Memory Master 1200 / AlfaRam 1200 Repair

[spannernick]

Can anyone fix ram cards,is there anyway of fixing the socket for the zip ram chips,and maybe the slot on the card too.

This card is doing my head in. Such a crap card,anyone have theses cards,do you have problems like me..?

http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/alfaram1200

You see in the photo its the 4th chip..

It took me about half a hour yesterday to get the A1200 working.

Any advice how to clean this card and getting it working properly.

[cpiac64]

i solved removing all ram sockets and soldered directly the zip ram on board

[amiman99]

You can always replace the zip sockets if you can find replacements.
All you need is solder sucker, some flux, and patience.

I personally replaced bunch of chips, just recently on my broken BCS Tandem IDE card. The board would be recognized but the filenames on the CDROM would be corrupted. There were 5 chips on the board that in my mind would be a suspect, so I took a chance and replaced 3 of them (same chip number), and presto it works.

Too bad I'm too far to help.

[fgh]

Did you even read my reply in the other thread?

[spannernick]

What this one..

You don't have anything in the pcmcia port, do you?
Also there are ram size and ram test jumpers, did you check their position?

If so sorry for not replying,yes all jumpers are in the right position,the card works kind off on 4 meg when it wants too,thats the problem with 20+years stuff..

And it play ECS games ok but when I play a AGA game the A1200 don't like it and has corrupt graphics (like on Alien Breed 2 no helicopters ,just a square corrupt graphic)or it just starts the game then is the middle of the game it crashes with a white screen,I think my baby has had its days.using AF2016 now.. its a shame but going to build a emulated A1200 with a keyrah V2 and AF 2016 booting up in my A1200 case.I might sale the motherboard and the card +16 zip chips,don't know..

[fgh]

In the picture above the RAM jumpers are set to 5MB and RAM test mode active. (meaning OS has no access to RAM)

You should put them in the correct positions and then if it still does not work, use some RAM testing software to test the RAM.

[fgh]

I noticed the deactivate jumper (J3) positions are opposite in the english and german parts of the manual.
The german text matches amiga.resource.cx: Down = All memory disabled.

I suppose you figured out the correct posisiton as you say it works with 4MB, but I thought I'd mention it..

Edit: You can check how much memory the system sees with the 'avail' command.

[Steve T]

if you give up on it (sorry to sound defeatist but i wouldn't blame ya - all those old sockets and old chips, yeah its not a great combination for rock solid reliability!) why not use the machine without the card? get a gotek and load games from that instead - i have an unexpanded machine i use just for this. if the motherboard is still good (is it?) then its a shame to convert the case over to an emulator imho.

I'm sure someone else would love the card as a project and would offer you something for it, maybe enough to get a gotek or put toward a modern card.

[cpiac64]

do you want exchange the espansion with a black gotek?

[spannernick]

Originally Posted by cpiac64

do you want exchange the espansion with a black gotek?

I might exchange it,don't know,I will let you know,just think about it for a few days, is that OK.I just got the new memory for it,that cost me £15 for 9 chips from eBay,don't think they work properly or its my A1200...I am gutted.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

[spannernick]

Originally Posted by Steve T

if you give up on it (sorry to sound defeatist but i wouldn't blame ya - all those old sockets and old chips, yeah its not a great combination for rock solid reliability!) why not use the machine without the card? get a gotek and load games from that instead - i have an unexpanded machine i use just for this. if the motherboard is still good (is it?) then its a shame to convert the case over to an emulator imho.

I'm sure someone else would love the card as a project and would offer you something for it, maybe enough to get a gotek or put toward a modern card.

How do you load A500 games on it,some of them will not load,well on A1200.

[Steve T]

it just loads disk images nick, sure not everything will run but at least it will run....

[spannernick]

Originally Posted by Steve T

it just loads disk images nick, sure not everything will run but at least it will run....

A BIG THANK YOU TO YOU,Just got myself a Gotek Drive for the A1200 and its working fine,so glad was going to get a Keyrah,glad I didn't,Thanks again your a star.

No more needing extra ram thank god, not god..STEVE..

[Steve T]

hehe, yeah thats great if you're able to enjoy the machine now, but if anyone you should thank Hervé Messinger who wrote the Amiga specific firmware & gave it away for free!

[spannernick]

Yeah I notice the name when it boots up the menu,thanks to Hervé Messinger too.

[spannernick]

Just tested my A1200 1D3 mobo with the Gotek and there is nothing wrong with it so it was the Alfa ram card thats faulty. I don't see me fixing it anytime soon.I wouldn't know where to start.
Anyway thanks to all for the replies.