AHI and SB128 CT4750

[Knight94]

Well one problem solved another to go.

Solved: http://eab.abime.net/support-hardwar...orruption.html

Here is my specs on my system:

1200 in Powertower with 530PSU
Motherboard rev 1.D.1
Fast ATA IV with 4gig CF card HD
CD Rom via Fast ATA
Blizzard 1230 IV with 128mb ram and Blizzard PPC 040 with 8mb ram (tried them both)
Mediator TX and LT4
Settings on Mediator are 8mb jumper on
Config and Wait are Open
SB128 CT4740 and CT4750 (tried them both with no luck)
Spider USB
100mb Ethernet
Radeon 9200 PCI 256MB

If I can provide any further information to have anyone's help. Please let me know.


Ok. So now for this issue. I just got my video card working. I have my
Radeon, Ethernet, and Spider USB all working properly. No problems with any of them. I have installed my SB128. It is in slot 4 of my Mediator TX. Pciinfo finds the card just fine. I have installed AHI from the MMCD along with all Sounds files. I have Mixer installed at this time (needed MUI3.8, which is installed). It starts up with no errors and I can open the mixer gui just fine. I also have a copy of ghostmix but have not tried it yet due to not having any mixer issues yet.

What happens is when I try to play a mp3 through the amplifier. The computer will freeze. When I go to prefs and try and startup the AHIprefs I get nothing. I can double click it, but no gui shows up and the computer starts to glitch.

So basically I cannot even do a test sound or anything with my soundcard. I have also tried to install from aminet AHI4.18. It installs fine and I can then double click and open the AHIprefs. Select my SB settings and try to play a mp3. Locks up!

Tried AHIver5 from os3.9cd. It doens't lock up. Gets me to the point of playing the mp3 and then gives and error stating that it needs ver 4.

I have tried using the 68k version and the PPC ver of AHI. Both Freeze

Again. Can anyone help.

[Knight94]

If anyone has a working system with a SB128 and AHI. Please let me know the following:

What version of AHI are you using?

What is the model of your SB128?

What version of the SB.device and audio are you using?

What Mediator version is it in? (TX, SX, LT4, Original)

What PCI slot do you have it in?

Are you using mixer or ghostmix?

That might help me in the right direction.
My PCI or is:
1.Radeon (closest to the mach chips)
2.empty
3.LAN Card
4.SB128
5.empty
6.Spider USB

Side note: I am just getting back into the Amiga scene after being gone for about 10yrs. I have missed it. I use to have just about the same setup as I have now. An A1200 with Powertower, 060PPC 210mhz, 128mb ram, original Mediator (with updated mach chips), voodoo3 3000, and LAN.
I don't ever remember having issues with the sound back then. I had more issues with the voodoo card then anything else. I still even have my SB Card which is a CT4740 (and it still works, in a pc). It is funny I used to be able to use my CT4740 in my old mediator, and if you go onto Elbox's website now that card is not even shown. I think I left the amiga scene with MMUP 1.18 or 1.08 something like that around 2003 (cannot remember). Never once had this issue. AHI worked perfectly with mixer. WHAT HAPPENED? All I am reading now in the forums is SB128 no sound with mixer (needing to use Ghostmix). Have the drivers changed that much?

Just want to enjoy the amiga again. Just need to get AHI to work.

[johnim]

hi i use ghost mix and have sb128 4.20 in devs ahi

and have ahi.device 5.6 in devs

http://aminet.net/package/driver/audio/GhostMix

To Install GhostMix, follow the following steps:
1. Copy GMStart to c:
2. Copy GhostMix and GhostMix.info to Prefs
3. From a Shell, type "GhostMix SAVE" to save your current settings ready for use from the next reboot
4. Change the line in user-sequence that says "MIXER NoGUI QUIET" to "GMStart"

i have from top eg by mach chips on a v1 4 slot edition

net
usb
sb128
radeon

[roy bates]

i use sb128,audio version 4.20 in devs ahi

i have ahi.device 6.6 in devs (also works with earlier versions)

both mixer and ghostmix are installed and work.

this is my card config from top near machs downward(have had different configs with radeons virges and tv cards plus scsi cards in there working)

sb128
usb
net
voodoo(radeon and virge also working)

i use voodoo.card version 4.30 and radeon.card version 2.12 (in picasso96 in libs)and pci,library version 9.4(in libs)(dont really need the virtual memory from and gfx card)

just remembered that i used to have a problem with the sb128 not working sometimes because it wasent in the slot all the way and would pop out if the system was moved but all the others were ok,fixed that little problem ages ago.

i have had some problems in the beggining where the sound card woulnd work if it was in the bottom slot with the gfx in the top or the cards are in a order the busbaord didnt like??? the gfx always has to be in the bottom for me which is weird any card placed below the gfx wont work or maybe its something to do with the way memory is used from the gfx card on my busbaord for the other cards i dont know,but i dont know if the sound cards uses memory from the gfx card anyway?

also,remember that just because a pci card shows in pciinfo doesent mean it will work( they will show,even if its not supported)

[Bamiga2002]

AHI v4.18 and sb128.audio v4.18 (yes both the same versions hehe!) did work for me.

[Knight94]

Ok everyone time for a little research!!!

I did do some tweaking with my system last night. Trying different ideas and options and here is what I found.

Starting with the Mediator TX board:

I was able to get everything working except the SB128 with AHI. It would not load AHI prefs and would lock up my computer when trying to play a mp3 through AMP. I tried adjusting my cards around on the TX. Trying the Radeon and the bottom (farthest from the mach chips) and then trying all the cards everywhere else (using many different combinations. This took forever!!!) Everything would still work except I could not load AHI prefs and it would lock up my computer when trying to play a mp3 through AMP (still)

But remember my 3 other cards. Radeon, ethernet, and Spider USB are working flawlessly.

So I tried a different approach. Joys of having a different Mediator board.

Trying the LT4:

Just swapped out the board and started up the system. Same issues with the AHI prefs not opening and when I used Amp on a mp3 the computer would lock up. So....

I started from scratch. Reinstalled OS3.9, BB1 & 2, Mediator System files and graphics, Picasso96. Did not attach my card just installed the software. Installed AHI and Mediator Sound from the MMCD 2.0. AHI prefs would open. I was using AHI.device 5.7 PPC and SB128 4.20. Huh! It worked. So I rebooted! Tried to run it again. Froze! Seriously . So reinstalled OS3.9 again with everything. This time I attached my Radeon card. Did not install AHI from the MMCD. Installed 4.18 instead. Tried to use AHI prefs. NO LOAD! Crap!!! Then updated again to the MMCD2.0 version of AHI. I got it to load AHI Prefs. (this is all without rebooting). Tried to play a mp3 with AMP. It Works. Yay. Then rebooted. Tried it all again. NOOOOO. It will not load AHI prefs and computer locks up when I try to play a mp3 in AMP.

Now for some results. I still had and have the AHI version from MMCD2.0 installed. But I did take the FM108 out in the Devs:AHI and the Audiomodes. I did change from the PPC 5.7ahi.device to the 68k 5.6 ahi.device. And installed the SB128 versions 4.19 and the audiomode from the MMUP 1.31 update. Rebooted. It WORKS!!!!! I could load AHI Prefs and play mp3's after every reboot. I could not get the 5.7 ahi.device for ppc to work (it works but glitchy, would not work after a reboot, which I think means it hasn't officially initialized in the system before the reboot) So maybe the ppc version might not work. But I could get the 68k version to work solid.

This is still all with the LT4 board. I attached my other cards. Spider and ethernet. And started to get them configured. Spider works great. Ethernet?????? Where is it at? Check pciinfo. IT IS NOT THERE. Wait a sec, it was there in the TX Board, and working I might add. Why not here?

Ok so for the LT4, I have everything working except the ethernet card now. My order for the LT4 from Mach chips down is: SB128, Ethernet, Spider, and Radeon. I even tried swapped some of the cards except the Radeon to different spots. Didn't work.

Thought that since I have AHI working with this board lets just try the TX again and see if my ethernet will work again. Swapped everything over and got it running. Ethernet is back working in the TX Why only this board?

And I could start up my AHI prefs. So I thought great. Tried to play a mp3. Lock up again!!!!!!

So what have I now: No further adjustments in software installation has been done. Just swapping between the two mediator boards.

With the TX: No SB128 but everything else works great!

With the LT4: No Ethernet but everything else works great!


Now I am seriously confused!!!! HELP! PLEASE!

[Knight94]

Ah Ha!

I did find something. Changed video card to my voodoo 3000. Now SB128 works great with AHI. Doesn't matter what version of AHI I use. Also works with both Mediators tx and lt4. But the ethernet that once worked only on the tx with the radeon card will not work on the tx or lt4 with voodoo. And it is even an Elbox ethernet card. I am thinking it might be made to work with the radeon drivers. But that doesnt explain why it won't work with the lt4. So ordered different Ethernet card to do more testing.

I will keep you updated.

[roy bates]

the one thing i noticed is the ethernet has to use 1mb of extra memory from the gfx card installed,you could try allowing more memory by adding an extra 1mb to the prefs file in envarc for your gfx card.
i dont think a sound card needs to use extra memory to work though.

[johnim]

with the voodoo just set it to 15mb and your network card should work

I set my 128mb radeon to 99 mb and that works with all cards too

[Bamiga2002]

Yes always keep some reserve memory for other cards, network card needs the buffer anyway so to be on the safe side I have set my Voodoo4 card (32mb) memory to 28, always deducting 4mb of the whole video memory. So for Voodoo3 it would be 12mb and for Radeon (128mb) it would be 124mb.

[Knight94]

Ok. So finally got my 1200 figured out. Apparently my SB128 will only work with my Voodoo. Which I am ok with since I want to have Warp3D. So the Radeon is out of my system. I also disabled MMU for PPC apps. So no extra memory from the voodoo card to use (At least that is what I am understanding from what I have read) Also with MMU Disabled the 2 cards do not work together very well without a lot of graphical corruption. Namely. The mouse BLOCK is back and you cannot see the icons. So, I took out the Radeon card. Now it works perfect!

Of course, the only thing that I was missing was my ethernet card. So, for whatever reason, I have an elbox ethernet card with a 8139 chipset. This card would only work with the Radeon card. It didn't matter what pci slot I tried with the Ethernet and Voodoo, it would not work!

I went shopping and bought a few other ethernet cards really cheap that elbox states will work with the mediator. Plugged it in and it works perfectly. So, I don't know about my original elbox ethernet card, must be something wrong in the configuration of the card itself. It works, but only with the Radeon card. But I am happy. I bought a DLink 530TX.

Just glad that is done!!!!!!

[johnim]

nice detective work mate but all your card should have worked together

but it all works now so well done for sorting it

[Bamiga2002]

Win!
Shame that the Radeon is so underused in OS3.x - only WB and no Warp3D.

[roy bates]

Originally Posted by Bamiga2002

Win!
Shame that the Radeon is so underused in OS3.x - only WB and no Warp3D.

yeah,i was a bit dissapointed by that. im sure they could write a driver for that though,if they ever get around to it.

[diablothe2nd]

wow i've garnered so much info from this thread, as i'm having difficulty with my network card, green lights happen, but never an actual connection.

i was planning on getting a radeon for my CD1200, i guess i'll be keeping or upgrading the voodoo instead

[Hedeon]

Have multiple mediator systems and what I found:

1) Soundblasters are a hit or miss regarding working with a Radeon card. it would work in one A4000 system but would not work in an A1200 system.
2) The FM801 cards are far more reliable in working with a Mediator system
3) I've blown up 2 network cards while swapping out cards due to Soundblasters not working...dunno if it is related with your network card no longer working. They just stopped working (don't show in pciinfo anymore). thank God they're like 5 euros.
4) Supported 10MBit cards don't need PCI memory (from the gfx card) to work.

[Knight94]

Just a little more fyi posting.

I have been trying to get some of my ppc games to play in AHI. My problem is with Shogo and Wipeout in Double or Triple Buffer and trying to run AHI, the computer lockups after a few seconds of the game running. I could play Wipeout in windowed mode in AHI just fine. And as I said my AHI is working in AMP with mp3's. I tried all the different sb128 modes and no luck.

At this point with all this going on I was using the mediator tx. Cause I wanted the extra 2 pci slots. But I figured I would try the LT4 and see how it works. Wow. It worked great.. I can actually play the games in AHI with it not locking up. So my Mediator TX was the issue with in game AHI. Just don't know why it is locking up with the TX???

I keep getting one step closer with a solid system. Just wish there wasn't so many differences in hardware config.

Now if I can get my Wipeout opening video to play. Any ideas???? (This is posted in the support games section) On the bright side at least I have no graphical corruption.

[spudje]

I started my quest to get a stable A4000 CSPPC & Mediator A4000Di 3V again.
Now I have it setup with 3.1.4 ROMS and 3.1.4.1 OS. I also have a SB128 in there.
I run in very similar issues, Wipeout crashing after some seconds.

No idea if you've found the root cause in the mean time.