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Troubleshooting no-name XT board + Multi-Floppy + Gotek

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First post, by paprika

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I've searched the forum but haven't gotten far.

Goal: to boot the system from DOS 3.3 install disk and install it on a CF card.

Setup:

No-name 8088 board, ARC Turbo BIOS Version 1.23 6/27/85
Multi-Floppy config:
FDC 1 at 03F0, IRQ6, DRQ2
Drive 0: 1.44 MB, 3.5", #0 on FDC 1; Drive 1: 360 KB, 5.25" #1 on FDC 1
Gotek: FlashFloppy 3.35

What I'm getting:

1. I'm loading one of these images https://winworldpc.com/product/ms-dos/3x (I tried various 360K, 720K, 1.44M) onto pendrive and to Gotek.
2. Start the system (ARC BIOS always shows X Turbo System Error # 04 on cold boot, only boots further after Ctrl+Alt+Delete).
3. After successful BIOS start I'm getting Press F2 to run the Multi-Floppy BIOS and then: Boot failed, error 40. Press F for the original IPL or any key to try again... (the F key won't do anything). Nothing is being read from Gotek.
4. When I disable the Multi-Floppy BIOS, I'm getting Insert floppy disk in drive A but again nothing is being read from Gotek.

Any pointers?

Also, if I'm forced to take shortcuts, are there any CF HD DOS images for 8088 which I can boot from my CF-XT adapter?

--
Forgotten Computer
Computers and stuff at my YouTube Channel

Reply 1 of 7, by Horun

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Hmm never heard of ARC Turbo BIOS , do you have a link so I can read about it ?
What floppy controller are you using ?

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 2 of 7, by paprika

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Horun wrote on 2022-08-26, 23:22:

Hmm never heard of ARC Turbo BIOS , do you have a link so I can read about it ?
What floppy controller are you using ?

The floppy controller is ISA Floppy and Serial controller version 1.0 by Sergey Kiselev.

I know nothing about the BIOS and don't have links... here are 2 photos of when it boots if it helps (first on cold boot, second after pressing a key):

1.png
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2.jpeg
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508 views
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Forgotten Computer
Computers and stuff at my YouTube Channel

Reply 3 of 7, by Horun

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Ok so you are using Sergey's Floppy controller, but you cannot get into it's BIOS thru F2, correct ?
What address is the floppy BIOS set at (sw2/3 thru 2/7) ? C8000 would be where I would start.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 4 of 7, by paprika

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Horun wrote on 2022-08-27, 14:40:

Ok so you are using Sergey's Floppy controller, but you cannot get into it's BIOS thru F2, correct ?
What address is the floppy BIOS set at (sw2/3 thru 2/7) ? C8000 would be where I would start.

Yes, Sergey's Floppy controller, and yes, I can get to the controller's BIOS by pressing F2. The floppy BIOS is already set at C8000.

The board does not seem to see the flopy drive though, and Gotek isn't showing any signs that the board is trying to read a floppy image.

I did manage to boot it to MS-DOS 6.22, but from a CF image. If it helps, here is a video where I:

- boot it from CF with both XT-CF controller and Floppy controller connected
- run a diagnostic program
- disconnect the XT-CF controller leaving only the floppy controller
- access the controller BIOS
- try to boot from floppy with no success

http://forgottencomputer.com/video/8088.mp4

Sorry for the overexposed video, I didn't pay attention to camera settings. Also funny how the first DIR listing in MS DOS always takes like 25 seconds or so to return, but every subsequent one returns normally...

--
Forgotten Computer
Computers and stuff at my YouTube Channel

Reply 5 of 7, by Horun

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Hmm ....Have you tried the Sergey Floppy controller with a true 1.44Mb floppy drive (not the Gotek) ?

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 6 of 7, by paprika

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I don't have one around. Maybe I'll grab one next week but it doesn't seem this would help; to me it looks like the floppy controller doesn't even try to communicate with Gotek... (normally you would see an attempt at reading a sector on the Gotek display, but I don't see that happening).

--
Forgotten Computer
Computers and stuff at my YouTube Channel

Reply 7 of 7, by Horun

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That is why using a real floppy drive as the first test is always good. If a real floppy does not work then either the Controller has an issue or you boards bios/etc does not like the controller.
If the real drive works but not the Gotek then the gotek has the issue.

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

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