Carnivore setup troubles.

Expert (85)

30-03-2019, 19:21

Hi All,

I just received my Carnivore 2 card and that's an unpleasant introduction. For my NMS8250..
-1 out of 4 times, the Carnivore won't start from slot 1 ( I tried 12 Konami's in slot 1, they all started at once)
- won't start from slot 2 (all Konami's start from slot 2)
- I have 2 Sandisk CF cards (512 MB/16 GB), both refuse to boot

I use the 512 MB card to transfer data between an amiga that needs FAT16 to work and PC, so I know the card is formatted correctly. Nextor doesn't boot, but the Sunrise IDE sees the CF card. (Yes I copied all required files). The second option 16 GB CF card. Formatted in Simple Volume (Windows 10 - who still has Windows XP/7 as the Carnivore Manuel suggests...) partition of 3 GB at FAT - default size. Copied all files, Nextor doesn't boot from the card.

Perhaps the partitions are the problem: so I wiped the 16 GB and removed all partitions. Used _fdisk. _fdisk sees "sunrise IDE (slot 2-1)" (upper slot in NMS8250) but sees no disk..... Deadend. The Carnivore extended documentation mentions " When using Nextor's "_fdisk" command to partition the CF card please make sure you
create and start from the configuration entry that has the expanded slot disabled and the
only enabled device there is IDE. Great, I have RAM/IDE/FMPAC/SCC and SCC+ and a few games but no entry that seems usable. You can create a new entry but that requires C2MAN which is on the CF that won't boot... Deadlock.

Last: The carnivore is supposed to have 1MB RAM for MSX right? Should that ram be visible after the restart when you choose the IDE/FMPAC... profile?" Because after restart my system still reports 128KB memory and nothing more.

Any suggestions that can solve my problem?
Thanks

بواسطة Grauw

Ascended (10707)

30-03-2019, 19:59

Roland007 wrote:

Because after restart my system still reports 128KB memory and nothing more.

The NMS8250 MSX2 BIOS does not actually count the RAM, rather the amount is hardcoded in the BIOS to match the machine’s factory internal memory. Rest assured the memory is available to software which needs it though.

I can’t assist with your other troubles unfortunately since I don’t own a Carnivore2.

بواسطة Pentarou

Hero (513)

30-03-2019, 20:00

For the RAM: Some computers don't display the real value but a fixed one, so you can't rely on the splash screen but you'll need a test program to be sure.
For the CF: Boot the C2 keeping the 1 key pressed until the basic prompt and then use call fdisk.

بواسطة Roland007

Expert (85)

30-03-2019, 20:43

Thanks all, the 1 option solved it. Now I have 4 partitions and Nextor boots Wow I forgot how slow MSX is when working with partitions of 4GB. Great for coffee time. Now on to migrating my openMSX HD to CF.

Thanks