Individual Computers - New accelerator cards for A600 & A1200

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Akira

Does it look at all like what you can see in the video I posted?

Well the board's socket doesn't really sit flat on the motherboard, one of the corners, I think because of the socket's plastic, is lifted 1mm or less. I see no way I can fix this.

No, it doesn't look like those color flickers in your video. That looks like the issue jimbob is talking about which I also have on my 1200 when using the composite output. It shouldn't have anything to do with the stability of the machine though.

The socket should be more or less touching the MB all the way around, else it is probably not installed properly. It can take some force to make it sit properly on the CPU.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by demolition

No, it doesn't look like those color flickers in your video. That looks like the issue jimbob is talking about which I also have on my 1200 when using the composite output. It shouldn't have anything to do with the stability of the machine though.

But the memory test is not reading files from PCMCIA, so the colour flashing on it has nothing to do with that issue.

The socket should be more or less touching the MB all the way around, else it is probably not installed properly. It can take some force to make it sit properly on the CPU.

I'll see if I can take a pic. But I think it's properly seated.

Now I'd have to figure out why Beneath a Steel Sky locks up on load...

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Akira

But the memory test is not reading files from PCMCIA, so the colour flashing on it has nothing to do with that issue.

It sounds to me like the colour flicker issue is caused by noise from the PCMCIA interfering with the CXA encoder. The ACA620 is also emitting noise (like all digital electronics), thus it might also be pushing the CXA over the edge noise-wise like PCMCIA data transfers would do. The ACA620 is still a new product so there could still be a some minor issues with it that nobody noticed yet.

[Amiga1992]

Well this is definitely an issue with the PCMCIA. When I remove the reader, the color flickering stops. So I got to apply the fix jimbob discovered!!! How really annoying, this problem. I am now thinking my A1200 might be affected by it too, I have noticed some strange flickering.

Now why does Beneath a Steel Sky and other big games lock up? I have no idea... is there any way I can figure this out to help eliminate hardware failure or help recognize a bug or other issue?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Akira

Now why does Beneath a Steel Sky and other big games lock up? I have no idea... is there any way I can figure this out to help eliminate hardware failure or help recognize a bug or other issue?

I had some problems loading some big games back when I was using FFS. Sometimes it froze when loading lots of small files. Haven't had that problem since I switched to PFS. I think maybe there was some file corruption in the old file system.

Does it not crash anymore after running MBRtest for a couple of hours?

[jimbob]

Glad to be of assistance, hopefully that fix will sort out the flickering issue. I doubt it has anything to do with the other stuff though

About the games locking up, I'd make sure the game files are ok in winUAE, try and create a config as close as possible to the the real A600. Other titles are working ok?

See if they work from IDE on the real amiga too. I admit I didn't try very hard but I couldn't get WHDload to work when the games files were on a PCMCIA memory card. I gather plenty of people have this working but these cards can always be picky about how well they will work with different hardware. I've had CF that won't work on IDE when the ACA630 is on, others that work everywhere except PCMCIA etc . . .

A pic of your card might help. Which corner is sticking up? There is one component on the motherboard which is in the way of the socket, normally the clip on boards from Jens or Kipper have a notch cut out to sit over it, maybe you're one needs a little filing to sit flush.

Probably worth reseating it anyway, these cards are freakin great but basically a hack at the same time, always likely to suffer from contact problems. If you can't get a memcheck to run forever but other stuff is reliable enough for regular use, I'd just go with it. I wouldn't fancy using any clip on card for live music like you do though.

You may find it gets better with time, my ACA hasn't been reseated in over a year now. My theory is that the socket and CPU flex together over many temperature cycles and eventually stabilise, maybe forming some kind of cold weld on the pins. Once in a while though it still bombs out to a yellow screen and won't recover without a power cycle.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by demolition

I had some problems loading some big games back when I was using FFS. [...]
Does it not crash anymore after running MBRtest for a couple of hours?

The MBRTest crash happened only once., I think it got solved after reseating.
As for the filesystem, I had PFS as soon as Toni released the 68k friendly version. Could that be it? Do I need to update now to a 020 one?

Originally Posted by jimbob

About the games locking up, I'd make sure the game files are ok in winUAE, try and create a config as close as possible to the the real A600. Other titles are working ok?

I tried a few titles and they worked OK, some bombed (Mortal Kombat) but nothing I haven't seen in my A1200 with accelerator. Most of the really large titles like BASS, Indy Atlantis etc. seem to lock up instead of exiting with an error. It MAY have to do with PCMCIA access on such long titles and I will try copying them to the hard drive. I don't really care much about those games, teh only reason I tried them is to see if I could fill up the ACA620's memory.

A pic of your card might help. Which corner is sticking up?

Looking at the computer from the front, top left (corner nearer to the IDE port). The resistor the socket lays over is no problem as the plastic is cut/filed for that bit. I think I am just being paranoid, the thing looks fine now. I think it did need a reseating at first and that's why I got a lock-up on MBRTest.

So I think I can say pretty much that the board runs fine I will keep testing it though, as I gotta use the computer in a gig in September and wouldn't want to travel with an unstable system.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Akira

As for the filesystem, I had PFS as soon as Toni released the 68k friendly version. Could that be it? Do I need to update now to a 020 one?
So I think I can say pretty much that the board runs fine I will keep testing it though, as I gotta use the computer in a gig in September and wouldn't want to travel with an unstable system.

If you used PFS3-AIO, then you don't need to do anything as it automatically switches to 020 optimized code if it detects a capable CPU.

If stability is such an issue, I'd leave it running MBRtest for at least 12 hours to be absolutely sure and same with some games which can run by themselves like Lotus III.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by demolition

If stability is such an issue, I'd leave it running MBRtest for at least 12 hours to be absolutely sure and same with some games which can run by themselves like Lotus III.

I do have PFS-AIO. Good to know I don't have to do that again )
As for the test, I am kinda wary of leaving the computer on all night. I just had bad experiences in the past with extended period s of operation, then again that was in hot south american summer and not here in cold as fuck british summer :P

[diablothe2nd]

I've no idea if this affects the ACA's (TLDR) but I've just removed caps E123C and E125C from my rev 1D1 (yes, you read that right, 1D1!!!!!) board as i kept getting strange crashes that got worse and worse the longer it was on with my BPPC.

Originally thought it was heat (as they say 1D1s are best for accelerators), and tried my darndest to alleviate it then thought what the hell it's only two caps, can't do much harm.

Anyway, so I've done it, and It's been working flawlessly now for 3 hours (would be lucky to get an hour before)

so just cos you've got a 1D1, you're not completely immune :P

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by diablothe2nd

so just cos you've got a 1D1, you're not completely immune :P

Can't repeat that often enough: The board revision is not an indicator of where Commodore f*cked up. The revision is merely an indicator of when the board was initially intended to be produced.

Commodore did not have a concept for quality assurance. They mixed board revisions, chip(set) revisions and assembly variants on all Amiga models like it was the choice of clothing for saturday night. Hardly any two Amigas are alike.

Jens

[Retrofan]

That's true. I've got 3 1D1 A1200's mobos (Edit: and one is green). They are usually right, but look at this:

http://eab.abime.net/815007-post13.html

And I think that's a big mistake.

[fitzsteve]

Any news on the ACA500? My ACA1220 and A500+ are getting lonely!

[roy bates]

Originally Posted by Retrofan

That's true. I've got 3 1D1 A1200's mobos (Edit: and one is green). They are usually right, but look at this:

http://eab.abime.net/815007-post13.html

And I think that's a big mistake.

ive seen a few like that,with it on the wrong side or a connector all the way across,or not even a connector there at all.

[Amiga1992]

Addressing my issues on their own thread here: http://eab.abime.net/support-hardwar...tml#post908262

[Retrofan]

Sorry, we have this thread almost forgotten, but now I need it. I've got a new Hitachi Hd with 80Gb and it seems the Aca starts too fast for it (ACA1231/42 and also a Fast Ata on the miggy), so sometimes it doesn't find the Hd and shows the insert disk screen and I have to reboot several times and cross my fingers.
I know there was some command for ACATune to start delayed in those cases, but now I can't find the exact post. How was it to make that, please?

[demolition]

The maprom p option as described here:
http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACAtune#maprom

[Mr B]

Nothing of that should actually have even a sliver of hope to work, as far as i can understand?
It's all read from the drive, after it boots. I think i have the same issue without fastATA & with a CF. A hot reboot always works for me while a cold boot never does. Any MapROM switches still needs the system to boot a first time, and consecutive hot-boots can be "fixed".
RetroFan, you tried coldbooting, look at the "InsertDisc" image for 5-15 seconds, and then doing a hot-boot?

[Retrofan]

It seems here it's on the contrary... . I've been trying and trying for more than half an hour and it only was booting from time to time. Now it boots ok (it's cold). Rebooting works again.
Dunno... today I've seen so many "rare" things. For example wasn't WinUAE crashing the miggy with the ACATune on the s-s? Now it doesn't.
And also some off-topic problems with the booting screen using SuperPlus. SuperPlus works perfectly centered with booting screens on WinUAE. Now with my CF HD that is shown -the booting screen- with the Indi MKII and SuperPlus off centered, it was also off centered on WinUAE

Yes, I imagine you can't help me now.

[Amiga1992]

Well, you could get flash based device...