FDD+IDE controller and Universal Flash ROM cartridge projects + future Multi-soundcard cartridge

Photo of the "fixed" Altera.

I mounted a Carnivore2 board. I uploaded the firmware with the Altera USB blaster, but the C2MAN utility doesn't detect the cartridge. The mapper seems ti work fine, and past the testram and testmap well.

The c2man utility says:

FlashROM chip's type is not detected!
This cartridge is not open for writing or may be defective!
Try to reboot and hold down F5 key...

I tried to boot pressing F5, in slot 1, in slot 2, with a VG-8235 with gotek disk drive emulator, and with a VG-8020 with a BEER IDE board, and always with the same results.

Any idea?

The partslist.txt tells exactly what chips and other components must be used. If anything (especially chips) is replaced with a different model, we can't guarantee the correct functionality of the cartridge. What flash chip are you using? Would be nice to see a picture of the assembled cartridge from both sides.

I am not sure what you mean by "Top bootblock" and "Bottom bootblock". We are just using the 64kb blocks of the flash chip. The 0 block is used for our own Boot Block and directory, 1-2 blocks goes to IDE bios and 3 block goes to FMPAC bios.

Did you try to manually specify the slot for the cartridge? Try using "10" for first slot. Also try to run the utility again if it doesn't detect the cartridge during the first run. Use the ESC key in the Boot Block to allow easy auto-detection of the cartridge instead of selecting any configuration entries. Also check whether your flash chip is properly connected to corresponding Altera pins.

Hmm, sorry, I was not aware about those differences between the flash chips. I added "GB" to the chip's name in the partslist. I am afraid it's not possible to use a different chip without rewriting the firmware and utilities...

For the AS connector it's better not to solder those 2x5 pins to the board. I usually insert them into the ByteBlaster's female connector and then insert the other side of the pins into the holes of the cartridge and slightly twist them to have better contact with the board. Then I can program the chip and remove the pins from the holes once it's done.

I also recommend to remove R54 and solder it only on one side like I did on my board. We didn't test how the board works with 12V suppled to those transistors.

Nice soldering by the way!

The cartridge assembled on board version 2.2 has successfully passed all tests.