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PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Sat 06 Jan, 2018 12:52 am
by SEGStriker
I am trying to create new machine with one empty HDD and the bios post message says "none". Tried to attach existing one from PCem v12 and result is same. Tried both IDE and MFM controllers. Anyone else with such an issue?

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Sat 06 Jan, 2018 2:08 am
by omarsis81
what machine are you trying to mount the HDD on? Did you configure it in the BIOS?

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Sat 06 Jan, 2018 9:52 am
by SarahWalker
Could you provide the config files you are using please?

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Sat 06 Jan, 2018 10:52 am
by ecksemmess
Not sure if it's related at all, but I've noticed that the BIOSes of all machines behave exactly this way (completely failing to see that any HDD is installed at all) if the HDD image file is read-only. I ran into that once and was tearing my hair out for a while until I figured it out. PCem should really throw a warning dialog when loading a read-only HDD image file as it's way too easy to spend enormous amounts of time troubleshooting things and failing to realize that the file somehow got marked as read-only. SEGStriker, you should check your image file(s) for read-only status just to be sure, even though your issue is probably something else.

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Sat 06 Jan, 2018 2:04 pm
by SEGStriker
Disk images aren't read only, including the newest one that I created specifically for the test with PCem 13.1
And they are working fine with PCem 10, 11, 12 - I still have them working in another subdirectory. In fact they are same images, of course other versions weren't started at the time of test.
BIOS is set to auto recognition of HDDs, I tried to enter HDD parameters as USER - no difference.
Machine that I currently use is using socket 7 Award 430VX motherboard and BIOS files with various CPU - Pentium 200MMX, Mobile 300MMX, etc.
HDDs are correctly recognized in PCem GUI, including the new (empty created) one, however, in the BIOS the recognition doesn't work - no HDDs detected (only CD - Secondary Master IDE at the moment is detected), same if set to AUTO and machine started - no bootable disk found... Strange, because this is working flawlesly in all previous versions. Also, I don't see in the menu Disk -> Configure Hard Disks, as in PCem 12 for example, maybe it was removed because of the GUI.

P.S. Just tried with another MB and BIOS - Win486 - same result. No HDD in the started machine... I guess there is some bug.

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Sat 06 Jan, 2018 6:07 pm
by SarahWalker
Could you provide the config files please?

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Tue 23 Jan, 2018 12:33 am
by SEGStriker
gameblaster = 0
gus = 1
ssi2001 = 0
voodoo = 1
model = 430vx
cpu_manufacturer = 0
cpu = 19
cpu_use_dynarec = 1
cpu_waitstates = 0
gfxcard = ati28800
video_speed = 5
sndcard = sbawe32
cpu_speed = 28
has_fpu = 1
disc_a =
disc_b =
hdd_controller = ide
mem_size = 262144
cdrom_drive = 0
cdrom_enabled = 1
cdrom_channel = 2
cdrom_path =
hdc_sectors = 63
hdc_heads = 16
hdc_cylinders = 1024
hdc_fn = D:\PCem13\HDD1.img
hdd_sectors = 0
hdd_heads = 0
hdd_cylinders = 0
hdd_fn =
hde_sectors = 0
hde_heads = 0
hde_cylinders = 0
hde_fn =
hdf_sectors = 0
hdf_heads = 0
hdf_cylinders = 0
hdf_fn =
drive_a_type = 7
drive_b_type = 2
bpb_disable = 1
joystick_type = 0
mouse_type = 0
enable_sync = 1
netcard = ne2000
lpt1_device = dss
vid_resize = 0
video_fullscreen_scale = 0
video_fullscreen_first = 1

[3DFX Voodoo Graphics]
type = 2
framebuffer_memory = 4
texture_memory = 4
bilinear = 1
dacfilter = 0
render_threads = 2
sli = 1
recompiler = 1

[Joysticks]
joystick_0_nr = 0
joystick_1_nr = 0

[SDL2]
screenshot_format = png
screenshot_flash = 1
custom_width = 640
custom_height = 480
fullscreen = 0
fullscreen_mode = 0
scale = 1
scale_mode = 1
vsync = 0
focus_dim = 0
alternative_update_lock = 0
render_driver = auto

[GL3]
input_scale = 1.000000
input_stretch = 0
shader_refresh_rate = 0.000000

[GL3 Shaders]
shaders = 0

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Tue 23 Jan, 2018 6:52 pm
by SarahWalker
Can you confirm exactly what BIOS version you're using? It should be displayed on POST :
pcem_biosver.png
pcem_biosver.png (32.48 KiB) Viewed 10998 times
v13 has changes to the SuperIO code which will break things like this if the wrong BIOS is used, whereas older versions were more tolerant.

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Sat 03 Feb, 2018 6:32 pm
by SEGStriker
Image

But HDDs aren't working with any other configuration of PCem 13.1! As I said already, it doesn't work even in Tandy and PC XT configurations that were working for years with older releases!

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Sat 03 Feb, 2018 7:09 pm
by dns2kv2
SEGStriker wrote: Sat 03 Feb, 2018 6:32 pm Image

But HDDs aren't working with any other configuration of PCem 13.1! As I said already, it doesn't work even in Tandy and PC XT configurations that were working for years with older releases!

i can reproduce this issue using stock pcem (https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/files/PCemV13.1Win.zip).
the issue because the path for the hdd image is not updated automatically by pcem in the pcem profile cfg file,
so when the pcem folder moved to other folder or disk, the hdd image path still pointing the old hdd image path which then cause the issue.

the easiest way to solve it is by deleting/re-create the affected pcem profile cfg file from the pcem configuration manager.

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Sat 03 Feb, 2018 7:15 pm
by A. Naim
Or you could edit the path in the config; it's a single line in a text file.

Re: PCem 13.1 HDD problem

Posted: Fri 16 Feb, 2018 11:56 pm
by SEGStriker
Actually the first thing I checked was the path in config file. It is correct.