Satandisk (v4) - Trouble writing files (bad DMA Chip?)

[k2500x]

So I recently purchased Satandisk v4 from Arananet. (NOT Ultrasatan)
https://www.arananet.net/pedidos/product/satandisk-v4/
My system is STe with 4Mb and TOS 1.62
I've downloaded both the suggested images (PPs and RetroWiki) configured for 1Gb and 2Gb SD cards from that page.
Both images use PP's HD Driver.
My two 1Gb cards are Kingston (same card).
For the 2Gb cards, one is genuine Sandisk and the other is unbranded.
The Kingston cards both fail to boot at the PP HDdriver screen (I think Kingston may be documented to have problems with Satandisk?)
The 2Gb Sandisk gives the same fail (essentially, the drives/partitions are not recognized).

Shockingly, the unbranded 2Gb card boots with both images just fine. I get all the specified drives and everything seems normal.
I tried running many different softwares off the different partitions without any problem at all.

The problem comes when I try to WRITE files to the satandisk. I can create a folder, maybe delete or copy one small file.
But that's it. If I try to move the contents of a floppy over to the satandisk the system stops after 2 or 3 files and then the satandisk/drives will fail to be recognized (but the icons still displayed). I have to cold boot the entire system to access the drives again.

I'm trying to determine if I've got the "faulty DMA chip" problem, or it's something else? I've examined my DMA chip, and it's the 001A "good version."
I've checked the power supply to the Satandisk and it's 5V 1.5A so that should be fine.

Trying to figure out where I've "gone wrong" ? Do I need to do some kind of additional prep to the SD cards? I've tried both win32diskimager and drimg135 to write the images via Windows7. Used the ZEROS.img first as suggested. But both imaging programs produce the same results (the unbranded card works great for reads, but fails on writes to the card).

My floppy drive is working fine, I can copy floppy -> floppy no problem. The problem comes when doing floppy->satandisk or satandisk->satandisk.

Any help is appreciated.

[arananet]

Hey buddy,

I reply to your email yesterday . First try some basics know issues with partitions.

1-Clean the sdcard using diskpart form windows.

This is, diskpart, list disk, from the list, make note of your sd card id (watchout with the hd drives!!) and then put select disk (id number of your sd card) hit enter and then clean > hit enter again.

This will clean all the data and mbr from the SD card.

Put the PP's image again and try.

2-Format with SD Formatter > https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

Then apply the PP's image again and try.

Let me know if this works for you, for others users with the same behavior works.

Regards,
Edu.

[k2500x]

Hi Edu,
I did send you email about the same time because I thought maybe other user experience could help too.
You mention other users with the same behavior. And they were able to fix it?

I tried everything you suggested. DISKPART, SD Formatter, and "cleaning contacts", yet the results are the same.

Kingston (PP 1Gb) and Sandisk (Retrowiki) do not get past the bootup screen. <screenshot>

Unbranded 2Gb card load up both images no problem. All drives are present. But it can't copy files or folders without crashing the satandisk to unresponsive state. File read, and very small file write are sometimes successful.

So I am stuck to try and find more SD cards to try, or if I have a STe "hardware issue"? Or maybe bad Satandisk?

Does it matter win32diskimager or drimg135? Is there some other setting like heads/cylinder/sector I need to change? I always let the program choose.

Thank you.

[k2500x]

Well I didn't get a reply, but these P.Putnik images were clearly not burning correctly. Maybe there was some kind of burn setting that was left out of the instructions. Either way, I demoed an alternate driver software and I was able to produce my own 'blank card' that does boot and does allow me to write files to the satandisk. At least, it worked for the first 5 minutes of testing. So it appears I'm on the right track as of now.

[arananet]

Well I didn't get a reply, but these P.Putnik images were clearly not burning correctly. Maybe there was some kind of burn setting that was left out of the instructions. Either way, I demoed an alternate driver software and I was able to produce my own 'blank card' that does boot and does allow me to write files to the satandisk. At least, it worked for the first 5 minutes of testing. So it appears I'm on the right track as of now.

Congratulations