Microbotics M1230 XA - 50MHz

[UncleSpam]

I'm having a problem with a "newly acquired" Microbotics M1230 XA, 68030/68882 combo, running at 50 MHz.

The A1200 accelerator came with a 32MB 72-pin SIMM.

When I connected the accelerator and powered the A1200, a "magenta" screen was displayed at boot time. This is not to be confused with the purple "insert disk" screen.

Switching to a 128MB SIMM, the machine boots up, but with zero Fast Mem.

ShowConfig displays the proper CPU/FPU but NO Fast Mem.

Mounting the RAM manually, via the supplied utilities causes the machine to crash with an 8000 0003 Guru code.

I think (will verify this later today) that the MoBo for the 1200 is 1A.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Bogdan

[coze]

M1230 XA　don't autoconfigure RAM if you don't have kick 3.1 rom. if you're on 3.0, you should use the program setXA (found in driver disks)

[UncleSpam]

I have KS 3.1 ROMs installed...

SetXA addmem will cause the crash....

It should recognize the RAM with KS 3.1.

Bogdan

[Zetr0]

I believe you may need a to update the ROM on the card before you can use it under 3.1 with memory.

I tinhk you will find that its been set to a different speed than what is available. to do this, perhaps using Relo Kick to 3.0 or re-installing 3.0 roms temporally

then run the SetXA program with the SIMM of your choice.

this is a link the manual to help

[UncleSpam]

Zetr0,

Thanks for the suggestions and the link to the manual.

I'll try swapping the 3.0 ROMs and see if that helps.

I still need to see how to go about flashing the ROMs on the card...

The thing is, the previous owner of the accelerator card was using it with KS 3.1, except with a 1D MoBo.

Will do more digging when I get home.

Bogdan

[UncleSpam]

One observation... even though the CPU and FPU are both at 50MHz, does the accelerator board need the second oscillator for the FPU slot?

This board came with just one, for the CPU.

Bogdan

[TheCorfiot]

@Bogdan

The Norm is that the CPU & FPU are clocked by the same crystal Oscillator.

So usually you do not need to have 2 separate Xtals.

TC

[Zetr0]

Heys Bogdan

Originally Posted by UncleSpam

....
The thing is, the previous owner of the accelerator card was using it with KS 3.1, except with a 1D MoBo....

This is very interesting, there are timing differences between motherboards, mainly between chip ram and fast ram, its quite possible that there is an extra latency of your motherboard compaired to where it came from,

Its also more likely the more i think about it That your A1200 motherboard may need some timing fixes to it to get the card to function properly, fear not its only a couple of solder points... ... unless one fears the soldering iron LOL!

I will try and dig up some refs for you... AHA!!!

Courtesy of our Dear Reverend Stedy-licious!

A1200 Timing Fixes

[rkauer]

I own one of those accelerators. They are quite good.

The second crystal is not necessary if both CPU & FPU are the same speed and the J1 jumper must be in the "outer" position (rightmost). I have two crystals on my board, both are now 56MHz (little overclock).

Test jumper only brings the memory controller to 128Mb/80ns. After boot once with the jumper on, run setXA to fiddle with the options, turn the Amiga down and remove it (put it in only one pin).

Another possible issue could be the RAM controller. With a PLCC puller, take it out and reinsert a couple of times to ensure it is not busted (sometimes the contacts catch some oxidisation, stopping the controller to work).

BTW: your system have another RTC? If so, remove it or remove the RTC chip from the accelerator.

Mine is currently running @ 56MHz without any problem.

[UncleSpam]

Here's the latest...

Motherboard is rev 1D.

CR2032 battery is dead (almost no voltage reading)... that explains why it did not hold time/date. I'll get one with my first outing to an electronics store.

Swapped the KS to 3.0... with the 32MB RAM... it manually mapped 32 MB Fast RAM... that is a good thing.

With 128MB RAM... 32x32 FPM 32-bit 72-pin SIMM 60 ns... nothing... was not able to get any sign of life out of it.

Went back to KS 3.1... 32MB RAM... it automatically gets mapped to ... 4MB Fast RAM... at least no more Magenta screen... but still odd.

128MB RAM... as dead as before...


I would like to thank all of your for your input!

To be continued...

Bogdan

Originally Posted by rkauer

I own one of those accelerators. They are quite good.

The second crystal is not necessary if both CPU & FPU are the same speed and the J1 jumper must be in the "outer" position (rightmost). I have two crystals on my board, both are now 56MHz (little overclock).

Test jumper only brings the memory controller to 128Mb/80ns. After boot once with the jumper on, run setXA to fiddle with the options, turn the Amiga down and remove it (put it in only one pin).

Another possible issue could be the RAM controller. With a PLCC puller, take it out and reinsert a couple of times to ensure it is not busted (sometimes the contacts catch some oxidisation, stopping the controller to work).

BTW: your system have another RTC? If so, remove it or remove the RTC chip from the accelerator.

Mine is currently running @ 56MHz without any problem.

[Amiga1992]

Very strange.
I have the same accelerator and i second it's pretty good.
]
Did you run the memory tests that come with your card?
Are you sure the memory is not fucked up? I am geting strange memory issues.

[UncleSpam]

I suspect the 128MB SIMM to be dead... but the 32 showed up fine, once I manually mounted the memory in 3.0...

Bogdan

[rkauer]

IF your 32Mb is showed as 4Mb things are not good!

Like I said b4, remove and reinsert the CPLD chip from its socket a couple of times to solve some probable bad contact.

Also clean the SIMM socket with contact spray or a rubber pencil. Clean the SIMM banks with iron wool (Caution! Iron wool is also called "short-circuit essence").

[UncleSpam]

rkauer,

I did take out the controller chip a couple of times and cleaned the terminals.

Doing some testing in KS 3.0, manually mounting the memory:

32MB - can be mapped as anything (even 128MB)... but it fails the memory test past 4MB or so...

128MB - that's toast and causes software failure when I try to mount it...

It now makes sense why KS 3.1 mounts the 32MB as 4MB and does not mount the 128MB at all....

Bogdan

[rkauer]

OK, narrow the problem to two possible causes:

1- bad CPLD. Not impossible, since a friend of mine have the same board without RAM;

2- Bad solder on the SIMM socket or socket of CPLD. Even a broken trace could cause the issues.

BTW: my MSN is rkauer@hotmail.com. Only for MSN, nothing more.

[UncleSpam]

You don't think it's bad memory?

Bogdan

Originally Posted by rkauer

OK, narrow the problem to two possible causes:

1- bad CPLD. Not impossible, since a friend of mine have the same board without RAM;

2- Bad solder on the SIMM socket or socket of CPLD. Even a broken trace could cause the issues.

BTW: my MSN is rkauer@hotmail.com. Only for MSN, nothing more.

[coze]

while swapping all those ram, you're updating the XA rom as well right ? with the setXA program.

[UncleSpam]

Yes, I was updating the settings with every swap. Too bad I don't have another way of testing those SIMMs... My other equipment takes modern memory modules...

Bogdan

[rkauer]

Originally Posted by UncleSpam

You don't think it's bad memory?

Bogdan

No other accelerated Amiga to test the memory?

[UncleSpam]

No, I don't have any other Amigas to test.

I have one question. I just need to verify the memory type...


72-pin FPM parity/non-parity 60ns - should work, correct?

Bogdan