ACA500 tested

[amiga1260]

I have a corrupt floppy picture when booting in Kickstart ROM 1.3.

I tested with three A500's : Rev 6, Rev 8A, Rev 8A1 in combination with ACA 1220@25 MHz and 1232@33MHz.

The two ACA 500 have ACA menu version 0.96.

[fryguy]

First, I'm aware that Blizzard cards aren't supported. But how can one get a Blizzard 1260 work with the ACA500? I tried a B1260 on my card, but i think i might miss some libs or something.

I downloaded the hacked ACA 060-libs by Toni and copied them to libs: Will i need some other 060libs aswell? I could run programs for 000 (and 020 i think) but if i tried something 060-optimized they would crash.

(My card is updated to 0.96 and i tried it together with a A500+. With a B1230IV i had no problem.)

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by amiga1260

I have a corrupt floppy picture when booting in Kickstart ROM 1.3.

I tested with three A500's : Rev 6, Rev 8A, Rev 8A1 in combination with ACA 1220@25 MHz and 1232@33MHz.

The two ACA 500 have ACA menu version 0.96.

KS 1.x blitter wait bug. Only happens if CPU is very fast (MAP ROM + really fast RAM will trigger it, probably can only happen with ACA12xx boards).

Originally Posted by fryguy

First, I'm aware that Blizzard cards aren't supported. But how can one get a Blizzard 1260 work with the ACA500? I tried a B1260 on my card, but i think i might miss some libs or something.

I downloaded the hacked ACA 060-libs by Toni and copied them to libs: Will i need some other 060libs aswell? I could run programs for 000 (and 020 i think) but if i tried something 060-optimized they would crash.

(My card is updated to 0.96 and i tried it together with a A500+. With a B1230IV i had no problem.)

Exact same requirements as any other 68060 board: new enough setpatch (aminet) or dummy 68040.library (for example blizzard 68060 library package).

C:CPU must report FPU. If it does not: bad 68060.library setup.

[Jacques]

IS ACA500's IDE-CF solution compatible with anything on drivers level (A600/A1200, something else)?
I'm asking because I'd like to use harddisk functionality within KCS emulator (PC XT mounted in trapdoor) and this emulator supports various IDE/SCSI solutions itself, but I need to know if ACA500's IDE is compatible with anything?

[Schoenfeld]

ACA500 uses an A600-compatible IDE.

Jens

[Jacques]

I still am experiencing big issues with ACA500, card is replaced by Polish RetroAmi distributor, firmware is the latest one but it's not functioning correctly

Configuration: A500, insternal Kickstart 1.3 0.5 MB CHIP + 0.5 MB SLOW, ACA500, no additional turbo boards. Tested also on A500+ and behaviour is the same.


Settings: Kickstart 3.1 mapped from ACA 500, the rest of settings doesn't really matter and changes nothing.

Problems:

1) Sandisk Ultra II (4GB) or Transcend 133x 4GB
mapped kickstart 3.1 -> early menu:
BOOT and BOOT WITHOUT S-S hangs Amiga completely with gray screen, even if want to boot from DF0.

2) Canon 32 MB and Canon 16 MB CF cards
mapped kickstart 3.1 -> early menu:
BOOT WITHOUT S-S is working
just BOOT hangs Amiga completely with gray screen, even if want to boot from DF0.

3) software REBOOT (be it forced e.g. by HDToolBox or using reboot program (ClassicWB) - hangs Amiga completely with gray screen.

All cards are genuine(!), working fine with everything else (A1200 PCMCIA, PC, ATARI) and otherwise work fine with ACA500 when booting normally, without Early Menu.

It's really bad that the ver basic functionality of Amiga (Early Menu boot and software reboot) still don't work (in contrary to description of latest firmware) on 4 cards I'm using.

RetroAmi disributor got my 1st ACA500, confirmed the problem with Sandisk 4GB, then supposedly found another one which worked with BOOT WITHOUT S-S option from Early Menu (however he didn't mention testing just BOOT or REBOOT). And now I have another one still having these issue. What was funny, that if instead of mapped Kick 3.1 I used A500+ Kick 2.0, it's boot menu was working fine. and I could choose the partition to boot and not hang computer with using "BOOT" button.

I'm kindly asking for some feedback, is this a lack of compatibility of ACA500 with quite a lot cards, hardware design flaw of ACA500 or something that could be fixed with another firmware version (last one was supposed to fix it, but it's not the case).

Like I mentioned, my 1st card was returned to RetroAmi.com.pl for tests, I had to pay for sending and in return got another flawed card.

Any help, fix and/or explanation will be greatly appreciated.
Testing another ACA500 on 2 Amigas (A500/A500+) and 4 different CF cards I can say it with certainity: my Amiga/CF hardware is not the reason behind those problems, must be something with ACA500's.

best regards.

[lukassid]

Mate there is no way you get 2 faulty cards. It's something with your A500.

Just wanted to say a big thank you to Jens for this amazing device it made my Xmas playing around with the ACA500 and my Amiga 500 again

A few questions, being new to WDHload is it normal for some games to run slow e.g IK+ stutters on title screen same as Turrican 2 I've got an ACA1220 so lack of memory isn't the problem, also alot of games crash.

Ive got a 500MB trapdoor expansion with no battery, can i use the realtime clock module with my ACA1220 ?

When setting up a CF card in WinUAE do you need to set the partitions with a maxtransfer setting of 0x1fe00 ? i didn't bother as i thought the ACA500 has a different IDE than the Amiga.

Thanks Again

[Jacques]

@lukassid

I don't want to be rude, but don't spread disinformation please, while you apparently haven't read carefully enough.
In my case they're actually 4 different CF cards tested on 2 different Amigas (A500/A500+) and 2 ACA500's plus the same issue occurs in case of another user I know of (PPA.PL forum), plus RetroAmi ACA distributor reproduced it on his hardware, too.
The issue is apparent, no need to depreciate it, REALLY.

[fitzsteve]

Transcend 133x cards are known working, tested here 2, 4 & 8gb!

[Jacques]

Mine are also working "IN GENERAL", but that specific scenarios I mentioned are failing (ACA500 alone, mapped kick 3.1 from ACA500 memory + early menu BOOT/BOOT WITH NO SS and software reboot = grey screen).

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by Jacques

Mine are also working "IN GENERAL", but that specific scenarios I mentioned are failing (ACA500 alone, mapped kick 3.1 + early menu BOOT/BOOT WITH NO SS and software reboot = grey screen).

I'll see if I can replicate on my setup & report back.

To date the only issue I've had is my Verbatim 133x CF does not work (Amiga wont boot, black screen only)

I've not noticed any unusual behavior when rebooting but I will check your steps to see if I can replicate.

[Jacques]

Thank you.

Please try especially "BOOT" button from early menu of mapped Kick3.1. (even with DF0, but CF card present in slot). By software reboot, I mean the "reboot" command from ClassicWB package, or the one imposed e.g. by HDToolBox after changing the partition-layout and saving changes.

[Schoenfeld]

We don't work any faster if you keep deviating from the standard support path: THis is not a support forum. Support goes through your reseller, and since he could not help so far, the issue has been sent back to us. We've investigated the corner cases you've reported, and fixed them. No need to spread false information about hardware flaws and the like.

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/File:Menu500V099.zip

Jens

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Arnell

A few questions, being new to WDHload is it normal for some games to run slow e.g IK+ stutters on title screen same as Turrican 2 I've got an ACA1220 so lack of memory isn't the problem, also alot of games crash.

AFAIK A1200 accelerators have lower raw chip ram bandwidth than 68000. WHDLoad cache options may help.

Ive got a 500MB trapdoor expansion with no battery, can i use the realtime clock module with my ACA1220 ?

No, accelerator clock is not visible to Amiga side.

When setting up a CF card in WinUAE do you need to set the partitions with a maxtransfer setting of 0x1fe00 ? i didn't bother as i thought the ACA500 has a different IDE than the Amiga.

ACA500 driver in flash does not care about max transfer.

But it is still better to set 0x1fe00 if you use expert menu to create profile that does not have ACA500 driver enabled or if you need to connect it to standard IDE connector.

[Jacques]

Hi Jens,
thank you for your reply.

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

We don't work any faster if you keep deviating from the standard support path: THis is not a support forum.

This is "ACA500 tested" thread, so I'm sharing detailed results of my tests with two consecutive ACA500 cards. Why shouldn't I be allowed to if the card(s) I have are having issues?

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Support goes through your reseller, and since he could not help so far, the issue has been sent back to us.

I went this route already, spend some money on sending the card back to reseller and in returned got another ACA500 bothered with same problems.

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

We've investigated the corner cases you've reported, and fixed them.

I've just tested 0.99 and unfortunately that's not the case. All symptoms I mentioned above are still present if you go with the test-scenario I described above.

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

No need to spread false information about hardware flaws and the like.

Actually this is a bit harsh charge towards me, since as a customer I only raised a question what's the reason behind my problems (which I'm entitled to I guess, having spent some money on the card), since either reseller-tests and new version of firmware still didn't fix the issues I'm troubled with. It's either some ACA500's are affected or you haven't tested identically same scenario & hardware (CF cards-wise) as I'm mentioning.
0.96 was supposed to fix such issues but didn't, now you have released 0.99, so I guess some problems were still diagnosed after 0.96, unfortunately 0.99 doesn't fix them yet, too.

Of course we don't need any negative emotions here, I understand you trying to help and fix problems and I appreciate that, but also please understand me, since with time and money spent, in certain conditions ACA500 I have still has problems on fully functional Amigas and CF cards (A500 ECS Agnus 1MB version, A500+ ECS Agnus 2 MB version - both machines have 0.5 MB CHIP RAM on mainboards).

best regards.

[duga]

Have you tried with your slow RAM removed or converted it to chip instead slow RAM?

[Jacques]

Yes, it changed nothing unfortunately.
Without trapdoor 0.5 MB or with it set as SLOW or CHIP, hasn't helped.
And on A500+ I was testing without any expansion at all, too.

[Schoenfeld]

Jacques,

As stated in the manual, the ACA500 is a low-budget product where tiny flaws are expected. We indeed have a set of a few CF cards that don't work at all and others that cause trouble when re-booting (either with or without early startup menu), and we can't make those work, mainly because there's no development budget left to support those cards.

Please turn to your reseller for a full refund of the ACA500, as you're obviously not satisfied with the product. We've done our best, but there's tight limits to what we can do for 79,90 EUR.

Jens

[Amicol]

I received mine last week, and I couldn't be happier!
Success with a CF card is dependant on the actual A500 too as I have cards that work on my A500+, but do not work on my standard A500 (rev 6a) using the same ACA500. However, I have a 16Gb card that works flawlessly on both :-)