XE1541 cable

Post by **Jeff-20** » Mon May 10, 2004 8:32 pm

I dug up my XE1541 cable which Brian Ketterling made for me (does anyone know how to get in touch with him??)

Anyway, I need help figuring out how to use it again. I used to use it with an old 386 computer and Star Commander software. I remember it wouldn't work with my pentium1 when I got it. Now I have an AMD athlon. Which program should I use? Will it work? I just assume all of you use the cable with modern systems...

Also, does the parrallel port setting matter? (EPP, etc.)

Post by **Jeff-20** » Mon May 10, 2004 8:56 pm

ok. I ran Star Commander again and I can't seem to figure it out. I am using XP. Is this my problem?

Bacon · Post by **Bacon** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:31 am

ok. I ran Star Commander again and I can't seem to figure it out. I am using XP. Is this my problem?

Yes. You should make yourself a DOS start disk (or download an image of one from the net) and start the computer in pure DOS.

The parallell port settings also matter, as does the cable settings; you must tell SC that you're using an XE cable and not a plain X cable.

Edit: You can make a DOS start disk in XP by right-clicking on the floppy drive in My Computer, choosing Format from the menu and checking the "Create DOS Start Disk" box before formatting. It doesn't create a complete DOS start disk (there's no AUTOEXEC.BAT file on it) but I think it should work with SC.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Wed May 12, 2004 11:11 am

I am still having trouble. I need to get this fixed before I can upload my programs.

I am using an Athlon 1800 with XP, a 1541 II, a XE1541 cable. I started from a DOS boot disk as Bacon recommended. I run Star Commander and get a

"ERROR Drive 8: not present"

I am using a 1541II. I also have an Indus GT, but I no longer have a plain 1541. Does that make a difference?

Here are the config settings I tried:

Normal transfer mode
XE1541 cable serial
none paralell

LPT1
LPT1
x detect ports mode
0 manual timeouts
9 delay value

1541 drive type

Can anyone figure out this mystery, or should I start looking for a 386 again because it always works on those.

Leeeeee · Post by **Leeeeee** » Wed May 12, 2004 1:57 pm

I think StarCommander has a calibrate function somewhere where it calculates the best value for delay automatically. I had to do this last time I used it and +/-1 from the calculated value didn't work.

Cheers,

Lee.

Bacon · Post by **Bacon** » Tue May 18, 2004 3:07 am

Jeff, I use a Pentium Pro 200Mhz machine with DOS 7.0 (Windows 98 DOS mode) connected to a 1541-II drive using an XE1541 cable. The difference between my setup and yours is that my parallell port is set to ECP and that I use warp transfer mode (highly recommended!).

As Leeeeee said, you should do a Recalibrate (on the Transfer Options screen) to get the right delay value.

Take a look at the troubleshooting section in the StarCommander manual (SC.TXT). It might help. You can also contact the author, Joe Forster directly. His address is on the StarCommander homepage.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Tue May 18, 2004 1:55 pm

ECP and warp mode did it! It now works. Thanks guys! I am going to post a whole bunch of programs here tonight.

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Tue May 18, 2004 2:21 pm

Great, Jeff!