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View Full Version : Z64 Bios 2.20 release with Compact Flash support

Silverdtvw
Wed 18 Apr 2007, 14:49
Well, here ya go....
New bios for Z64 supporting compact flash in a CF-IDE adapter.
Bios220 (http://www.schweino.com/z64bios220.zip)
I'd really like someone with a eeprom programmer to test this (so they can flash back if it goes wrong) as I do not want to be responsible for any z64 bricking!
It works fine on my z64 HW3 with both a compact flash and a normal IDE. NOT yet tested on a HW2.
There are minimal changes from 2.18d, just some text and a new ide driver. (I have binned my more experimental version with a Dec06 version of Dr-Dos with speed-up hacks as it does not speed up loading).
ALL use at your own risk etc..etc.. I am not responsible for any z64 bricking/data loss etc..
Remember to format your compact flash same as your HD (Dos 5 Fat16). Will work with up to 8Gig CF, in 4 x 2GB partitions.

Schweino
Wed 18 Apr 2007, 15:34
Based on unofficial 2.18d Z64 Bios.
Created by SilverFox, April 2007.
Changes from 2.18d:
1) Onspec's "internal.sys" ide driver has been replaced with moddified version "newide.sys" that will allow the use of Compact Flash cards via a CF-IDE adapter. CF-IDE use allows for 100% silent operation, with lower power consumption giving reliable use in a Z64 with no extra power supply (I had problems on 3 z64's running a 2.5" HD off its internal power).
2) (Vanity moment) Z64 main program modded to display my nick on Z64 LCD during self-test.
Note1: Iomega Zip and multiple partitions etc.. left intact from 2.18, so z64start.bat, and automatic joining of partitions should all still work.
Note2: normal IDE HD's should still be 100% fully supported.
Note3: Compact Flash must be formatted just like IDE HD - i.e. from a Dos5 bootdisk or partitionmagic etc.. Formatting in windows won't work.
Tested on z64 HW3.
Holy crap! Wooooohoooooo :D
How fast are loading times from CF compared to HDD? And could you also post some pics of how you installed the CF reader into the z64?

Silverdtvw
Wed 18 Apr 2007, 16:25
Loading times are barely improved - basically you are cutting out all the HD seek times (so directory listing with lots of games is a little faster).
Load times for games was not limited by the HD, but by the Z64 - presumably the speed at which it copies the rom into its DRAM.
Still works out as around 25 seconds for the largest 256MB games.
http://www.silverfoxy.f2s.com/cf.jpg
I picked up a 3.5" floppy adapter with CF-IDE adapter and mounted it in place of the Zip drive. This makes it a simple slide-in/slide-out so its easy and fast to pop it into the PC (I have another 3.5" adapter mounted on my PC).
Er...USB and Firewire to support to come in a future Bios update!*
* Possibly ;-)

modrobert
Wed 18 Apr 2007, 17:20
Impressive!

Schweino
Wed 18 Apr 2007, 17:33
looking good indeed. Where did you find the CF-IDE adapter in a 3.5" housing? Ebay doesn't seem to do the trick.....

Silverdtvw
Wed 18 Apr 2007, 17:53
Hmmm, I picked mine up on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260075511094
is a link to a finished auction of what I have....
I know a company called Addonics do one.

Silverdtvw
Thu 19 Apr 2007, 12:13
In case anyone is interested, I'm selling a complete N64 + Z64 + Extras bundle on Ebay, seeing as I no longer need the extra Z64 for testing/backup.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130102511586
Z64 is HW3 (standard Zip disk fitted).

Schweino
Thu 19 Apr 2007, 13:00
regarding the broken z64 on ebay: did you try swapping the bios chips from the working one to the broken one? That would show if it's a b0rked bios or not what's causing it to fail.

Silverdtvw
Thu 19 Apr 2007, 13:25
Good suggestion - I just tried it now, and still no boot.
So looks like its not the bios chip.... I will update the broken listing to remove the flashing the bios comments....

Bomperchops
Thu 19 Apr 2007, 21:30
WOW, bloody good work.:eek:
For some reason I thought you working on an IDE Flash memory project, like the ones you can get at mini-itx.com, just had it in my head I guess. But they would probably work like the CF Flash anywho.
All you need to do now is buy yourself a wildcard 64 and investigate the bios so it can use a 64MB stick of ram, instead of just 16MB :cool:

brody
Fri 20 Apr 2007, 01:14
Yeah, really good work Silverdtvw!
I gots the Z64, the CF to IDE adapter and a CF card, just need the balls to flash the bios...

Schweino
Fri 20 Apr 2007, 10:01
/me waits for brody to flash the bios and give the OK ;)

Don_Camorra
Fri 20 Apr 2007, 15:48
Good work mate, hope someone could do the same for the V64 :)

Silverdtvw
Fri 20 Apr 2007, 19:25
/me waits for brody to flash the bios and give the OK ;)
I may have overplayed the "beta" concerns. The bios I have released still includes zip support, so even if my modded driver fails on your z64, you can use the zip support to flash the bios back to whatever you want.
You don't need a ide/cf attached to test the bios. Just flash with a zip drive, and if it boots you know the bios is fine. I have not *touched* the zip driver from bios 2.18.
I just wanted to make a point that it works 100% for me, but can't test beyond that.

Silverdtvw
Fri 20 Apr 2007, 19:45
looking good indeed. Where did you find the CF-IDE adapter in a 3.5" housing? Ebay doesn't seem to do the trick.....
I remember that LinITX do something similar:
http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=1180 (http://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=1180)
Although its a lot more pricey than I one I got from ebay. I'm sure something will turn up on their soon.

Silverdtvw
Fri 20 Apr 2007, 19:50
Good work mate, hope someone could do the same for the V64 :)
Never had a v64, so no idea how possible it is....
I'd quite like to make a CF based SWC DX2 for the snes. I know it works from testing on a friends (no bios changes needed) but you need a dx2, and a diskdual, (or equivalent parallel port adapter) and a willingness to dismantle the rather hard to come by diskdual + dx2... Still, if anyone has any for sale.... :D

Schweino
Fri 20 Apr 2007, 22:24
Yeh, a CF enabled SWC would be ace. Someone else has had this working too, see his posts on this board. He didn't use a diskdual though but a datatank.
/edit: I saw we've been over that before in an old thread ;)

Silverdtvw
Sat 21 Apr 2007, 11:39
Yeh, a CF enabled SWC would be ace. Someone else has had this working too, see his posts on this board. He didn't use a diskdual though but a datatank.
/edit: I saw we've been over that before in an old thread ;)
Yeah I bought an datatank (exact same model, new, boxed) for peanuts but coughed up loads on shipping, only to find it does not have the correct controller inside. Woops.
Someone else on ebay sold the "kingbyte parallel adapter for the swc dx2" which turned out to be the incorrect, incompatible later kingbyte model. Not impressed.
I'll get one soon. The hard bit will be attempted to contain it all inside the swc dx2 unit - there will need to be room for the adapter + CF adapter, and I'll need to solder on the inside to the parallel port.

marshallh
Sat 21 Apr 2007, 17:39
That is a clean mod, nice job on the BIOS hack.
Sometime I'll have to figure out this FPGA dev board I have and make a SNES/N64 cart emu with it. 64MB sdram should be enough :)

jpilkinton
Sun 22 Apr 2007, 05:26
What eprom does the Z64 use?
I have all three, the Z64, the eprom programmer, and the CF-to-IDE adaptor.
Thanks!

sanni
Sun 22 Apr 2007, 10:24
Should be 5V 4Mbit 150 ns flash EEPROM (28SF040 from SST) 32PIN DIP socket.

Silverdtvw
Sun 22 Apr 2007, 11:14
What eprom does the Z64 use?
I have all three, the Z64, the eprom programmer, and the CF-to-IDE adaptor.
Thanks!
Well you can flash just buy putting the bios on a zip disk as normal, and you have a programmer in case anything goes wrong.
Note that like a hard drive mod, if you disconnect the zip and replace it with a CF, you will get a disk error UNLESS you have the CF formatted correctly, like a HD...

Schweino
Sun 22 Apr 2007, 19:40
Just flashed my V3 with the 2.20 bios and can confirm it still works okay with the internal zip drive.
btw: can the vanity mod easily be changed back to the original "please wait" message?
What happened to your defective Z64 unit auction?

Silverdtvw
Mon 23 Apr 2007, 03:19
~Yeh, I should probably release a clean version. I was mainly just experimenting with the text changing anyway.... Back to please wait or any requests?
Defective unit - I had an offer I simply could not refuse. Had to double check with the guy that he knew it was defective, but he wanted it fast. Hope he can fix it. he was after the working unit too, but based on the number of watchers/bidders, I thought best to let that one run.Based on current value, probably the right call.
Based on various queries to split it, I've probably put some people off by bundling it with a console and extras.

Schweino
Mon 23 Apr 2007, 08:35
No requests no, just the original "please wait" will do, thanks a lot.
The z64 is going well indeed, i hope the highest bidder isn't a fraud, since he's new to Ebay and that always makes me suspicious. Wonder how much it will fetch in the end.

Silverdtvw
Mon 23 Apr 2007, 13:36
Ok I'll throw another one together...
Yes, I'm a bit concerned by the 0 feedback. I should have said something about no new bidders, but too late now. Still, best to wait and see who wins. I'm happy enough with the price as it is. (Although I remember in the middle of last year there was some guy going round offering $500 for a working HW3 unit, but I only had the one unit back then)..

Silverdtvw
Mon 23 Apr 2007, 13:45
EDIT:
Here is a re-release of 2.20, with no no text changes on the LCD (just says "Please Wait" as it used to).
Should be the last time its changed. I've changed the orginal file linked to in the first post to link to the new one.
Get it here (http://http://www.schweino.com/z64bios220.zip)

Schweino
Thu 26 Apr 2007, 11:19
EDIT:
Here is a re-release of 2.20, with no no text changes on the LCD (just says "Please Wait" as it used to).
Should be the last time its changed. I've changed the orginal file linked to in the first post to link to the new one.
Guess it isn't the last time it's changed: after flashing my z64s identify themselves as having bios version 1.18 instead of 1.20, guess you reverted it to the original state a bit too much ;)

Silverdtvw
Thu 26 Apr 2007, 12:08
DOH! woops.
Do you mean 1.18 or 2.18?
Ok I'll sort something out tonight/tomorrow as I'm working late atm.

Schweino
Thu 26 Apr 2007, 12:42
errr, 2.18 instead of 2.20 ofcourse. My bad....
by the way: how did you mount the bracket into your z64? Does your bracket have the holes on the bottom to attach it to the z64's pcb?

Silverdtvw
Thu 26 Apr 2007, 18:06
The bracket I have has no mounting holes, but is made of plastic, so I simply screwed in directly into the plastic. You can't do this many times, so while testing I simply stuck it down onto the mounting poles with double-sided tape - this actually held it fine without issue.

brody
Thu 26 Apr 2007, 23:35
Well, after flashing my hw3 Z64 with z64bios2.21 all is well (apart from it saying it is v2.18).
I have a few things to report. My CF adapter is a dual one, has 2 CF slots. I first tried it with just one CF card in, and was able to dump a cart, then load it just fine. Then I wondered what would happen with 2 CF cards in, so I tried it. It loaded up as normal, seeing the top CF cards contents like before, but it also offered a [DISK-2] to go into, just like on the hdd when you have more than one partition. I navigated into the folder and it found the rom I had put on the new card, and was able to load it.
With the 2.18 bios, the Z64 was supposed to suport a hdd and zip drive both plugged in together, although I never managed to get it to work. I will try a hdd and the CF adapter together tomorrow (need to 'borrow' the 2.5" ide adapter from work) and let you know the outcome.

Silverdtvw
Fri 27 Apr 2007, 00:21
Excellent, someone else has confirmed CF works...
Dual CF work too - thats good news.
I don't imagine a dual CF card will work along with a HD - as I am guessing each CF card is a seperate device on the IDE bus - i.e. one is Master the other is Slave. (You can only have 2 devices on an IDE bus I believe). If the CF card adds 2 cards as one device as seperate partitions, then it may work.
I have updated the download with a version that should now report v2.20 instead of 2.18. No other changes.

brody
Fri 27 Apr 2007, 00:49
Hmm, just downloaded the file here (http://www.silverfoxy.f2s.com/z64bios220.rar) assuming it to be the one you said you had just updated and flashed it to my Z64. It said update to 2.20, but then when I turned my Z64 back on, it said 'V2.18C WAITING...' again. Did you try this with your Z64 too Silverdtvw?
One thing I did notice, is that there is now a folder on the top CF card called DISK-2, which implies to me, that the 2nd CF card is mounted to a folder on the main CF card meaning that the adapter only shows as one device (but then I don't know what happens when you have a hdd + zip, it might be the same). The hdd + CF might work yet, I will let you know tomorrow :)

Silverdtvw
Fri 27 Apr 2007, 01:31
How strange. I did not get a chance to flash mine - changing the version number is done with a Mkchecksum program from Mr.Backup, but perhaps repeated attempts fail. I will have to investigate.
Re: The "disk2" folder.
Thats the Z64 bios doing that, not your CF card. The bios runs a dos program in a script that tests for drives A: (for Zip support) C:, D:, E: F: G: H: etc... If it finds them, it mounts them onto the C: drive as a folder called Disk-2 etc...
i.e. so if you have a D: drive, it appears as Disk2 on your C: drive. From Dos, a single ide device with 2 dos partitions will have drive letters C: and D:. Two different IDE devices, with 1 partition each will also have the letters C: and D:. So you can not tell if the 2xCF card will work with a HD without testing it directly.

Schweino
Fri 27 Apr 2007, 08:56
The 2.20 version with the Silverfox notification did display it's version correctly, the 2 versions releases after that (2.21 and the 2nd 2.20) both display version 2.18.
@ brody & Silvertvw: I reckon you both used some kind of molex -> floppy power lead adapter?

brody
Fri 27 Apr 2007, 18:57
Thanks for your explanation of how the [disk-2] bit works in the bios, I understand it now :) I tried the Z64 with both a 2.5" hdd and the dual CF adapter, and plugged it all in like so:
[Z64]-->--[CF adapter (set to slave)]-->--[2.5" hdd]
Turned it on and it booted as normal, except it had mounted the CF adapter as [DISK-5], which when navigated to, showed everything on the CF card as it did last night, great! Next I tried it with 2 CF cards in the adapter. This time when I navigated to [DISK-5] it listed the files on the second CF card only, as if I had swapped the cards over. I guess you were correct about the dual CF adapter acting in a master/slave way, and as the IDE standars only allow for 2 devices per IDE bus, it is just noticing the 'slave' CF card.
I think I will try and rig together a bracket to hold my CF adapter in on top of the 2.5" hdd, add a slot to the 3.5" blanking plate along with a switch to cut power to the hdd, then I can use either CF, hdd or both when I want :)
@Schweino, I used a molex to floppy power lead adapter from an old 3.5" floppy to 5.25" bay adapter thing. If I go with my idea of CF with hdd, I will make a special thing with power connections for both the CF adapter and the hdd coming from one molex socket.
I have shown the menu system with the CF card mounted as [DISK-5] below, just for clarification, even though it is pretty obvious (the [DISK-5] branch is extra with the CF card plugged in). I guess its exactly the same as it handles a zip drive and hdd plugged in at the same time.
Main
|-game
|-etc..
|-[DISK-2]
|-[DISK-3]
|-[DISK-4]
|-[DISK-5]
| |-[UP DIR]
| |-game
| |-<<BACKUP CARTRIDGE>>
| \-<<PLAY CARTRIDGE>>
|
|-<<BACKUP CARTRIDGE>>
\-<<PLAY CARTRIDGE>>

Silverdtvw
Fri 27 Apr 2007, 19:56
Why use an HD at all now you can use a CF? You can just use a CF reader on your PC to move games on/off?

brody
Fri 27 Apr 2007, 23:07
I don't know, just because I can? Heh I guess I will probably just end up getting a couple of large CF cards and sticking the main games I want to play on them.
Would like to say thanks again for the updated bios, it's good to know that people are still interested in using these devices and willing to use their skills to make them better and share too!

Schweino
Fri 27 Apr 2007, 23:23
did you manage to get the bios version id fixed by the way?

Silverdtvw
Sat 28 Apr 2007, 02:24
Ok, another upload. I started with my 220 version, broke it down and rebuilt it, so it should still contain the 220 label. That should sort it.
I'm afraid I can't test it at the mo as my z64 is in another place than me(!).
Also, when you download, check the img file is dated 28/4/07, to ensure you are not downloading a cached version.

Silverdtvw
Sat 28 Apr 2007, 02:28
I don't know, just because I can? Heh I guess I will probably just end up getting a couple of large CF cards and sticking the main games I want to play on them.
Would like to say thanks again for the updated bios, it's good to know that people are still interested in using these devices and willing to use their skills to make them better and share too!
No worries, nice to be able to do something helpful.
You can get 8GB flash cards - so the same as the largest HD the z64 will support anyway.
That was one thing I couldn't fix - the z64 is perfectly capable hardwarewise of supporting much larger HD's using a dos driver to do LBA translation (there are several available). Sadly none have the ability of the onspec driver to be able to run from the command line (i.e. after the bios) and add the drive letters to Dos...

Schweino
Sat 28 Apr 2007, 07:23
You can always release a new bios version with just large hdd support ;). I wonder if that will also circumvent the 2GB FAT16 problem and allow for a different file format to be used so no partitions are needed.
Thanks very much for al your work, I'll test the new bios asap.
/edit: sorry mate, just flashed it and still says 2.18..... Wonder what the difference is between this one and the one displaying "silverfox" since that one did display the correct v2.20.
Maybe brody can verify just to be sure it isn't my z64?

PasteEater
Sat 28 Apr 2007, 07:55
Hi, I'm new to this forum. I am going to try putting a ide-cf adapter in my z64 and will let you know how it turns out.
Also, Id say that even though you can get cf cards that are 8 gigs, they are way more expensive then an 8 gig hd. Although I'm opting for the cf anyway since they are smaller, quieter, and would be easier to take out of the z and hook up to a computer. I recon that I won't need anything bigger then a gig though...

brody
Sat 28 Apr 2007, 20:54
Just tried the newly uploaded bios, still says V2.18, sorry :/

DarkDragon
Sun 29 Apr 2007, 23:07
is a good idea post this relase in the news page, the last news is over 2 years old!

Silverdtvw
Mon 30 Apr 2007, 01:07
/edit: sorry mate, just flashed it and still says 2.18..... Wonder what the difference is between this one and the one displaying "silverfox" since that one did display the correct v2.20.
I've been a complete fool, and I've been changing the wrong bit.
NEW one uploaded AGAIN! This should sort it - should now say 2.20.

Silverdtvw
Mon 30 Apr 2007, 01:22
You can always release a new bios version with just large hdd support ;). I wonder if that will also circumvent the 2GB FAT16 problem and allow for a different file format to be used so no partitions are needed.
I'd love to, but.....
2GB partition limit is due to the use of FAT16 - it can't handle partitions bigger than 2GB - we need FAT32.
So large HD support requires:
1) An OS that supports FAT32 - Enhanced Dr.Dos does this.
2) A driver that supports FAT32 - we don't. The driver used for HD support specifically does not add FAT32 partitions to Dos (it gives a message saying so) as it believes Dos does not support it.
It's not a case of modding the driver again - the code required to translate FAT32 to Dos 5.0 is simply not in the driver.
The only thing I've not really tried that I think would be useful is getting NTFS support onto the Z64. NTFS drivers for Dos exist, and will mount NTFS drives as Dos drive letters. These also have the advantage of bypassing 2gb partition limits (and possibly the 8.4Gb limit, not sure). Another advantage is this is plug and play with Win XP etc - no faffing with Dos 5.0 bootdisks.
If I get time I will look at this next couple of days, my main concern is that they take up plenty of conventional memory - maybe stopping z64.exe from running. I also suspect that due to lack of BIOS HD support in the Z64, the driver may fall over. We shall see.

brody
Mon 30 Apr 2007, 18:13
I've been a complete fool, and I've been changing the wrong bit...
Heh, well now you have found the right bit, as the most recent one displays V2.20! Thanks again and good luck with trying to add the NTFS support!
side note: How much do you think a Kingbyte KI3020A parallel to IDE interface card is worth? I might have found myself one for my DX2, but am not sure how much to offer the guy.

Silverdtvw
Mon 30 Apr 2007, 18:45
Heh, well now you have found the right bit, as the most recent one displays V2.20! Thanks again and good luck with trying to add the NTFS support!
Thanks
side note: How much do you think a Kingbyte KI3020A parallel to IDE interface card is worth? I might have found myself one for my DX2, but am not sure how much to offer the guy.
Well, first off - There are (at least) TWO versions of the KI3020A interface card. Both say KI3020A on them. Only ONE works with a DX2. There is info on the web suggesting that the KI3020A is different from the KI3020 and the KI3020A always works - not true.
Everything about the cards is identical (including the date printed on the PCB) apart from the chip soldered on the card. The chip says "KINGBYTE KBIC-971A 9824" on one board, and "KINGBYTE KBIC-951A 9622" on the other.
The only one that works is the one that says "KBIC-951A".
I have been sold a kingbyte interface card in the past that was specifically sold as a SWC DX2 compatible card - but it was not. Make sure you check.
As for what it's worth - whatever you want to pay. The problem is they have not been made in years, will never be made again, so its a sellers markets. I bought one a while ago shipped for £20 - but (as above) it was the wrong one. It's worth remembering you can buy an brand new authentic diskdual - the box designed for the DX2 - for around £90 in the UK. (This box has the chip in it).

Schweino
Tue 1 May 2007, 09:45
is a good idea post this relase in the news page, the last news is over 2 years old!
True, true, it is being worked at -> me points to Hartec ;)
NEW one uploaded AGAIN! This should sort it - should now say 2.20.
Great! Thanks a lot for your time and effort!

bLAStY
Wed 2 May 2007, 09:17
Would there be a possibility for you (silverthingie) to give a brief description of this hacking process ? Furthermore, adding NTFS support.. sounds a bit naive and out of reach.

DarkDragon
Wed 2 May 2007, 12:42
why add a NTFS support?

Silverdtvw
Wed 2 May 2007, 12:59
why add a NTFS support?
NTFS has no 2GB limit, so you would not need to split up the disk into 2GB chunks.
NTFS is native to Win 2000/XP/2K/2003, so you could just format/partition in windows instead of a Dos 5 environment.
NTFS has LFN support, although this is not an issue as Z64 uses ROM name not file name.
The process of adding NTFS support would also get around the 8GB HD limit - not because of NTFS, but because at the moment its the disk driver that has a 8GB limit, not the Z64 itself.
Would there be a possibility for you (silverthingie) to give a brief description of this hacking process ?
(NB The Z64 is basically a 386 PC with 512k Ram running Free versions of dos.)
In a nutshell, I took the onspec ide driver from the Z64 V2.18 bios (file called "internal.sys") - this is a driver designed to add the old 2.2GB external Orb drives to dos - and dissassemebled it (giving ASM source code).
I then used a test rig (old pc running dos) to run some old dos debugging/hacking utils - such as Soft-ICE - to set up conditional breakpoints on Int#13 access to memory. This meant when any program attempted to access Int13, it froze the program allowing me to look at the machine code and ASM currently executing in the memory.
By looking at this for when a HD was attached vs a CF attached, I managed to find where the program was performing a conditional branch (to not add the CF) and modify the condition so that it would work for all CF devices (I actually modded it to pretty much work for any IDE device at all).
It was harder than expected because by simply running soft-ICE, the internal.sys program would actually crash. It also turned out that there would multiple conditional branches checking for the same thing. Once found, I simply re-assembled the ASM with modifications using a dos ASM compiler.
Furthermore, adding NTFS support.. sounds a bit naive and out of reach.
Never would have occured to me if I had not come across various Dos programs that allow FAT32 and full NTFS access from Dos.
NTFS4DOS and NTFSDOS are the biggest names - including either in the bios would probably be breaching their copyright to be honest - but if you look them up you will see that the commercial version of NTFSDOS says it will add NTFS partitions to DOS as drive letters - which is exactly wh we want. Unfortunately it also says that it takes loads of dos memory (we only have 512k to start with instead of the usual 640k) and needs the bios to be able to see the drives.

CDiablo
Thu 3 May 2007, 01:32
Thank you Thank you Thank you. I was skeptical that this would ever come to surface but you are the man. I cant wait to get my CF adapter.

modrobert
Thu 3 May 2007, 13:01
I've added a FAT32 driver to Silverdtvw's excellent Z64 Bios 2.20 BIOS with CF support.
Please note that this is a completely untested Alpha version and should be checked by someone who can reprogram their eeprom if it fails (which it probably will).
ftp://ftp.eurasia.nu/z64bios220_cf_fat32_alpha01.rar
According to specs the first FAT32 partition found will be supported by the driver, only one, so if you're testing with a CF card then format the whole thing as one FAT32 partition. There is no long file name support so stick to DOS 8+3 char filenames. I also read somewhere that this driver screws up if the partition is over 15GB (but that should be enough for Good N64 maybe?).

Silverdtvw
Thu 3 May 2007, 13:19
Hey nice one!
I'll be interested to look at that in a few days (I'm out of town for the next 4-5 days). I could not find any suitable drivers.
I had not come across the DrFAT32 driver before. Does it still need the onspec driver installed or is it seperate?
Fat32 would be just as useful as NTFS, especially if it comes with LFN support.

modrobert
Thu 3 May 2007, 13:36
Hey nice one!
I'll be interested to look at that in a few days (I'm out of town for the next 4-5 days). I could not find any suitable drivers.
I had not come across the DrFAT32 driver before. Does it still need the onspec driver installed or is it seperate?
Fat32 would be just as useful as NTFS, especially if it comes with LFN support.
I think the drfat32 driver is separate, not sure, used this one:
http://www.drdos.net/tools.htm
However, the LFN driver on that page seems to be incompatible with the drfat32 driver, so better try without first.
BTW; Is there any checksum which needs to be recalculated in the header block for z64bios.img when changing the image?

Schweino
Thu 3 May 2007, 14:48
Good work modrobert! Seems like the Z64 finally gets pimped after all these years!

TS_Death_Angel
Fri 4 May 2007, 21:06
Silverdtvw: Rather than going to the trouble of using reverse-engineered NTFS drivers, why not use ext2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext2)? Open source and more than capable of handling large volumes & files.
Compiling a Linux kernel to run on the Z64 is also an interesting thought :p

Silverdtvw
Mon 7 May 2007, 20:45
Silverdtvw: Rather than going to the trouble of using reverse-engineered NTFS drivers, why not use ext2 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ext2)? Open source and more than capable of handling large volumes & files.
Compiling a Linux kernel to run on the Z64 is also an interesting thought :p
linux would boot fine on the z64 (just a 386 pc compatible). The catch is the non-open source 16-bit DOS program called z64.exe which does all the magic - drives the LCD, the buttons, the N64 On-screen menu (probably just a rom that could be extracted from z64.exe) and more importantly - drives all the PLA's on the Z64 board that copy files into the 32meg simm in the Z64. The 32meg ram is NOT pc memory (it just has 512k) but a seperate store only acessable by clocking data through the PLA's....
So reverse-engineering z64.exe would be needed(or a linux system that will happily run a dos program that all runs in less than 512k ram).
Or a ext2 driver for dos?
BTW; Is there any checksum which needs to be recalculated in the header block for z64bios.img when changing the image?
Yes, there is a program called mkchecksum.exe (or something) from the z64 makers. Its in the open-source z64 v1.00 bios files that are on dextrose.
syntax is: MkChecksum z64bios.img XXX
Where xxx is version number (e.g. 220 for ver 2.20). No, this does not actually change the displayed version text - thats part of z64.exe.
EDIT: Have you tested your bios?

modrobert
Tue 8 May 2007, 04:35
Yes, there is a program called mkchecksum.exe (or something) from the z64 makers. Its in the open-source z64 v1.00 bios files that are on dextrose.
syntax is: MkChecksum z64bios.img XXX
Where xxx is version number (e.g. 220 for ver 2.20). No, this does not actually change the displayed version text - thats part of z64.exe.
EDIT: Have you tested your bios?
I compared the header part up to $FFF of my binary with another z64bios.img release at dextrose and it was identical so the bios checksum should be ok. I just split the file in two at $1000 and mounted it in Linux to make the changes.
The fat32 bios is untested, don't even own a Z64, just a Dr V64jr. ;)

Silverdtvw
Tue 8 May 2007, 12:40
I compared the header part up to $FFF of my binary with another z64bios.img release at dextrose and it was identical so the bios checksum should be ok. I just split the file in two at $1000 and mounted it in Linux to make the changes.
The fat32 bios is untested, don't even own a Z64, just a Dr V64jr. ;)
Ok thanks. Do you have a link to the FAT32 driver you included? for docs/reference etc?
According to various sites, the mountable image is 444k big existing at 01000-6FFFF. The final 64k from 6FFFF is, I believe, an "actual" BIOS for the Z64. I.e. similar to the AMIBIOS or whatever on a desktop PC. Its dated 10/22/97 in recent releases.
Your file looks fine - as in this last 64k does not seem to be changed by mounting/saving in linux - which is good, as without it the Z64 won't boot.

modrobert
Tue 8 May 2007, 12:45
Ok thanks. Do you have a link to the FAT32 driver you included? for docs/reference etc?
Yes, I linked it in a previous reply to you.
http://www.drdos.net/tools.htm (fat32.zip)
However, the LFN driver on that page seems to be incompatible with the drfat32 driver, so better try without first.
BTW;
I decompressed the included Dr-Dos command.com with pklite to check version and it is DR-DOS v7.03, so the drfat32 driver should be compatible. The problems to expect will be how the FAT32 driver interacts with the other loaded drivers, and it also takes roughly 90kb total of memory once loaded with the FAT32 partition.

Silverdtvw
Tue 8 May 2007, 14:21
Yes, I linked it in a previous reply to you.
http://www.drdos.net/tools.htm (fat32.zip)
However, the LFN driver on that page seems to be incompatible with the drfat32 driver, so better try without first.
Yes, missed it sorry!
Reports on that Fat32 driver are rather varied.
I'll try and test later, although its more difficult now I've sold on my "test rig" Z64.
EDIT: Oh, and I don't think LFN support is an issue. We should not need it at all (Z64 reads Rom header to get name, it does not use Dos name for display).

Silverdtvw
Fri 11 May 2007, 00:59
Quick Update (can't edit above post).
I have not tried the FAT32 version on a Z64, but I have done some basic testing on a Dos PC setup. So far, no joy - can't get the FAT32 driver to install at all. It seems it will not add a HD that is not in the bios.
It does attempt to do some stuff if the onspec driver has installed first, although it does not work correctly (errors out with a "cyclinder boundry error" or similar). This means it may only work if there is a FAT16 partition present on the disk. The fact that it would appear to rely on the onspec driver is not encouraging, as it may be very limited by that driver (so I imagine 8.4GB still very much a limit).
i.e. It may come to life if we get a FAT16 partition (say 32meg) and then a FAT32 partition after - although I personally would want to do some proper data corruption tests first, as I have no idea how the onspec driver is translation the CHS info of the HD.
This is all mostly conjecture though.

PasteEater
Fri 11 May 2007, 12:29
I'm shopping for an ide to cf adapter now and I see that there are several on ebay. Can someone tell me if there are any specific features I need to look for that will allow it to work with the z64? Thanks!

Silverdtvw
Fri 11 May 2007, 17:29
I'm shopping for an ide to cf adapter now and I see that there are several on ebay. Can someone tell me if there are any specific features I need to look for that will allow it to work with the z64? Thanks!
Almost any should work - the adapters are passive, its actually the CF cards themselves that house the IDE interface. The adapters simply provide the 40pin IDE connecter and set a couple of "bits high" on the CF card to tell it to go to IDE mode.
Note that you can get male and female IDE adapters - that is, some (female) are designed to physically plug directly into the IDE socket on a motherboard, with the CF card sticking up vertically. Others (male) are designed to have a cable from the motherboard to the adapter. You want a male one, as there is no room in the Z64 to have a female CF adapter without a cable.
(Personally I went for one which had a 3.5" mounting tray so I could mount it on the zip drive slot, and then you have proper external access to the CF card.)

PasteEater
Fri 11 May 2007, 21:48
Thanks for the quick response and sorry if I changed the subject. :p Is the ide cable in the z64 long enough to reach where you would expect someone to mount an ide-cf adapter for external use or would I need to get a longer cable? Thanks guys.

Gotanks
Fri 11 May 2007, 23:10
The ide cable in the z64 is very short. i switched ide cables and just cut it to the size i wanted. i also made a power adater to make it fit the cf adapter. cf adapter uses ide cable but small floppy drive size power plug. then i just went to ace hardware and got a tiny nut and bolt and mounted the cf adapter to one of the screw holes that use to be for the zip drive. last i took a 3.5 bay cover and placed it in the zip slot. now its all closed up and looks and works great.

Gotanks
Fri 11 May 2007, 23:27
has any one tried backing up carts yet with new bios. i tried backing up a few but after it makes the rom the z64 doesnt see it. i placed card in my pc and it sees the newly made rom but the z64 does not. but roms i made with old bios off zip disk show up up just fine and play right. could i have formated my card wrong or is this bios releated?

brody
Sat 12 May 2007, 00:35
has any one tried backing up carts yet with new bios. i tried backing up a few but after it makes the rom the z64 doesnt see it. i placed card in my pc and it sees the newly made rom but the z64 does not. but roms i made with old bios off zip disk show up up just fine and play right. could i have formated my card wrong or is this bios releated?
I tested this when I first flashed the new bios. I backed up my Mario64 cart to a 256mb compact flash card. It was displayed in the OSD, it loaded up fine and it also showed up fine when I put the card in my card reader on my PC.

Schweino
Sat 12 May 2007, 09:33
Cleaned up the thread a bit and removed some offtopic posts. Please keep this thread for Z64 bios posts only and open another thread if you have any other questions.

Silverdtvw
Sat 12 May 2007, 13:40
has any one tried backing up carts yet with new bios. i tried backing up a few but after it makes the rom the z64 doesnt see it. i placed card in my pc and it sees the newly made rom but the z64 does not. but roms i made with old bios off zip disk show up up just fine and play right. could i have formated my card wrong or is this bios releated?
I've not seen this. Odd that your PC can see it and the Z64 can not.
How did you create the FAT16 partitions?
Unfortunately, there appear to be slightly different versions of FAT16. Creating the partitions using a DOS 5.0 bootdisk and the fdisk utility is reported to work. I believe using PartitionMagic is also successful. I know I had issues just creating a FAT partition in XP.

Gotanks
Sat 12 May 2007, 16:22
I reformated the card with pation magic and now it backs up carts just fine. Thanks for the info.

Silverdtvw
Sat 12 May 2007, 18:56
Further testing on a DOS machine has shown me that I can not get the FAT32 driver (DRFAT32) working at all.
At this stage, I can not see an obvious way forward.
If anyone has a eeprom writer that they have tested so they can re-write a good bios on the Z64 flash chip and would be willing to test another bios, then send me a PM, as one thing left to try is changing the 64K bios. There is a AMI bios available for a similar M1667D setup which could be worth a try (as it more likely has auto-detect active on the IDE channel). However, I have no way of knowing if it breaks anything else - it probably does, hence I don't want to try it without a way to manually reflash the SST chip.

PasteEater
Sun 13 May 2007, 01:40
Hi again, sorry if this is the wrong area to post this question.
I am still wondering about which ide-cf adapters I can use. Some of the ones I have seen say they are not hot swappable. I am assuming that some, if not most ide-cf adapters would allow you to remove the card without restarting the z64. Is the the hot swapping not an issue since the z64 isn't booting from the cf card?
Sorry that I don't know much about this. Thanks for the help, I'll try to test out the new bios asap.

Silverdtvw
Sun 13 May 2007, 03:23
It is not possible to hot swap the CF card in the Z64 at the moment.
The z64 actually supports changable media, as its designed for a zip disks, however I do not believe the IDE driver we use will allow this to happen. Thinking about it, its also probably a limitation of CF cards in IDE mode (they behave like a fixed disk) - they act differently when hooked up via a card reader.
The z64 boots in seconds, so its not a big deal (to me anyway).

PasteEater
Sun 20 May 2007, 06:54
Hey guys, I installed a cf adapter and it works perfectly with the new bios. Thanks for all your help! Now I gotta figure out a way to make it look nice since my cf adapter isn't mounted on anything. Maybe I will post a pic of my setup soon.
oh yeah, it seems to load files faster. maybe just my imagination. I might try timing both ways to see if theres much of a difference

Silverdtvw
Mon 21 May 2007, 09:24
Glad it works.
I didn't notice any significant difference in load times - it will be at least marginally faster due to much faster seek times.
If it is faster on yours, could you post your HD specs and the CF card/adapter you are using?

Schweino
Wed 23 May 2007, 12:04
Hey guys, I installed a cf adapter and it works perfectly with the new bios. Thanks for all your help! Now I gotta figure out a way to make it look nice since my cf adapter isn't mounted on anything. Maybe I will post a pic of my setup soon.
Same here, just installed a cheap $2 CF-IDE adapter in it and it works like a charm but looks fugly. Besides the addonics (http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/adidecf.asp) one which doesn't have the bottom mounting holes I found this PICO 200 (http://item.express.ebay.com/PICO-200-Internal-CompactFlash-Drive-for-PC-Computer_W0QQitemZ190045737909QQihZ009QQtrZexpQQcm dZExpressItem) one which does seem to have the bottom mounting holes (but is in ugly beige).
Both are $30 which is ridiculous imo. Wonder if someone out here has made a solution themselves and can post some piccies.

PasteEater
Fri 25 May 2007, 03:10
So here is what I did. Made from the case of a vhs cassette. Don't know why it cost 30 bucks to buy something like this. Its just a peice of plastic.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb71/paste_eater_ebay/cf.jpg
BTW, I am going to offer this z64 for sale in the sale forum if anyone is interested.

Schweino
Fri 25 May 2007, 09:55
Can you post some pics of the innards maybe or write a short howto?

Silverdtvw
Fri 25 May 2007, 09:58
Hey that looks pretty nice - I need to colour my nasty beige holder I think...

Hectic
Mon 28 May 2007, 14:14
Great work. If I didn't already have a hard drive, i'd definitely go for this solution.

Ernst
Mon 4 Jun 2007, 12:29
hello :)
I have a z64 backupunit and it has no osd so i guess it is a hw1 version
I took my balls togetter and i flasht it with youre new bios v2.20
It works like a dream (with the zipdrive) and it has still no osd
regards Ernst
ps..... how can i see if it is a hw1 version anyway?
i hope you know so i can confirm this is also working on a hw1 version

Silverdtvw
Mon 4 Jun 2007, 12:45
If your OSD was working, it would tell you the HW version on boot up (It displays '2.20A' or '2.20B' or '2.20C' for versions 1,2 and 3 respectively).
With no OSD, you need to open the Z64 - the HW version is printed on the PCB.
Also, its possible that you simply have a loose connector in side (connecting to the OSD) so it could be an easy fix.

Ernst
Mon 4 Jun 2007, 13:19
Hello :)
I shal explain
With my (or sofar i know my other backupunit must be al hw3 version because it play all the games and it have bios v2.17c)
with osd i do'nt mean the little lcd screen (thats working great)
but i mean the menu on the tv set... wit my other unit if i turn the n64 off on and of.. it will give a menu on tv
that otherone guess i think it is a hw 1 version does this not
or is there a other way to turn on the menu on tv?
this unit will also only work on a european n64
my hw3 version is working on a usa nintendo64
but the hw version .. is that printed on the mainboard?.. i havel looking for it but i can't find it
regards Ernst... sorry for the bad english ... i am a dutch cheesehead :)

Ernst
Mon 4 Jun 2007, 13:39
i am learnig now ...... a 'b or c stands for the hardware version... i didd't know
i see now 2.20a on the lcd display :)
so i can confirm its a hw1 version
And the bios works great :)
(only no menu on the tv set but i guess it had to do with the hw1 version)
Regards Ernst

matt518000
Sat 9 Jun 2007, 05:53
We produce many kinds of IDE To CF Adapter , like 44pin , 40pin , male ,female and back pannel . you can find more info from http://www.soarland.com.
the picture:
http://www.soarland.com/images/ide-cf/STIC4006.JPG
http://www.soarland.com/images/ide-cf/STIC4402.JPG
http://www.soarland.com/images/ide-cf/STIC4005.JPG

Schweino
Mon 11 Jun 2007, 00:00
Dude, thanks for spamming the board ;) If you read the thread we are looking for a IDE-CF adapter in a 3.5" enclosure. The ones you just pasted we can all get for $2 from Ebay or other various sites......
So, thanks but no thanks

Ernst
Sat 16 Jun 2007, 10:31
And how about the cf to sd adapter?
has anyboddy tried that one?
Regards Ernst

Ernst
Thu 12 Jul 2007, 09:05
http://www.acscontrol.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ACS&Product_Code=ACS-CF-IDEToCFA&Category_Code=IDE
i'll have this one soon
clean and neat... connectors direct compatible with z64
regards
Ernst

Schweino
Thu 12 Jul 2007, 11:52
Are you sure? The z64 has the mounting holes on the bottom, this bracket has them on the sides....
Let us know when you received it. Also, I would like to know if the original IDE connector cable is long enough to have this unit attached to the Z64's mainboard.

Ernst
Sun 22 Jul 2007, 14:53
hello
i have made my ide ribbon cabels longer from old ones
and made extra holes with a m3 cutting tool
so the m3 nuts fit directly in the mouning plate
the link above won's ship to europe
this is what i have soon
http://www.myelectronics.nl/contents/media/t_5451.jpg
they sell also 20cm ribbon cable
regards Ernst

Schweino
Sun 22 Jul 2007, 15:59
Odd, I checked acscontrol and they do ship to Europe.... (At least to The Netherlands, since that's the one I checked)

Ernst
Sun 22 Jul 2007, 19:49
hello
first i buy the tuff via theire website
after this i've got a mail from them they cant ship to europe an please advise.. etc
after give advice how to do dis .... get no mail returned ftom them ... after mail them again... never get answer back...
I did a creditcard payment... but they have not took the money....
So now i found a store here in the nederlands
and i get it now by post tomorrow :)
i bought te connectors the ide ribboncable 20cm.. and te two drive bays
i have a z64 hw1 and the hw3...... both with the new bios :)
regards Ernst

Ernst
Tue 24 Jul 2007, 15:59
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/DSCF0019.jpg
the hw1 version up and running :p
Later this week i wil do the hw3 version
It was pretty simple to dril two holes in the mounting plate
regards Ernst

Schweino
Tue 24 Jul 2007, 21:28
Nice! Can you post some work-in-progress pics too?

Ernst
Tue 24 Jul 2007, 22:04
at your service :D
Slideshow (http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/?action=view&current=6a99c267.pbw)
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/DSCF0020.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/DSCF0021.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/DSCF0022.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/DSCF0023.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/DSCF0024.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/DSCF0025.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/DSCF0026.jpg
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/DSCF0019.jpg
regards Ernst

Schweino
Wed 25 Jul 2007, 09:50
Great, thanks!

Ernst
Wed 25 Jul 2007, 21:11
I also forgot to mention...
This is a hw1 unit using bios 2.20 (A)
2GB cf card (sandisk ultra II 2,0 GB)>>factory default is fat16 it works without reformatting.
Loading time is mutch faster without seeking time
Nomore read/write errors from faulty zip disks and the click of death etc.
Now i can confirm that bios 2.20 works on a hw1 version and a hw3 version
Both devices are pimped now
regards
Ernst

x6d696168
Sat 28 Jul 2007, 00:19
I'm not too familiar with what has been tried with the z64, but has anybody considered moving to FreeDOS and away from DrDos? With FreeDOS you'd get Fat32 support and its completely open source.. I have a z64 and it still has a zip drive in it, but I am interested in either installing a spare 12gig 2.5" IDE drive that I have lieing around, or possibly moving it to CF. There is a sticker on my z64 board that says v39, so I guess I'm a version 3 user.
Thanks for the work on the bios guys, I'm glad this thing isn't "dead".

Ernst
Sun 29 Jul 2007, 11:19
If you have read this tread you know using a hd wil give some power issue
And why freedos... 8GB wil hold everything you needed :)
(and i am still looking for a z64 hw3 )
regards Ernst

x6d696168
Sun 29 Jul 2007, 22:19
If you have read this tread you know using a hd wil give some power issue
And why freedos... 8GB wil hold everything you needed :)
(and i am still looking for a z64 hw3 )
regards Ernst
I agree, 8GB will hold all I need, but if we're using FAT16 it'll be on a few 2GB partitions, if we could go to FAT32 we could just put everything on one.

Schweino
Mon 30 Jul 2007, 08:58
Has been tried, see modrobert's posts earlier in this thread: http://dextrose.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=67390&postcount=56
You're welcome to test his bios version ;)

Ernst
Mon 30 Jul 2007, 23:45
http://s207.photobucket.com/albums/bb112/Ernst63/?action=view&current=6a99c267.pbw
update with working hw1 version ( just add 2 more photo's)
regards Ernst

Silverdtvw
Wed 8 Aug 2007, 12:29
I'm not too familiar with what has been tried with the z64, but has anybody considered moving to FreeDOS and away from DrDos? With FreeDOS you'd get Fat32 support and its completely open source.. I have a z64 and it still has a zip drive in it, but I am interested in either installing a spare 12gig 2.5" IDE drive that I have lieing around, or possibly moving it to CF. There is a sticker on my z64 board that says v39, so I guess I'm a version 3 user.
Thanks for the work on the bios guys, I'm glad this thing isn't "dead".
Moving to FreeDos works fine - I've tested with both Enhanced DrDos and FreeDos. The problem is that the Z64 bios does not detect harddisks like a typical PC bios - so you need a seperate driver that can detect HDs, and attach them to a Dos drive letter, from within Dos while it is running. The driver that does this does not support anything beyond Fat16. (It will detect FAT32 partitions, report them and reject them - as it was written with the specific understanding that Fat32 does not work in dos.)

alexy
Tue 28 Aug 2007, 18:58
Hi! The link on the first page is broken :( Could anyone please reup the z64bios220.zip? I would like to try it. Got a prommer for rescueing the bios as well. I think I have a HW2 Z64 if I remember correctly, will it work on that?
Thanks Silver for your work, it's really nice to see something for n64 appear in 2007 :P

Silverdtvw
Tue 28 Aug 2007, 19:07
Ah, they have finally taken down my site - I'd forgotten that would happen when I changed ISP (although it was several months ago!).
No web hosting on my new one, so I'll have to find somewhere else.... I can't upload here as its a 100k limit.
Schweino - can the file be hosted here?
EDIT: I've just uploaded the file to one of those free file hosting sites:
http://www.mediafire.com/?aqfgtxh4wy1

alexy
Tue 28 Aug 2007, 21:33
I've added a FAT32 driver to Silverdtvw's excellent Z64 Bios 2.20 BIOS with CF support.
Please note that this is a completely untested Alpha version and should be checked by someone who can reprogram their eeprom if it fails (which it probably will).
ftp://ftp.eurasia.nu/z64bios220_cf_fat32_alpha01.rar
According to specs the first FAT32 partition found will be supported by the driver, only one, so if you're testing with a CF card then format the whole thing as one FAT32 partition. There is no long file name support so stick to DOS 8+3 char filenames. I also read somewhere that this driver screws up if the partition is over 15GB (but that should be enough for Good N64 maybe?).
EDIT2: after fixing the checksum with mkcksum.exe, it worked. it does beep sounds now when pressing buttons. but it does not recognize a fat32 formatted drive :( maybe because we cannot execute the drfat32.exe in autoexec.bat (i get an "n64 bios error" when trying this).
I'll try changing everything to PTS DOS now.
EDIT: modrobert's version does not update, the z64 does not recognize the file as a bios. I will try some modding myself now
I'll test it, got a prommer
Thanks for upping the file Silverdtvw :)

Schweino
Wed 29 Aug 2007, 09:04
new permanent location for the file: http://www.schweino.com/z64bios220.zip
I'll edit Silver's older posts to reflect this new location.
@alexy: great you're testing Mod's bios, hope you will get it working.

modrobert
Wed 29 Aug 2007, 14:04
EDIT2: after fixing the checksum with mkcksum.exe, it worked. it does beep sounds now when pressing buttons. but it does not recognize a fat32 formatted drive :( maybe because we cannot execute the drfat32.exe in autoexec.bat (i get an "n64 bios error" when trying this).
I'll try changing everything to PTS DOS now.
EDIT: modrobert's version does not update, the z64 does not recognize the file as a bios. I will try some modding myself now
I'll test it, got a prommer
Thanks for upping the file Silverdtvw :)
Honors to the brave! :)
Are you testing a CF card or an actual hard drive?

alexy
Wed 29 Aug 2007, 18:38
A Harddrive, i don't have the CF hardware yet. But without success for now :( I couldnt get any other DOS that DRDOS to boot on this machine (FreeDOS, ROMDOS, PTSDOS, RXDOS, they all hang during the boot process). I now made a bios with the files IBMBIO.COM and IBMDOS.COM from enhanced DRDOS, on my PC it has native FAT32 support. It gets booted by the Z64, but the FAT32 support does not work. If i also replace the COMMAND.COM with the new one, it hangs :( Maybe its more than just drivers?
Does anyone know how much RAM the Z64 uses/has available for loading DOS drivers?
My goal is FAT32. and maybe LFN support, if that works with the Z64 games selection software..
If someone makes some new BIOS', I can test them, just post.
BTW: If there is anything (FAT?) beyond the 8gb boundary, the Z64 will not recognize the whole harddisk

Knocks
Thu 30 Aug 2007, 01:34
Wow, summer is almost over, and I am just noticing this thread!
Silverdtvw, thank you so much for the BIOS! This is a dream come true. I never switched from zip to hdd, so this should improve loading times quite a bit.
By the way, will it recongnize an SD card in a CF enclosure? Thanks again!!

Schweino
Thu 30 Aug 2007, 08:51
@alexy: If you are looking for a cheap IDE -> CF adapter check http://dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.711. I use 2 of them and they work fine. You will need a molex to floppy power adapter though.
@knocks: I never tried a SD in a CF enclosure, but if the enclosure complies to the CF standards and allows you to make it boot from an IDE channel then I guess it will work.

Knocks
Thu 30 Aug 2007, 10:08
CF enclosures are intended to enable people who own CF devices (usually digital cameras) to use SD media. I don't know anything about booting from them. My laptop has an integrated SD reader, so that would be the media of choice for me, because I wouldn't have to buy another USB reader.
Slightly off topic, but I've also found this on Addonics website.
http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/adidesd.asp
It's a direct IDE to SD interface. I assume Silverdtvw's driver won't work with it, since SD is a different beast altogether? On the other hand, SD is an ATAPI interface, so you never know.

Majinseed
Thu 30 Aug 2007, 17:26
[...]and maybe LFN support, if that works with the Z64 games selection software..[...]
hmm, i think since z64 saves the backups as ###.rom and not <name>.rom its extracting the title from the file, not from the filename. so this shouldn't be the prob ;)

alexy
Fri 31 Aug 2007, 06:10
hmm, i think since z64 saves the backups as ###.rom and not <name>.rom its extracting the title from the file, not from the filename. so this shouldn't be the prob ;)
right, i forgot that :) saw it when i tried to test the lfn support

Silverdtvw
Sat 1 Sep 2007, 02:24
My goal is FAT32. and maybe LFN support, if that works with the Z64 games selection software..
Will work fine with the z64 menu.
LFN files appear as SuperM~1.rom to dos, And the Z64 menu displays the actual rom name, not the filename, when you are viewing the games in a list (i.e. it reads the internal rom name, filename not important).

Silverdtvw
Sat 1 Sep 2007, 02:27
Slightly off topic, but I've also found this on Addonics website.
http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/adidesd.asp
It's a direct IDE to SD interface. I assume Silverdtvw's driver won't work with it, since SD is a different beast altogether? On the other hand, SD is an ATAPI interface, so you never know.
Interesting question. As the Z64 worked fine with IDE Hd's, I would have sworn blind that IDE-CF's would have been supported without issue as all CF devices have an in built IDE interface. But it didn't due to some odd quirks.
However, I suspect that it will work fine with my bios, as at the point where the driver checks for HD 'identity'/media type, I hacked it to ignore the response from the drive and carry on. So whatever the SD-IDE answers it should work - so long as its IDE.

Knocks
Sat 1 Sep 2007, 09:48
Interesting question. As the Z64 worked fine with IDE Hd's, I would have sworn blind that IDE-CF's would have been supported without issue as all CF devices have an in built IDE interface. But it didn't due to some odd quirks.
However, I suspect that it will work fine with my bios, as at the point where the driver checks for HD 'identity'/media type, I hacked it to ignore the response from the drive and carry on. So whatever the SD-IDE answers it should work - so long as its IDE.
Ordered one for $45 shipped. Silverdtvw, you're helping me troubleshoot it if it doesn't work ;)

geezup
Sat 1 Sep 2007, 12:52
hi guys... does this bios work with HW rev 2 ??
Also, what HW rev you recommend buying, HW2 or HW3 ?? I found some guy selling both, so i hope i can get one of this soon :)
Thank you !

Ernst
Sat 1 Sep 2007, 15:56
i have a hw1 and a hw3... is works on both (both has a cf reader instead od a zipdrive)
The hw3 is a lowcost version of the hw2 (cheaper components) and needs the anti freeze mod
for sure it wil work on a hw2 device :)
see also my photo's 9(scroll back for link)

geezup
Sat 1 Sep 2007, 16:55
Thanks for the reply Ernst.
2.20 BIOS it's not tested yet on HW2, is it ? Well, if i finally get that one, i'll test on HW2. Is the BIOS chip programmable with a Willem device ? Just to make sure i have all the tools handy in case i fu*k it up :)
Thanks again.
i have a hw1 and a hw3... is works on both (both has a cf reader instead od a zipdrive)
The hw3 is a lowcost version of the hw2 (cheaper components) and needs the anti freeze mod
for sure it wil work on a hw2 device :)
see also my photo's 9(scroll back for link)

Schweino
Sun 2 Sep 2007, 23:32
I have a V2 and a V3, it runs fine on both.

geezup
Mon 3 Sep 2007, 12:57
Great ! Thanks for confirming that. Mine is on the way ! :D
Now is time to start learning how everything works :)
Thank you !
I have a V2 and a V3, it runs fine on both.

Knocks
Thu 13 Sep 2007, 04:31
SD cards are confirmed to work. You can format directly from Vista, so no need for DOS or Partition Magic (my previous post regarding this was mysteriously deleted). Everything works great, but mounting the Addonics adapter is a gigantic pain.
Congratulations on completing this great project.

Majinseed
Thu 13 Sep 2007, 06:42
it wasn't deleted, it was moved to another topic. dunno where atm, but it's there ;)
sry for being offtopic :P

Schweino
Thu 13 Sep 2007, 23:04
*cough* -> http://dextrose.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=11087

Ernst
Sat 22 Sep 2007, 20:15
SD cards are confirmed to work. You can format directly from Vista, so no need for DOS or Partition Magic
sd cards .. thats intresting :)
what kind of card reader is used instead the wellknown cf to ide?

Knocks
Sun 23 Sep 2007, 09:07
sd cards .. thats intresting :)
what kind of card reader is used instead the wellknown cf to ide?
http://www.addonics.com/products/flash_memory_reader/adidesd.asp
Other than having to mount it upside down, it's great.

Schweino
Mon 24 Sep 2007, 07:07
Can you show us pics or describe in detail how you mounted it? Does it fit perfectly when mounted upside down or not?

SJoS
Mon 24 Sep 2007, 17:38
that's pretty cool...

Knocks
Tue 25 Sep 2007, 05:02
It sits flush when installed upside down. Just slide the adapter out from the inside of the bay, then push it in, so that the back is pushed up against the IDE cable, close the case, you're done.
It may also be possible to install it the right side up if you can find a very thin sheet of metal to rest on the plastic legs that the old zip drive used to sit on. If anyone comes up with another creative way to do it, do share. I just wanted to get it done quickly, so I tried upside down and it worked.
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee267/KnocksX/CIMG0465.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee267/KnocksX/CIMG0469.jpg

Bored of Trade
Sat 29 Sep 2007, 11:01
Looks like a worthwhile mod. I got a 250MB Zip drive and a scanner for $10 off craigslist late last year and upgraded my Z64 with the newer Zip drive. I'm using a v2.0 that was purchased new from Harrison Electronics around November or December 1998. I'm having some freezing problems when I reboot my Z64 unit (no problems EVER exhibited when playing games). Wondering if it's similar to the overheating problems mentioned that occur with the v3.0 unit. Anyway, I'll update my BIOS. Thanks! :D

Ernst
Tue 9 Oct 2007, 19:19
http://www.addonics.com/products/fla...er/adidesd.asp
Other than having to mount it upside down, it's great.
and are the sd cards hotswapeble?

cplnobby
Thu 11 Oct 2007, 05:24
Awesome project!
I picked up one of the Addonics SD/IDE interfaces and installed it in my V3 and upgraded it with the 2.20 bios. Unfortunately there are issues. With the zip250 I previously had in there, everything works just as it did (i.e. no issues). With the SD interface installed, after games have been running for some random short amount of time (1-6 minutes) usually, the N64 locks up. On Road Rash64 the music loop keeps playing until it finishes and then nothing. On Shadowman it actually filled the screen with garbage. Tried a bunch of games, and they all crash at some point.
Any clue? I'm using the same exact files from the zip250 on the SD. I can't imagine its a heat issue (?) as there is more free space in the Z64 with the Addonics then with the zip250. :confused:

Ernst
Thu 11 Oct 2007, 19:37
maybe a faulty sd card
i had these issues by formatting under dos but bij formatting under xp (fat) slove the problem

cplnobby
Fri 12 Oct 2007, 07:02
maybe a faulty sd card
i had these issues by formatting under dos but bij formatting under xp (fat) slove the problem
I tried other cards and reformatting under Vista (Fat16) but same issues. I did replace the IDE cable I was using (which was one of the ultra 80 wire ones) with a regular 40 wire cable and everything seems to be working fine now.
This is so sweet!! :D

Ernst
Fri 12 Oct 2007, 21:14
And are the sd cards hotswapeble....
using cf to ide this is not possible

Schweino
Fri 12 Oct 2007, 21:46
I would be surprised if they were hotswappable. I reckon the z64 would lock up if you would.

cplnobby
Sat 13 Oct 2007, 02:27
And are the sd cards hotswapeble....
using cf to ide this is not possible
Even according to the device sheet from Addonics, the interface does not support hot swapping.
I reckon the z64 would lock up if you would.
Not right away, but swap and then try loading something and... :)

Ernst
Mon 22 Oct 2007, 02:55
Even according to the device sheet from Addonics, the interface does not support hot swapping.
Not right away, but swap and then try loading something and... :)
And??? How is the z64 reacting on hotswap?
be more specific please :)

Roguetrader
Wed 24 Oct 2007, 06:24
Dumb ques but i have searched. I read somewhere that 2.18 could not save games or use the built in cheat thing due to lack of room. Is this still the case?:confused:

Schweino
Wed 24 Oct 2007, 08:10
Never heard that one before....

jpilkinton
Mon 12 Nov 2007, 01:59
I have hardware version 2 and the CF-IDE mod works great!
I did not flash my original SST28SF040 eeprom. Instead I used a TI TMS27c040 UV eprom. The only thing is you have to swap pins 1 and 31 around. This was done with another socket.
I have the original binary file of my oem rom just in case anyone needs it.
You can get it here:
http://www.chaos89.com/z64-oem-bios.rar
My next project is combining the original oem and the CF/IDE modded bios on one 27c080 uv eprom selectable with a switch. And using the Zip drive and CF/IDE drive.

Schweino
Mon 12 Nov 2007, 09:55
That's a great idea, please keep us informed on your progress.

sanni
Tue 20 Nov 2007, 00:05
Sorry for double post.
I've written addonics an email and they gave my the address of one of their distributors in europe: www.webconnexxion.com
But it is more expensive compared to www.shopaddonics.com.
As an example the IDE to CF costs 31€ compared to 27$(~18€). SD to IDE ist 33€ too.

acidhouseitalia
Sun 2 Mar 2008, 19:14
Hi everyone! Before to say my experience I want to thanks all the people in this forum and expecially Silver with is great v.2.20 bios release.
I have had a lot of problems finding the right solution to this nice mod.
A lot of people saying a lot of small things in their "tutorial" excluding the important things.
The real problem for me was to divide partitions and format HD (CF is easier)
Following the tutorial that say to use DOS 5.0 or partition magic and to do x0 -d1 - d2 - d3 - d4 - x5 I have had all my problems...
when I did the work exactly like the tutorial says I obtain:
the d1 was invisible to the z64 (must be written disk-1, disk-2, ecc ecc...the picture is bad)
after that work I have x0, d1, d2 like good partitions and d3, d4 and x5 like logical discs
I assume this is not good because after a lot of experiments and after renaming all from D1 to disk-1 my Z64 see only the first 2 disks (partitions)
Finally I was tired of this story and I found this solution:
3 x FAT16 partition of 2047MB each one (without x0 and x5 in NTFS)
IMPORTANT: I did it in DISK MANAGEMENT in VISTA not with DOS 5
IMPORTANT: All the 2,5" HDs I have used was good for this job!!!
I also used a 60GB and works great like the others.
Finally I decided for a 6.49GB IBM Travelstar / 500mA need
Now my Z64 is fully working and see all the 3 disks!!!
Someone is thinking but we want 4 disk of 2GB each one! NAAAAAAAAAAAA not useful! I just filled with all the roms existing (one for games) and it is still with free space so 6GB is more than good!!!
I am now waiting for the CF to IDE and finally this good project will be complete!!!
The real work is now to choose the right rom's dump...some game isn't good in my romset but this is another story.
THANKS AGAIN SILVER!!! ( I see also you on assembler forum)
LuKa

DaBeast
Mon 7 Jul 2008, 15:27
Ive got an idea for FAT32 support.
I know freedos supports FAT32 and FAT-PLUS (up to 135gb i beleave). Maybe instead of running the dos from the BIOS chip i think its posible to 'redirect' it so it runs off a HD.
For example:
Z64 BIOS redirects to a 2GB FAT16 partition so it runs a version of freedos instead of the 'original BIOS'. Then you have a second partition where the Z64 (or rather freedos) looks for roms and stuff in FAT32 (or FAT+).
Heck, Freedos even has support for unzipping Zip files, and maybe even some old dos games are able to play on the N64 (altough i think that never could be realized).
Well, this just is some idea i got. I dont have the knowledge to write it (to bad). Im writing this down in here so maybe the skilled people are willing to try something out.
-DaBeast

Silverdtvw
Mon 7 Jul 2008, 15:38
I had the Z64 working using Dr-Dos enhanced version of dos, which also has a fat32 driver (drfat32). Unfortunately this failed to work with fat32 partitions on the Z64. (It did work with normal fat16 partitions though - no difference from what we have now).
Can't remember if I tried freedos or not (I tried a load of dos compatible options). If I get some time I'll take a look.
Fat32 is about the only thing left I'd like to add.

DaBeast
Mon 7 Jul 2008, 20:09
Well, Fat+ is a FAT16 modification (wich wont work in windoze). Maybe if you try to use FAT+ it could work becaus its just the same like FAT16, but then with a higher limit. Thanks for even bothering to check out this topic.
/edit: I formated my 8GB CF card with Freedos too. Freedos even has a music player build in!
-DaBeast

Knocks
Mon 4 Aug 2008, 02:41
It is possible to modify the BIOS so that the unit can recognize ROMs with the .n64 extension?

sanni
Mon 4 Aug 2008, 14:01
Why dont you just rename them? You can use special Renamertools if you have many Roms to speed things up.

Schweino
Mon 4 Aug 2008, 23:19
yeh, very special ones like "rename *.n64 *.v64" in a DOS prompt :)

Knocks
Sat 9 Aug 2008, 03:27
If renamed, the romset would no longer match the torrentzipped version when the updates come out. The no intro folks use that feature quite a bit and still release updates every once in a while.
But more than anything, it'd be neat if it supported the extra extensions, that's all. :D

eastbayarb
Sat 9 Aug 2008, 04:21
I have an 8gb CF card and CF to IDE adaptor. Can someone provide a tutorial for properly partitioning an 8gb CF card to work with the Z64? Thank you! (p.s. I already did a google search on this). I tried the following:
- DrDos with the 8gb CF card in my USB card reader (partitioned and formatted fine - took a long while, but XP wouldn't recognize the card)
- CF to IDE adaptor connected directly to my PC and partitioned the 8gb card via Partition Magic, and it appeared to be fine, but dragging and dropping files to the 2nd partition caused my PC to freeze. I rebooted, and then the card wasn't recognized

eastbayarb
Sat 9 Aug 2008, 04:23
Well, Fat+ is a FAT16 modification (wich wont work in windoze). Maybe if you try to use FAT+ it could work becaus its just the same like FAT16, but then with a higher limit. Thanks for even bothering to check out this topic.
/edit: I formated my 8GB CF card with Freedos too. Freedos even has a music player build in!
-DaBeast
How did you format your 8gb CF card with FreeDOS? I tried this and it took forever to do so, and then my XP machine couldn't properly read the card afterwards

sanni
Sat 9 Aug 2008, 11:21
You should try to copy the files to the CF Card using a Live Linux CD like ubuntu.
Windows and several partitions on one CF card = fatal error

eastbayarb
Sat 9 Aug 2008, 18:54
You should try to copy the files to the CF Card using a Live Linux CD like ubuntu.
Windows and several partitions on one CF card = fatal error
U got a link to something like that? I not only need to copy the files to the CF card, but I need to properly partition the CF card with 4 partitions

sanni
Sat 9 Aug 2008, 19:22
For a Live Linux: http://www.livecdlist.com/
About formating: Just remember to make one primary partition and one extended partition and then create the three logical partitions in the extented partition. Because Dos can only handle one primary partition.

hotwater9
Mon 8 Sep 2008, 06:04
Silverdtvw, thank for the firmware! I have not used my Z64 in about a year but pulled it out yesterday and upgraded the firmware from 1.13C to 2.20C. I also ordered me a IDE to CF adapter. Should be a fun little project. Thanks again!

hotwater9
Tue 23 Sep 2008, 02:19
I got my CF adapter from Amazon (item # ADIDECFB) and was lucky enough to have some custom bracket made that allow me to mount it to the Z64 just like the zip drive was. Everything looks good but I need to get a longer IDE cable to connect everything.
http://gotfrogs.com/images/z64_CF_Mod.jpg

l0c4lh0st
Wed 24 Sep 2008, 21:38
I got my CF adapter from Amazon (item # ADIDECFB) and was lucky enough to have some custom bracket made that allow me to mount it to the Z64 just like the zip drive was. Everything looks good but I need to get a longer IDE cable to connect everything.
http://gotfrogs.com/images/z64_CF_Mod.jpg
So... Where do you get such a nice thing? :)
I want one as well.

hotwater9
Thu 25 Sep 2008, 03:37
I can post a PDF of the CAD drawing but you would have to have someone build it for you. I don't think it will be cost effective to have one built though unless you have a friend that works in a machine shop.

hotwater9
Fri 10 Oct 2008, 00:15
Here is the dwg (http://gotfrogs.com/Z64_CF_Reader_Mounts.pdf).

geezup
Sat 18 Oct 2008, 04:38
What 8Gb CF brand are you guys using ?
Just got a Trascend and created the partitions and formated (FAT16) it under Linux (live CD) and also with a DOS 5.0 bootdisk (after following probs explined later, just to check if it had something to do with the linux formatting/partitioning). Both Linux and DOS worked fine. Later, i copied some roms under Windoze, plugged it into the Z64 and it dit recognized it, read the contents but the LCD went crazy, started showing the folders, then LOAD game, then DELETE, sometimes just garbage... The Z64 works fine with a hardisk and a 512mb Sandisk CF.
Any clue ? The Trascend one is labeled 133X.
Thanks!

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