GVP 030 combo not showing RAM on A2000

[Matt020]

Yo.

I just picked up a GVP Combo 030 22mhz with 1mb fast ram onboard.

The 030 works but I can not get the system to pick up on the 1mb fastram. I read on Amiga.org about changing jumper J12 and I have tried that but it made no change.

Has anyone had a similar problem?

Any help is appreciated please.

Matt.

[Loedown]

I'm almost 100% sure it will only take 4Mb modules, not 1Mb

Page Introduction - 1 says;

GVP's custom designed 60nS 4 Megabyte "SIMM32" memory expansion modules for easy installation

[coze]

I think he has one of those boards with 1 mb soldered on board. Not a 1 mb SIMM.

check your jumper settings with this page. J12 should be set 2-3 I think.

http://amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=177

Also if you don't have a ROM or faulty ROM you won't see the RAM as RAM autoconfig loads from ROM AFAIR.

Does the SCSI work ? do you have a gvpscsi.device ?

[Loedown]

The 22MHz boards don't work like the 33MHz boards, I did put the manual up some time ago and Zetro was good enough to PDF it, or maybe that was something else?

I have a manual and the jumper settings, PM me, if you're really lost.

[Matt020]

PM sent.

What I wrote in the PM was basically that I have had limited success. By changing some jumpers, the board will now show the 1mb as "BAD". The system cant use the memory, but it knows it is there. Interesting to note that any other Zorro memory cards I now add to the A2000 also come up as "BAD" when those memory cards work perfect without the 030 plugged in.

I might add that the A2000 has kickstart 2.0, and the GVP 030 has ROM version 3.(something). Is GVP ROM version 4.xx required for Kickstart 2 and above?

A look over the 22mhz manual would be wonderful, please, as the 33mhz manual doesnt help at all.

Is the ROM version and kickstart a prob?

[Matt020]

Update.

I spent around 8 hours today working on this card. The 030 part works, but the onboard memory will give a red screen at first power up stating a part of the board is "BAD" (I should have taken a pic to show you what this screen looks like).

Once booted into Workbench, the GVP util identifies the board, but also labels the memory as BAD. The memory is not shown as fastram at the top workbench title bar (next to chipmen).

When I change jumpers and make the ram become extended ram (outside Zorro range), the red "BAD" error screen disappears, but then in workbench the GVP util does not recognise the extra 1mb onboard at all. It seems that the memory is not there at all?

I inspected the board closely, and there appears to be some corrotion around the fingers/connectors on the edge connector. A couple of tracks have "bloated" and I suspect may be bad. The tracks are thin and my soldering iron is fat so Im not sure how likely it is that I will be able to repair the tracks.

Without the onboard 32bit fastram, Sysinfo reports the board to be not much faster than a 68000 so it is not much use.

I think the board is a write off and Im really disappointed by the experience.

[Hewitson]

I had a similar problem with my GVP Impact Series II. Removing card, cleaning connector and reinstalling fixed the problem. Of course its possible that your RAM is actually bad.

The card certainly isn't a write off. Got a multimeter for continuity checking?

Let me know if you'd like me to take a look at it for you.

[Matt020]

Over night I removed all socketed chips, and cleaned the board with vinegar, then lemon juice, rinsing with distilled water. I paid some attention to the edge connector.

Re-assembling the board and it still does the same. Appears that the RAM is actually bad.

I have a multimeter but there's a lotta tracks to trace, a lot of chips to check out. A lot of work.

Time to search for a replacement a2000 accelerator....

[Hewitson]

Dont be ridiculous mate.

Look up the datasheet for the RAM chip, verify all its data and address lines are connected, if they are, then its most likely fucked and needs to be replaced.

Hardly a time consuming exercise.

[Loedown]

Originally Posted by Matt020

Over night I removed all socketed chips, and cleaned the board with vinegar, then lemon juice, rinsing with distilled water. I paid some attention to the edge connector.

Re-assembling the board and it still does the same. Appears that the RAM is actually bad.

I have a multimeter but there's a lotta tracks to trace, a lot of chips to check out. A lot of work.

Time to search for a replacement a2000 accelerator....

I'll give you $10 for it