Cadillac DVD is bootable (to the point where it asks for disc 2). Below is a screenshot of how the DVD looks under Windows. It appear to be the same as what you are seeing.

At this point I'm wondering if my burn speed may be a factor. I wonder if there are read errors prompting it to ask for another disc? Just a wild guess at this point.

As well, the disc I can't get to work at all is IMSA racing. The system doesn't get past the "Please Wait screen".

I will have to look for an older burner that supports write speeds below 10x.

 

Maybe you can try this ISO of IMSA racing : http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RHAQQ3IW

I burned it with 40x speed and Nero. No problem with it.

 

Thanks.

I gave that ISO a try as well, burning at 40x (to 52x verified Memorex media) with Nero had the same unfortunate result, stuck at the "Please Wait" screen.

There must be an incompatibility issue with the DVD-rom drives I have tried and the M2. Oddly, the two Matsushita 8586-B drives that I found work fine on my PC, but fail to boot on the M2. The drive light flashes very briefly, and then it says to "Insert Disc". The limited success I had with the Cadillac demo was with a LG DVD-rom.

I have also tried different IDE cables, but it didn't help.

This is frustrating to say the least

 

But the DVD drive does work or else the Cadillac DVD wouldn't have booted at all. Your unit doesn't recognise the extra CD volumes on the DVD and doesn't boot from CD (IMSA), so maybe there is difference in the bios as you have a different model number.

Did you try to boot the shooter demo CD? Also, you can try to burn the IMSA image to DVD using the UDF file system and renaming it to Opera00.dat

Another test would be to burn the Opera00.dat file from the Cadillac DVD to a CD, that should boot also (i tried that one myself).

 

I did try shooter demo CD, and it does not boot.

So are you saying rename the IMSA ISO file (mycd.iso) to Opera00.dat? I had tried burning the file to a DVD last night, but didn't do the rename. I will give it a try today, and I will look up how to burn using UDF filesystem.

I will try putting the Opera00.dat file from the Cadillac DVD on a CD. Do I use UDF format for that as well?



Thanks again

 

As an experiment, I tried the following:

1. Copy Opera00.dat file from Cadillac DVD to PC.
2. Burn Opera00.dat file to DVD using CDBurnerXP (UDF file system) *DOES NOT BOOT*
3. Burn Opera00.dat file to CD using CDBurnerXP (UDF file system) * DOES NOT BOOT*

I am new to using UDF and manipulation of Opera files, but I would have hoped it would have been successful.

So far the only thing that works is to:
1. Burn Cadillac.nrg file to DVD using Nero. *BOOTS, BUT PROMPTED TO INSERT DISC 2 *

 

No, you should take the Opera00.dat file from the Cadillac DVD and burn it like an image file to CD. It *is* actually a CD image, so maybe you have to rename it to test.iso (or something that your burner software accepts for iso/image files).

The filesystem used inside this Opera00.dat file is Opera, so the resulting CD wil not be readable in windows. When this CD does not boot on your unit, there is an actual problem with booting CD's regardless the content (because that image did boot when loaded from a DVD, formatted with the UDF filesystem.

The UDF filesystem only comes into play when you burn the IMSA CD image file to DVD. Rename the IMSA CD image file to Opera00.dat and burn it to DVD using the UDF filesystem. I will try this 2nd test too and let you know the result.

 

Thank you once again Dutchconsolefreak.

I wasn't aware that the Opera00.dat file could be handled like an image file. Given the extension .dat, I was thinking it was some form of proprietary data file that the M2 would interpret.


I try what you have suggested and should be able to report back in the next 30 minutes or so.