IDE HDD reading sector - Electronic Circuits Projects Diagrams Free

v1r05 · 27th January 2008, 07:27 AM

hello everybody

i am trying to build an mp3 player from the ground up. its similar to those you find on the net. currently am trying to do is getting data off the harddrive and no its not as easy i though it would be. faced a lot of problems in this stage including power problem, drive locking up (seagate).. .etc.

now after all those problem been sorted out, when i try reading a sector everything goes smooth except am getting all zeros. 512 bytes of it from any sector i read. + the activity led goes out when i read a full sector and the sector count register decrements by 1, which is good.

here is what am doing

1- setting up LBA address + (sector count =1).
2- issuing read sector command.
3- waiting for DRQ bit to be asserted.
4- reading 256 words into an array.
5- printing the array.

now some might suspect its a wiring problem, ive ruled that out because when i issue the drive a ID drive command it works great. reading drive ID data is same as reading a sector the difference is just in the command issued to the drive.

help me am stuck !

Hero999 · 27th January 2008, 02:00 PM

Why torture youself?

The best way is to buy a mini-motherboard and install a small OS on the hard drive.

**Nigel Goodwin** · 27th January 2008, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hero999

Why torture youself?

The best way is to buy a mini-motherboard and install a small OS on the hard drive.

You don't think a PC motherboard is a little 'overkill' for an MP3 player?.

v1r05 · 27th January 2008, 04:22 PM

yeah a whole computer is a total overkill + i want to learn new things and yeah its fun, but being stuck is bad, sad and woefully depressing.

how can i resolve this ?

**Nigel Goodwin** · 27th January 2008, 04:38 PM

You might try googling, there were a LOT of sites that had projects for accessing IDE HDD and CDROM's from PIC's - but I fear that a lot of the sites are no longer there!

BeeBop · 27th January 2008, 09:49 PM

Futz just posted some links to IDE drives on this thread:
http://www.electro-tech-online.com/m...rough-pic.html

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27th January 2008, 07:27 AM	(permalink)
v1r05	IDE HDD reading sector hello everybody i am trying to build an mp3 player from the ground up. its similar to those you find on the net. currently am trying to do is getting data off the harddrive and no its not as easy i though it would be. faced a lot of problems in this stage including power problem, drive locking up (seagate).. .etc. now after all those problem been sorted out, when i try reading a sector everything goes smooth except am getting all zeros. 512 bytes of it from any sector i read. + the activity led goes out when i read a full sector and the sector count register decrements by 1, which is good. here is what am doing 1- setting up LBA address + (sector count =1). 2- issuing read sector command. 3- waiting for DRQ bit to be asserted. 4- reading 256 words into an array. 5- printing the array. now some might suspect its a wiring problem, ive ruled that out because when i issue the drive a ID drive command it works great. reading drive ID data is same as reading a sector the difference is just in the command issued to the drive. help me am stuck !

27th January 2008, 02:00 PM	(permalink)
Hero999	Why torture youself? The best way is to buy a mini-motherboard and install a small OS on the hard drive. __________________ I also post at the following sites: http://www.stop-microsoft.org http://www.heated-debates.com Screen name: Aloone_Jonez

27th January 2008, 04:22 PM	(permalink)
v1r05	yeah a whole computer is a total overkill + i want to learn new things and yeah its fun, but being stuck is bad, sad and woefully depressing. how can i resolve this ?

27th January 2008, 04:38 PM	(permalink)
Nigel Goodwin	You might try googling, there were a LOT of sites that had projects for accessing IDE HDD and CDROM's from PIC's - but I fear that a lot of the sites are no longer there! __________________ PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at: http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

27th January 2008, 09:49 PM	(permalink)
BeeBop	Futz just posted some links to IDE drives on this thread: http://www.electro-tech-online.com/m...rough-pic.html