My Alice chip is getting hot is that normal..?

[spannernick]

In my A1200 1D3,its is hotter that all the others.. does it control what's on the screen..?

Change picture to the one where the solder was...


Edit: Alice is responsible for controlling around 25 system DMA channels and addressing Chip RAM. Infact, Chip Memory is so called because it's addressable by the system's custom chips, unlike Fast Memory. Alice also cotains an integrated Copper (co-processor) which controls aspects of the Amiga's display such as draggable screens, and the infamous "copper scrolls". The Amiga's blitter is also located in the Agnus chip and is responsible for moving rectangular areas of memory efficiently as possible. This may not sound particularly spectacular but the blitter is up to twice as fast as the processor at moving blocks of memory and is capable of doing it asynchronously with the processor, meaning the processor is totally free for other operations. The blitter is particularly useful for graphics operations. Alice is found in the AGA chipset, and is equivalent to Agnus found in the OCS and ECS chipsets.

[spannernick]

Found this post about it... http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=48732
Pinball Illusions is the only game that has a problem,where the screen flashes at points as the table goes up and down and the graphics brake up,tried Pinball Fantasies AGA version and that works fine..

I blob of solder did land on the contacts of the chip when I was putting in the reset switch and didn't realise strate away and turn on the Amiga and the picture was all funny then I saw the solder,dam quickly turn it off and managed to remove it and it came back to life,wow.hope I was quick enough. that why I want to know how hot the chip should be..??

The solder landed(if you look at the picture)on the left side of the chip in the middle.

[Amiga1992]

All chips are meant to get hot to a certain level.

[8bitbubsy]

Yeah. If the system is acting normal, don't worry about the heat of the custom chips.
It's normal to get garbage content if you turn off/on the system very fast. Give it some seconds before you turn it back on.
EDIT: I didn't fully read your post, but what I wrote still remains important to remember.

[spannernick]

I was worried cos I drop solder on the connects of the chip and turn it on and it would come on,the screen was going funny with all lines a cross the screen,then i saw the solder and quickly turn it off and quickly removed the solder and it come back to life,with the disk animation,Pinball Illusion crashed and all the graphics went funny and all you could see properly is the flippers.It's never done that before.
Can not having a lot of memory cause this,make a game crash..?

[Steve T]

Originally Posted by spannernick

I was worried cos I drop solder on the connects of the chip and turn it on and it would come on,the screen was going funny with all lines a cross the screen,then i saw the solder and quickly turn it off and quickly removed the solder and it come back to life,with the disk animation,Pinball Illusion crashed and all the graphics went funny and all you could see properly is the flippers.It's never done that before.
Can not having a lot of memory cause this,make a game crash..?

You might not have damaged the chip, just put the machine into a state where it won't run right until the short is fixed... guess it depends on the pins you bridged. does other software / games work ok? how much memory do you have?

[spannernick]

Well when running Workbench I get flickers of the screen like one sec its colour then very quick it's black and white and then back to colour,if that makes sense..?

Didn't do this before..

Here is where the solder landed,this will teach me to cover up the board when I am soldering on it.

Memory I have at the moment is 2mb chip and a 2mb PCMCIA Card

[Steve T]

http://aminet.net/package/docs/hard/pinouts

I guess it could be another random failure or something else damaged while you worked on it - anything from flexing the board (cracking solder joints on other chips or connectors) to static/ESD shock to thermal shock from the heating can damage components or cause intermittent fails. Easily done when the board is out being worked on.

the problems you describe could just be a faulty connector or cable, even something with the display try wiggling these things a little to try and get the fault to occur, try a different display, a different cable, a different powersupply....

If you think its the solder bridge, perhaps try and work out what those pins do, and see if it might explain the symptoms... it could be something else, it could be that the short damaged something else at the other end of where those traces go and didn't affect Alice at all... so even replacing that chip may not do it.

is your reset mod still attached? perhaps try removing it... possibly its putting some strain on the circuitry or is not installed properly. good news is it sounds like the machine mostly functions, with a little patience I'm sure the machine can work fine again.

2p, don't mess with boards unless you really need to and inspect your work before powering on!

[xArtx]

The chip will run hotter than normal if it’s short internally,
in which case there’s less resistance across it’s power supply pins due to fault,
or, if it’s power supply pin/s are not connected and it’s being powered from it’s I/O pins.

[spannernick]

If some can tell me what to test,what pins on the chip..I don't have a clue when it comes to this..?

I might make a short video and you can see what I mean,could it be my PCMCIA Card thats doing it..?

I have tryed 2 different versions of Pinball Illusions,and they do the same,one on CD200 and the CD version,both mounted as isos.Later try another AGA game,it don't do it on all games,I think it just does it on AGA games,and on the workbench.

I have a funny feeling it my memory,cos I am using a 16 bit card..??

[Steve T]

Originally Posted by spannernick

If some can tell me what to test,what pins on the chip..I don't have a clue when it comes to this..?

I might make a short video and you can see what I mean,could it be my PCMCIA Card thats doing it..?

I have tryed 2 different versions of Pinball Illusions,and they do the same,one on CD200 and the CD version,both mounted as isos.Later try another AGA game,it don't do it on all games,I think it just does it on AGA games,and on the workbench.

I have a funny feeling it my memory,cos I am using a 16 bit card..??

you really need to be testing the system 'bare bones' - remove everything and maybe just try it with some floppy games.

[spannernick]

Originally Posted by Steve T

you really need to be testing the system 'bare bones' - remove everything and maybe just try it with some floppy games.

Good Idea will do that,get my Pushover out and have a play..

I think its the card,If I have the 2mb card in with my Alfa Ram card in,the A1200 not like it and crashes the workbench but would do that cos it's try it work with a 16bit card and a 32bit slot card in the trap door.

Anyway thanks for all the help,I thinks its 16bit 2mb card.

[spannernick]

Is there any programs I can download to test the Amiga 1200 with..?

[Steve T]

lots of issues with this 1200! Sorry to read it really. If you're getting issues with it even bare bones, different psu, display, cables etc - rule everything peripheral out and maybe consider sending the board to someone who can troubleshoot these issues and take measurements etc, because I wonder if they are all connected somehow.

[robinsonb5]

Originally Posted by spannernick

Well when running Workbench I get flickers of the screen like one sec its colour then very quick it's black and white and then back to colour,if that makes sense..?

Losing colour momentarily doesn't sound like a problem with Alice.

How do you have your monitor connected? Composite? RGB Scart lead? RGB->VGA adapter?

If composite, then there's probably a problem with the composite encoder chip - or the capacitors surrounding it.

If RGB Scart, then you probably have a fussy TV and the voltage on the blanking pin is marginal.

I think Alice getting warmer than the other chips is normal - I seem to remember it causing trouble (little flickery lines) with clip-on scandoublers back in the day.

[spannernick]

Yes it was the 2 MB PCMCIA card,got the memory for the Alfa Ram 1200 and put that in,and there is no flicking in workbench.all ok.more testing soon.

Any apps for testing ram..?

[Zetr0]

Hmmm I am wondering if this problem is related to this one (whereby C30C was damaged by a high-current draw) - this could of happened when the Alice was shorted by the solder spill

[spannernick]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

Hmmm I am wondering if this problem is related to this one (whereby C30C was damaged by a high-current draw) - this could of happened when the Alice was shorted by the solder spill

No its a different board,this is a 1D3 and the another one is a 2B,but thanks for the reply,it was my 2 MB PCMCIA card doing the screen flickering,thinking about it now,it was not black and white I was seeing, it was a purple flicker.I managed to play Pinball Illusions with my Alfa ram card in(when it wants to work properly that is) via WHDLoad and it played fine,no flickering or GFX breakup ..

[spannernick]

Just tested my A1200 1D3 mobo with the Gotek and there is nothing wrong with it so its the Alfa ram card thats faulty.Might pin it on the wall..