Individual Computers - New accelerator cards for A600 & A1200 - Page 99

Toof · 28 March 2011, 00:00

I've gone through it methodically this afternoon and tried pretty much every combination of ACATune options with no luck. I'm running 3.1 ROMs in a 1B revision mboard, so it doesn't look like it's a jumper issue......ggrrrr

Probably an obscure card/adapter combination problem, so I'll pick up a different size Sandisk and see what happens.

Schoenfeld · 28 March 2011, 10:34

A1200 accelerators should have no problem accessing PCMCIA - if in doubt, try without accelerator and get it working first. Then try with accelerator and go through the ACAtune settings, but also try switching *off* iCache in order to slow the machine down (note that some PCMCIA adapters and/or CF cards are really slow!).

For ACA630, there might be the chance that you need a firmware upgrade. You can test this by removing all jumpers: If PCMCIA works without jumpers, but does not work with BootSel or NoDisk jumper set, then you need a firmware upgrade. This is handled under warranty and has been done for a number of customers already - please contact your reseller about this if you have trouble like that.

Note that all new ACA630 have this PCMCIA fix already.

Jens

fitzsteve · 28 March 2011, 19:13

Hi Jens,

Thanks for the reply.

I still can't get PCMCIA working on my A1200 with ACA1230/28

My Motherboard Revision is 1D1, I don't know if you or maybe even FOL had any PCMCIA problems with this revision?

I've tried with ACATune Enabled/Disabled and every option individually and serveral combinations, if the ACA is connected the PCMCIA does not work properly.

I have 3.0 Roms (Jumper in place) and use Maprom to kick 3.1, I've also tried with Maprom Disabled.

My CF Adapter shows up the CF card as CF0:NDOS and if I try to use my Netgear MA401 the System locks up as soon as the Prism2.device is accessed.

Of course I have all the correct drivers/libs/file systems installed, if you look at my Sig you might notice I'm not really a novice.

I swapped out the ACA for my 4mb upgrade and everything is working fine so I know the PCMCIA port its self is functional.

Any help appreciated before I pop this ACA1230/28 back up for sale.

Cheers.

Steve.

kipper2k · 28 March 2011, 19:30

Did you try cleaning the edge connector for the ACA card? it is possible that one of the signals is dirty, maybe slide it on and off a few times to try to score the traces a little. I always use green plastic scouring pad to clean them. When i was building the cf adapters i was getting that message occasionally. Once i flushed the pins in isopropyl it would clear up.

mfilos · 28 March 2011, 19:31

Steve my friend do you have CardReset, CardPatch after ACATune declaration?
I had the lock-up when my 3Com (3c589.device) was accessed by Genesis under A600 and ACA630. Luckily CardPatch fixed the issue (CardReset is not needed) although everyone claims that A600 doesn't need any of these 2 utils for PCMCIA to work correctly.
Dunno if I'm too unlucky or both my boards were some evil Commodore ones (lol) but I had this issue in 2 revisions (1.5 and 2D) in the past and both worked just fine after CardPatch command.

fitzsteve · 28 March 2011, 19:56

Thanks for the replys!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Did you try cleaning the edge connector for the ACA card? it is possible that one of the signals is dirty, maybe slide it on and off a few times to try to score the traces a little. I always use green plastic scouring pad to clean them. When i was building the cf adapters i was getting that message occasionally. Once i flushed the pins in isopropyl it would clear up.

Hey Kipper,

I didn't try cleaning it as otherwise the A1200 is working perfect, just put the screws back in but will give that a shot next time the lids off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mfilos

Steve my friend do you have CardReset, CardPatch after ACATune declaration?
I had the lock-up when my 3Com (3c589.device) was accessed by Genesis under A600 and ACA630. Luckily CardPatch fixed the issue (CardReset is not needed) although everyone claims that A600 doesn't need any of these 2 utils for PCMCIA to work correctly.
Dunno if I'm too unlucky or both my boards were some evil Commodore ones (lol) but I had this issue in 2 revisions (1.5 and 2D) in the past and both worked just fine after CardPatch command.

Hi Marios,

Yes, I have these installed and they're after ACA Tune then next I have C:SetPrism2Defaults... etc

I forgot to mention that in my other post.

At a loss as to what I should try next

Steve.

ndial · 28 March 2011, 21:16

I've sold my original Commodore A1200 with no E123C-E125C caps and still having all these issues (unstabale,pcmcia not working etc) described here, and I've got a NOS Amiga Technologies A1200 ... everything worked fine now with my 1230/28!

FOL · 28 March 2011, 22:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by ndial

I've sold my original Commodore A1200 with no E123C-E125C caps and still having all these issues (unstabale,pcmcia not working etc) described here, and I've got a NOS Amiga Technologies A1200 ... everything worked fine now with my 1230/28!

You cant go by that, I have seen atleast 4 to 6 boards, same rev play up.
Some with E123C, E125C removed,
Some with E123R, E125R removed,
Some with all removed.

However I have seen another 4 to 6, same rev all work perfect.

ndial · 28 March 2011, 22:48

so it's pure luck then! we all agree on that aren't we?
eitherway I've previously described my bad-luck experience with the ACA and needed to introduce my...solution for which I'm quite happy and satisfied for now.

Mr B · 29 March 2011, 13:29

My 1230/56 arrived today. Later on to day i'll try and walk over to my mate where the Amiga is set up, and install it / see if it behaves. However, i was under the impression that there "should" be a floppy with the ACA tune software in the package. which seams to have been a mistake on my part, there isn't. I'll have to pull the harddrive, hook it to my laptop, with a USB caddy, and push things over. Shouldn't be a problem... If i could remeber how to do it ;- )

I'll play with it all night if i have to, (Well, until i get thrown out. Still cant use the Amiga here at home, the TV wont display it.) and will report how it turned out.
B!

fitzsteve · 29 March 2011, 14:02

Floppy was a little gift from Amigakit - not intended to be part of the package.

If you really get stuck I'd put it on a floppy for you

Mr B · 29 March 2011, 14:58

Ah. Well, i didn't get mine from AmigaKit, so there you go. (They were all sold-out)

I think i'll get around it. Seams to have become a lot easier to use a harddrive with WinUAE then it was the last time i tried that... (ok, so i've just read up on it, haven't tried yet, no access to the Amiga yet) Once the Amiga harddrive is recognized by WinUAE, it should just be a matter of moving files, and install the drive back in the A1200.

I'll remember your offer, should i run in to trouble.
Thanks.
B!

Schoenfeld · 29 March 2011, 15:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by ndial

so it's pure luck then! we all agree on that aren't we?

I don't agree. AmigaKit has sent me a Rev 1.D4 board that supposedly has the "graphics garbage" problem, but I haven't been able to reproduce the bug. Vesalia has sent back a few ACA1230 that supposedly show 0MB of memory, but they show all 64M on all boards here.

I will continue to investigate this, and up to now, it seems like those boards that misbehave at the customer's site behave perfectly well here in the shop. It may well be a power supply ripple problem, and I have more than one idea how to fix it - maybe even on the ACA1230 side.

I'll keep you informed. If you want to help, try to see if there's a difference with a different power supply.

Jens

FOL · 29 March 2011, 15:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

I don't agree. AmigaKit has sent me a Rev 1.D4 board that supposedly has the "graphics garbage" problem, but I haven't been able to reproduce the bug.

Really, now that is odd.

I tried a few ACA's in it and all showed corruption, I tried a few PSU's still same problem.
It only seemed to show problems when filling ram and clicking round the screen, try making selection boxes.

I also removed E123R and E125R, which made it much more stable.
Try readding them, You should be able to reproduce it then.

On side note, I have had a few show up with 0MB, I thought it was just me.
I just put them on a different board and they seemed to work, so I thought nothing of it.

fitzsteve · 29 March 2011, 15:42

Thanks for the reply's.

I'll try my ATX PSU later, I've been using an A500 brick on the ACA till now.

The ATX is driving a BPPC/Bvision setup so that should rule out power as an issue.

Will report back

Steve.

thgill · 29 March 2011, 16:03

Was getting ready to order another ACA1230/28 from AmigaKit and all this talk is making me nervous.

I have an ATX psu I use with my Amiga's, so hopefully power quality isn't an issue.

Toof · 29 March 2011, 18:12

Thanks for the replies Jens and others

Still no joy here after turning icache off and slowing the machine as much as I can. I run mine from an ATX PSU, so I'm doubtful it's power related problem with my setup.....another motherboard is arriving tomorrow, so hopefully I might get some joy with it. I'll let you know how it goes.

fitzsteve · 29 March 2011, 18:48

Just a quick update.

ATX PSU made no difference, still same issue so I took the plunge and pulled all the BPPC/BVision out of my other A1200.

ACA seems to be working fine including PCMCIA with 1D4 Motherboard, this has also had the Eyetech fixes applied.

I guess I can do the switcheroo full time as long as my BPPC, etc work with the 1D1 board which I'm pretty sure they will.

So it would seem to be a revisional issue although my 1D4 board has 3.1 Roms, I don't think thats making any difference since I've MapRom'ed 3.1 off the ACA anyway.

@Jens, is there any further info you need/want whilst I have these cases open?

Steve.

FOL · 29 March 2011, 19:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

So it would seem to be a revisional issue although my 1D4 board has 3.1 Roms, I don't think thats making any difference since I've MapRom'ed 3.1 off the ACA anyway.

Nope and this is the problem, it seems to be different on same revs,

.

Toof · 30 March 2011, 19:36

I think I've located the problem, but not before tearing my hair out a little more.

It would appear to be my 4GB CF HD card or it's adaptor. I tested the new 1D.1 board and all appeared fine booting from the floppy PCMCIA utility...hurray I thought, cracked it. However after loosely assembling everything and booting from the HD, I got the dreaded CF0:NDOS once more. Knowing the only difference in hardware was the HD, I disconnected it and voila, it saw the CF0: perfectly. Interestingly the system sees CF0: if I use my old fashioned Hitachi 60MB HD

As an aside, after a few minutes the system became unstable and would lock up randomly. Checked everything and started swearing again

. Did a bit of research online and I found a couple of instances of 1D.1 giving the same symptoms with Apollo accelerators. One guy involved tried everything until applying the 1D.4 timing fixes, which cured the problem. I've just done the same and it's been running stable all afternoon

Now all I have to do is try another combination of CF HD to cure the original problem.

28 March 2011, 19:13	#1963
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	Hi Jens, Thanks for the reply. I still can't get PCMCIA working on my A1200 with ACA1230/28 My Motherboard Revision is 1D1, I don't know if you or maybe even FOL had any PCMCIA problems with this revision? I've tried with ACATune Enabled/Disabled and every option individually and serveral combinations, if the ACA is connected the PCMCIA does not work properly. I have 3.0 Roms (Jumper in place) and use Maprom to kick 3.1, I've also tried with Maprom Disabled. My CF Adapter shows up the CF card as CF0:NDOS and if I try to use my Netgear MA401 the System locks up as soon as the Prism2.device is accessed. Of course I have all the correct drivers/libs/file systems installed, if you look at my Sig you might notice I'm not really a novice. I swapped out the ACA for my 4mb upgrade and everything is working fine so I know the PCMCIA port its self is functional. Any help appreciated before I pop this ACA1230/28 back up for sale. Cheers. Steve. Last edited by fitzsteve; 28 March 2011 at 19:18. Reason: typo

28 March 2011, 22:48	#1969
ndial Registered User Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Athens / Greece Posts: 15	so it's pure luck then! we all agree on that aren't we? eitherway I've previously described my bad-luck experience with the ACA and needed to introduce my...solution for which I'm quite happy and satisfied for now. Last edited by ndial; 28 March 2011 at 22:54.

29 March 2011, 18:48	#1978
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	Just a quick update. ATX PSU made no difference, still same issue so I took the plunge and pulled all the BPPC/BVision out of my other A1200. ACA seems to be working fine including PCMCIA with 1D4 Motherboard, this has also had the Eyetech fixes applied. I guess I can do the switcheroo full time as long as my BPPC, etc work with the 1D1 board which I'm pretty sure they will. So it would seem to be a revisional issue although my 1D4 board has 3.1 Roms, I don't think thats making any difference since I've MapRom'ed 3.1 off the ACA anyway. @Jens, is there any further info you need/want whilst I have these cases open? Steve. Last edited by fitzsteve; 29 March 2011 at 18:49. Reason: typo

30 March 2011, 19:36	#1980
Toof Registered User Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: UK Age: 51 Posts: 22	I think I've located the problem, but not before tearing my hair out a little more. It would appear to be my 4GB CF HD card or it's adaptor. I tested the new 1D.1 board and all appeared fine booting from the floppy PCMCIA utility...hurray I thought, cracked it. However after loosely assembling everything and booting from the HD, I got the dreaded CF0:NDOS once more. Knowing the only difference in hardware was the HD, I disconnected it and voila, it saw the CF0: perfectly. Interestingly the system sees CF0: if I use my old fashioned Hitachi 60MB HD As an aside, after a few minutes the system became unstable and would lock up randomly. Checked everything and started swearing again. Did a bit of research online and I found a couple of instances of 1D.1 giving the same symptoms with Apollo accelerators. One guy involved tried everything until applying the 1D.4 timing fixes, which cured the problem. I've just done the same and it's been running stable all afternoon Now all I have to do is try another combination of CF HD to cure the original problem.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
A600 board versions and accelerator cards	LePiaf	support.Hardware	10	23 February 2020 16:16
Santa's come early... A new scandoubler from Individual Computers	NovaCoder	News	708	18 October 2016 22:43
Details for the next generation of Flickerfixers from Individual Computers	MarkONE	News	2438	01 February 2016 12:04
Individual Computers Silver Sponsor of the Revision	gibs	Amiga scene	1	22 April 2011 16:43
New products by individual Computers	Paul	News	0	30 November 2004 15:58

28 March 2011, 00:00	#1961
Toof Registered User Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: UK Age: 51 Posts: 22	I've gone through it methodically this afternoon and tried pretty much every combination of ACATune options with no luck. I'm running 3.1 ROMs in a 1B revision mboard, so it doesn't look like it's a jumper issue......ggrrrr Probably an obscure card/adapter combination problem, so I'll pick up a different size Sandisk and see what happens.

28 March 2011, 10:34	#1962
Schoenfeld electricky. Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: out in the wild Posts: 1,256	A1200 accelerators should have no problem accessing PCMCIA - if in doubt, try without accelerator and get it working first. Then try with accelerator and go through the ACAtune settings, but also try switching off iCache in order to slow the machine down (note that some PCMCIA adapters and/or CF cards are really slow!). For ACA630, there might be the chance that you need a firmware upgrade. You can test this by removing all jumpers: If PCMCIA works without jumpers, but does not work with BootSel or NoDisk jumper set, then you need a firmware upgrade. This is handled under warranty and has been done for a number of customers already - please contact your reseller about this if you have trouble like that. Note that all new ACA630 have this PCMCIA fix already. Jens

28 March 2011, 19:30	#1964
kipper2k Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Thunder Bay, Canada Posts: 4,323	Did you try cleaning the edge connector for the ACA card? it is possible that one of the signals is dirty, maybe slide it on and off a few times to try to score the traces a little. I always use green plastic scouring pad to clean them. When i was building the cf adapters i was getting that message occasionally. Once i flushed the pins in isopropyl it would clear up.

28 March 2011, 19:31	#1965
mfilos Paranoid Amigoid Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Athens/Greece Age: 45 Posts: 1,978	Steve my friend do you have CardReset, CardPatch after ACATune declaration? I had the lock-up when my 3Com (3c589.device) was accessed by Genesis under A600 and ACA630. Luckily CardPatch fixed the issue (CardReset is not needed) although everyone claims that A600 doesn't need any of these 2 utils for PCMCIA to work correctly. Dunno if I'm too unlucky or both my boards were some evil Commodore ones (lol) but I had this issue in 2 revisions (1.5 and 2D) in the past and both worked just fine after CardPatch command.

28 March 2011, 21:16	#1967
ndial Registered User Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Athens / Greece Posts: 15	I've sold my original Commodore A1200 with no E123C-E125C caps and still having all these issues (unstabale,pcmcia not working etc) described here, and I've got a NOS Amiga Technologies A1200 ... everything worked fine now with my 1230/28!

29 March 2011, 13:29	#1970
Mr B Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Sweden Posts: 749	My 1230/56 arrived today. Later on to day i'll try and walk over to my mate where the Amiga is set up, and install it / see if it behaves. However, i was under the impression that there "should" be a floppy with the ACA tune software in the package. which seams to have been a mistake on my part, there isn't. I'll have to pull the harddrive, hook it to my laptop, with a USB caddy, and push things over. Shouldn't be a problem... If i could remeber how to do it ;- ) I'll play with it all night if i have to, (Well, until i get thrown out. Still cant use the Amiga here at home, the TV wont display it.) and will report how it turned out. B!

29 March 2011, 14:02	#1971
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	Floppy was a little gift from Amigakit - not intended to be part of the package. If you really get stuck I'd put it on a floppy for you

29 March 2011, 14:58	#1972
Mr B Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Sweden Posts: 749	Ah. Well, i didn't get mine from AmigaKit, so there you go. (They were all sold-out) I think i'll get around it. Seams to have become a lot easier to use a harddrive with WinUAE then it was the last time i tried that... (ok, so i've just read up on it, haven't tried yet, no access to the Amiga yet) Once the Amiga harddrive is recognized by WinUAE, it should just be a matter of moving files, and install the drive back in the A1200. I'll remember your offer, should i run in to trouble. Thanks. B!

29 March 2011, 15:42	#1975
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	Thanks for the reply's. I'll try my ATX PSU later, I've been using an A500 brick on the ACA till now. The ATX is driving a BPPC/Bvision setup so that should rule out power as an issue. Will report back Steve.

29 March 2011, 16:03	#1976
thgill Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: Mason, Ohio / USA Age: 48 Posts: 391	Was getting ready to order another ACA1230/28 from AmigaKit and all this talk is making me nervous. I have an ATX psu I use with my Amiga's, so hopefully power quality isn't an issue.

29 March 2011, 18:12	#1977
Toof Registered User Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: UK Age: 51 Posts: 22	Thanks for the replies Jens and others Still no joy here after turning icache off and slowing the machine as much as I can. I run mine from an ATX PSU, so I'm doubtful it's power related problem with my setup.....another motherboard is arriving tomorrow, so hopefully I might get some joy with it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)