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SpooNMan
Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 89
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 Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 10:23 pm Post subject: SMD Memory question + external floppy drive |
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Is it normal for it to show RAM: 0 on the main screen when starting the SMD? I haven't been successful in getting it to load a rom over parallel and still haven't been able to make an external floppy for this. I just want to make sure this is normal before proceeding to work on getting a game loaded.
On a side note: just for the hell of it I connected an internal Dell floppy drive using an adapter that converts it to parallel and it came up with a "protected disk" error. Is there any hope of getting it to work with some modification?
Thanks guys (and Happy Holidays)
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madman
Joined: 07 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 12:10 am Post subject: |
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| It should tell you how much memory is in your unit. It shouldn't say 0. When you took the RAM board off, did you re-seat it properly? |
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kyuusaku
Joined: 26 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 2:19 am Post subject: |
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| FFE floppy drives are NOT parallel port floppies, they just connect to the floppy controller over DB25 cable instead of the normal 34 pin IDC cable. |
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madman
Joined: 07 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:13 am Post subject: |
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| Didn't we have that discussion already? |
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kyuusaku
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SpooNMan
Joined: 31 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:13 am Post subject: |
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Damn.. It showed up that way when I bought it. I got it cheap ($20 on ebay) and the guy claimed not to own a gen system to test it in. Guess I got ripped off. I have since taken off the RAM extension board and put it back on. Is there anything else I can try to get this working? I guess DRAM can just kick the bucket too. Would this have anything to do with the battery leak?
PS: I know about the external floppy not working, but like I said this is an internal Dell laptop floppy drive. I figured it was worth a try. I didn't have much hope that it would actually work.
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kyuusaku
Joined: 26 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 7:22 am Post subject: |
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Your SMD is probably not broken, and the DRAM is almost certainly not broken. Even if your PCB has been heavily corroded by a battery leak, that shouldn't stop it from working. I don't know what to suggest to you except to check for continuity between the DRAM board and main board.
How are you connecting the floppy? Via DB25 or did you solder in the unfilled IDC connector on the PCB? |
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SpooNMan
Joined: 31 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 7:41 am Post subject: |
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| kyuusaku wrote: | Your SMD is probably not broken, and the DRAM is almost certainly not broken. Even if your PCB has been heavily corroded by a battery leak, that shouldn't stop it from working. I don't know what to suggest to you except to check for continuity between the DRAM board and main board.
How are you connecting the floppy? Via DB25 or did you solder in the unfilled IDC connector on the PCB? |
I'll open it and check it again tomorrow. So just to verify, when you turn on the SMD is should show RAM: 8M or something? I thought it was a bit strange at 0M, but thought maybe it didn't show the correct RAM until it was loading a game or something. I saw this and didn't think mine had an issue:
[img]http://www.supermagi.com/pfs.php?m=view&v=1-super-magic-drive-bios-v3.gif[/img]
Is there any built-in DRAM test like the SWC has?
I tried connecting the port to both of the built-in ports. I wasn't sure about how to go about soldering a floppy to the idc connector on the PCB. I guess I would been to desolder a floppy connector off an old motherboard or something.
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Thall
Joined: 29 Mar 2007
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kyuusaku
Joined: 26 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 7:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Yes it should show the RAM. If it shows 0M, then it detects 0M. |
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madman
Joined: 07 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 10:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Spoonman, if you want I can take a look at yours and test your RAM in my SMD and vice versa. |
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SpooNMan
Joined: 31 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:31 am Post subject: |
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| madman wrote: | | Spoonman, if you want I can take a look at yours and test your RAM in my SMD and vice versa. |
Thanks for the offer, but I am kinda screwed either way right? I doubt I would be able to find a replacement ramcard or mobo. Or would I?
I am going to open it all up and shoot some canned air through it and clean the contacts. Lots of stuff going on with Christmas and all. I will post my results.
Thanks (and Happy New Year!) 
SpooNMan
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madman
Joined: 07 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Well I think the SMD takes the same RAM as the SWC, you can try a RAM swap on your own. |
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kyuusaku
Joined: 26 Jul 2003
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| Posted: Thu Dec 27, 2007 6:49 pm Post subject: |
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| It does more or less, there are 3 types of SMD RAM and the SWC supports all of them, but the SMD doesn't necessarily support SWC RAM. |
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SpooNMan
Joined: 31 Oct 2007
Posts: 89
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| Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2008 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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OK.... good news.
The DRAM in my SMD is now working. I was going to test it in my SWC. The 2 cards are different sizes. The SMD has less pins than the SWC memory. It started working after trying it in the SWC (which didn't work in any configuration) and placing it back into the SMD. It now shows as 16mb. I was hoping for 24, but this will do
Now onto making a working external floppy work with it.
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