Upgrading Phase5 Cyberstorm MKII 040/40 upgrade to 060/50...

[mabus]

Hello all,

I about to start a project which is to upgrade my Cyberstorm MKII's from 040/40 to 060/50's... I have finally managed to gather all the parts! This is quite well documented on the web, but those pages are disappearing rapidly so maybe it's time we do one here ...

One of the boards has a CyberSCSI, so for now I will aim for 50MHz for the 060s... Zetr0 has shown interest in photos, let me know if anyone else is interested in a thorough guide - or else I will just post photos in PM to Zetr0 and not bother doing a proper write-up



All the best,


-Mabus...

[alexh]

Create a decent guide and I will make it part of BBoAH

This is quite well documented on the web, but those pages are disappearing rapidly

Amiga's and Webpages do not fall within the WAL (Wife acceptance Level) and most Amiga users are getting to that point (their 30's) where they are all tying the knot.

[Zetr0]

@Mabus

It would be great to see a guide for this conversion! if you want i can give you some webspace and a project gallery folder too

[mabus]

Hello all,

Thanks for your interest I have now completed Phase 1 and 2 of this project, the upgrade didn't take very long (less than 1 hour) - but I don't have very steady hands so moving tiny SMD resistors was a bit of a pain - I managed without causing any damage to the board though, so it should be OK. I guess it's all in the preparation

Phase 2 was to test the board (I did this a few times without the CPU on, just to measure the voltages) and now it is running with the 060 @ 50MHz. It was a bit difficult to get the oscillator, so I borrowed one from a broken A4000 motherboard I bought here recently.

I shall do a proper write up and add some photos too - I took a few during the "operation"...

[Zetr0]

Awesome my friend, I do so look forward to the pics. again my offer of a gallery space at

www.guildserver.co.uk/projects/

is a genuine one for your picture / project stores

[mabus]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

Awesome my friend, I do so look forward to the pics. again my offer of a gallery space at

www.guildserver.co.uk/projects/

is a genuine one for your picture / project stores

Sounds good, I shall do the write-up and send it to you - so it can be included in these pages...

All the best,


-Mabus.

[mabus]

Originally Posted by alexh

Create a decent guide and I will make it part of BBoAH


Amiga's and Webpages do not fall within the WAL (Wife acceptance Level) and most Amiga users are getting to that point (their 30's) where they are all tying the knot.

That's true, I am also in the 30's now - though I am not married, my partner and I have separate economies - so I can spend money on my hobbies and she spends money on hers We avoid arguments and can do what we want!

[alexh]

My dad once told me something about my mum:

Originally Posted by Alex's Dad

What is mine, is hers.
And what is hers, is erm... also hers!

I have found that statement to be true about most women.

[Zetr0]

talking about wifes, mine bought me a cd32 motherboard for Christmas

@alexh

would you possibly have a link to a company that i could request some samples of the cd32 expansion bus connector ?

[alexh]

www.adam-tech.com

182-pin MCA edge connector.

[Zetr0]

thankies

[Zetr0]

Originally Posted by mabus

Sounds good, I shall do the write-up and send it to you - so it can be included in these pages...

All the best,


-Mabus.

I really appreciate that sir! most kind indeed

if you wish i can give you an account to create your own galleries of work

[AMIGAZ]

Wow! so it worked....when I had my CS MKII '040 I asked JJ at Amiga Center if he could upgrade it to a '060 but he said he once tried it but never got the Amiga to boot so he didn't recommend it.
I didn't believe him after reading some old guides on the net so I sent it to PG here in Sweden and showed him the guide but he never got the Amiga to boot he tried the card in after the upgrade.
We thought back then it was some firware we had to upgrade

What info did you have when you did the upgrade?

[mabus]

Originally Posted by AMIGAZ

Wow! so it worked....when I had my CS MKII '040 I asked JJ at Amiga Center if he could upgrade it to a '060 but he said he once tried it but never got the Amiga to boot so he didn't recommend it.
I didn't believe him after reading some old guides on the net so I sent it to PG here in Sweden and showed him the guide but he never got the Amiga to boot he tried the card in after the upgrade.
We thought back then it was some firware we had to upgrade

What info did you have when you did the upgrade?

I am working on a thorough write up of this mod, unfortunately I have been ill the last few days so haven't had time to do much work on it.

The info I worked from was scanned images of the Cyberstorm MKII 060 version, which I found at amiga-hardware.com - comparing my board to that version, which seems to have been an upgraded version based on the "injuries" I could see in the scan. The article there also contains a short description of how to do the upgrade, which is a very simple task in theory but of course requires some basic skills... In reality the "instructions" are just a quick overview of the differences between the two cards.

The Cyberstorm I upgraded was already using a CyberSCSI module, so I had made sure it had the latest available firmware. This may have contributed to the instant success. I'd say simply upgrade the firmware BEFORE starting work - and of course make sure it works...

However it is very easy to revert the board back into 040 mode if it doesn't work, so it's not a big deal...