Blizzard 2060 Issue

[JHKrueger]

Hello everyone,

I have a Blizzard 2060 accelerator installed in an Amiga 2000 with rev. 6.2 motherboard and the 3.2.1 kickstart. The board works fine without this accelerator. I tested a 68020 accelerator (GVP), and that one worked fine, so I guess the Amiga 2000 itself is not the root of the problem. But with the Blizzard 2060, I get a yellow screen after about 10 seconds and the system reboots, again with a yellow screen, then the cycle continues. The system boots fine if I hold the zero "0" key to bypass the Blizzard 2060.

I found the Blizzard 2060 in an attic so there is a good chance something is not ok. Does anyone have an idea how to debug this issue?

I tried different RAMs, same problem.

Cheers,
Jens

[Matt_H]

Does the system start to boot at all? e.g., can you get to Early Startup Control?

EDIT: Check the manual as well to eliminate any jumper-related config issues. http://phase5.a1k.org/manuals.html

[JHKrueger]

Hi Matt,

I cannot get into the early boot (by pressing both mouse buttons), but the hardware seems to work to some extent as I can press the "0"-key to disable the accelerator; then everything works fine. I checked the jumper, but most of them concern the SCSI interface, and I have not attached anything to the SCSI-Bus yet. There appear to be three jumpers that I should worry about. One controls the maprom feature, which I have disabled. If I enable maprom, I don't even get the yellow screen. The others control CCLOCK and ECLOCK. I tested all four possible settings of the latter two jumpers since I have no clue what they do, but that changed nothing.

Cheers,
Jens

[grelbfarlk]

Try with your old kickstart that you used before 3.2.1.

[JHKrueger]

I just tried 1.3 and 3.1.
3.1 gives me the same behavior (yellow screen, and reboot loop), and 1.3 is stuck with a medium grey screen (the second grey, after the initial dark grey).

[DarrenHD]

Do you have any ram on the Blizzard? I think you have to have memory installed on it for it to work. Check the manual to be sure.

If not, and you have memory installed on it, you could try removiing it.

[JHKrueger]

The card needs some RAM to start; without any RAM, I don't even get to the yellow screen. I tried different RAM Modules, and I put them into different slots. According to the manual, it does not matter where I plug the modules.

[Kin Hell]

RED Kickstart ROM error Two ICs in A1200, A3000, A4000

BLUE Custom chip problem Denise Paula Agnus

GREEN RAM error

YELLOW Above problems combined

If the Amiga caps lock key LED blinks repeatedly at boot up, another series of error messages must be consulted:
One blink: keyboard ROM checksum error
Two blinks: RAM failure
Three blinks: watchdog timer failure

If something is wrong with your system, you may see the following:
RED: Error was found in ROMS.
GREEN: Error found in the CHIP RAM.
BLUE: Error was found in the custom chips.
YELLOW: If 68000 found an error before the error trapping software (GURU) was running.

Rev A 2000 Boards have to have the 68000 CPU lifted from the board when using a 2060.

As a matter of interest, is the 060 soldered directly to the board or in a socket? - If the latter, it might need re-balling or replacing.
I had Yellow screens with a failing CSMKIII years ago. Pressing on the CPU allowed it to boot without a Yellow screen.
Replacing the CPU Socket fixed my Yellow issues altogether.

[JHKrueger]

The 68060 is on a socket, I removed it already and re-seated it with contact spray. I can exclude an Amiga 2000 chipset problem (the system works without an accelerator and also works fine with other accelerators). The RAM itself should be ok (I tested multiple RAM boards). I guess I'd have to get another 68060 to check whether that makes a difference. If not it must be something on the card itself. Any known common known failures for the Blizzard2060?

[Matt_H]

I had a yellow screen on a 4000 caused by the accelerator making improper contact with the slot. Obviously the 2000 is slightly different architecture, but try some contact cleaner on the pins of the accelerator itself and the motherboard slot.

[JHKrueger]

Originally Posted by Matt_H

I had a yellow screen on a 4000 caused by the accelerator making improper contact with the slot. Obviously the 2000 is slightly different architecture, but try some contact cleaner on the pins of the accelerator itself and the motherboard slot.

Using contact spray on old boards is a great idea; hence I always use it. But that did not help in this case.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by JHKrueger

The 68060 is on a socket, I removed it already and re-seated it with contact spray. I can exclude an Amiga 2000 chipset problem (the system works without an accelerator and also works fine with other accelerators). The RAM itself should be ok (I tested multiple RAM boards). I guess I'd have to get another 68060 to check whether that makes a difference. If not it must be something on the card itself. Any known common known failures for the Blizzard2060?

Contact spray will not repair a BGA (Ball Grid Array) Socket. The current surface mounted socket has to be removed and a new one re-soldering to the PCB.

BGA Sockets suffer this indignity with age. - Is why Surface mount technology was utilised in the industry.

[JHKrueger]

Hi Kin,
It's not a BGA (I don't think BGAs even existed back then ?) but a "simple" PGA socket. I'll have another look at the socket.
Cheers, Jens

[Dale423]

I have this same card in a 2000 with 3.2.1 and have no issues. You may try updating the 2060 ROMs to 8.5.

[JHKrueger]

Hi Dale, I thought the same and upgraded the ROMs today :-) But unfortunately, that made no difference. I also took another look at the CPU's contacts, but they look fine. I guess I'll have to get a working card and then look for differences, e.g., swap the CPUs out.

[JHKrueger]

Does anyone know if a TF1260 will accept the full 68060 CPU with MMU and FPU (and will it actually use the FPU)? I was thinking that being an "empty TF1260" may be the cheapest option to test my CPU.

[grelbfarlk]

Ay esse there is a plethora of German Amiglicans, maybe just have someone test your Blizzard and/or 060 with someone who has an A2000 and an 060, gnome sang. Cha.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by JHKrueger

Does anyone know if a TF1260 will accept the full 68060 CPU with MMU and FPU (and will it actually use the FPU)? I was thinking that being an "empty TF1260" may be the cheapest option to test my CPU.

Yes, they work with a Full 060. - Only specific Programs use an FPU (Floating Point Unit). - Generally, most 3D Programs like Imagine, Real3D, VistaPro, AdPro & ImageFx to mention a few.

Non-Integra calculations are not as accurate as Floating Point calculations, nor as quick.

Surely, as grelbfarlk has mentioned, isn't there anyone local to you that could help?

[JHKrueger]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

Yes, they work with a Full 060. - Only specific Programs use an FPU (Floating Point Unit). - Generally, most 3D Programs like Imagine, Real3D, VistaPro, AdPro & ImageFx to mention a few.

Non-Integra calculations are not as accurate as Floating Point calculations, nor as quick.

Surely, as grelbfarlk has mentioned, isn't there anyone local to you that could help?

The trouble is, that I have no clue what exactly is broken on my card, so it may well be the CPU and I can't guarantee that it may damage other hardware if plugged in (I know it's unlikely, but not impossible) and I don't want to break anyone else's hardware.

But it's good know that a TF can handle the full 68060 CPU, so I'll give that a try.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by JHKrueger

The trouble is, that I have no clue what exactly is broken on my card, so it may well be the CPU and I can't guarantee that it may damage other hardware if plugged in (I know it's unlikely, but not impossible) and I don't want to break anyone else's hardware.

Nil Desperandum ....eh!

Originally Posted by JHKrueger

But it's good know that a TF can handle the full 68060 CPU, so I'll give that a try.

Best of luck fella.