XCKDIY Dreamcast IDE Board: Inexpensive GD-ROM HDD Replacement

Hmmm... What would be the point of an IDE adapter that couldn't be used without the GD-ROM board? I thought the issue that required the GD-ROM board to be installed in most mods was the crystal on it, but it is also present on the XCKDIY board.

 

use another HDD

 

I think he used the word "without" when he should have just used "with". Please keep in mind English is not megavolt85's first language. He tries his best to be helpful when he can. He is one of the major people contributing to Dreamshell code.

 

No he didn't.

That particular hard drive will only work with the gdrom too. He wasn't talking about the adapter, he was talking about the specific hdd he's using with the adapter.

Another hard drive should work, as long as it has the pull up resistors.

 

Ok, so, i decided to play with my XCKDIY board a bit, as it has pass through pads on the top of the board, i transplanted a socket from a donor dreamcast to see if i could get it working as pass through... but ive had some issues getting everything functional, so i wanted to run it by everyone here to see if anyone had any ideas


So heres what ive got:
Dreamcast with a flashable bios on a switch, current bios is Dev-Nogdrom
Helders (i think) Serial to SD relocation board and QSB (so if someone finds a solution that requires booting dreamshell from SD, i have that available)
XCKDIY (obviously)
Standard GD rom drive
Clone GDEmu (didnt want to risk shorting a real one to tinker)
Each one works/boots/does everything youd expect when booted individually, GDClone/GDdrive with stock bios, XCKDIY with nogdrom bios.

when i stack them i have... unpredictable results....
first thing was i didnt want to run the risk of frying anything upstream or downstream with the clock signal, and since the XCK board makes one, i decided i should be able to disable it


So now for the results, and why i need help
Stack 1: XCK+Gdrom drive with XCK clock disabled: Boot audio is slowed down (surprise!) meaning gdrom clock not getting pushed which is both odd and interesting, when i enable the XCK clock, everything works fine, switching bios boots each drive seperately and as you would expect....

Stack 2: XCK+GDClone with XCK Clock disabled: GDclone boots fine, it drives the clock through the XCK board fine, it works flawlessly when bios set to stock bios via switch, when i switch to other bios, Dreamshell fails to boot and dumps me at the "boot from ram or cd" menu, neither of which do anything. Attempts to boot dreamshell and get to the IDE channel via a disc image on the GDClone fail. Attempts to use a different version of the flashed bios to access the IDE channel fail, at no point can i get dreamshell to boot properly, which strikes me as odd seeing as everything worked as you would expect with a real GD rom drive.....

So my question is... anyone have any ideas? i would really like to have the gdclone and the XCK stacked, they DO fit inside the case as such, quite nicely i might add, and it means i can have the best of both worlds with a very clean looking install, if i can just figure out how/why dreamshell takes a shit with the clone on the top of the stack and not the gdrom.

 

GDEMU + HDD don't work
is bug GDEMU

 

yes, but why? and how can it be overcome? surely there is a way to disable one and enable the other with no ill effects. would cutting power going up the connector to the gdclone disable it? that would cost me the clock signal it creates wouldnt it? a single switch could alternate between these things if needed... on:voltage, stock bios off:XCK clock TO on:XCK clock,nogdrom bios off:voltage

I understand that english is hard for you megavolt, but a little more depth is needed, as i dont accept failure.

 

problem not in oscilator
GDEMU occupies all tire, master and slave
when you send command to master device, HDD be silent, answer only GDEMU
if you send command to slave device, HDD and GDEMU answered in one time, this is connflict

 

i see, GDemu takes both ide channels, so i would have to null it at boot to take back the channels. Seems that switching off all the voltage to GDemu before boot would succeed, now i just need to figure out how to isolate and switch the power to the ata plug after the XCK... then find a suitable switch that can switch everything properly in a single throw. i will probably drill out the vias that pass the power rails through to the top of the board, make any needed re-routes for rails that the XCK uses from the top of the board, and then pass the rails back to the ata plug through a switch. more pics when i finish the project!

 

IT WORKS! The Gdemu runs all of its power from the 3.3v rail, it was rather easy to pull the ata plug, lift the 3v3 pins, reinstall it and set it up for a simple jumper for testing, tests worked great! a very simple redesign of the XCK board would allow for its use with Gdemu! all you would need to do is to add a solder jump point to the topside 3v3 rail, move the 3v3 rail vias to the far side of the solder jump point instead of passing straight through the board at the connector, and include a solder jump point on the 5v line or ground to the clock, this would allow users with no interest in the gdemu to easily solder bubble over these 2 spots and have the XCK board work as originally intended, or for them to wire up a way to switch these 2 places along with the bios in order to run a gdemu... (id probably add jump points the 12v and 5v rails too for future proofing) anyone willing to give a go at cloning the XCK with these changes? man, if something like that was on oshpark id snatch it up in a heartbeat!




This is obviously a temporary set up, i will nicely migrate all of this to a 3 throw on-on switch with a mount that can be accessed in open lid space, so what needs to be switched is:
Dreamshell:
Flash Bios on
XCK clock on
3v3 Rail off

Gdemu:
Stock Bios on
XCK clock off
3v3 Rail on

Edit: yes, i know, the NC spot on the clock is oddly connected on the 3v3 rail on the XCK, dunno why that is, but it made for a very easy solder point for my test wire!

 

dreamshell perfect ;-)