A590 Ram problems

[IceBladew123]

Good day everyone!

First of all I got a question :P I'm looking for a easy solution to transfer files from pc to amiga instead of nullmodem and use WHDLoad on it. Would A590 with a scsi 2gb hd and external CDrom work for the purpose?

Than the problem :P

I recently buy an amiga 500+ with an A590 drive. I see in the inside of my A590 there's 16 chips of ram installed. The drive comes with the ram jumper set to "amnesia" or no ram.
When i switch the jumper to 512/1/2 mb I've always the same result:
Yellow screen on amiga boot and slightly blinking green light on power led.

I checked the rams with others which I'm sure are working, checked the A590 on another A500, tried one by one the benches (first 512 than 1 than 2) always the same result.
Offcourse the A590 with jumper set to amnesia still working in every condition.
Checked also with a voltmeter the psu and I read 12v + 7v.

Checked also the A590 ram on my expansion A502 and it's working.

Any ideas?

Ps: sry for my english

Tnks,
Denis

[IceBladew123]

no idea?

[roy bates]

are you sure your getting 12 and 7 volts?,shouldent it be 12 and 5 volts anything over 5.24 volts and the ram fails surely.


can you check again?

[Jope]

FIFI or DMAC.

Just get a new A590.

[IceBladew123]

u're right, i got 12v and 5 volt. my fault.
Anyway, after a long reserch i found a guy who had same problem as me, he resoldered the dma controller and solved it.
Mine seems ok anyway... can't understand

[Jope]

Try reseating the DMAC, if you have a PLCC puller, that is. I've had some pretty beat up A590s and no problems with oxidized contacts.

[IceBladew123]

I don't have a plcc puller. Maybe I can try with 2 screw drivers or something, can I?

[clauddio]

Originally Posted by IceBladew123

Good day everyone!

First of all I got a question :P I'm looking for a easy solution to transfer files from pc to amiga instead of nullmodem and use WHDLoad on it. Would A570 with a scsi 2gb hd and external CDrom work for the purpose?

Than the problem :P

I recently buy an amiga 500+ with an A570 drive. I see in the inside of my A570 there's 16 chips of ram installed. The drive comes with the ram jumper set to "amnesia" or no ram.
When i switch the jumper to 512/1/2 mb I've always the same result:
Yellow screen on amiga boot and slightly blinking green light on power led.

I checked the rams with others which I'm sure are working, checked the A570 on another A500, tried one by one the benches (first 512 than 1 than 2) always the same result.
Offcourse the A570 with jumper set to amnesia still working in every condition.
Checked also with a voltmeter the psu and I read 12v + 7v.

Checked also the A570 ram on my expansion A502 and it's working.

Any ideas?

Ps: sry for my english

Tnks,
Denis

all A570 drives were sold without the ram working...despise it have a jumper to select 2mb fast...it doesn't work because there is no memory controller inside
however a few A570 were sold to developers and ram was working in those drives....but they are very rare
it seems your A570 is a common one without ram

[IceBladew123]

I got the ram controller chip on board and the manual says there's no problem on ram upgrade.

Also I have clean the DMAC and other chips pins, no change at all.
If boot the a590 with no ram on it and jumper set to 512/1/2 I got a red screen telling

system expansion board check

Status Manufacturer Product
OK 514 2
BAD 514 10

could help?

[Cymru]

It seems one moment you are discussing one and then the other. Could you clarify? They have different boards and controllers

[IceBladew123]

I'm so sorry. The hardware is the A590 external hard drive.
I edited the first post.

[Cymru]

This is a bit hard to follow because of the grammar but your A590 has issues with RAM. It works without the RAM enabled, but does not work:
If RAM jumper is set to enable regardless of amount of RAM on the board.
You are sure the RAM works as you have checked it (how did you check it?)
It fails to work if you remove the RAM but enable the jumper (yes it will fail in that case).
You have moved the RAM around and it fails.

If this correct can you explain your next thought.

As I see it, DMAC or memory controller could be bad, trace is bad, or you have one or more bad memory chips. Usually the latter

[IceBladew123]

You are right.
I tested the ram chips using a A502 expansion (the one which goes under the cover under the amiga).
It fails to work without ram but jumper enable and it give me back a red screen saying this:
system expansion board check

Status Manufacturer Product
OK 514 2
BAD 514 10

How can I check if DMAC or RAM controller are bad?

[Cymru]

Did you just plug in the A502 and check WorkBench or did you plug it in and run a RAM checking info program?

[IceBladew123]

I plugged the A502 and checked avail, but I tested also the A590 with the A502 ram chips, still the same problem.

I found a place where to buy a new DMAC but I wish to now if there's a way to check mine first

[IceBladew123]

Could it be a compatibility problem? Maybe a conflict with cpu/kickstart/on board ram...

[Cymru]

Check your RAM properly by plugging it back into the A502 and running memcheckBH.lha from Aminet. AVAIL does not check individual chips. Replacing memory is cheap and easy. Most common problem is a bad memory chip. If actual memory chips checks out fine, then replace other chips -- DMAC etc.

[IceBladew123]

I tested the ram chips how you suggested. I found that 1 mb was corrupted. However the A590 still not boot even with the "for sure working ram".
I'm planning to replace the DMAC controller and the Ram controller.
I found the DMAC on Versalia.de, an amiga spare vendor, I bought ver 1 and 2 so one of them will work I hope.
I found also the Ram controller on this site:
http://www.ebay.it/itm/PAL16L8ANC-Ma...item19d16f26dd

My question is, will this ram controller work or has to be programmed first?

[prowler]

Originally Posted by IceBladew123

I found also the Ram controller on this site:
http://www.ebay.it/itm/PAL16L8ANC-Ma...item19d16f26dd

My question is, will this ram controller work or has to be programmed first?

Yes, it would have to be programmed. The listing is just for the programmable array logic chips. Programming them makes them function accordingly.