Individual Computers - New accelerator cards for A600 & A1200

[Ebster]

here is another user that got the graphic issues / freezes etc. solved by removing e123c and e125c - i am now very happy with the aca 1230/56!!! just to let you know, it is a rev 1b board.

[MrDBUG]

Originally Posted by alexh

All the CD32 needs is a RAM card... 4-8Mbytes. Should be very cheap (except the connector) and I bet every CD32 owner would want one.

And a CF card harddisk connector plus network plus external floppy :-)

[bitman]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

bitman,
if you're the one who let me know through Vesalia that you don't want to send your board, then it won't help me. I've seen the Rev.1 Budgie on your pictures for the first time and I need such a failing board here to measure things. I'm happy to swap your board for one out of my collection if that's the only way for me to get hold of a failing board.
Jens

I was told that you would try to source a rev 1 Budgie, so I didn't have to send in my board. Should I send it in or will you get at batch from Amigakit?

[Mr B]

I just got a confirmation on my ACA 1230 56MHz being on the way.The first thing i'll do after receiving the box will be sitting here dreamy-eye'd, and to scared to try it out. All in fear that i will have some of these odd issues. But I'll get back to all of you in time.
B!

[Ebster]

i am sorry to say, after i removed e123c and e125c i still have issues - not that often and predictable but still the system seems a little unstable.

i use the aca1230/56 on an a1200 rev.1b, 3.1roms, amigakits pcmcia reset fix and pcmcia cf adapter installed, internal scanmagic flicker fixer, ide cf adapter as a harddrive. classicwb advsp (comes with fblit) installed. i changed all capacitors before first installing the aca and the computer hasn't been used in years until now.

acatune -maprom * p ...the $c.... memory option not used and everything else switched on...

i think the temperature is to high when these issues appear. i can e.g. run a load of whdload demos and experience no problems. then i play the game payback off my harddrive, quite exessive cpu usage, and after exiting to workbench problems occur. e.g. the clear ram icon becomes crippeled. or i open the system folder and most of the icons are simply not there. maybe a freeze or guru and so on. then i let adoom run the demo sequence for an hour and everything seems fine. donkey kong via coolness emu leads to issues quite fast again. some programs like to cause them and others don't - but everytime it happens the bottom of the amiga seems quite hot.

i will open a ticket if i don't get further myself.

i love individual computers :-) (and vesalia, alinea, amigakit!!!)

but maybe someone here likes to discuss first..... i will try turning off options of acatune, first of all this chip option that requires cpublit to work. etc. etc. is there a recommended command for my setup, e.g. acatune -maprom * p >nil:

thanks for your ideas

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by Ebster

acatune -maprom * p ...the $c.... memory option not used and everything else switched on...

Here's your problem: You're using chipmem cacheing, which will cause issues. Note that none of the CPUblit-like programs really replace all of the blitter operations. I have already decided not to include the chipcache option in the next batch of accelerators.

Originally Posted by Ebster

i think the temperature is to high when these issues appear. i can e.g. run a load of whdload demos and experience no problems. then i play the game payback off my harddrive, quite exessive cpu usage, and after exiting to workbench problems occur. e.g. the clear ram icon becomes crippeled. or i open the system folder and most of the icons are simply not there.

Might as well be a software issue. Try restarting the whole system before you draw premature conclusions.

Jens

[Decker]

Got ACA1230/28. Initially system froze after ~5-6 seconds (Rev 1D.1, KS3.0). Cap fix worked for me.

- Thanks to Jens for the product
- Thanks to everyone at Amigakit.com for quick delivery to Finland & flawless quality on everything I purchased (ACA + 4GB CF IDE + RGB).
- Most importantly, a big bro hug to everyone at eab for the wealth of information!

Just lurking this board was enough to get everything running.

[Ebster]

after two days of heavy usage i can proudly say that i haven't had a single freeze with the command lines:

ACATune -maprom * p -fastchip on -cache on -burst on >NIL:
CPU cache burst >NIL:

i have also changed the mask and buffers of my sfs formatted hd slightly. at least some of my problems occured because of data that got corrupted when being copied from pcmcia-cf-storage to the ide hd. i for now generally leave my hands off the chipcache, z2cache and z2fast. never change a running system :-)

hopefully it is not a premature conclusion to say, my ACA works PERFECTLY!

best regards, ebs.


ps: i have really had to google the meaning of premature ;-)

[fitzsteve]

Hey guys, I joined the club and got an ACA1230/28

Its working well for me but I'm stuck on one thing, I can't get my PCMCIA CF Adapter to work with it, I get CF0:NDOS for the CF cards

Of course all my drivers are setup correctly.

I'm told its a setting in ACATune, but after reading the manual 10 times I'm still none the wiser, can anyone let me in on this secret?

Cheers!

Steve.

[AmigaDave]

I am ready to give up on my recently purchased ACA630 & A600 combination. After purchasing my ACA630, I found out that my A600 has some kind of keyboard problem that I have been unable to resolve. If anyone wants to buy them both, plus the Individual Computer's A600 RAM expansion for the trap door that allows the installation of the IndivisionECS, maybe you will have better luck fixing the problem.

The A600 runs and boots fine. Games that only require a joystick to play work without any problems. The keyboard used to work a little with an intermittent problem that would occur causing incorrect keyboard output to occur and/or hesitation of keyboard response to key presses. On some occasions, different key characters would display while pressing the same key repeatedly. At other times certain keys would appear to get stuck (though not physically) and an incorrect key character would repeat, until sometimes stopping after hitting the keyboard at another key, or the escape key.

I tried to find a replacement keyboard, or keyboard membrane, but was unsuccessful so far. I scraped the keyboard membrane contacts where they contact the connector on the motherboard, which seemed to improve the problem slightly, but with repeated scraping in hopes to resolve it more, I think I have scraped it down too far and damaged the keyboard membrane that pushes into the motherboard connector. I was sent a replacement A600 keyboard that is defective and the bottom row of keys does not respond that I will include with the purchase for the buyer to see if they can get either keyboard to work. So, if anyone is interested in buying a partially working A600 with spare damaged keyboard, plus an ACA630/25MHz accelerator that is brand new and the Individual Computer's 1mb RAM expansion for the A600's trap door, let me know. The ACA630 alone sells for $182 and I will consider all offers for the whole package of items described, or for any of the items individually.

Edit: Just to be clear, this keyboard problem has nothing to do with the ACA630. It is just that I had not been using my A600 prior to the purchase of the ACA630 and did not notice the problem until just a couple days before the ACA630 arrived in my mail.

[Ebster]

I get CF0:NDOS for the CF cards

all my cf cards went like this - then i took a sandisk ultra 8gb.... no problems anymore! (don't know if it was aca related)

[Toof]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Hey guys, I joined the club and got an ACA1230/28

Its working well for me but I'm stuck on one thing, I can't get my PCMCIA CF Adapter to work with it, I get CF0:NDOS for the CF cards

Same problem here. PCMCIA adaptor and 512MB Sandisk work without the board installed, but give CF0:NDOS with it in. Any help would be great. All is well with the ACA apart from this issue.

Great forum btw. I can see myself getting lost in the Amiga world again after a 15 year break

[Photon]

Any ETA on the ACA520? I'd like to preorder one

[Rebel-CD32]

My friend also lost the use of the PCMCIA slot after installing an ACA630 in her A600.

I'd definitely buy an accelerator for the CD32, of course it needs either IDE or CF on it, and a clockport and optional RTC module would be ideal as well. I don't think there's any need to add extra ports like parallel and floppy drive ports like older expansions, with internal storage and WHDLoad there's very little need for floppy disks with a CD32, files can be transferred to it on CD, and you can already plug in an Amiga keyboard or PS/2 or USB adapter and link them up via the serial/AUX port.

I'd probably get a couple of ACA520s as well, give my childhood friend the boost she deserves.

[desiv]

Originally Posted by Toof

Same problem here. PCMCIA adaptor and 512MB Sandisk work without the board installed, but give CF0:NDOS with it in.

Works here. I decided to try it, although I've been using PCMCIA networking to transfer files so I hadn't used my PCMCIA/CF card in a while.

I have a Viking 512K card.
When I double clicked CF0, up it came fine and I can browse the files on it.

I have an Amiga 1200 with the ACA1230/28. No options on my acatune other than maprom.

I do have cardreset and cardpatch in my startup.

desiv

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by desiv

Works here. I decided to try it, although I've been using PCMCIA networking to transfer files so I hadn't used my PCMCIA/CF card in a while.

I have a Viking 512K card.
When I double clicked CF0, up it came fine and I can browse the files on it.

I have an Amiga 1200 with the ACA1230/28. No options on my acatune other than maprom.

I do have cardreset and cardpatch in my startup.

desiv

Hmm this is weird, I tried the same options (Cardpatch & just Maprom) as you and with a 256mb Sandisk which usually works but no Cigar

Maybe its because I am using 3.0 Roms and Maprom to kick in 3.1?

[desiv]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Maybe its because I am using 3.0 Roms and Maprom to kick in 3.1?

Nope.. I'm doing the same thing with the ROMs..

Weird..

desiv

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by desiv

Nope.. I'm doing the same thing with the ROMs..

Weird..

desiv

Do you have the Jumper on the ACA?

[desiv]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Do you have the Jumper on the ACA?

Yeah, I added the Jumper for Kick 3.0, so I had to add the RAM using the ACATune software...
(I didn't remove the jumper when I started soft-kicking to 3.1)

desiv
Just noticed one thing annoying about the cardreset software.. Yes, it lets me boot up my A1200 with a PCMCIA card in it (I usually leave my network card plugged in), but if there is no card, it errors out and stops the boot sequence. (Yes, even if I have > NIL So now, I HAVE to have a card in my machine to get to Workbench..
Off to read the cardreset manual.. ;-)

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by desiv

Yeah, I added the Jumper for Kick 3.0, so I had to add the RAM using the ACATune software...
(I didn't remove the jumper when I started soft-kicking to 3.1)

Yeah my Jumper is in too, if I take it off I only get 1mb Chip Ram

No big deal for now I'll wait to see if anyone else had the problem and solved it

Steve.