Rapidroad Burnout?

lord of time · 04 October 2018, 15:00

Hiya folks, I was just wondering if they ever got to the bottom of the Rapidroad USB problem with them burning out? just that I really miss having one but after 3 of them failing on 2 different Amiga's I am unsure about spending such a large amount just incase they still have the problem.

BMD · 09 October 2018, 21:31

Thought it was just me having that problem. I had one short out the 5v line causing the powersupply to reset every 2 seconds. Bought another just to have it not work after 3 weeks and finding the controller chip onboard getting red hot. Think im going to hold off also.

Is it just rapidroad or is it also Xsurf doing it?

lord of time · 10 October 2018, 19:25

was yours recently purchased? I am trying to work out if maybe there was a bad batch or something?

wiz12 · 10 October 2018, 20:32

I bought one from Amigakit recently and couldn't get it to work no matter what I tried despite the white LED lighting correctly. I have since returned it hoping they can figure out whats wrong with it and possibly fix it.

BMD · 17 October 2018, 09:28

Mine was bought about September but these don't exactly fly off the shelves, so it may be old stock as well. Bought one straight from icomp and one from amigakit same issue it crapped out... Surely they know something is up and will at least acknowledge it?

nexus · 17 October 2018, 17:14

hmz i have 1 i havent used yet i hope its good

BMD · 29 October 2018, 23:43

Out of the box it works fine, it will play nicely for 1-3 weeks then it just poofs and don't work. Once you crack your amiga open and take the plastic off of it you will notice the chip next to the clock-port plug is screaming hot when on unless it totally burns out.

spudje · 30 October 2018, 08:57

Have you guys tried the official iComp support forum? I guess that would be a better approach then just come complaining here...

lord of time · 31 October 2018, 14:59

its more information gathering than complaining and as I have said yes I had one replaced under warrenty but nobody will admit there is a problem with them - its the only device of this kind and before i Shel out another 100 - 140 quid for one I want to be sure this issue has been addressed.

MartinW · 22 December 2018, 00:15

The one in my A1200 goes unused. I should take it out really but I'm fed up with keep unscrewing the case. The first one I had was OK but just would not work with stuff reliably except mice. I was trying to get a USB network card to work but it would work for a few seconds and then just start timing out. USB storage devices (USB sticks etc.) would do pretty much the same. As I had bought from Vesalia (I think) it fell to them to support (I didn't know this or I would have bought direct) but since they were on holiday, support was kindly given direct from iComp. I don't really have any complaints with the support I got other than things eventually just petered out and went unsolved.

My first board ended up dying when I connected it to a USB hub (which was one of the suggested fixes for the timeout issue). That board was swapped out but I still couldn't get the replacement to work properly. In the end iComp said it must be my machine and it was pretty much left like that.

Shame as what I really wanted was to get it working and buy another for my big box Amiga to get the two talking but not enough confidence in it for that.

This pretty much sums up my experience with Amiga add-ons full stop really. So far I've had:

Indivision CR v2 for A1200 - Arrived with a cable that was too short to reach the port on the back of the A1200. UK seller denied that could be the case (trust me, it was too short!). After modifying the cable with a scalpel I made it reach but in the end I went to a CRT monitor. It was just better and simpler. So the Indi is in a box on the shelf.

Elbox FastATA. (Think that's what it's called). Worked but it was a TERRIBLE fit. I had to put so much pressure on the thing I'm surprised it didn't break the motherboard. When it was in it ran so hot that even with a fan (that annoyed the hell out of me) I could still smell the hot plastic of the case. In the end, it wasn't worth it and it joins the ACA in a box on the shelf.

iComp ACA1233: OK, the one great thing that I'm happy with. Works like a charm.

iComp Rapid Road (see above). Will probably end up on the same shelf!

I'm am getting less and less likely to buy new hardware add ons the more that come out.

Cego · 22 December 2018, 09:42

There is one rule regarding Rapidroad: Do connect USB equipment with its own power supply. You will fry your RR immediately. I am using my RR together with a Prisma Megamix music card both connected to a clockport expander. USB Sticks, a Webcam and even a slim CD ROM drive works nicely.

I have also killed two of those thingies. Once by connecting an external harddisk and another time by connecting a self powered hub.

FastATA should work nicely though, but you have to consider some stuff. First of all replace your kickstart sockets with precision sockets and use a riser kit to mount the FastATA in an angled position. You dont have to put no pressure at all. It just fits nicely under the keyboard. And there are also silent fans with low db. I have installed two into my upper case, which blow the heat outside of the machine. i can't almost hear them. (about 13db)

My point is: you have to invest some time and find out how to solve things correctly - i would even go as far and say that this applies to everything in our Amiga hobby.

BMD · 12 August 2019, 21:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cego

There is one rule regarding Rapidroad: Do connect USB equipment with its own power supply. You will fry your RR immediately. I am using my RR together with a Prisma Megamix music card both connected to a clockport expander. USB Sticks, a Webcam and even a slim CD ROM drive works nicely.

I have also killed two of those thingies. Once by connecting an external harddisk and another time by connecting a self powered hub.

FastATA should work nicely though, but you have to consider some stuff. First of all replace your kickstart sockets with precision sockets and use a riser kit to mount the FastATA in an angled position. You dont have to put no pressure at all. It just fits nicely under the keyboard. And there are also silent fans with low db. I have installed two into my upper case, which blow the heat outside of the machine. i can't almost hear them. (about 13db)

My point is: you have to invest some time and find out how to solve things correctly - i would even go as far and say that this applies to everything in our Amiga hobby.

True, However this should be stated on icomp's wiki and not be problems solved by then end user after spending $200 plus on a device that never states the use of fans, powered hubs etc. on its wiki or official webpage. Also the A500/A500+ does not have a clockport expander and a ACA500+ or ACA1233n etc must be used. There is a option that is hard to find where the processor is removed and pluged into a board that adds a clockport.

MartinW · 12 August 2019, 22:07

Also, when I was trying to diagnose why mine doesn’t work, the first thing I was told by Jens was to try a powered hub. Is that not an externally powered device??

I since tried a slim cddrive on a PowerBook running MorphOS (also Poseidon) and got nak timeouts until I added the drives second usb to externally power the device. It’s actually a known thing on the g4 PowerBook that usb is underpowered. This tells me that nak timeouts CAN be power related but wasn’t the solution for my 1200 or 1000.

At the end of the day, not worth the effort and filed under “lesson learnt”. Given the stance on support if not buying direct I will think twice before buying icomp products again. Not saying I won’t but I’ll certainly think twice!

demolition · 12 August 2019, 23:13

Reading about these experiences triggered me to purchase a small powered USB hub which I planned on installing inside the Amiga and only expose the hub's USB ports in an attempt to protect the RR. I haven't performed the operation yet, but I assume it should not cause problems with the RR since the hub would then be powered from the same 5V supply as the RR itself.

I have two RRs and have yet to fry any of them but I have also never connected any externally powered devices and have mainly used it with USB memory sticks, mice and keyboards.

MartinW · 13 August 2019, 13:24

Mice and Keyboards work OK for me. USB sticks, mostly but not always.

Be careful with the USB powered hub. The first thing I was told to try by iComp as a request on support was a powered hub. I did and it killed the RR. After that RR was replaced I bought a different powered hub and while it doesn't fry the RR, it identifies itself as a "Genesys Hub" (from memory) which Poseidon says is known to not work properly.

So the main problem with the RR is you seem to need to be an electrical engineer to know what you can and cannot safely plug into it and why. And when some hubs kill it, some don't and some don't kill it but won't work properly with Poseidon then to me it's like Russian roulette where I just happen to be one of the unlucky ones that has two machines in which it doesn't work even though there are a lot of people that say it does work.

I do have to wonder though how many people there are that have one that doesn't work and it just sits on a shelf without really saying anything.

whaka · 29 August 2019, 16:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cego

I have also killed two of those thingies. Once by connecting an external harddisk and another time by connecting a self powered hub.

this was probably due to earthing/leaking current issue.
that's why the RR come with a earthing cable you need to fix on the chassis.
but you really need to be sure your machine is well connected to earth.

i had trouble with deneb and externally powered device, lot of instabilities during tranfers. but fortunately, nothing fried.
and, the cause is non existent earthing. i live in a mid 60's construction, and earthing was not the rules for all rooms.

demolition · 29 August 2019, 16:55

The original Amiga PSU does not connect the Amiga shield to mains earth, at least not the PSUs I've tested (actually the shield on the cable was floating).

But yes, making sure the two devices are grounded properly together before connecting them will probably help with many of these issues.

Daedalus · 29 August 2019, 17:00

Some PSUs do connect the shield, some don't. But the Amiga itself connects ground to shield via a choke anyway, so the two should be equivalent with respect to mains earth and any current leakage.

demolition · 29 August 2019, 17:05

Does the PSU have earth and ground connected?

Amiga4000 · 29 August 2019, 17:06

Specifically, what machines are you guys having the burnout problem with?

04 October 2018, 15:00	#1
lord of time Banned Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: wolverhampton Posts: 153	Rapidroad Burnout? Hiya folks, I was just wondering if they ever got to the bottom of the Rapidroad USB problem with them burning out? just that I really miss having one but after 3 of them failing on 2 different Amiga's I am unsure about spending such a large amount just incase they still have the problem.

22 December 2018, 09:42	#11
Cego Registered User Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Germany Posts: 163	There is one rule regarding Rapidroad: Do connect USB equipment with its own power supply. You will fry your RR immediately. I am using my RR together with a Prisma Megamix music card both connected to a clockport expander. USB Sticks, a Webcam and even a slim CD ROM drive works nicely. I have also killed two of those thingies. Once by connecting an external harddisk and another time by connecting a self powered hub. FastATA should work nicely though, but you have to consider some stuff. First of all replace your kickstart sockets with precision sockets and use a riser kit to mount the FastATA in an angled position. You dont have to put no pressure at all. It just fits nicely under the keyboard. And there are also silent fans with low db. I have installed two into my upper case, which blow the heat outside of the machine. i can't almost hear them. (about 13db) My point is: you have to invest some time and find out how to solve things correctly - i would even go as far and say that this applies to everything in our Amiga hobby. Last edited by Cego; 22 December 2018 at 09:48.

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09 October 2018, 21:31	#2
BMD Amiga Man Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: Shreveport, Louisiana / United States Posts: 63	Thought it was just me having that problem. I had one short out the 5v line causing the powersupply to reset every 2 seconds. Bought another just to have it not work after 3 weeks and finding the controller chip onboard getting red hot. Think im going to hold off also. Is it just rapidroad or is it also Xsurf doing it?

10 October 2018, 19:25	#3
lord of time Banned Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: wolverhampton Posts: 153	was yours recently purchased? I am trying to work out if maybe there was a bad batch or something?

10 October 2018, 20:32	#4
wiz12 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: Ireland Posts: 756	I bought one from Amigakit recently and couldn't get it to work no matter what I tried despite the white LED lighting correctly. I have since returned it hoping they can figure out whats wrong with it and possibly fix it.

17 October 2018, 09:28	#5
BMD Amiga Man Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: Shreveport, Louisiana / United States Posts: 63	Mine was bought about September but these don't exactly fly off the shelves, so it may be old stock as well. Bought one straight from icomp and one from amigakit same issue it crapped out... Surely they know something is up and will at least acknowledge it?

17 October 2018, 17:14	#6
nexus Registered User Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: USA Posts: 728	hmz i have 1 i havent used yet i hope its good

29 October 2018, 23:43	#7
BMD Amiga Man Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: Shreveport, Louisiana / United States Posts: 63	Out of the box it works fine, it will play nicely for 1-3 weeks then it just poofs and don't work. Once you crack your amiga open and take the plastic off of it you will notice the chip next to the clock-port plug is screaming hot when on unless it totally burns out.

30 October 2018, 08:57	#8
spudje Registered User Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Netherlands Posts: 1,406	Have you guys tried the official iComp support forum? I guess that would be a better approach then just come complaining here...

31 October 2018, 14:59	#9
lord of time Banned Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: wolverhampton Posts: 153	its more information gathering than complaining and as I have said yes I had one replaced under warrenty but nobody will admit there is a problem with them - its the only device of this kind and before i Shel out another 100 - 140 quid for one I want to be sure this issue has been addressed.

22 December 2018, 00:15	#10
MartinW Registered User Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Minehead / UK Posts: 608	The one in my A1200 goes unused. I should take it out really but I'm fed up with keep unscrewing the case. The first one I had was OK but just would not work with stuff reliably except mice. I was trying to get a USB network card to work but it would work for a few seconds and then just start timing out. USB storage devices (USB sticks etc.) would do pretty much the same. As I had bought from Vesalia (I think) it fell to them to support (I didn't know this or I would have bought direct) but since they were on holiday, support was kindly given direct from iComp. I don't really have any complaints with the support I got other than things eventually just petered out and went unsolved. My first board ended up dying when I connected it to a USB hub (which was one of the suggested fixes for the timeout issue). That board was swapped out but I still couldn't get the replacement to work properly. In the end iComp said it must be my machine and it was pretty much left like that. Shame as what I really wanted was to get it working and buy another for my big box Amiga to get the two talking but not enough confidence in it for that. This pretty much sums up my experience with Amiga add-ons full stop really. So far I've had: Indivision CR v2 for A1200 - Arrived with a cable that was too short to reach the port on the back of the A1200. UK seller denied that could be the case (trust me, it was too short!). After modifying the cable with a scalpel I made it reach but in the end I went to a CRT monitor. It was just better and simpler. So the Indi is in a box on the shelf. Elbox FastATA. (Think that's what it's called). Worked but it was a TERRIBLE fit. I had to put so much pressure on the thing I'm surprised it didn't break the motherboard. When it was in it ran so hot that even with a fan (that annoyed the hell out of me) I could still smell the hot plastic of the case. In the end, it wasn't worth it and it joins the ACA in a box on the shelf. iComp ACA1233: OK, the one great thing that I'm happy with. Works like a charm. iComp Rapid Road (see above). Will probably end up on the same shelf! I'm am getting less and less likely to buy new hardware add ons the more that come out.

12 August 2019, 22:07	#13
MartinW Registered User Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Minehead / UK Posts: 608	Also, when I was trying to diagnose why mine doesn’t work, the first thing I was told by Jens was to try a powered hub. Is that not an externally powered device?? I since tried a slim cddrive on a PowerBook running MorphOS (also Poseidon) and got nak timeouts until I added the drives second usb to externally power the device. It’s actually a known thing on the g4 PowerBook that usb is underpowered. This tells me that nak timeouts CAN be power related but wasn’t the solution for my 1200 or 1000. At the end of the day, not worth the effort and filed under “lesson learnt”. Given the stance on support if not buying direct I will think twice before buying icomp products again. Not saying I won’t but I’ll certainly think twice!

12 August 2019, 23:13	#14
demolition Unregistered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Copenhagen / DK Age: 44 Posts: 4,190	Reading about these experiences triggered me to purchase a small powered USB hub which I planned on installing inside the Amiga and only expose the hub's USB ports in an attempt to protect the RR. I haven't performed the operation yet, but I assume it should not cause problems with the RR since the hub would then be powered from the same 5V supply as the RR itself. I have two RRs and have yet to fry any of them but I have also never connected any externally powered devices and have mainly used it with USB memory sticks, mice and keyboards.

13 August 2019, 13:24	#15
MartinW Registered User Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: Minehead / UK Posts: 608	Mice and Keyboards work OK for me. USB sticks, mostly but not always. Be careful with the USB powered hub. The first thing I was told to try by iComp as a request on support was a powered hub. I did and it killed the RR. After that RR was replaced I bought a different powered hub and while it doesn't fry the RR, it identifies itself as a "Genesys Hub" (from memory) which Poseidon says is known to not work properly. So the main problem with the RR is you seem to need to be an electrical engineer to know what you can and cannot safely plug into it and why. And when some hubs kill it, some don't and some don't kill it but won't work properly with Poseidon then to me it's like Russian roulette where I just happen to be one of the unlucky ones that has two machines in which it doesn't work even though there are a lot of people that say it does work. I do have to wonder though how many people there are that have one that doesn't work and it just sits on a shelf without really saying anything.

29 August 2019, 16:55	#17
demolition Unregistered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Copenhagen / DK Age: 44 Posts: 4,190	The original Amiga PSU does not connect the Amiga shield to mains earth, at least not the PSUs I've tested (actually the shield on the cable was floating). But yes, making sure the two devices are grounded properly together before connecting them will probably help with many of these issues.

29 August 2019, 17:00	#18
Daedalus Registered User Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Dublin, then Glasgow Posts: 6,369	Some PSUs do connect the shield, some don't. But the Amiga itself connects ground to shield via a choke anyway, so the two should be equivalent with respect to mains earth and any current leakage.

29 August 2019, 17:05	#19
demolition Unregistered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Copenhagen / DK Age: 44 Posts: 4,190	Does the PSU have earth and ground connected?

29 August 2019, 17:06	#20
Amiga4000 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: The Ford Galaxy Posts: 214	Specifically, what machines are you guys having the burnout problem with?

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