English Amiga Board - View Single Post - Microbotics M1230XA problem, possibly faulty?

rmzalbar · 11 July 2019, 00:02

UPDATE: I found the cause of the access faults and illegal instructions on my setup. NoVBRMove tooltype (on the offending games) was the last thing which fixed that. So let me summarize:

Hardware configuration
Computer:
A1200 NTSC

Storage:
32GB CompactFlash card on A1200 IDE controller
HDToolBox MAXTRANSFER=0x1FE00 <- Despite Hyperion saying no need to adjust, I ended up having to change it on my partitions. Was getting corrupt disk image errors on loads.

M1230XA:
MC68030RC50C @ 50MHz
MC68882RC50 @ 50MHz
16MB 60ns non-parity non-EDO FPM SIMM <- NOTE: a major contributor to crashes and exceptions was a 128MB EDO SIMM I had been using. Errors were red guru meditations (8000.0004) and orange recoverable alerts. Replacing it with a standard FPM (non-EDO) 16MB module fixed this problem. I have another couple of FPM (non-EDO) simms on the way, including a 128MB simm, so will test to see if the SIZE of the memory is the issue, or if EDO is a contributor (or I had a one-off wonky SIMM)

Software

OS:
Kickstart 3.1.4 | Workbench 3.1.4

WHDLoad:
Version 18.5
Global settings S:WHDLoad.prefs
MMU <- The MMU traps exceptions, prevents games from crashing the computer - and I've found a few that wouldn't run at all without MMU enabled.
NOAUTOVEC <- AUTOVEC exceptions fixed by this.
NOMEMREVERSE <- not sure if this is really needed. This was something I added while tracking down problems ultimately resolved by NoVBRMove. Will remove and test, update here when done

Per-game tooltypes used:
PAL [or NTSC] <- some games won't run in the other timing standard, so try this first if it won't go.
NOVBRMOVE <- for games that give exceptions or access error notifications. If you don't have an MMU enabled, they may simply crash instead of giving an error notification. Only add this on a game-by-game basis, because most don't need it and you lose quitkey functionality on some of them with NOVBRMOVE.

Now, all of the few dozen games I'm testing with are working, with the exception of the original Gunship that scrambles up after taking off. I will test other games that users have reported as being especially problematic (Turrican series?) and report back. I'm clicking my heels with joy. I really hope this helps others with the M1230XA!

Here's a few off the top of my head that needed NOVBRMOVE:
Mortal Kombat 2 AGA
Seek & Destroy ECS and AGA
Saint Dragon
Double Dribble
Blades of Steel (Konami games in general, seems like)
Second Samurai
Nitro NTSC
Turrican 3

11 July 2019, 00:02	#135
rmzalbar Registered User Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: Oceanside, CA - United States Posts: 28	UPDATE: I found the cause of the access faults and illegal instructions on my setup. NoVBRMove tooltype (on the offending games) was the last thing which fixed that. So let me summarize: Hardware configuration Computer: A1200 NTSC Storage: 32GB CompactFlash card on A1200 IDE controller HDToolBox MAXTRANSFER=0x1FE00 <- Despite Hyperion saying no need to adjust, I ended up having to change it on my partitions. Was getting corrupt disk image errors on loads. M1230XA: MC68030RC50C @ 50MHz MC68882RC50 @ 50MHz 16MB 60ns non-parity non-EDO FPM SIMM <- NOTE: a major contributor to crashes and exceptions was a 128MB EDO SIMM I had been using. Errors were red guru meditations (8000.0004) and orange recoverable alerts. Replacing it with a standard FPM (non-EDO) 16MB module fixed this problem. I have another couple of FPM (non-EDO) simms on the way, including a 128MB simm, so will test to see if the SIZE of the memory is the issue, or if EDO is a contributor (or I had a one-off wonky SIMM) Software OS: Kickstart 3.1.4 \| Workbench 3.1.4 WHDLoad: Version 18.5 Global settings S:WHDLoad.prefs MMU <- The MMU traps exceptions, prevents games from crashing the computer - and I've found a few that wouldn't run at all without MMU enabled. NOAUTOVEC <- AUTOVEC exceptions fixed by this. NOMEMREVERSE <- not sure if this is really needed. This was something I added while tracking down problems ultimately resolved by NoVBRMove. Will remove and test, update here when done Per-game tooltypes used: PAL [or NTSC] <- some games won't run in the other timing standard, so try this first if it won't go. NOVBRMOVE <- for games that give exceptions or access error notifications. If you don't have an MMU enabled, they may simply crash instead of giving an error notification. Only add this on a game-by-game basis, because most don't need it and you lose quitkey functionality on some of them with NOVBRMOVE. Now, all of the few dozen games I'm testing with are working, with the exception of the original Gunship that scrambles up after taking off. I will test other games that users have reported as being especially problematic (Turrican series?) and report back. I'm clicking my heels with joy. I really hope this helps others with the M1230XA! Here's a few off the top of my head that needed NOVBRMOVE: Mortal Kombat 2 AGA Seek & Destroy ECS and AGA Saint Dragon Double Dribble Blades of Steel (Konami games in general, seems like) Second Samurai Nitro NTSC Turrican 3 Last edited by rmzalbar; 11 July 2019 at 07:01.