Elbox A1200TX Fast Ethernet Downloads keep stopping?

[Kin Hell]

As the title says....

If I choose not to use PCMCIA cards, Window Jumper size is set to 8Mb, Radeon gets 8 & say yes to BuffMem obviously.

Fast Ethernet connects but downloads pause after a few seconds & do not resume.

If I choose to use PCMCIA cards, Window Jumper size is set to 4Mb, Radeon gets 4 & say yes to BuffMem obviously.

Then using a Cnet device on a PCMCIA Network card, downloads will complete, albeit a slower D/L speed of course. - I had to install the PCMCIA CardReset & CardPatch fixes as this 1D4 A1200 board needs it for the PCMCIA to function correctly.

I did read someone else having pausing downloads & can't find reference to it today.

Can anyone shed some light on this for me please? - I've tried several TCP/IP stacks to no avail & am a registered user of Roadshow. Latest version 1.5 doesn't make any difference either.

In the background & having been "Elboxed" on several occasions in the past, I have this annoying nag saying they would want a Mediator report text file & then tell me the MACH chips need an upgrade!

[AmigaMark]

Was this working ok at some point or has it never worked correctly?

did you change anything before it behaving this way?

[Kin Hell]

Never worked correctly yet...

New build under PiStorm32/CM4/Breakout combo....

TX board from the e/web zone, case from Elbox.
Have a FastATA on the motherboard, DVDROM off it is is fine

1D4 recapped mobo

Couldn't get PCMCIA Ethernet on line in Elbox Tower.

Put PCMCIA Ethernet in Re-Amiga v1.5 & online with no issues using roadshow.

I've yet to try this PiAmiKit install so far with the tower but need to back it up before risking corruption.

I'm still of the opinion the Mediator is the culprit & have this horrible feeling I'll have to upgrade a couple of the Mach chips to correct it....
Maybe it's the EMU68 thing....

I'll have to strip the Mobo out of the tower case to fit the Mongoose 030....
PiStorm32Lite/CM4 combo flips in & out of the case easily.

I can promote screens to the HDMI on another screen from Workbench meaning the Radeon is set up correctly under Picasso96 settings.

Ethernet will connect on FastEthernet & give correct Network IP's in display; Roadie launches Roadshow @ startup so the network is ready to go.
Roadie will sit there pinging 8.8.8.8 continuously....

Try and download anything & the D/L craps out to yellow in iBrowse 3.0a...

Try & update AmiKitPiStorm & it will start, & then craps out after a few seconds.

Despite setting Mediator window to 4Mb for trying to enable the use of PCMCIA cards, I couldn't get the Elbox Mediator to connect to the home Network.

With the Mediators Window Jumper set to 8Mb for not using the PCMCIA option, FastEthernet connects & then craps out....

No MMU option either under Pi/CM4...

Hmmmm

[Kin Hell]

Okay....

Window size 8Mb
Slot 1 & 2 empty
Slot 3 = Realtek 8139D
Slot 4 = Radeon 9200 128Mb
Slot 5 = SB128 Card
Slot 6 = Spider USB Card

Having gotten AmiKit all updated for the PiStorm install in my Re-Amiga1200 desktop 1.5 using PCMCI Ethernet using the CNET.device, I backed up the MicroSD on the PeeCee & slapped the CM4/Breakout kit back into the Elbox Mediator Tower.

I Moved the working CNET config from AK0/Devs/NetInterfaces to AK0/Storage/NetInterfaces & then copied my FastEthernet config back to AK0/Devs/NetInterfaces.
Then I opened Roadie & setup the Net Interface for the FastEthernet config & re-booted.

I've downloaded a 55Mb file several times from Aminet & seen different things happen....
Completed the same file three times okay with one Network reset to do so.

Seen some connections just become stale. Sometimes, disconnecting & reconnecting works other times a reset is necessary.

And now just seen one go stale @ 66% completed. Disconnet & reconnect , D/L same file again & it resumes to 100% with a stale yellow marker on it in the download window. - Rebooted & re-downloaded the same 55Mb file to 26%??

Netinterface config is as below.

#Configuration file created using Roadie
#
device=FastEthernet.device
unit=0
address=192.168.1.177
netmak=255.255.255.0
requiresinitdelay=no
iprequests=48
writerequests=48

Turned off & swapped PCI cards to:

Window size 8Mb
Slot 1 & 2 empty
Slot 3 = Spider USB Card
Slot 4 = Radeon 9200 128Mb
Slot 5 = SB128 Card
Slot 6 = Realtek 8139D

Downloaded the same 55Mb twice okay & third time it went stale & stopped downloading @ 40%.



*Update*

Making sure the Spider USB card is set to Autostart in Poseidon's Trident Interface appears to have stopped the Network disco's from happening all together....

Now I'm trying to get my head round seeing huge differences in CPS umbers for the D/L speeds. As low as 146 CPS & other times as high as 900+ CPS?
Also why this NIC will upload at twice the speed to it's download speed. Env-Archive settings have the cards variable @ 1, forcing Full Duplex. The default 0 for Auto negotiation is the same.

Oops... writing this & I've spoken too soon. - Disco same file 88% complete.... Meh!

[ncafferkey]

I think it’s likely to be related to interrupts. Have you tried with the Spider and sound card removed? (Sorry if you said already and I missed it).

[Hedeon]

It is probably that the Z2 mediator window lost focus. If you set it to 8MB on a TX 4MB stays on the gfx card and the other 4MB switches around to bank into PCI space. With a Radeon, there is much more memory to cover. Maybe with a Voodoo it works better.

If you set it to 4MB, 4MB is reserved for PCMCIA and the other 4MB needs to switch around to bank into PCI memory, including gfx memory and dma memory.

Maybe MMU=on helps?

This is the reason why the PCI PPC cards don't work on A1200 mediators.

[Kin Hell]

Hi guys & thanks for the support....

I have tried with just the Radeon & Ethernet installed & still no dice.

I've also tried with MMU enabled even though there is no MMU available on the PiStorm. The OS complains on boot with MMU set to YES in the Mediator configurator.

This 1D4 might have timing issue & I'm not 100% sure about this.
So I'm now rebuilding the Elbox Tower with a Re-Amiga 1.5 mobo & the PiStorm to see if that makes any difference.

Problem is my back is so broken atm, I can't stand for very long or sit down at all & I can't crack on laid in bed which is my only option for a while yet. I can barley walk. - Getting even 0l0r now ffs...

Just to add, the PiStorm/CM4 Combo is bang on in every manner in an A1200 case with a hardwired PCMCIA 10/100 D-Link adapter on both the 1D4 & the Re-Amiga 1.5 boards. I do run the two PCMCIA fixes on the 1D4 for the Ethernet to work on removal etc & did try this on the Elbox PCI set up. I actually thought this fixed it for a while & then it retorted to stopping the downloads again after several successful downloads??

Having had an A4KT/Mediator combo many years ago that downloaded flawlessy with a DCE PPC/060 card, I feel it has something to do with the lack of MMU & possibly the DMA kludge from Elbox to try & make things work as they should that are causing the issue here.

I'm not ready to throw the towel in just yet or want to sound corny or Doomy in any manner, but....

Only Amiga makes it possible!

[cloverskull]

You know, the PSU that my Elbox Tower shipped with was inadequate. I was trying to figure out why occasionally I'd boot and have no Fast RAM and why sometimes my laser mouse would simply stop working. Swapping out for a better PSU fixed all my issues. Totally off in a different direction here but figured I'd mention it as an option.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by cloverskull

You know, the PSU that my Elbox Tower shipped with was inadequate. I was trying to figure out why occasionally I'd boot and have no Fast RAM and why sometimes my laser mouse would simply stop working. Swapping out for a better PSU fixed all my issues. Totally off in a different direction here but figured I'd mention it as an option.

Didn't think about this tbh as they did supply a brand new 450W but yeah fella....

I hear ya & thanks!

[Hedeon]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

I feel it has something to do with the lack of MMU & possibly the DMA kludge from Elbox to try & make things work as they should that are causing the issue here.

Probably this.

[Kin Hell]

Got some drugs from the Doc yesterday. Far from right but at least I can get about a bit more today!

Okay, update....

Pi-Storm32 Lite/CM4 @ 2.5Ghz, Re-Amiga A1200 V1.5, Elbox Tower with Mediator 1200TX, Radeon 9200 PCI slot 3, Realtek 8139 10/100 Fast Ethernet pci slot 6.

Full Roadshow V1.15, Full iBrowse 3.0a installed & first 24Mb file from AmiNet Downloads without fault. The CPS was around 500 which I think is a bit slow for 10/100.

Second 35Mb attempt bombed out at 6% but for adding the following to the MediatorFast config file;

iprequests=356
writerequests=256

....the CPS went as high as 850 & bombed out at 56% complete

I then changed their default values from 32 to:

iprequests=356
writerequests=256

Second 35Mb attempt bombed out at 52% but for adding CPS was only went as high as 630

Changed to;

iprequests=512
writerequests=512

Third attempt bombed @ 29% with as high as 730 CPS

Hard reset & Changed to;

iprequests=1024
writerequests=1024

Forth attempt bombed @ 1%, didn't see CPS & can't ping anything anywhere.

Brb....

[Kin Hell]

Okay.....

So the PSU passed it's test with a plug in PSU Checker....

Rebuilt again....

1D4 Mobo, Mediator TX, FastATA Mkv, 3.2.2.1 Install with BestWB addon.

Elbox A1200TX installed & Working with DKB1240 (50Mhz 030/FPU/MMU) & MMU enabled with Mediator.

This makes the Radeon Card's Memory align with Fastram now @ 209Mb from 128Mb.

So, it would appear the lack of a working MMU & the Elbox DMA kludge do not let the PiStorm32 Lite talk to the Mediator. I had missing Icons on the Desktop when trying to use the CM4 with the Elbox Radeon card. Icons were there one minute, go into a folder & shut it down & all the other Icons disappeared??

And now when downloading files, they are no longer disconnecting.

USB Spider working fine Slot one.

Ethernet Slot three.

Radeon 9200 128Mb Slot six....

I am so glad the TX doesn't need a MACH chip upgrade!

[cloverskull]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

So, it would appear the lack of a working MMU & the Elbox DMA kludge do not let the PiStorm32 Lite talk to the Mediator.

Interesting. Did you bring this up with the folks developing the PiStorm? I wonder if MMU support is in the cards for Emu68.

[HardStep]

Have you tried any other Emu68 versions?
People report different results with Mediator and Pistorm combos depending on Emu68 builds.

[Kin Hell]

Alrighty..... I think I now know where everything is going wrong for the PiStorm/Mediator configuration during set up & have not found a work around yet.

With a 50Mhz 030/8882 in place, the Mediator requires the Mediators "CONFIG" jumper closing. During set up of the MedConfig program, setting the MMU active allows the Mediator to correctly configure the Radeon card. Variabile Setting "RadeonMem" recommends 32 and shows 0 - 32Mb.

With the PiStorm in place, the Mediators "CONFIG" jumper has to be removed or the MedConfig says there is no Mediator in the System. During set up of the MedConfig program, setting the MMU inactive or active does NOT allow the Mediator to correctly configure the Radeon card's memory.
Variabile Setting "RadeonMem" recommends 32, as does the 030 Card with MMU set on, yet only 0 - 8Mb is the maximum allowed?
I've even tried allocating 124Mb to the Radeon card & saying no to adding memory to the Amiga's FastRam. Still get the same result with corrupted desktop when switching to the Radeon from RGB. IE, all the Icons show okay but after opening one icon like Workbench, whatever the opened window covers wipes the secreen information away from the icons behind it.
Then after closing the window, opening it again leaves all the Icons blank/void of pixel information & leaves them looking like blank tiles.

As the Mediator requires a working Gfx card for the rest of it to work, this is like peeing in the wind....

Earlier version of EMU68? - I don't have the courage just yet....

I also discovered that with an Elbox FastATA v5 installed, if OS3.2 installs DEVS/A1200/scsi.device it will completely trash all stability for the scsi.device being patched.

Making Elbox FastATA work alongside AmigaOS 3.2
When upgrading to AmigaOS 3.2, the following issues concerning the Elbox FastATA controller are to be observed when the Amiga boots:

LoadResident is attempting to patch scsi.device but scsi.device might have been already patched and made resident by the Elbox FastATA driver (ATA3.driver) such that LoadResident has to be run with the DOWNGRADE switch or LoadResident will fail patching scsi.device and skip the rest of the patches.
SetPatch fights over scsi.device with the Elbox FastATA driver (ATA3.driver) because SetPatch wants to apply the LED patch, such that SetPatch must be run with the NODRIVELEDPATCH parameter,
ATA3.driver can be run after SetPatch and made resident or not
Thus, a working configuration snippet from S:startup-sequence would end up looking like the following (just the sequence and the switches are important):

C:Version exec.library version 47 >NIL:
If Warn
C:LoadModule L:System-Startup ROMUPDATE DOWNGRADE
EndIf

If Exists C:ATA3.driver
C:ATA3.driver QUIET
EndIf

C:SetPatch NODRIVELEDPATCH
For good measure, force delete the DEVS:A1200/scsi.device such that the default OS 3.2 scsi.device file does not exist at all:

delete force SYS/Devs/A1200/scsi.device
In case a revert is desired, the SYS/Devs/A1200/scsi.device file can be found on the modules disk of the OS 3.2 distribution.

From here: https://grimore.org/fuss/amiga#makin...ide_amigaos_32

I just re-named my A1200/scsi.device to ORIGINAL_scsi.device and the last install of OS3.2.2.2.1 did NOT ask for the A1200 Modules disk during the original install of 3.2. - That's a first??

Does anyone have a PiStorm working with a Mediator & if so, which version of EMU68 are you using please?

*Edit*

Having a conversation with myself here, but haven't seen a white van outside yet....

I've copied an earlier version of EMU68 to the Fat32 partition & it appears fixed? - Desktop Icons are now not corrupting....

Emu68-pistorm32lite-20230510-bdffce.zip appears to work okay. It's the earliest version of EMU68 I ever downloaded. Not tried other versions yet.

I manually changed the RadeonMem config file in Env/Mediator to 64 from 8 & still say no to RadeonMemOS.

[Kin Hell]

Thanks for the pointer HardStep.

If I use any EMU68 version after Emu68-pistorm32lite-20230510-bdffce.zip, I get corrupted Icons on the desktop once I have a Radeon Screen set as a test or finally saved. This will eventually lock up if no three finger salute is presented immediately.

Aside from the file size & date-stamps being different, there are two Folders named "include" & "lib" & means nothing to me.

RadeonMem still only offers 0 - 8Mb during the MedConfig set up & I still edit & set the Env:Mediator/RadeonMem file to 64. - Whilst I can only have 0 to 8 during setup, running MedConfig a second time to set up fast Ethernet & Spider USB, it does show the current setting of 64 as edited in the Prefs:Envarc/Mediator/RadeonMem file.

So, dodging the FastATA issue & the corrupted desktop icons by using Emu68-pistorm32lite-20230510-bdffce.zip, it works all be the PiStorm on 12 month old EMU68 files.

PM sent to mschulz.

[Kin Hell]

Now back to disconnecting whilst downloading....

Not impressed!

[alexh]

PiStorm is not a full 680x0 implementation. It does not support multi-mastering of the 680x0 bus. This is why it doesn't work with the CDTV or A570 which have a 680x0 bus mastering DMAC.

I don't know how or even if the 1200 TX Mediator has DMA but if it does, I suspect it can never work with the current PiStorm implementation. Is there a way to switch it to PIO?

Native Wifi on PiStorm with Emu68 is almost here... wait a few weeks and it will be all the ethernet you'll ever need

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by alexh

PiStorm is not a full 680x0 implementation. It does not support multi-mastering of the 680x0 bus. This is why it doesn't work with the CDTV or A570 which have a 680x0 bus mastering DMAC.

I don't know how or even if the 1200 TX Mediator has DMA but if it does, I suspect it can never work with the current PiStorm implementation. Is there a way to switch it to PIO?

Native Wifi on PiStorm with Emu68 is almost here... wait a few weeks and it will be all the ethernet you'll ever need

Yeah Alex, I think you're bang on tbh. This is like flogging a dead horse!

[alexh]

The reason that it is an unpredictable amount of time is probably because the 680x0 bus is not in use for different amounts of time depending on what the CPU is doing. You have to remember that the PiStorm + FastRAM + RTG are not connected to the 680x0 bus and so it can run for long periods of time with the 680x0 bus being free for DMA until it gets an interrupt or whatever that required it to access the motherboard and trashes anything going on because it doesn't know anything is going on.