Sonnet 7200 PCI programming

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by drluking

how can verify all twelve pins 3.3V are interconnected among them ? connecting only one pin 3.3V wire and and verifying with a multimiter that the other eleven pins have a voltage of 3.3 V ?.

So if all twelve pins 3.3V are interconnected among them, I can connect only two pins (with two different wires) at the 3.3V voltage of the power supply, while if They are NOT interconnected among them, I should connect twelve wires for connect the twelve pins at the 3.3V voltage of the power supply, I understood correctly ?

An other important question (this old mediator model has 4 PCI slot at 5V): doing this hack for only one PCI slot (where I'll add a K1/M1 ppc card), only this "modified PCI slot" will run at 3.3V, while the other three slots will continue to work at 5V, I understood correctly ?

After this mod/hack I' ll can finally use the K1/M1 ppc card PCI (in modified PCI slot), plus Voodoo3 PCI (in 5V slot), plus SondBlaster128 (in 5V slot), plus RTL ethernet (in 5V slot), or my A1200 Mediator old model is not then supported by Sonnet library software ?
Sorry for this question, but before making this hack hardware, I would like to be pretty sure that I can then use the K1/M1

thanks

That is correct, check to see continuity between the 3.3V pins between slots, or if you add one or two wires check the other slots to see if you now detect 3.3V on them. I am assuming you'll find they are all interconnected. If they are all interconnected, ideally you'd connect three wires to a slot, and assuming you used the correct gauge wire you should be fine. However from others I've seen modify the busboard in this way they just added a single wire and that worked for the Radeon.



Personally I don't like this hack, I'd rather add the VRM to the PPC card.



As far as I know, the current pci.library doesn't function much differently between different versions of the Mediators.



And before you get your hopes up, operating the library on an A1200 is unsupported, but in best case you can hope that it works as well as it does for Indiegolemon.

[indigolemon]

Originally Posted by grelbfarlk

And before you get your hopes up, operating the library on an A1200 is unsupported, but in best case you can hope that it works as well as it does for Indiegolemon.

Yeah, I'm happy playing around with this setup cos my K1 cost me £15+postage - but it's definitely a big bit experimental

[drluking]

Originally Posted by grelbfarlk

That is correct, check to see continuity between the 3.3V pins between slots, or if you add one or two wires check the other slots to see if you now detect 3.3V on them. I am assuming you'll find they are all interconnected. If they are all interconnected, ideally you'd connect three wires to a slot, and assuming you used the correct gauge wire you should be fine. However from others I've seen modify the busboard in this way they just added a single wire and that worked for the Radeon.

hi

I think I understand; if I'll modify the pins of the first slot PCI (for example by adding three cables to the 3.3V power supply, as you advised me) I'll get ALL the four PCI slots to be ready to use 3.3V and 5V PCI cards, I understood correctly?

If so, I'll can add the PCI card K1 / M1 (that work at only 3.3V) in any of the four PCI slots, and also I'll can continue to use the Sound Blaster 128 PCI card that only works at 5V, and also same as the Adaptec SCSI PCI card that only works at 5V, right ?

Out of curiosity, in a mediator so modified at 3.3V, the Voodoo3 card PCI will work at 3.3V or 5V? (it is indicated in the specs as video card compatible with 5V PCI bus, but also 3.3V)

I'll use probably a blizzard 040 as CPU 68k

thank you

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by drluking

hi

I think I understand; if I'll modify the pins of the first slot PCI (for example by adding three cables to the 3.3V power supply, as you advised me) I'll get ALL the four PCI slots to be ready to use 3.3V and 5V PCI cards, I understood correctly?

If so, I'll can add the PCI card K1 / M1 (that work at only 3.3V) in any of the four PCI slots, and also I'll can continue to use the Sound Blaster 128 PCI card that only works at 5V, and also same as the Adaptec SCSI PCI card that only works at 5V, right ?

Out of curiosity, in a mediator so modified at 3.3V, the Voodoo3 card PCI will work at 3.3V or 5V? (it is indicated in the specs as video card compatible with 5V PCI bus, but also 3.3V)

I'll use probably a blizzard 040 as CPU 68k

thank you

That is correct the 3.3V and 5V capability coexist, there are physically different pins for both on the PCI slots. What I can't assume is that the 3.3V lines are connected on your Mediator, you should really check that first.

The Voodoo PCI still runs at 5V and has onboard 5V->3.3V conversion. So if your slots have 3.3V support, 5V cards will still work.

[drluking]

Originally Posted by grelbfarlk

That is correct the 3.3V and 5V capability coexist, there are physically different pins for both on the PCI slots. What I can't assume is that the 3.3V lines are connected on your Mediator, you should really check that first.

The Voodoo PCI still runs at 5V and has onboard 5V->3.3V conversion. So if your slots have 3.3V support, 5V cards will still work.

great !
last question, before proceeding with the hack; according with PCI specs https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periph...t_Interconnect the 3.3V in PCI slots are in twelve pins: A21, A27, A33, A39, A45, A53, B25, B31, B36, B41, B43, B54 and according with the mediator's hack guides They use the pin A53, so which other two pins among the eleven left, You you would choose, you would advise me connect to the 3.3V power supply ? (or it really does not matter)


thanks

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by drluking

great !
last question, before proceeding with the hack; according with PCI specs https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periph...t_Interconnect the 3.3V in PCI slots are in twelve pins: A21, A27, A33, A39, A45, A53, B25, B31, B36, B41, B43, B54 and according with the mediator's hack guides They use the pin A53, so which other two pins among the eleven left, You you would choose, you would advise me connect to the 3.3V power supply ? (or it really does not matter)


thanks

It probably doesn't matter that much, but what I would do to decide is make sure that these pins are interconnected to each slot, then make sure that they are connected to the 3.3V supply on the K1/M1. Easiest thing to do is find one of the 3.3V pins on the K1/M1 then buzz the other pins on the card, then buzz a few places on the board (the 3.3V location on the Sonnet wiki for modifying a Littleweenie for 3.3V would be a good place).

[nexus]

if anyone is looking for pmc carriers cheap here you go https://www.ebay.com/itm/Abaco-Ramix...AAAOSwnTdaKASr

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ramix-PMC23...YAAOSwCnpccphd

that can be used on any mediator FYI as it does 5v to 3.3v

[Hedeon]

Originally Posted by matt3k

Tried renaming to PPC as suggested no speed difference. Still 68k speeds.

To make sure I wasn't crazy I looked at the same jpeg on an 060 system, no difference between them..

It seems that datatypes are not working properly.

However, renaming lha to lha_PPC does seem to do the trick regarding speed.

If that does not work, reset the protection bits.

[TheMrKocour]

Does Sonnet works with OpenPCI or just with Elbox PCI?

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by TheMrKocour

Does Sonnet works with OpenPCI or just with Elbox PCI?

Just the Elbox PCI.

[Hall80]

Hi. So you will see if it works or not in your Mediator.
I was not successful. My MediatorXL Black (or my configurations) has problem with Killer K1 and Voodoo4. It says Parity errors randomly for Voodoo4 or Killer K1. And my workbanch has maaaany errors after initPPC. I tried "indigolemons" configuration, but result was the same.
It looks that there are more versions of firmware in MACH chips on MediatorTX, because some people says - "yes it is working in my A1200" and some "NO..my A1200 freeze or has errors"..
I'm curious if this will work for you
Stepan

[Hall80]

Dear Hedeon. Please, have you tried Voodoo4 4K with Killer M1 or Sonnet?
I still thinking about my problems with K1 and A1200 (my A4000 has some problems too, but it works). Today I bought Voodoo3 3K for testing with my A4K (may be with A1200 too) instead of Voodoo4.
Somebody says that Voodoo4 has different memory mapping and not right for testing of Sonnet or Killer.
Thank you.

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by Hall80

Dear Hedeon. Please, have you tried Voodoo4 4K with Killer M1 or Sonnet?
I still thinking about my problems with K1 and A1200 (my A4000 has some problems too, but it works). Today I bought Voodoo3 3K for testing with my A4K (may be with A1200 too) instead of Voodoo4.
Somebody says that Voodoo4 has different memory mapping and not right for testing of Sonnet or Killer.
Thank you.

I haven't tried a Voodoo 4 lately but it did work in the beforetime. I'll put it on my list to test it. Because of the way the V4 is set up, it wastes so much address space only 128MB is available for the Sonnet. But it should work otherwise.

[jack-3d]

Because of you, I just tested Killer M1 and Voodoo4. It works just fine. GearsPPC are rotating for 15 minutes and more... So it's stable I would say.

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by jack-3d

Because of you, I just tested Killer M1 and Voodoo4. It works just fine. GearsPPC are rotating for 15 minutes and more... So it's stable I would say.

Good show, thanks Jack.



The other thing to keep in mind is that the Voodoo 4 doesn't work in BE modes (the board does but the Elbox driver doesn't support it), so some programs will have wrong colors. And it's basically no faster than a Voodoo 3 at the same frequency, however it might have a little more headroom for overclocking.

[Hall80]

Originally Posted by jack-3d

Because of you, I just tested Killer M1 and Voodoo4. It works just fine. GearsPPC are rotating for 15 minutes and more... So it's stable I would say.

Thanks to both for answers=).
I tried my new voodoo3 and voodoo4 in my A4K and both has really the same speed. (GearsPPC)
But i found one diference - with voodoo3 there is no problem to have K1 before or after Voodoo3 (i mean positions of PCI slots..).
With Voodoo4 - K1 works propperly only if Voodoo4 was before K1.
If K1 was first or before Voodoo4, gearsppc stops or reboot my Ami randomly..after few seconds.
It is time to try my K1 with A1200 and Voodoo3 again when i get home=).
Thanks again.
Stepan

PS:What is interesting is that Voodoo3 (2000 and 3000) has very very HOT pasive coolers!!! It is not possible to touch it by hand. Active cooler is really necessary!=).

[Wrangler]

I certainly agree about the heat in Voodoo 3s - active cooling is a VERY good idea.



I'd be very surprised if the positioning of a Voodoo 4 compared to the K1 makes any difference because of the software. But there are posts on this thread (probably about 100 pages ago) about PCI termination - or lack of it. Might be something to have a look at.

[trixster]

Maybe power distribution?

[grelbfarlk]

Originally Posted by trixster

Maybe power distribution?

That could be all it is. But what if the order the cards are allocating memory matters? I noticed when I switched to the Rapture early on I had to change the slot I was using compared to the Sonnet, but that seemed to go away as the driver progressed.

[Hedeon]

I'm going to ask Elbox if they can change the PCI memory allocation in such a way, that big chunks are allocated first.

For example: I tested a Radeon with 2x128MB PCI space. First it sets up the 1x128MB, then fills the second 128MB of pci memory with small allocations (config etc) then again does one big allocation of 128MB.

That means only 128MB contiguous memory is left.

If it would do the first big allocation, then the second big allocation. then the small allocations, 128+64MB of contiguous memory is left.

Also allocation 128MB while 128MB PCI memory is left hangs the pci.library.

This will at least certain Radeon users give 192MB of PPC memory instead of 128MB.