A1200 graphic corruption
 

Just fired up my A1200 after years of no action and I started to play Rick Dangerous and as you start moving I was seeing square or rectangular blocks of corruption around the character and trailing behind him. I initially put it down to being an old game and maybe needed the swap with the two mouse buttons on system startup. But then I started to see it on the Workbench screen, again squares of mess around where you are clicking.

I removed my 8MB ram board and its still happening..

What are peoples thoughts, ram, lisa?

Something else?

PS all the caps look ok, no bulging or leakage..

Tried pressing firmly down on Lisa which did nothing..

I also found the quickest way to see the corruption was to right click on a folder, the box just goes to a mess and then is ok after a second..

What revision is it?

I had some graphics corruption in my rev 2B that was seemingly resolved after removing some cap - see:

https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=96346

Hi there, revision 1A, the issue looks exactly like the Hybris issue you had.

I looked at the thread you linked to but I can't see mention of the caps you talked about, I do have a recapping kit here but I was worried it was a chip based issue..

Thanks for the reply..

Sorry, I was supposed to link to:

https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=98149

For the graphics corruption in games, I now attribute that to chipset incompatibility. However, the corruption in Workbench is a different matter.

Yes, its frustrating as hell, I simply don't have the knowledge to pin point a cause hence the post on here hoping the guru's on here could make suggestions.

Being that its graphic corruption I can only think of 3 thing, memory, Lisa, chip ram.

To make matters more awkward the machine isn't connected to the internet so getting programs on to the machine is difficult / near impossible as I have no other hardware to do this. This stops me testing the ram unless there's a ram tester built in to workbench 3.1 (its so long since I've used the machine).

I'll post a phone pic of the problem I have, its just weird that it manifests itself as jibberish boxes that go away which make me think of a ram issue.

Lastly, I hate smd work :)

Does it happen at once, with a cold machine?

Do you have a Gotek drive? You can them use ADF images of diagnostics tools.

Do you have an IDE/CF card? If so, you can mount that in WinUAE and transfer files that way.

You can also use a PCMCIA/CF/SD card to transfer files.

You can also using serial transfer to get and ADF image across to write to floppy disk.

You can also get a DiagROM to run some hardware tests.

Alternatively, I can send you a floppy disk with Amiga Test Kit on it. PM me if you are interested/desperate.

I've got a gotek, never thought about it..Well done..

Just ordered a cheap PCMIA network card and adaptor..(20.00quid) just incase.

Thanks for the offer of the disk, appreciated..

Yes the problem starts from cold, turn on the machine, boot to WB and just right click on anything and it brings up the update, show all etc etc box but it is a jibberish set of squares and then it clears itself. In Rick Dangerous, as the boulder starts at you I get a trail of mess thats squares, as he runs it sits behind him but only for a certain length of trail and it just follows him if he's moving but clears after a certain distance which is why I so sure its memory.

Really annoying as I want to sell the machine in the end...Too much retro gear..

And thank you for the help...

Paul.

In the Rick Dangerous example, is the game disk you are using an original version or a cracked version? If cracked, which one is it - i.e. what cracktro does it have, if any.

Or is this with an ADF in the Gotek? If so, what is the ADF filename?

Its a cracked exe one, could be a duff version but the Workbench issue is just odd but thanks to the suggestion of a gotek I have now got the Amiga Test System up and running as we speak doing a memory test, other tests for precision timers passed. I'm just testing the bareboard chip memory but I imagine its going to take hours?

I'm more and more thinking its the chip mem because iirc all the video stuff is done in chip mem (correct me if I'm wrong). Its so long since I've used the real hardware I have forgotten so much. I think I read that the actual chip mem isn't around any more but there's a suitable replacement. I really hope so but as said, I hate smd work, especially as my poor old eye's are getting a bit rough as I head toward 60.

Thanks to all for having a look and the suggestions, its very much appreciated..

Any pointers to a chip ram supplier would also be appreciated..

Right, lets leave this machine testing

Paul..

I never have this problem with WinUAE :)

The Amiga Test Kit memory test goes on forever. I normally leave it for 100 rounds.

When I had similar graphics issue, my memory tested OK too. It was only when I removed the SMD caps that it went went away.

Well its been on 422 rounds and I don't see any reporting of errors or any other messages..

I presume it works like most virus checkers, as it scans it reports there and then if it finds an issue?

Yes, when it finds an error it will stop.

422 rounds is more than enough to confirm there isn't anything wrong with the memory itself.

Here's a video of the problem... 85mb..

https://mega.nz/file/g0gVFSCa#f28SH2...EW_1BWTAJ85v3U

It also happens via a booted workbench disk as opposed to the workbench on the HDD

If the ram is ok then, I can recap it (if only to rule it out), all the caps look ok but I suppose it won't harm the issue..

My graphics issue was even after a normal recap. But a recap is a good idea in general, if it hasn't been done already.

I had a to remove two ceramic SMD caps, that are related to a 'timing' issue.

Some good news, yes you were correct, Rick Dangerous set to original graphics mode works perfectly. I also tried a load of games last night with zero corruption so now I'm wondering if all this is down to a screwed up Workbench setup. The machine was willed to me along with a load of other gear by a now passed old friend, so the Workbench is the way he set it up. I now wonder if its just got corrupted when in storage. For what its worth I might just start it from scratch. There's nothing on it I can't get again.

Here's hoping...