Odd Indivision ECS Problem

[Tempest 2084]

My Indivision ECS and Amiga 2000 were getting along just fine until I unplugged the system to take to a computer show (it worked just fine there). When I got back and hooked it up again I'm getting nothing on the monitor. It's like the monitor isn't even seeing it (it just stays in power save mode). I tried a different monitor and got the same result. I've reseated the Indivision board and cable, but other than that I can't think of anything to do. Does anyone have any suggestions? I can't believe the board magically went bad on me all the sudden so there must be another explanation.

check the cable going to your HD15 connector. If the sync or ground line came loose, it may cause that.

[Loedown]

Something has come loose in transit, you may have had a connection that was a bit dicky before hand and now it's finally failed. Check for normal Amiga output from 23 pin with Denise in socket. I think you will have a pin on the socket that's failed with a dry joint or the socket itself has failed, tensioning of the socket.

[Tempest 2084]

I checked with a regular monitor last night and everything worked fine thankfully.

The board may be going (gone?) bad though. I remember at the show I was getting a Guru Meditation on every reboot (left clicking and continuing worked though) until we re-seated the board. Maybe the vibrations from the car ride or something finally pushed it over the edge?

If it was something wrong with my video socket the regular video port wouldn't work either though right? The fact that the regular video port works but I get nothing through the VGA means that either the Indivision board itself has failed or the cable is bad right?

Assuming its a dead board, is there anyone I can send it to for repairs? I got it through AmigaKit US, but I doubt they do repairs. Do the original creators do repairs? Are there any easy diagnostics I can run on it myself (doesn't look like it).

check the cable going to your HD15 connector. If the sync or ground line came loose, it may cause that.

Anything in particular I should look for? The cable looks ok as far as I can tell.

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by Tempest 2084

The board may be going (gone?) bad though. I remember at the show I was getting a Guru Meditation on every reboot (left clicking and continuing worked though) until we re-seated the board. Maybe the vibrations from the car ride or something finally pushed it over the edge?

If it was something wrong with my video socket the regular video port wouldn't work either though right? The fact that the regular video port works but I get nothing through the VGA means that either the Indivision board itself has failed or the cable is bad right?

Assuming its a dead board, is there anyone I can send it to for repairs? I got it through AmigaKit US, but I doubt they do repairs. Do the original creators do repairs? Are there any easy diagnostics I can run on it myself (doesn't look like it).


Anything in particular I should look for? The cable looks ok as far as I can tell.

Lots of assumptions, slow down.

First and foremost it's more likely to be some of the old hardware rather than the new that has failed. Random Gurus point to the Amiga hardware. What's the voltage on the rails, does it have ripple on it, do any chips get very hot? Look for obvious damage, does the monitor have any bent pins?

I don't know who does repairs in the USA but I think Amigakit probably still will.

[Tempest 2084]

But if the hardware (Amiga 2000) was bad, why would it still work perfectly through the monitor? The Guru error I was getting stopped once I reseated the Indivision board.

No chips are getting hot and like I said the Amiga seems to be working perfectly otherwise. I've tried it with two different VGA monitors and none work (those monitors work with other things though).

[Tempest 2084]

Hmm... I tried e-mailing AmigaKit US and their e-mail form doesn't work (says there's no valid e-mail address to send to). Since they're just a reseller I doubt they do repairs anyway. What I really need is someone in the US I can send this to to test and see if it's the board or my Amiga that's not working.

[ajk]

Amigakit will handle warranty cases, either themselves or with support from the manufacturer. Not sure what's the matter with the contact form but do try to contact them again before doing anything that will void your warranty. They participate on these forums also.

[Tempest 2084]

Ok, I was able to submit a ticket (no idea what link I clicked on the first time, this page was completely different).

Looks like I bought it back in April. Not sure what the warranty period is.

[Tempest 2084]

I downloaded and ran the config tool for the Indivision ECS. This is what it said:

Both Sync Polarities are Negative
Screen Mode: Undefined
Pixel Clock 0 Mhz
Hsync Rate: Fixed
Vsync Rate: Fixed (these change to 0 if I change Display Config from Internal to User)
Mode: 1.25
Video Output: Normal

I'm still not getting any display on my VGA monitor though. This is all through my Amiga monitor. Does this mean my board is working and it's something wrong with the socket or motherboard or does this verify that it's either the board or cable?

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Tempest 2084

I downloaded and ran the config tool for the Indivision ECS. This is what it said:

Both Sync Polarities are Negative
Screen Mode: Undefined
Pixel Clock 0 Mhz
Hsync Rate: Fixed
Vsync Rate: Fixed (these change to 0 if I change Display Config from Internal to User)
Mode: 1.25
Video Output: Normal

I'm still not getting any display on my VGA monitor though. This is all through my Amiga monitor. Does this mean my board is working and it's something wrong with the socket or motherboard or does this verify that it's either the board or cable?

Try the flash tool. That will tell you if the card is running.

[Tempest 2084]

Ok. When I run that what will it do/say? I know from past experience that flash tools can be dangerous.

Oh and another semi-related question. I used Amiga Explorer to transfer these files over to my Amiga. I can see them in the Shell CLI, but not as icons in WB. The programs have .INFO files with them though. How do I make them appear as icons?

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Tempest 2084

Ok. When I run that what will it do/say? I know from past experience that flash tools can be dangerous.

Oh and another semi-related question. I used Amiga Explorer to transfer these files over to my Amiga. I can see them in the Shell CLI, but not as icons in WB. The programs have .INFO files with them though. How do I make them appear as icons?

It should display the core and say something like "RUNNING".

Nothing scary going on, unless you click flash, select random file and click select. Even then, you just relaunch it and reflash it.

You do realise your core may have been corrupted and its needs a reflash to solve issue. I have seen that a few times.

[Tempest 2084]

I suppose it couldn't hurt to reflash it. We'll see what the tool says.

[Tempest 2084]

I just tried the flash program, but when I select that I want to flash the core, it asks me if I'm sure and I select Yes. After that it just goes back to the first screen. It never asks me to select a file or anything. Sometimes it crashes after this, sometimes not. I wonder if it's not showing the file selector somewhere where I can't see?

I'm running this from my HD in WB 1.3, is this supposed to be run from a boot disk or something?

The core says its running for what its worth.

FPGA Core: Version 1.01
CPLD core: V4

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Tempest 2084

I just tried the flash program, but when I select that I want to flash the core, it asks me if I'm sure and I select Yes. After that it just goes back to the first screen. It never asks me to select a file or anything. Sometimes it crashes after this, sometimes not. I wonder if it's not showing the file selector somewhere where I can't see?

I'm running this from my HD in WB 1.3, is this supposed to be run from a boot disk or something?

The core says its running for what its worth.

FPGA Core: Version 1.01
CPLD core: V4

It proberly sees the core in the prog dir and uses that.
As for it crashing, need more info, if you mean the mouse freezes. Then it hasn't crashed, its flashing.

If it says its running, then I would check the VGA cable from Indivision to socket. Chances are there could be a break.

It should work from 1.3, but I don't know if 1.3 is official supported. Would have to ask Jens.

[Tempest 2084]

I'm pretty sure its actually crashing. If I click on the Flash button it brings up that screen where it says that it will erase everything and am I sure. If I click Yes it just goes back to the main screen and nothing happens. The freezing happens if I do something like right click on something. I've selected the flash option multiple times and got nothing. Backup doesn't seem to work either. Sometimes if I right click or left click a few times the whole WB screen will disappear, which isn't good. The system and WB install seem to be alright though. I played about an hour of Pools of Darkness last night and ran into no problems.

If it's the VGA cable, where can I get another one (what is is called exactly)? The cable itself looks fine though, but I suppose it could be something I can't see.

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Tempest 2084

I'm pretty sure its actually crashing. If I click on the Flash button it brings up that screen where it says that it will erase everything and am I sure. If I click Yes it just goes back to the main screen and nothing happens. The freezing happens if I do something like right click on something. I've selected the flash option multiple times and got nothing. Backup doesn't seem to work either. Sometimes if I right click or left click a few times the whole WB screen will disappear, which isn't good. The system and WB install seem to be alright though. I played about an hour of Pools of Darkness last night and ran into no problems.

If it's the VGA cable, where can I get another one (what is is called exactly)? The cable itself looks fine though, but I suppose it could be something I can't see.

You said you moved your system, best guess is, its been damaged in transit. You need to look for damage, we cant just say replace this or replace that.

Ok, if its returning back to main screen, then you are not selecting a flash image to flash. You need to select flash image and then it will erase and freeze as it flashes. After about 5 mins, it will unfreeze and you can reboot.

[Tempest 2084]

I looked at the cable but I'm not seeing any damage. The worst I can see on it is a tiny scrape on the top where the red color has scrapped off a little (the wire itself looks fine however). Still, it might be worth the couple of bucks to order a new one somewhere just in case. What should I look for?

How do I select an image to flash? It never prompts me for one. It just goes to "Are you sure? yes/no" screen and then exits back to the main screen. No file picker ever shows up.

Oddly I got the Back Up option to work (I think). I got the Reading Core #1 progress bar and it went to 100% but that's it. It never asked me to name the file or anything and just went back to the main screen. The file exists though as Select Backup File. Maybe this program isn't compatible with WB 1.3? Would booting from a WB 2.0 disk help (assuming I can find one)?

[FOL]

Originally Posted by Tempest 2084

I looked at the cable but I'm not seeing any damage. The worst I can see on it is a tiny scrape on the top where the red color has scrapped off a little (the wire itself looks fine however). Still, it might be worth the couple of bucks to order a new one somewhere just in case. What should I look for?

How do I select an image to flash? It never prompts me for one. It just goes to "Are you sure? yes/no" screen and then exits back to the main screen. No file picker ever shows up.

Oddly I got the Back Up option to work (I think). I got the Reading Core #1 progress bar and it went to 100% but that's it. It never asked me to name the file or anything and just went back to the main screen. The file exists though as Select Backup File. Maybe this program isn't compatible with WB 1.3? Would booting from a WB 2.0 disk help (assuming I can find one)?

It could be your WorkBench version, I have only every used the tool under 3.1.
Whats in your ECS Tool folder? including hidden files.

Think we need to stick to one thing and not jump the gun, as it appears we are talking about two different things.