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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Is My Vampire Broken?page  1 2 

Chris Edwards

Posts 43
02 Apr 2019 18:32


it was awesome. i think the pre config'd shapeshifter tickled me too. hence my funny comment on it.  but to everyone, thank you all, now i can just hang out in here and attempt to look cool


Nixus Minimax

Posts 416
03 Apr 2019 08:33


Chris Edwards wrote:

all done, Check it out, EXTERNAL LINK 

Very nice video, thanks!


Chris Edwards

Posts 43
29 Apr 2019 17:58


well spoke too soon, back to its random crazy crap. arg! I've tried everything , different speed/manuf capacity cards, from SD/CF/ MicroSD with adaptors etc. OS3.1/3.5.3.9/CoffinR54 , FFS, SFS,P3fs filesystems, Simo, Gunner and others assistance. it "works" but not for long. strange issues. random filling of negative byte files,  can't execute things (shapeshifter will work one boot, and not the next) WBstartup+ fails to execute, then works then fails and corrupts, I've re imaged that coffinR54 image probably 30 times. im ready to toss in the towel and re flash the core 2.11 again and see if it fixes any quirks.


Richard Shears

Posts 7
29 Apr 2019 20:14


Hi Chris, I'm not convinced this is the Vampire. I would guess that the CF card or adaptor can't handle the full speed of FastIDE. I had the same issue with running at Speed 2 or Speed 3. After I replaced my CF adaptor with an SD based one and a SanDisk Extreme PRO 32gb my problems went away and I am now running at Speed 3 (CF/SD only) setting without any issues.
I'd try running at Speed 1 (Safe for HDD) for a few weeks to see if the problem happens. Then maybe step up to Speed 2 if all is well and see how things go. If you can then swap out the IDE adaptor.


Chris Edwards

Posts 43
02 May 2019 18:25


what does everyone else here run? cf card wise including which adaptor you run, i have the external kind, and the vampire one that goes right on the 44, it is CF, i do have converter cards to Microsd or SD, all do the same poo.


Roy Gillotti

Posts 517
02 May 2019 18:39


Chris Edwards wrote:

what does everyone else here run? cf card wise including which adaptor you run, i have the external kind, and the vampire one that goes right on the 44, it is CF, i do have converter cards to Microsd or SD, all do the same poo.

Usually run SanDisk Extreme CF, have a 32G in my A600 and a 64GB in my A2000

My A600 is running some Amigakit branded thing, my A2000 is using this adapter: EXTERNAL LINK


Sean Sk

Posts 488
03 May 2019 04:42


Hey Chris,
 
It's a real shame you've been having these issues since the Vampire really is awesome to use.
 
My apologies if you've already mentioned this as I didnt't get a chance to watch your video right through but did you get your Vampire new or did you buy it second hand from another user?
 
You did say that you have been in contact with Majsta. Is it possible that you could send it to him to have him check it out? You shouldn't be having this much trouble doing a simple thing like transferring files.
 
In answer to you question about CF setup, I'm using a Vampire 600 with one of these:
 
EXTERNAL LINK 

and 32GB version of one of these:
 
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Sandisk-CF-Extreme-Card-32GB-64GB-128G-Compact-Flash-Memory-Card-Full-HD-120MB-s/142527582121?hash=item212f4e4fa9:m:mm6eCwMkvPi4uHdPPmi9emA

I didn't buy my CF card on Ebay as I simply don't trust that they are genuine or brand new. I managed to buy mine recently at my local computer parts store.


Richard Shears

Posts 7
07 May 2019 21:41


Sorry for the delay in getting back, it’s been a bit busy. Not even turned my Amiga on for a week.

I have a couple 4gb Transend and 3x 4gb SanDisk that all work fine with vampire at speed 2 using the cf card adapters I have in A1200 and Vampire v500+ And also ACA500+ ( from Individual Computers).
3x 32gb SanDisk ultra, extreme and extreme pro. These all work with A1200 and ACA500+ but won’t boot or be seen by the Vampire setup. I know that these cards work with the vampire so must be my IDE to CF as mentioned previously.

I’ve also got a IDE to Sata adapter that allows me to use a 500gb SanDisk SSD  this works fine at speeds 0 and 1 but anything above and same results as you have. Same with a transcend 128gb ssd.

My standard setup is a IDE to SD card adapter (purchased from sordan.ie) with a SanDisk 32gb extreme SDcard. This runs at full speed without issue. Also have several SD cards all SanDisk Ultra, extreme 32gb or 64gb that work at full speed without issue also Samsung micro SD 32gb and 128gb (evo) that work fine tested at speed 2. And finally a SanDisk MicroSD 64gb extreme. This has been tested at full speed without issue although not for any extended period.

In sort I’d recommend getting the IDE2SD adapter from somewhere (they are on eBay amazon etc) and a good SDcard. Such as the SanDisk 64gb extreme then write a fresh copy of coffin remember to use the utility in coffin to update the RDB to the correct size.



Chris Edwards

Posts 43
14 May 2019 11:26


thank you all for the responses. i set the Vcontrol ID 0 through 3 did a speed test using sys info from the benchmarks folder and see the different speeds. i ended up watching this video  EXTERNAL LINK just for the view, and paused the video when Manuel inserts a new card, it was a Lexar X1000 32gb. and also looked at the adaptor that was on that A2000. so i purchased THAT exact card and reader, re wrote Coffin R54 using the win32disk imager, popped it in and it works. i didn't do anything to it yet. like try copying files and stuff. left the sagasd microSD card off the Vampire. it "works" i have not played with it yet too much to see if it screws up. With a Recapped board/ power supply and new devices (yes my Vampire was purchased brand new from Amedia-computer via Igor,) its weird. i see so many people having great times and my temperamental hardware doesn't like it. heck i even tried it on my A500 rev8a and same issues randomly. so as a final F it. I purchased a 1GB (yup 1 gig) SD card, not micro. did a standard OS3.1 install using normal old FFS updating its max transfer and it is more stable. idk why. but the random small file write lockups "SEEM" to not happen. and im not using RTG, just my Microway FF to a 19" vga in standard ECS NTSC hi res interlaced. 720*240 or something small like that in the 15khz range.  I was wondering if i was suffering from the Wrap around issues of 4+ gb cards, i have a new video in the works with my tests. once posted if you notice anything weird please let me know. I followed Simo's tutorial to the letter on the P3FS partition creations, OS3.9 installs, BB 1-4) then i read that in BoingBag2 of 3.9 there is some weird issues with 44bit lba addressing or something like that but was remedied in boingbag3 or 4, I've tried it just straight 3.9, 3.1, 3.1.4 strange... 2 different hardwares, many different cards/adaptors and Vcontrol id settings. if i take the Vampire out and just run my expansion systems ide controller on any card or and adaptor it works just fine. 3.1 that is, as i don't have a 020+ for a 3.9 without the vampire.  so i will keep on trucking with the Lexar media and see WHEN that screws up.  and as always, thank you all and i will keep you updated.    - Cheers


Richard Shears

Posts 7
14 May 2019 21:21


Good luck, I hope this solves the issues you’ve encountered. I’d have experimented installing 3.9 myself to see if I could reproduce the issue but I don’t have install media. I’ve done a number of 3.1 and 3,1.4 installs on different media without issue. 


Sascha Wintz

Posts 19
15 May 2019 02:17


Chris Edwards wrote:

what does everyone else here run? cf card wise including which adaptor you run, i have the external kind, and the vampire one that goes right on the 44, it is CF, i do have converter cards to Microsd or SD, all do the same poo.

I’m running a 256GB SATA SSD with an ATA adapter. I am seeing the same issues with speeds above 1. I’m getting close to 9 MB/s that’s pretty fast. I’m happy with that. I love having this much storage.


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6207
15 May 2019 09:12


Sascha Wintz wrote:

I’m running a 256GB SATA SSD with an ATA adapter. I am seeing the same issues with speeds above 1. I’m getting close to 9 MB/s that’s pretty fast. I’m happy with that....

Some information about IDE.

There are many different adapters on the market for CF, for SDtoIDE/CF, for SATA.
I have several, some work better than others.
Even in the same model of adapter I have, some are good, some bad.
I have a bunch of China adapters (same model) 4 work great, 2 are bad quality.

Production quality of those adapters seem to vary a lot.

With IDE my best experience is with IDE-CF and Sandisk CF.
CF cards can speak direct IDE.
This means this is relative straight forward without much translation.

Using SATA /SSD / SDcard with adapter will add an extra layer of translation. Extra translation will most likely lower the speed you can run.

FASTIDE has 4 settings :
0= Off
1= Fast
2= Very Fast
3= Ludicrous fast speed

Setting 0 is save mode.
Setting 1 should work with most setups (Except stone age CDRoms)
Setting 2 and 3 might only work with real CF

Please mind that your IDE devices will need electricity.
And the power supply of your old AMIGA might be limited.
If you put a lot on the IDE connector you risk
that your system has "power drops" or your PSU might get overloaded.

Short power drop can cause the CPU, the system to crash

So if your acts unreliable on a lot of IDE activity - minimal power drops could be the reason.


Ronnie Beck
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 199
15 May 2019 12:12


It is awesome to hear that you are still at it!  You don't give in so easy.  :-D  But it is slightly disheartening to hear that you are still plagued by the problems.  I assume that the problem is still as you described before:

Copying small files to the "hard drive" (CF/SD connected on the Vampire's IDE header) often result in corrupted files with a negative/non-sensible file size.

Chris Edwards wrote:

thank you all for the responses. i set the Vcontrol ID 0 through 3 did a speed test using sys info from the benchmarks folder and see the different speeds.

And the same problem persisted?  Or did you notice a variation in the problem (hence a clue to the cause)?

Chris Edwards wrote:

  i ended up watching this video..... Manuel inserts a new card, it was a Lexar X1000 32gb. and also looked at the adaptor that was on that A2000. so i purchased THAT exact card and reader, re wrote Coffin R54 using the win32disk imager, popped it in and it works.

It worked, as in boots and runs, but you didn't try to test for the problem?  Why not?!?!  This would be the perfect setup since you spent time and money replicating a known working configuration!

Chris Edwards wrote:

I purchased a 1GB (yup 1 gig) SD card, not micro. did a standard OS3.1 install using normal old FFS updating its max transfer and it is more stable. idk why. but the random small file write lockups "SEEM" to not happen.

Now this is interesting.  Is there a behavioral difference (electrically on the IDE bus) in FFS to PFS? 
Is the PSU perhaps not performing due to it's age and perhaps the IDE port is not performing electrically?  Pure conjecture from me.  From one of your videos I know you have recapped your mobo already, so that should not be an issue.  What is the cable length you are using?  I am wondering if I can reproduce these problems at home.

Thanks for staying in touch!


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