Problem with 030 accelerator card?!
 

Hi Guys

I'm having trouble with an 030 accelerator card I picked up in Feb. The problem is that when the card is plugged in, the system works fine for a while, then freezes. Take the card out and all is well. Every time I've tried it it works really well for about 20 minutes until the system freezes.

It was suggested that I do the timing fix on the board, which I have, but that hasn't made any difference.

any suggestions would be appreciated :)

Heres a picture of the little blighter!

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/11843415/IMG_1709.JPG

Also I suppose its worth mentioning that even with the RAM module removed, it does the same thing.

Probably heat related.

Original very crappy A600/A1200 PSU?

Ahhh! Maybe psu, but I would expect it to fail sooner though right? Its using a cf card for te hard drive so shouldn't be draining too much.

If its heat, any suggestions?

it looks like that cpu used to be a 25mhz part thats overclocked to 40mhz.....

have you tried a 30mhz crystal?or even a 28mhz one...

I did wonder if it was running a little faster than it should. Reckon I could get away with some head dispersion rather than trying to solder a new crystal onto it??

You could try putting those little videocard heatsinks on whichever component is warming up too much (the processor, I suppose?)

you could try a heatsink and see how you get on but.....it will most likely fail anyway due to being overclocked so far.

to replace a crystal its just a case of fitting a socket and changing the oscilator,thats of course if you can solder.(this is the path i would take for stability)


the psu should be ok its just an 030 card as for a timing fix the only 030 card ive seen that requires a timing fix, as far as i know is the new aca's due to its memory speed/controller.

So I can solder a socket onto it and then they are, of course, easier to swap out.


Another couple of quick questions,

Is there a way of disabling the CPU and using just the RAM instead?

Also is it possible to fit an 060 to this board?

for your first statement=of course

the answers are...no and no-way

YOu definitely can't fit an 060 to that board.

Well, looking at the CPU position, I'd say the only real option is to solder in a 25 MHz crystal. :(

Well I should do this, then sell it and get a proper 060!!!

You better solder a socket for it.

Sell this, then save 200 more quid then get an 060 :D

I suppose it's worth getting this bOard working just so I can use the ram for whdload really.

Any ideas where I get the port and crystal from?

Not sure if this is anything to do with it but I had the exact same problem with my card.

I had an 030 and after a while The system would lock up.

I figured out pretty quickly it was heat related as the trapdoor was really hot to touch.

Turned out to be the ram stick. It was an old 8mb stick from a 286 and the card really didn't like it.

Replaced it with the 4mb stick it came with and it worked fine. Eventually replaced that with a newer 32mb stick and have never had a problem since.