Problems with Apollo (1240?) card
 

I've got a card here that I am having trouble to make work and even recognize.

It's an Apollo 1240 or 1260. I can't see which processor it has as a heatsink has been glued on (sems like by Elbox? It has an Elbox warranty sticker). and the crystal has confused me, as it is an 80Mhz crystal.

I am wary of messing with the CPU jumper since, if i understand correctly, the 060 and 040 run with different voltages.

The machine some times runs and most times it blinks the power led furiously on boot without even getting to load anything from disk. I also tested it without any RAM on it for the same result.

The one time that booted, Whichamiga said it was an 040@40Mhz.

In brief, I am very confused and can't get the card to work with stability. I want to ascertain if it has a hardware problem or not.

Any help appreciated!

clean the connector/thread

What thread???
The connector is clean.
But I have many more problems as it is now. How do I accurately know what processor I have without looking at the chip? I hate that they have used the same board for two processors that use different voltages.

Will the CPU get damaged if the wrong jumper is set?

I can't believe I can't even know what processor it is. And the 80Mhz crystal is confusing.

80MHz means a 060 at 80MHz or a 040 at 40MHz. I would trust WhichAmiga what says 040. The first what I would do is what Sandro already wrote. Clean connections and make sure they really connect. My APollo1240 runs fine but if I disconnect it for some reason it might be possible that after reconnect the amiga doesn`t boot because of bad connection. As far as I know it is a common problem with different cards.

If I recall correctly, without software installed (I didn't install the software), the system will not recognize anything but 040, so anything 040 up will be shown as 040!

Then again it did show the speed as 40Mhz.

The problem is, I am afraid to change the CPU jumper. Will I damage the CPU if it is in the wrong postion? 060 runs at 3.5V but 040 runs at 5V. If it ends up being an 060 i feel like I could fry it,

A Apollo 1240 clocked at 40MHz has a 80MHz crystal (68040 clock speed = xxMHz from crystall divided by two).
If you have the additional voltage regulator board, then it could be a 1260 clocked with 80MHz. If the voltage regulator board is missing it should be a 1240.

Where is the voltage regulator board? I tried comparing to photos on the BBoAH but I couldn't discern the 040 from the 060.
This one has the heatsink plus a little fan attached to it, and the heatsink is glued by Elbox!!

Jumper are: RAM (on/off), SCSI (on/off), Clock (68040 CPU -> position 040, 68060 with 50Hz CPU -> position 060, 68060 with 66Hz CPU -> position 040).
Only the 68060 has the Power-Converter. Without it won`t work and maybe damage.

edit: you may download the APollo 1240/1260 user-guide. I only have a german printout.

I know how the jumper settings work but I still dont know what CPU it has so I am afraid to change the settings. Until I know for sure what CPU is in here, I cant do anything.

Here are pics of the front and back of the board:

http://i.imgur.com/FNROusr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/LwKicfT.jpg

On this photo you can see the voltage regulator board:

http://www.bboah-works.de/download_p...1260_6_big.jpg

It is the small board on the right side.

Just seen your photos, your card is a 1240, the pins for mounting the voltage regulator are also missing.

It looks like Apollo 1240 and it seems like I`m too slow. :)

Problem is probably battery related, as you can see by the green gunk on the chip next to it. This will need to be reworked and the battery removed. This us a common issue with apollo when the battery has started to leak.

I would suggest sending it to stachu or similar, he would be able to upgrade it to 060 as well assuming it can be repaired to run reliably.

It's a 1240 as others have said.

Good luck!

Steve.

Ps. You could try another memory simm in the short term, but it's almost certainly related to the leaking...

Another thing that can help is to pull the socketed mach chips and clean the sockets/chip legs with IPA, you will need a tool like this:

http://www.dansdata.com/images/sbs10/puller2160.jpg

You still need to get that battery leakage sorted though as it's slowly eating away the tracks and eventually it will be irreparable.

i have 4 apollo 1240 with problem, what's ipa?
i need more info for buy ipa, thanks

ISOPROPANOL

Something like this (only example): http://www.amazon.co.uk/ISOPROPANOL-.../dp/B003D8QFQO

If they have Mach131 chips, they can be upgraded to 060 (yes, contact stachu for that). If its mach130 chips, you're stuck with 040 (the one in your picture is 131).

Thank you guys. Good call on the leak. I noticed the chip had some green stuff but I didn't know this type of battery would leak!

How does one contact stachu for assistance? I wonder how expensive this is to repair and if it is worth it at all.

Stachu frequents these boards under the handle stachu 100, its certainly worth repairing as yours having the mach 131 as said can be upgraded to 060.

The battery is under that white plastic cap and is Soldered to the board.

If you don't want the hassle of repairs I'd be willing to take a punt on it for the right price.

It is very well worth it. Those babies goes for a lot of money =)

buy today in the shop for 6€ spray

Go here & download these Libs.

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com...ed/a_68060.zip

These files are the contents of a supplied Driver Disk with either the 1240 or 1260 card. There is an Installer called ApolloInstall5.0 iirc. Run it without processor card in A1200.

Nice .pdf manual here too.

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com...df/a_68060.pdf

Turn off A1200, re-install 1240 card & you should be good to go.

It's very important to make sure you have the correct Libraries installed when using any 68xxx processor over 68030.

Enjoy. ;)

I believe this link from Installers Heaven should be ok as well, but it's a .dms file.

http://www.l8r.net/install/accel/apollo060.DMS

& good luck cleaning her up (battery is a coin & shouldn't have leaked) & forget finding that regulator board. You only need it for an 060 CPU upgrade.

Put the Libs on first & & see if she is stable. :great