ACA 1231/42 Problems

Hello,

Sorry that my first post here is a help request! I was just hoping someone who had any experience with this card could give me some advice.

I have an old A1200 rev 1B which I had already installed a CF-Drive and a converted PC-Floppy and has been working very well so far. I just received my first order from Vesalia, a PS/2 mouse adapter, some 3.1 ROMs and a ACA 1231/42. Mouse/ROMs are installed and working correctly, no problems there.

But the Accelerator card is not recognised, no matter what I do. I tried cleaning the CPU slot as suggested, shifting the card around a bit and so on, but the Expansion Board Diagnostic is always empty, and the "Other memory" in Workbench is always 0.

The first time I connected the card, the computer hung at Dark Grey. After readjusting the card a bit, it then hung at a light green (green is supposed to mean chip ram problems, but this looked like a very light green if that makes any difference). Since the second time, the computer boots normally but doesn't detect the card - except for one time, from the Expansion Diagnostic in the boot menu, the display kind of corrupted and dissapeared and then I got a very strange lloking Guru which was mostly Fs in the first number, and the second was 00000006.

The card itself seems to be extremely loose on the CPU slot - it moves around very easily indeed, the only thing that stops it from falling out is the case when the machine is reassembled.

Do you think I have a defective card or connector? Or is there something else that I could possibly be doing wrong?

Many thanks for any help.

[fitzsteve]

The card should be a pretty secure fit on the Motherboard connector, suggest your reseller for support

[magnetic]

The cpu card should not be loose like that its a snug fit by nature. Did you contact veselia?

[Coltch]

As fitzsteve suggests put a support ticket with Vesalia, my card is a very secure fit in the trapdoor slot.

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I sent a mail to the support address at Vesalia just before I posted here yesterday evening, but I didn't get a response today.

I read elsewhere on this forum that some CF cards can intefere with ACA Cards, but disconnecting mine didn't help. It's a shame this first proper upgrade experience is going badly.

Just to check, it's definietely the case that this card is compatible with my machine? (Rev 1B, 3.1 ROMs) Has anyone ever used the card with this revision? The card *does* seem to be too loose according to what was said above, but does anyone know any way I can test that my Motherboard slot is working ok?

[Turran]

I have to really push to get mine in and out of the slot. If its loose, that's not good...
I have a 14D or something motherboard though.

[Tomcat]

Hallo sywhofloats,
hast du schon bei www.a1k.org nachgefragt? Jens Schönfeld selber ist dort als Paradroid unterwegs.

[Etze]

Originally Posted by Tomcat

Hallo sywhofloats,
hast du schon bei www.a1k.org nachgefragt? Jens Schönfeld selber ist dort als Paradroid unterwegs.

Jens is also active on this board.

[Graham Humphrey]

English only please.

[ChrisUnionNJ]

Also try bending the upper RF shielding away from the edge connector that
might be keeping the ACA from seating all the way down and why it feels
loose..

I originally tried connecting the card with the case open and I also moved the shielding up like you said to try to push it on. It definitely seems to go on as far as it should, judging by the depth of the connector, but it still loose - like if I push the card fairly gently on one side, the other side starts to come out. I still don't get anything from the card. I guess either my machine or the card is defective. I guess if someone knew about specific issues with the card and this revision, there would be a post somewhere.

I still haven't got a mail from the store though. So I guess I will have to phone up from work on Friday (because tomorrow is a holiday in Nordrhein-Westfalen just like it is here).

But I don't know if I should bother Jens about one particular card he can't even see! It would be great if he or anyone else had some technical idea why it might not be working, but I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything wrong when installing it.

[magnetic]

Jens is the manufacturer and doesnt do support for the products apparently the vendors do..

Though he does help a lot

[roy bates]

is there any cracks or splits in the cards connector? you would have to look pretty close to see if it is or not though.even then its very rare for this to happen.

I just had a quick look with a torch and also under a bright light, I can't see any damage like that to the connector at all. It's hard to see everything on the card because of the heat sink, but I couldn't see anything like damaged chip legs or loose components either. The only thing I saw is that the "teeth" inside the connector are not all at the same height exactly, I don't know if it's actually enough to make any difference.

I also examined the motherboard with a torch and the cpu slot doesn't have any damage either.

Thanks for the idea though. I will be phoning the reseller tomorrow, since mails don't seem to be getting through.

[roy bates]

its probably a better idea to send it back and get a replacement,and oh i meant the plastic connector on the card if its cracked(and your sure its not)you have more chance of seeing somethong like that while its plugged in,not that it is of course.


do you have another 1200 or a friend that has one to try in?

[magnetic]

Yes it sounds like either your edge connector is worn down on the a1200 motherboard or the aca board has a bad plastic connector. Generally with a1200 expansion slot there should be no "loose"