Trying write 5.25" 1.2M Disks with Floppy Panasonic JU-475-2 in Windows ...

[Dhampird]

Hello i have a 5.25" 1.2M Panasonic JU-475-2 floppy drive, i´m trying to write HUMAN302.XDF image (edited with SXSI folders and edited config.sys) using Disk Image 13b but i didnt get good results. I´m using XP and i know that Xfloppy 1.1 dont works on XP (only W98 or W95), i tried Virtual Pc with W98 mounted but only i can detect the 5.25" floppy drive like B: because the floppy cable only supports B: conection (middle of cable), another problem is that if i understodd right Virtual PC only can manage one floppy drive and be will better use A: (i bought a floppy cable with posibility to select A: 5.25", i´m waiting for it to finally try Xfloppy 1.1 in the virtual machine if works...)

Also i tried transfer some files to 5.25" floppy drive using Virtual Floppy Image Converter, no worked, begin to transfer file to floppy and after that ( in middle progress bar) i get error conversion message.

I´m wonder which could be the problem, if the problem is the drive or not, in DOS (XP) i can format 5.25" floppy drive with command:
format b:
i´m using 5.25"  2HD disks, sometimes formating with DOS only recognise 180K or 150K in some disks, anothers recognise 1.2M FAT system, RAW, the disks are unused but probably that format errors explain that some disks have bad sector. I dont know.

I´m need to find a way to transfer X68K files to 5.25" floppies using XP, will be possible  get that with Disk Image 13b and Virtual Floppy Image Converter in XP?

I think the Jumpers Drive is corrected configured, after DOS format i can read and copy files into 1.2M floppy disk in XP, i have conected A: for 3½ drive and B: for use with 5.25" drive, also i make tests using BIOS option:
3 Mode Floppy BIOS ENABLE/DISABLE

About jumper config. on the Panasonic JU-475-2 drive, i have jumpers installed in positions:

DA,MM,CX,AT,SP,DC,DS,DS2,(TM not Jumper Pinout appear in board)

If anyone knows about this drive jumper config. or any solutions for transfer files to 5.25" floppies in XP will be great to know. I read also about some XP drivers (3Mode Floppy Drivers XP ) probably (not sure) are needed to let write in 5.25" disk format, will be needed?

Thanks a lot for read.
Regards.

[eidis]

Here you go:

http://www.alphamicro.com/dss10/40200A03.pdf

I have read that it is possible to transfer xdf to floppies in WinXP using OmniFlop.

http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:writing_floppies

Eidis

[Dhampird]

Finally works! Thanks a lot again EIDIS for the fully info,  I have to comment that Alphamicro .pdf Jumper Settings dont worked for me, there is some jumpers that didnt find in my Panasonic JU-475-2 floppy drive, anyways i find the correct jumper setting in another web, the correct jumper setting for  Panasonic JU-475-2 5.25" floppy drive are:
Jumpers Closed for (if Drive is working like B: , conected in middle conector floppy cable):

DS,DS2,DR,DC,AT,CX,SP,DA,MM

To know that jumper setting works i used Omniflop like you said  in XP, to try:

Omniflop Install&Format 5.25" floppies:

1. Install Drivers OmniFlop & OmniFDC like Omniflop software .pdf install guide explains.
2. Once Drivers are installed open the omniflop program, go to Next
3. To format 5.25" select Format Disk, then select 5.25" floppy Drive unit, only mantain marked box Auto-Detected format and Next.
4. Next windows show a list of compatible formats, you can select:
78/2/8x 1024 Sharp X68000 78-Track 1248Kb or even 77/2/8x 1024 Sharp X68000 77-Track 1232Kb
5. The format will begin after Agree ON new display warning window.

Omniflop Write X68000 Disks:

1. Into Omniflop click in Write Disk
2. Select Drive Unit and mantain selected Autodetect format box
3. In next window you can read: Select a format to write...ALL, below you should see Sharp X68000 78-Track (depending kind of format i think), click Next
4. In file: you can select only .XDF files*NOTE*, below leave Standard disk image(*img)
5. Click next and begin to Write .XDF disk image into Real 5.25" disk
6. After write process finish is normal to see a message warning telling some info about .XDF image file like: 
The file is smaller than the disk - not all of the disk has been writen.
Apart from this, the operation completed OK
Probably you could see another warning advices according kind image.

*NOTE*
For now i couldn´t write .DIM x68000 extension image disk directly using omniflop but is possible to do using Virtual Floppy Image Converter converting .DIM image files to .XDF files.
Sometimes i get errors burning .XDF files with Omniflop if the name of that files are so long, rename file images with short name fix that problem.
[/b]

Finally i built a Master floppy sucessfully, the disk works perfectly in X68000, also i  finished SCSI cable build and all the install to try CF mod, i have some problems trying to format the 1G, i´ll post a new topic about this.

Thanks a lot EIDIS again for the fully help.
Regards.

[eidis]

I'm glad it worked out for you !

Eidis

[Segasonicfan]

Omniflop Install&Format 5.25" floppies:

1. Install Drivers OmniFlop & OmniFDC like Omniflop software .pdf install guide explains.
2. Once Drivers are installed open the omniflop program, go to Next
3. To format 5.25" select Format Disk, then select 5.25" floppy Drive unit, only mantain marked box Auto-Detected format and Next.
4. Next windows show a list of compatible formats, you can select:
78/2/8x 1024 Sharp X68000 78-Track 1248Kb or even 77/2/8x 1024 Sharp X68000 77-Track 1232Kb
5. The format will begin after Agree ON new display warning window.

Omniflop Write X68000 Disks:

1. Into Omniflop click in Write Disk
2. Select Drive Unit and mantain selected Autodetect format box
3. In next window you can read: Select a format to write...ALL, below you should see Sharp X68000 78-Track (depending kind of format i think), click Next
4. In file: you can select only .XDF files*NOTE*, below leave Standard disk image(*img)
5. Click next and begin to Write .XDF disk image into Real 5.25" disk
6. After write process finish is normal to see a message warning telling some info about .XDF image file like: 
The file is smaller than the disk - not all of the disk has been writen.
Apart from this, the operation completed OK
Probably you could see another warning advices according kind image.

Thanks for posting these detailed instructions.  I followed them exactly but unfortunately it is not working for me.  I have:

-Windows XP on a Pentium 4 (P4PE-XTE Asus Motherboard)
-5.25" 1.2MB Mode 3 floppy set in BIOS
-using 5.25" 1.2MB HD floppy
-using TEAC FD-55GFR to burn
-using Omniflop with the 2 drivers installed

The drive tests fine, formats for X68000, and then writes the game files onto floppy (this takes an hour for 1.2MB, long wait!)  but when I put the floppy into my x68000 all I get is error codes 1) a white image of a floppy disk with japanese writing or 2) one line of Japanese text, beginning with the Katakana symbols for "error" some kanji after that and "reset" (ri-se-to) followed by "shitekudakii" (shi-te-ku-da-i) in Hiragana.

When I put the floppy back into the TEAC windows drive it reads it fine in testing too, only the X68000 can't read it.  I would love any help anyone can offer! 

-Segasonicfan

[eidis]

 Hi Segasonicfan !

OmniFlop requires a built-in NEC-compatible floppy disk controller. You can use the Diagnostic options of OmniFlop to see if this holds for your system.

The writing of the floppy image should not take longer than five minutes. Maybe the following link will help.

Panasonic floppy drive documentation
http://nfggames.com/x68000/Documentation/Floppy%20Drives/Panasonic/

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[Segasonicfan]

Hi Segasonicfan !

OmniFlop requires a built-in NEC-compatible floppy disk controller. You can use the Diagnostic options of OmniFlop to see if this holds for your system.

The writing of the floppy image should not take longer than five minutes. Maybe the following link will help.

Panasonic floppy drive documentation
http://nfggames.com/x68000/Documentation/Floppy%20Drives/Panasonic/

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

Thanks for the reply!  Heh, you're helping me with everything

So I'm pretty sure everything is fine with the compatibility.  Omniflop diagnositcs show that it is supported, and it sees the drive as A: (so no jumper problems) and it reads and formats the media fine.

Here is a video I made of the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jJyexABCaQ&feature=youtu.be

This is a P4PE-X Asus Pentium 4 Motherboard with a It8708F-a I/O controller and a TEAC-55GFR 5.25" 1.2MB HD floppy drive.  The video begins in the middle of a write process where time starts at about 12min but halfway through the drive looks like it is struggling and the time goes up from there.  One write cycle took a hour finally.  It said it was successful, but as the video shows you putting in a disk I already wrote, all I get is error messages.

The problems I think are:
1) I needed to register the software to support "unknown format" options.  I did this, wrote a disk, and it still will not boot in the X68000.
2) the drive might just be dying (I already cleaned the heads with alcohol) but I could try another.

Do you think the writing might be taking forever because the drive is so old or because it is dying?

Note: If I do a "format and write disk" option it goes through all the steps successfully, just takes an hour.  I also tried the ROM in emulation so I know its good.  and I tried this with 2 games so far with no luck.

Thanks for any help!
-Segasonicfan

EDIT: one thing that occurred to me, do I need a special Master Floppy to tell it to boot the game?  I saw this:

Finally i built a Master floppy sucessfully

I'm not sure if they mean the game or something else.  I'm wondering if my X68000 needs a driver or something

[98pacecar]

I use this exact drive in my setup at home and it works perfectly. Writes disks in just a couple of minutes. Have had no bad writes using Omniflop with either the 77 or 78 track X68000 format.

I did buy a NOS drive, but didn't need to change anything on it from factory settings. I wonder if the alignment is out of whack or something on yours?

Just for reference, this is the exact drive I bought. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-OEM-TEAC-FD-55GFR-5-25-5-1-4-INTERNAL-FLOPPY-DISK-DRIVE-BEIGE-19307672-39-/171302202295?pt=US_Floppy_Zip_Jaz_Drives&hash=item27e2682bb7

[Segasonicfan]

I use this exact drive in my setup at home and it works perfectly. Writes disks in just a couple of minutes. Have had no bad writes using Omniflop with either the 77 or 78 track X68000 format.

I did buy a NOS drive, but didn't need to change anything on it from factory settings. I wonder if the alignment is out of whack or something on yours?

Just for reference, this is the exact drive I bought. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-OEM-TEAC-FD-55GFR-5-25-5-1-4-INTERNAL-FLOPPY-DISK-DRIVE-BEIGE-19307672-39-/171302202295?pt=US_Floppy_Zip_Jaz_Drives&hash=item27e2682bb7

Thanks so much for posting this!  I was very skeptical that the drive was the issue.  I went ahead and ordered one of those

[eidis]

 Hi Segasonicfan and 98Pacecar !

I once had a bad floppy drive which looked OK but was unable to read floppies. Cleaning heads with Q-tips and water or isotropyl alcohol did not help. Then I tried it with medical grade spiritus (the one above 90%) and it did the trick. It must have had very old dirt which had hardened and otherwise refused to be cleaned off the heads.

There is one more thing which you can try. Try formating the floppy disk from DOS prompt with the following commands before writing the image with Omniflop:

format a: /a:1024 /t:77 /n:8 /u

or this one if the previous doesn't work:

format a: /fs:fat /v: /a:1024 /t:77 /n:8 /y      (Info courtesy of Caius)


98Pacecar, could you please make a pic of you floppy drive jumper settings and post it in this thread ?

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[98pacecar]

As requested. Hope it helps!

[eidis]

 Hi 98Pacecar !

Thank you for the pic, added to the FTP.

TEAC FD-55GFR confirmed working jumper settings
http://nfggames.com/x68000/Documentation/Floppy%20Drives/Teac/TEAC_FD-55GFR_confirmed_working_jumper_settings.jpg

Segasonicfan,

Do you have the same jumper settings on your drive ?

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[Segasonicfan]

Segasonicfan,

Do you have the same jumper settings on your drive ?

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

I've documented at least 4 different revisions of this drive, and the broken one I have has different jumpers entirely.  BUT, I ordered the drive 98pacecare recommended and IT WORKED!  I'm so happy to be able to write games now!!!

It would be GREAT if this info could be added to the wiki.  There is nothing on there about how to use omniflop and Windows in general.  Also, in theory you could use this method and write games on Windows 7.  Both programs work great on the newer OSs.  All you need is the proper hardware (floppy port, NEC-compatible card, Mode3 5.25" 1.2MB support).

-Segasonicfan

[eidis]

 Hi Segasonicfan !

Glad it worked out for you. The Wiki already has dedicated pages on writing 5.25" and 3.5" floppy disks. What exactly do you want to be added ?

P.S. Could you please post a pic of your new drives jumper settings ?

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[Segasonicfan]

Hi Segasonicfan !

Glad it worked out for you. The Wiki already has dedicated pages on writing 5.25" and 3.5" floppy disks. What exactly do you want to be added ?

P.S. Could you please post a pic of your new drives jumper settings ?

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

Hi Eidis,
  All I see on the wiki is this page: http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:writing_floppies
and all it says for Windows is:

"Check out Omniflop.
There's also xfloppy (Japanese)."
...not very helpful 

It would be great if it had the info in this thread added, specifically the directions on how to setup Omniflop.  That you can use Windows XP to do this, and what devices you need (NEC-compatible controller, 5.25" drive (with suggestions of these brands that work, HD disc, etc etc).  It would be amazingly helpful for those that aren't old enough to remember 5.25" days

My jumper settings are exactly the same as above, since I bought the same drive

-Segasonicfan

[eidis]

 Hi Segasonicfan !

I updated the Wiki article. As far as I know, all 5.25" drives should work. Most of the times problems start from using drives which have incorrect jumper settings or if heads are out of calibration. Anything else which should be added ?

Writing Floppies
http://www.gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:writing_floppies

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[Segasonicfan]

I would specifically add this text below which is very helpful to people new to floppy writing:

Omniflop Install&Format 5.25" floppies:

1. Install Drivers OmniFlop & OmniFDC like Omniflop software .pdf install guide explains.
2. Once Drivers are installed open the omniflop program, go to Next
3. To format 5.25" select Format Disk, then select 5.25" floppy Drive unit, only mantain marked box Auto-Detected format and Next.
4. Next windows show a list of compatible formats, you can select:
78/2/8x 1024 Sharp X68000 78-Track 1248Kb or even 77/2/8x 1024 Sharp X68000 77-Track 1232Kb
5. The format will begin after Agree ON new display warning window.

Omniflop Write X68000 Disks:

1. Into Omniflop click in Write Disk
2. Select Drive Unit and mantain selected Autodetect format box
3. In next window you can read: Select a format to write...ALL, below you should see Sharp X68000 78-Track (depending kind of format i think), click Next
4. In file: you can select only .XDF files*NOTE*, below leave Standard disk image(*img)
5. Click next and begin to Write .XDF disk image into Real 5.25" disk
6. After write process finish is normal to see a message warning telling some info about .XDF image file like: 
The file is smaller than the disk - not all of the disk has been writen.
Apart from this, the operation completed OK
Probably you could see another warning advices according kind image.

and add: Virtual Floppy Image Converter http://www.vector.co.jp/soft/win95/util/se151106.html
to help people know how to convert .DIM to .XDF.  A very useful tool indeed.

Thanks for making the updates!
-Segasonicfan

[eidis]

 Hi Segasonicfan !

Done! Anything else which needs to be added or corrected ?

Writing 5.25" floppies
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:writing_floppies

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[AnnaWu]

Hi Segasonicfan !

Done! Anything else which needs to be added or corrected ?

Writing 5.25" floppies
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:writing_floppies

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

You wrote:

- You can use Virtual Floppy Image Converter to convert them from DIM to XDF.

You can only convert 1.2MB floppy disk images and not the 1.4MB (2HS/2HQ)  format.

Maybe you can write:

- You can use Virtual Floppy Image Converter to convert 1.2MB floppy disk images from DIM to XDF and vice versa.

With DiskExplorer (junno) you can edit the XDF/DIM (1.2MB) images.

[eidis]

Thank you AnnaWu !

Article updated.

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[shmuplations]

Just chiming in that the omniflop + winxp + TEAC-55GFR 5.25" 1.2MB (bought via ebay link above) worked for me too. Thank goodness for this thread! Now to see about finding a MIDI card...