I guess that your CF card is too big for that controller. Did you boot from Floppy and Format the CF while connected to the controller and its Bios active?

What does the Bios do? Maybe you can try to remove it and access the IDE interface with the Mainboard Bios?

The CF-Card is not too big. A 540mb platter drive can run off the BIOS. I have even mentioned below the picture, what I have discovered, regarding drive speed and controllers. Yet the Pine controller here, does not have any speed settings other than settings for what CPU that I am running. And I have checked it. It is running as a 40/50mhz CPU system. (I am running a dx2-80)

Regarding the BIOS on the controller, then I think it only adds support for 425+ drives, and it adds support for the secondary controller.

So I am basically more or less aware of where the problem is, as such. Just need some in dept information regarding UMC controllers and drives. I am just not 100% shure, what to make of the fact. That if I press F5 to prevent the BIOS to load, then the Controller will boot the CF card. I have found this after fiddeling around with this a bit further.

brostenen wrote:

That if I press F5 to prevent the BIOS to load, then the Controller will boot the CF card. I have found this after fiddeling around with this a bit further.

OK didnt get that. So this seems to be standard IDE interafces on the card and the card BIOS causing the problem? How about replacing it with XTIDE? It should also support the 2nd interface and large drives.

Predator99 wrote:

brostenen wrote:

That if I press F5 to prevent the BIOS to load, then the Controller will boot the CF card. I have found this after fiddeling around with this a bit further.

OK didnt get that. So this seems to be standard IDE interafces on the card and the card BIOS causing the problem? How about replacing it with XTIDE? It should also support the 2nd interface and large drives.

That is out of the question. I have no eprom burner, no empty rom chip and no access to an actual XTIDE chip.

You dont need a Burner, just an old Mainboard for hot-flash and a spare Eprom:
http://sbfmdrv.blogspot.de/2015/11/retrofitti … nto-old-pc.html
Post 591527

Edit: You need 2 Mainboards, one to flash and one to take the chip from 😎

Been going through the settings on Total Hardware 99.... And I have some question regarding what two settings are.

http://arvutimuuseum.ee/th99/c/P-R/20622.htm

On that page, right down at the bottom, there are two settings that can be set via jumpers S1 and S2.
The S1 is something called "DRQ"... Is that DMA Request?
The S2 is refered to as "DACK"... This I have absolutely no clue on what is.

I have searched wide and far, in order to find a manual for my controller, yet I have not found any.
So if someone has a pdf or something, I would really aprećiate a copy. 😀

Solved the issue....
I changed the DRQ from disabled to 3. Still not shure if it is DMA request. It just solved my issue.

Yeah, DRQ is DMA Request. DACK is DMA Acknowledge - I can't say I've ever seen a card with a separate jumper for that before! I've heard tell of it, but not ever seen it in the wild.

Hmm.. DMA Acknowledge? What is that? I have heard it somewere, just not payd attention to what it exactly is.

DRQ is DMA Request signal from peripheral to DMA controller when it needs to transfer data.
DACK is DMA Acknowledgement signal from DMA controller to peripheral to signal when the data transfer is performed.

Obviously if DMA transfers are being done on some channel like 1, the card must use DRQ1 to request and look for DACK1 when to transfer.

So there is just one DRQ and one DACK signal used on the peripheral, and jumpers connect them to only one DRQ and DACK on the bus to select the used DMA channel so they must be paired properly.

Jepael wrote:

DRQ is DMA Request signal from peripheral to DMA controller when it needs to transfer data. DACK is DMA Acknowledgement signal f […]
Show full quote

DRQ is DMA Request signal from peripheral to DMA controller when it needs to transfer data.
DACK is DMA Acknowledgement signal from DMA controller to peripheral to signal when the data transfer is performed.

Obviously if DMA transfers are being done on some channel like 1, the card must use DRQ1 to request and look for DACK1 when to transfer.

So there is just one DRQ and one DACK signal used on the peripheral, and jumpers connect them to only one DRQ and DACK on the bus to select the used DMA channel so they must be paired properly.

Basically speaking... It's DMA setup in normal perception of what DMA setup is, only splitted into two settings, that in rare cases gives more freedom for setting up the card?

brostenen wrote on 2017-09-26, 16:59:

So I recieved a Controller today, that I bought some time ago. I disabled the LPT port and the Game port, other than that I have […]
Show full quote

So I recieved a Controller today, that I bought some time ago. I disabled the LPT port and the Game port, other than that I have not set any other jumpers. It is working to the point, were I can detect a CF card, and the BIOS on the controller loads up, during boot.

Yet I can not get the CF card to boot, if the card loads the BIOS into memory, if I bypass the controller during startup, the card will boot. Any idea on what to do, if I want the card to load the BIOS and run the CF card?

I have tried the following things:
I have checked the shadow memory, and it is enabled correctly in the motherboards BIOS.
I have tried to disconnect the optical drive, to see if it interfers with the CF card and controller combination.

This is the controller that I have:
Controller.jpg

If anyone have some sort of documentation on this controller, please do let me get a copy.
Or a link to the documentation, would be nice too.

Update:
I made some progress... It turns out that my CF card solution is not booting on this controller for some odd reason.
I had a goldstar controller in this machine, before, and I remember that I had to change some speed setting on the controller.
When I run my new controller with a real platter drive (seagate 540 megabyte), it will boot and run without issues.

Now the question is... Is there a solution out there, that are flash based, and runs slow enough for the UMC controller?
I have tried other drives, like UDMA-33/66/133 drives, and a SATA 1.5 with a converter, and they do not run.
So the question now. Is it because the drives are UDMA or is it because they are too fast for the controller?
Finally.... Is it possible to use a DOM module for this UMC controller?

Regarding the documentation... The card is a "PINE PT-627" (found the documentation on Total Hardware 99 tonight)

Hey, do you have the ability to dump EPROM from this card? I have one like this, but strangely it was missing an eprom (it was removed from a working PC though).

HanJammer wrote on 2022-01-20, 22:46:

brostenen wrote on 2017-09-26, 16:59:

So I recieved a Controller today, that I bought some time ago. I disabled the LPT port and the Game port, other than that I have […]
Show full quote

So I recieved a Controller today, that I bought some time ago. I disabled the LPT port and the Game port, other than that I have not set any other jumpers. It is working to the point, were I can detect a CF card, and the BIOS on the controller loads up, during boot.

Yet I can not get the CF card to boot, if the card loads the BIOS into memory, if I bypass the controller during startup, the card will boot. Any idea on what to do, if I want the card to load the BIOS and run the CF card?

I have tried the following things:
I have checked the shadow memory, and it is enabled correctly in the motherboards BIOS.
I have tried to disconnect the optical drive, to see if it interfers with the CF card and controller combination.

This is the controller that I have:
Controller.jpg

If anyone have some sort of documentation on this controller, please do let me get a copy.
Or a link to the documentation, would be nice too.

Update:
I made some progress... It turns out that my CF card solution is not booting on this controller for some odd reason.
I had a goldstar controller in this machine, before, and I remember that I had to change some speed setting on the controller.
When I run my new controller with a real platter drive (seagate 540 megabyte), it will boot and run without issues.

Now the question is... Is there a solution out there, that are flash based, and runs slow enough for the UMC controller?
I have tried other drives, like UDMA-33/66/133 drives, and a SATA 1.5 with a converter, and they do not run.
So the question now. Is it because the drives are UDMA or is it because they are too fast for the controller?
Finally.... Is it possible to use a DOM module for this UMC controller?

Regarding the documentation... The card is a "PINE PT-627" (found the documentation on Total Hardware 99 tonight)

Hey, do you have the ability to dump EPROM from this card? I have one like this, but strangely it was missing an eprom (it was removed from a working PC though).

Well... I am not keen on taking it out of my dx2-80 setup. It is a mess, getting all cables to fit nice into the case again and have a decent cable management.
I moved it from one case to another, and I removed the SCSI VLB controller that I used and installed the IDE VLB card again.

brostenen wrote on 2022-01-21, 19:12:

Well... I am not keen on taking it out of my dx2-80 setup. It is a mess, getting all cables to fit nice into the case again and have a decent cable management.
I moved it from one case to another, and I removed the SCSI VLB controller that I used and installed the IDE VLB card again.

Well, at least if this machine is working you could attempt dumping it using nssi, if you are not willing to help doing it with the external programmer 😀
Thanks

HanJammer wrote on 2022-01-21, 21:33:

brostenen wrote on 2022-01-21, 19:12:

Well... I am not keen on taking it out of my dx2-80 setup. It is a mess, getting all cables to fit nice into the case again and have a decent cable management.
I moved it from one case to another, and I removed the SCSI VLB controller that I used and installed the IDE VLB card again.

Well, at least if this machine is working you could attempt dumping it using nssi, if you are not willing to help doing it with the external programmer 😀
Thanks

I can't do it. The card is in place, and need to be removed in order for me to dump the rom in my reader. And I do not wish to remove the card.
The more I mess around with stuff, the higher the chance of it being damaged. And I do not dare with the prices on hardware these days.

EDIT:
As an example, then I have just ripped a cap off my TF-1230 accelerator. And I have no idea on how I managed to be that stupid.
I inserted the accelerator extremely carefully, without the trapdoor cover. And I closed the lid after I had tested if everything was working.
When I recieved another accelerator (a Tsunami-1230), I wanted to test how they stacked up against each other.
I disconnected my 1200 and when turning it over after removing the screws, I realised something was ratteling around inside the machine.
It turned out to be a SMD cap, and my first thought was that it were from the systemboard (Amiga it self).

It turned out to be C29 on the TF-1230 card, and I have NO idea on how it was possible for me to rip that off.
But I think it was from when I closed the trapdoor cover, that the forces might have banged on the accelerator it self and the damage was done.
The thing is. When the cover/lid is not in place, the card hangs down, due to the length of it.
Because of this, I really don't want to remove and fiddle around with machines that are working.

But the damage is not greater than I have checked up on the forum were Terrible Fire cards are develloped from.
It turns out that it is a redundant 5v line smoothing cap, left over from the CD32 accelerator, that TF-1230 is based upon.
No matter what, then I am really happy with my Tsunami and because I have no SMD skill's then I can not fix it anyway.
So I have just placed it up for sale with a fine and decent discount for those that can do SMD soldering.

Hi, by chance I found your post, I have a VLB controller same as yours, but it has a malfunction, the problem is that the PC freezes, I later found that the freeze is caused by a missing capacitor, to be precise it is C20, it is located next to a J1 jumper, it is of a similar type to the other one that is nearby, but lacking it I don't know what value it has.
If you still have that card and you have a way to tell me the value or to take a picture of the C20, it would be very useful to me, I would like to repair it by putting the missing capacitor back, I think the PC crash will be solved by re-soldering it.
Thanks so much.