Weird Accelerator Issue

[danielktdoranie]

So I rescued a few Amigas out of our local eWaste a few months ago. I got 3 x A1200 and 1 x A500... no mice, no power supplies... just the wedges with their keyboards.

One had a Phase 5 Blizzard 1230 IV in it, the model with the 50MHz 68030 and the 68882 MMU. I bought a 128GB RAM stick for it off eBay.

Anyway, I sent these Amigas off to be recapped and while they were being recapped I bought all the accessories I would need to use them (OSSC, power supply, mouse adapter, 3.1.4 ROMS... etc.)

Anyway, 2 off the A1200s came back working after being recapped (one did not come back working).

Both A1200s work fine... until I stick the Phase 5 Blizzard 1230 IV in it.

One A1200 (We'll call this A1200 #1) will randomly restart, you'll be doing something and BAM reboot.

In the other A1200 (we will call this one A1200 #2) the mouse stops working. You unplug the mouse and plug it back in and works for a minute until it stops working again.

To reiterate: theses issues only happen when the accelerator is in.

At first I though "maybe it's bad RAM?" so I ran Amiga Test Kit on the RAM for 12 hours, no issues whatsoever (on the internal "chip" RAM and the accelerator's RAM both separately and at the same time on different occasions). I also checked the CIAs with Amiga test Kit, no issues whatsoever.

I have two power supplies I bought new from amigastore.eu (50 watts each) so I don't think it is a power issue.

I started thinking, "maybe it's software?" So installed both 3.1.4 and 3.2 on separate IDE PATA hard disks. I also installed the ROMS for each and the MMULib libraries. No joy, same issues.

As I never used these Amigas before sending them off to be recapped I have no idea if it worked fine before the recap... Could the recap job be bad?

I wasn't impressed that 1 A1200 came back not working at all (A1200 #3) and other things that went down with this individual that caused me to lose faith in his work, but it's also possible he did a good job too.

So any ideas?

[nikosidis]

If the machines work fine without the accelerator I would say the Blizzard IV is bad.
Have you tried to clean the connector?

I know Blizzard IV is very picky about the RAM, but as you said you tested it.
Did you buy a RAM chip that was said to work with Blizzard?
Did you try to change the jumper setting to 70ns?

[jlin_au]

1. Some A1200 board revisions require modification to work reliably and stably with a CPU accelerator card in the expansion slot even when using a Blizzard 1230 IV.
   
2. Check that the connectors on the Blizzard and A1200s are clean. Also check that the socketed ICs (CPU + optional FPU) and possibly the Crystal on the Blizzard are fully inserted and firmly in their sockets. Confirm that the SIMM socket is clean and that the 128Mb SIMM clips fully into it with no issues.
   
3. check on the blizzard that the installed crystal oscillator package matches or has a lower frequency than the installed 68030's rated speed in MHz.
   Similarly, any FPU (should be a 68882) installed on the Blizzard card should have the same speed rating as the 68030 CPU OR be of the same or higher speed than that of the installed crystal oscillator package. I'm unsure if the earlier 68881 FPU would work on a Blizzard 1230 IV even though the later 68882 is pin compatible with a 68881.
   
4. Check what version of kickstart is installed in each A1200. For:

   • AmigaOS 3.0 - you need kickstart 3.0 or 3.1,
   • AmigaOS 3.1, 3.5, and 3.9 - you need kickstart 3.1,
   • AmigaOS 3.1.4 - either as is with ks 3.1.4 roms or with additional soft patches for the ks 3.0 or 3.1 roms.
   • AmigaOS 3.2 - you'll have to check which KS versions will work.

[danielktdoranie]

Originally Posted by nikosidis

If the machines work fine without the accelerator I would say the Blizzard IV is bad.
Have you tried to clean the connector?

I know Blizzard IV is very picky about the RAM, but as you said you tested it.
Did you buy a RAM chip that was said to work with Blizzard?
Did you try to change the jumper setting to 70ns?

Yes, clean the edge connector with contact cleaner, and a rubber eraser.
Yes, I bought a RAM stick that was advertised as saying it works specifically with the Blizzard 1230 IV
Yes, I tried both jumper options (on and off)

[danielktdoranie]

Originally Posted by jlin_au

1. Some A1200 board revisions require modification to work reliably and stably with a CPU accelerator card in the expansion slot even when using a Blizzard 1230 IV.
   
2. Check that the connectors on the Blizzard and A1200s are clean. Also check that the socketed ICs (CPU + optional FPU) and possibly the Crystal on the Blizzard are fully inserted and firmly in their sockets. Confirm that the SIMM socket is clean and that the 128Mb SIMM clips fully into it with no issues.
   
3. check on the blizzard that the installed crystal oscillator package matches or has a lower frequency than the installed 68030's rated speed in MHz.
   Similarly, any FPU (should be a 68882) installed on the Blizzard card should have the same speed rating as the 68030 CPU OR be of the same or higher speed than that of the installed crystal oscillator package. I'm unsure if the earlier 68881 FPU would work on a Blizzard 1230 IV even though the later 68882 is pin compatible with a 68881.
   
4. Check what version of kickstart is installed in each A1200. For:

   • AmigaOS 3.0 - you need kickstart 3.0 or 3.1,
   • AmigaOS 3.1, 3.5, and 3.9 - you need kickstart 3.1,
   • AmigaOS 3.1.4 - either as is with ks 3.1.4 roms or with additional soft patches for the ks 3.0 or 3.1 roms.
   • AmigaOS 3.2 - you'll have to check which KS versions will work.

They should be clean. Used electronic WD-40 Specialist Fast Drying Contact Cleaner "fast drying, no conductive contact cleaner for electronics". On the Amiga A1200 I used this AND a rubber eraser. The contacts are shiny.

Here's a HUGE photo of the accelerator, all look good to you?

https://files.catbox.moe/m02hy1.jpeg

"any FPU (should be a 68882) installed on the Blizzard card should have the same speed rating as the 68030 CPU OR be of the same or higher speed than that of the installed crystal oscillator package."

This 68882 looks to be 40MHz to me, whereas the crystal is 50MHz and the 030 processor is 50MHz... should I just remove the 68882 FPU and try it?

I have physical ROMs, specifically 3.1.4 and 3.2 that I bought from vendors... I am not "soft kicking".

Thanks!

[danielktdoranie]

Update:

I took out the "XC68882RC40A" FPU chip and although I have only tested it in one of my Amiga A1200 computers (#2) it's NOT freezing the mouse anymore, so it seems that this is an improvement... I am optimistic!

[kriz]

Nice, and btw you still can find Amiga`s at e-waste ? Lucky !!!

[danielktdoranie]

Originally Posted by jlin_au

1. Some A1200 board revisions require modification to work reliably and stably with a CPU accelerator card in the expansion slot even when using a Blizzard 1230 IV.
   
2. Check that the connectors on the Blizzard and A1200s are clean. Also check that the socketed ICs (CPU + optional FPU) and possibly the Crystal on the Blizzard are fully inserted and firmly in their sockets. Confirm that the SIMM socket is clean and that the 128Mb SIMM clips fully into it with no issues.
   
3. check on the blizzard that the installed crystal oscillator package matches or has a lower frequency than the installed 68030's rated speed in MHz.
   Similarly, any FPU (should be a 68882) installed on the Blizzard card should have the same speed rating as the 68030 CPU OR be of the same or higher speed than that of the installed crystal oscillator package. I'm unsure if the earlier 68881 FPU would work on a Blizzard 1230 IV even though the later 68882 is pin compatible with a 68881.
   
4. Check what version of kickstart is installed in each A1200. For:

   • AmigaOS 3.0 - you need kickstart 3.0 or 3.1,
   • AmigaOS 3.1, 3.5, and 3.9 - you need kickstart 3.1,
   • AmigaOS 3.1.4 - either as is with ks 3.1.4 roms or with additional soft patches for the ks 3.0 or 3.1 roms.
   • AmigaOS 3.2 - you'll have to check which KS versions will work.

Thanks, so yeah my FPU is 40MHz, removing it solved this issue.