Incomplete transfer of binary file

[Guest]

Transfer of binary data from the S4 to the PC results in files of wrong size. For example I ask to transfer from $00000 to $03FFF, and instead of getting a file of lenght $04000 I only get $03FDC. With different random data I get a file of lenght $03F49. Then I fill the same area with $00, and another transfer with the same boundaries gives me a file of lenght $04003. Same result if I fill the area with $FF. So the number of transfered bytes depends on the data itself.

Transfer in Intel format seems correct so far.

I reduced the speed down to 2400 bps to eliminate any computer buffer problem. I get the same result with two computers, one running Win 3.11 and the other Win 2000 (each with the appropriate S4driver version). I'm using a fairly new S4 (serial number in the 33000s); I don't remember this happening with my previous ten year-old unit. What can be the problem?

JL

[Dataman (Neil Parker)]

Hi,

I believe the problem to be the incorrect end address of the file. With binary files you have to find the exact length in bytes, convert this to a HEX value and decrement it by 1.

Example:

File.bin 524281 bytes
HEX value: 7FFF9 -1 = 7FFF8
End address: 7FFF8

So when sending this file to the S4 you would specify the address range of 00000,7FFF8.

Also check that you have the S4 set to receive binary. This can be checked by hitting SETUP and changing the value with the cursor keys, ESC exits the menu and saves the setting.

Hope this helps.

Neil

[Guest]

I ask for SEND BINARY 00000,03FFF and I get a file of binary size 00003405 instead of 00004000. I work entirely in HEX, so I cannot make calculation errors (anyway Windows tells me the file size is 13317 bytes, which confirms the value). I try the same download after changing the transfer speed from 115200 to 600, and I get a file of size 00004003 (16387 according to Windows).

Checksum comparisons between the files and the S4's memory, on the reported file lengths, are accurate. So my only conclusion is that my new S4 doesn't know exactly when to stop the transfer. As I said this never happened with my previous unit.

Testing further I edited address 03404 in the S4's memory, changing it from value 09 to 41 (HEX as always). A new transfer gave me a file of size 00004003. Then I started getting transfers of the right sizes, be they 00004000, 00008000 or 00010000. But then it went bad again. So transfer size seems data-dependant. Can my S4's memory or memory controller be bad?

There's also a problem with S4-WinDriver V2.02. Sometimes the transfer will fill the window with the transfered data and report a file size of only 5 bytes. This seems to happen mostly just after the transfer boundaries are changed. Immediately redoing the transfer corrects the problem (but with the behaviour reported above).