Recommended hard drive for katana dev unit

It should work, it's just that I didn't test GD Workshop specifically (Kuze might have though):

The DACheck program tests the 2 main components on your devkit:
- The Debug Adapter, which is the interface that allows to debug programs
- the GD-M, which is the part that emulates a GD-Rom with the included harddisk.
(DACheck creates an emulated disk & tests it)

Both tests were all successful, so I don't expect GD Workshop to have problems.

(I don't use GD Workshop usually, most of the times I'm just compiling an executable file & debug that. If I need a texture or something like that, I'm including that in the executable file. Not what you want in the end, but for the moment it serves my purposes)

I'll have a look at it this (long) week-end, it's been (again) a long time since I started my devkit...

 

As promised, I did a full test:
I followed the "Getting Started with the GD-ROM Workshop" described in "GetStart.txt" by creating an emulated disc in GD Workshop,
and launched the QuikTst2 demo via Codescape.
No problem at all, everything went well.

 

Hello T_chan!

Thank you very much for your feedback!
I've just received my SCSI2SD-V6 unit today, and I'll install it this week-end! You're owning a V5 unit right? So it's my turn to check if the V6 works well, I hope so!

I'll keep everybody informed by posting here

Mike

 

Yes, I own a V5.0a.

Curious to see your results with the V6

 

Finally, I received the whole thing. But I forgot to add a new SCSI internal cable to my shopping list. The supplied cable inside the Set 5 is too small and doesn't reach the SCSI2SD-V6 board!
I ordered a new one, and I should get it in one week.

Additionally, I have another question. I bought a 8 GB SDHC card because it was cheap. SCSI2SD allow you to limit the size of the 'virtual hard-drive'. Should I limit it to 4.5 GB (the original disk size) or I can try to use the whole card? What do you think?

 

You can try 8 GB in NTFS, and switch to 4.5GB if you have problems with 8 GB.
Be sure to use a cluster size of 32K or more, as mentionned in the GD Workshop User guide.

 

I finally received my new SCSI cable. It's a little too long, around 75 cm but I finally managed to fit it in.

Sad news, it doesn't work. The GDM device never show up when I start my computer. I tried several settings but with no luck now. So I tried to replicate ST34520N settings (4.5 GB, ...) and still no luck so far.

I'm so disappointed. So much time and money for nothing. And my Set 5 is still dead.

 

Sad to hear, but don't despair just yet.
Sometimes a small thing can upset the devkit.
If you describe what you see / what you have tried, we might give some extra advice.
eg:
- what do you see at boot from the SCSI card ? (normally it shows the GD-DA & the GD-M)
- did the GD-M work before that with a harddisk ?
- did you try with the original SCSI cable of the devkit ?
- did you flash the firmware of the SCSI2SD card / changed some settings ?
- did you try to connect the SCSI2SD card directly to your SCSI host card on your PC to see if Windows can access it ?
- ....

 

Thank you for your help T_chan. When I made my previous post, you're right, I was fed up because I spent a lot of time and money on this.
I made some additional tests.

First of all, my board is installed like this:


As I said before, when using the SCSI2SD board, the “GD-M” device is hidden in the devices listing when I start my computer. When I replace the board by the dead hard drive, that “GD-M” device is back again (and of course, the drive is making some horrible noise):



So in summary,
When I use the SCSI2SD board, the “GD-M” device disappear, only “KATANA DA” remains; when I plug the dead hard drive, “GD-M” is listed so my Dev. Box should not be the issue.

About the SCSI cable,
As you already know, I had to replace the original SCSI cable (which was too small, only 13 cm) by another one, the new is around 70 cm (it’s difficult to find SCSI 50-pins cable today… at least in France) but in better condition (connectors are much better than original one). Whatever I use the original SCSI cable or the new long one, the “GD-M” device never appear when using the SCSI2SD board. If I plug the original hard drive, the “GD-M” device is shown in both case (using old or new cable). So definitively I don’t think it’s related to the SCSI cable.

So I think there is 4 options:

• It’s related to the settings I used. Basically I changed nothing, I just enabled the SCSI-2 mode and I’ve limited the size of the SD card to 4 GB (I would use 4.5 GB but the SCSI2SD tool doesn’t allow to enter the decimal separator).
• The SD card I bought is a SanDisk Ultra 8 GB Class 10. It was ridiculously cheap when I bought it. Could be the issue? I haven't another free SD card for now...
• A firmware problem?
• A board problem? (I hope not!)

I've sent a mail to Michael from codesrc, because if it's a firmware problem, we are stuck without his help (seems to be a nice guy btw, because he answered very quickly to my first email sent today).

 

It's already good news that the GD-M is showing. (that would be the most annoying error)
Things I would check:
- did you activate the SCSI terminator on the SCSI2D, or do you have an external (hardware) terminator connected to you devkit ?
I disabled the terminator of the SCSI2SD, since I already had one connected to the devkit.
- I would connect the SCSI2SD directly to my pc, not via the devkit, to see if Windows recognizes it.
Some SCSI cards also have a boot menu where you can test the drives connected to it.
If that already gives problems, we can focus on the SCSI2SD.

 

Here is my settings:

I tried in both way with SCSI Terminator enabled/disabled, still the same.

Tomorrow, I'll test to plug the SCSI2SD board directly in my computer through the Adaptec card. I hope the board is OK

Michael from CodeSrc sent me some additional instructions. I'll give a try and post the update here tomorrow.

Edit: I forgot to say, yes, I've plugged active terminators to SCSI-B and GD-Writer ports.

 

I just launched scsi2sd-util on my device:
- 1st screen: I have the same settings.
(There's no "Enable SCSI terminator" for my board, because you change this via a jumper)
- 2nd screen:
I have the same settings, except:
Sector count: 8388608
Device Size: 4 GB
Revision: 4.2
(mem card is a Sandisk 4GB micro SD)

You might also want to check the settings in the bios of your SCSI card.
cfr Woofmutes & my settings in : http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/how-to-use-the-katana-sdk-on-windows-7.25882/page-2

 

OK, I finished my testing session for today and I think really it's a compatibility problem, which means it's a firmware problem.

I finally tested the board in SCSI mode, i.e. I've plugged the board via SCSI port to my Adaptec card, and everything works as expected:

I used this opportunity to replicate the real settings of the original hard drive: sector count = 8888924, sector size = 512, which make the drive 4.24 GB (formatted). I created one 2 GB partition and leave the remaining space unoccupied. In that way, the board replicate EXACTLY my dead hard drive.

After that, I moved the board from my computer to the Dev. Box. Guess what? Still no luck.


So definitely, I think it's a firmware-related problem.

 

Looks like a firmware problem indeed then...
You can always try 1 or 2 previous firmware versions to see if the bug was introduced while trying to fix something else.
What does Michael from codesrc say ?

 

You're right, maybe I should try with an older firmware.

Michael only said me how to generate debug logs, which I have sent to him. Still waiting for his answer at the moment.

Edit: Got Michael's answer:

I'll try his new firmware later, and post the result here.

 

(sorry for double posting but this is important)

OK, I've just tested his latest firmware which is not public at this time (v6.0.14) and still no luck
I don't know what to do now. I've sent the new generated debug log to Michael, and I'm waiting for the result.

In clear, don't buy the SCSI2SD-V6 board for your Katana.
Buy only the V5 board which is fully compatible.

 

Damn, that's a bummer.
I'm afraid there's nothing else to do for the moment but wait for him to find the issue & release the new firmware.
He seems to answer quickly & ready to help, which is always a good thing.

In the meanwhile, unless you need a lot of files, you can still use the devkit by limiting yourself to the DA part, ie include the textures & other files in the .elf file you are compiling. (Like said before, for the moment I rarely use the GD-M part, since I'm only doing some tests with eg one 3D model & texture)

Edit: I forgot... There's also the possibility to stream a file from the PC to the devkit (ie, call a function on the devkit in your program, and it opens a file that is stored on your pc). If you are using the Katana SDK, have a look a the Libcross library for example (cfr /Doc/PDFs/FS_UG.pdf)

 

First of all, thank you for all your instructions, T_chan.
Finally Michael sent me another board, which has been hardware-fixed. Indeed, my board was part of a batch with a little power consumtion glitch, and the replacement got that bug fixed. I hope this will fix the issue

 

I had issues with my SCSI2SD board too.

Unfortunately i moved to a new city now and i don't have all my equipment. I will try again once i gather it all and have it up and running again.

 

Which version do you have? Do you remember?