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Assman
Joined: 16 Apr 2010 Posts: 4
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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 3:23 am Post subject: Parallel port problems (cart not recognized) |
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I just got my MD-Pro in the mail, and after making sure it would play in my CDX, am trying to program it (I'm using Vista, by the way). DreamWriter gives me a "no card found" message.
After reading up on some of the problems people have with PCI parallel ports, I took a quick peek inside my PC to see how the LPT it was connected. It is indeed built in to the motherboard.
I know the port is supposed to be set to EPP mode, but I see no apparent way of changing that. There's no option for it in my BIOS (all I get is an option to enable or disable the parallel port) and I don't see one in Vista. Any thoughts?
I did find a parallel PCI card on Amazon that specifically claims to support EPROM programming (as well as EPP mode). Should I just bite the bullet and nab that while I still can?
I would greatly appreciate any help. |
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Oerg
Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 78
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Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:31 am Post subject: |
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Hello, Assman.
First off, please note that a PCI parallel card will very probably not be able to recognize your MD-Pro. I have personally made some experiments with these. Out of 5 cards, none even allowed standard port ranges. The result is that neither ucon64 nor DreamWriter recognized it.
To your BIOS option issue, we can only help if we know the exact motherboard name, aswell as the brand of your computer. If your computer is branded Compaq, there might be an installation of a special configuration menu required.
Last but not least, I can completely assure you that the MD-Pro works fine on Vista and Windows 7 (personally tested.).
I would like to request that you tell us the port your parallel port is using at the moment. That way, detailed help is possible.
Kind regards,
Oerg866 |
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Assman
Joined: 16 Apr 2010 Posts: 4
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:11 am Post subject: |
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The motherboard name is "Intel Coryville D945GCL". The ID is "CF94510J.15A.0038.2007.0226.1646". My PC is an Emachines.
I had already checked the ports to make sure everything matched up right. The I/0 range is 0378-037F and it gives the port number as LPT1 (it can be set as LPT 1, 2 or 3), so I'd assume that's being assigned to port 378 like the DreamWriter settings.
I've already tried and failed to find a BIOS upgrade that works (I downloaded one at the Intel site that said it was unsuitable for my system). I'm fried. |
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Oerg
Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 78
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:24 am Post subject: |
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Hello, Assman.
Emachines does tend to cut down BIOS functionality. I have had a board from the D945-Series of Intel before. It had brilliant support for the parallel port and had a lot of options including the EPP-Setting.
The Adress 0x378 is standard, which is good.
Good sir, could you kindly download the program "ucon64" from http://ucon64.sf.net, extract it to C:\UCON64, open a command line (Start->Run->cmd) and type:
CD C:\UCON64
ucon64 --xmd --port=0x378 INSTALL.HTML
This will try and flash a html file on your MD-Pro.
Don't worry, it won't break. And it won't harm anything either. It is solely a test to see if the program recognizes the MD-Pro at all and will flash anything.
If it says that it couldn't find the programmer, then please do tell so.
I wish you a good night.
Cheers |
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Assman
Joined: 16 Apr 2010 Posts: 4
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Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2010 5:15 am Post subject: |
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Oy. I can't do anything in that program, let alone get a mention of the programmer; I always get two errors which I can't seem to be able to fix.
The first is that it can't open the "NTUSER.DAT" file in my user folder, which I found out through the FAQ was a problem with the program looking in those sorts of directories by default, yet any attempt to change the directory only gives me more errors.
The second error I get is that I have no working I/O port driver. I followed the FAQ's instructions for installing a driver, yet I still get nothing.
Sorry, I haven't used command lines since I was a kid, and this thing is just kicking my ass. I do appreciate the help, nonetheless. |
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Oerg
Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 78
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Posted: Mon Apr 26, 2010 8:29 pm Post subject: |
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Hi. Sorry for the late reply. Might I direct your attention to this program: http://oerg866.tototek.com/mdpro.html
Please test and copypaste the output.
Regards,
Eric |
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Chilly Willy
Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 174
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Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2010 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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The first thing you need is a working IO driver. Unless you get a port driver working, nothing will ever work - not DreamWriter, not ucon64, nothing.
Vista makes things tougher for people trying to get direct access to the hardware - it's deliberate... MS doesn't want anyone accessing the hardware directly inside of Windows. Each new version makes it even tougher to do so.
I have no trouble getting the port driver to work in XP, and if it comes to it, you may wish to set up XP on your system. If you don't have XP, I suggest using linux - Ubuntu allows you to use ucon64, and Ubuntu is pretty nice and simple - anyone can install and use it. |
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Oerg
Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 78
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Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:08 pm Post subject: |
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Chilly Willy,
a working IO driver is included in the software I linked to above
tested and working under Windows 7. |
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Chilly Willy
Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 174
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 5:22 pm Post subject: |
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Oerg wrote: | Chilly Willy,
a working IO driver is included in the software I linked to above
tested and working under Windows 7. |
But if HE can't get it working on his system, it doesn't matter. Nothing will work until he gets the driver WORKING. Some people just have all sorts of problems getting the driver to work. Half the posts in this forum are requests for help getting the driver working (slight exaggeration, but only by a LITTLE). |
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Oerg
Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 78
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Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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No, you don't understand
He meant ucon64 -- admittedly it is hard to set up, but the last link I provided has a preconfigured ucon64 environment that has never failed on any computer I tested it on.
Cheers,
Eric |
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Assman
Joined: 16 Apr 2010 Posts: 4
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Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 4:16 am Post subject: |
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I had actually already downloaded and attempted to use that program back when I got the cart. When I try to flash something, I get an error saying that the card/programmer isn't detected.
At this point I'm going to try to track down a PC with an LPT port that doesn't have a gimped BIOS. I ended up buying a PCI card for the hell of it (it was fairly cheap), and as you theorized, it did indeed assign bizarre port ranges that I couldn't do anything with. |
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