Problems with KCS Power PC board

gurth · 06 September 2020, 19:14

I have recently purchased a KCS Power PC board (Revision P25-42).

When I first installed it I managed to get the pins off by 1 as I have a Checkmate case and not a A500 in an original case (the trapdoor slot guides you into position). It seems the 1st set of pins (marked with a red dot on the connector) should not be used by the Amiga, instead you have the option of bridging the pins to disable the memory (I read the manual). I switched the Amiga on a few times in this configuration, I hope I did not damage it.

Once I realised my mistake and refitted the card in the correct position the A500 lit up. All good. At first glance it is was working as I have ~800k of chipram after booting into Workbench. It would suggest I did not damage the card.

However when I run the software it crashes to a guru mediation. Have the latest v4.5 ADF from the Internet, and also a v4.0 and v3.0 on floppy disk here. All fail. Interestingly the v3.0 software gives me a message "PC emulator hardware not present" before the guru.

Have I broken it?

I am not convinced the onboard battery is well. When I run the pcclock command it gives me JAN '74. If I try to set the time with

Code:

pcclock opt SAVE

it does tell me it has written to date successfully but the value I get back is random and sometimes corrupt. New battery?

gurth · 06 September 2020, 19:15

Forgot to mention, I have an ACA500+ and ACA123x card with 128Mb or RAM. Could that be related?

gurth · 06 September 2020, 20:45

This is how I have the card inserted:

Click image for larger version

Name: IMG_4296.JPG
Views: 185
Size: 666.3 KB
ID: 68777

gurth · 06 September 2020, 20:46

So 2 pins off on the end.

croupier · 06 September 2020, 21:15

Pls disregard....just re-read your post....

E-Penguin · 07 September 2020, 18:01

It doesn't work with the aca500plus

gurth · 08 September 2020, 19:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by E-Penguin

It doesn't work with the aca500plus

Dam I thought it did!

http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=995931&postcount=64

ACA500 and not the ACA500+

E-Penguin · 08 September 2020, 20:29

Ah now that is interesting. The KCS Power PC expert on the German a1k forum says it won't work

https://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?...2/post-1387756

Also here
https://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?...2/post-1392369

I guess the problem is that the KCS board wants to take over the cpu bus, but that's already being done by the aca500plus

gurth · 09 September 2020, 08:30

I think it can work because on the disk is a 020 variant of the their software which suggests it must support accelerated A500s and A2000s.

gurth · 04 October 2020, 18:57

I'm still struggling with this KCS Power PC Board. I've soldered a new battery on to the board, seems okay. If I boot the Amiga up it sees the extra RAM in Workbench 1.3 and 3.0, depending which kickstart I use.

In Kickstart 3 mode, if I hold down both mouse buttons and check the card there it says it is working.

I install the software but each time I go to run it I'm told the PC board is not found. I have removed the ACA500+ and try it that way, booted straight from the floppy and I get the same message.

This thing does not work with NTSC Amigas:
http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/powerpc

Now I have a PAL machine but swapped the Agnus a long time ago, I think it was to support a hardware mod on the motherboard to get 1mb of Chip RAM. Running ShowConfig I can see it is being identified as a "ECS NTSC Agnus"

Could that be the issue?

gurth · 05 October 2020, 03:59

I wonder if it the checkmate zorro board conflicting. I see it mentioned here of a incompatiblity although that might be for the original Checkmate.

https://forum.amiga.org/index.php?topic=72905.0

gurth · 12 December 2021, 17:33

Found a little time to look at this again....

Removed the the ACA500+ entirely and was still having issues. I suspected this was due to my Amiga being stuck in NTSC mode back from when I did a 1Mb chip upgrade to the motherboard and changed the Agnus. Never been an issue as I would always force PAL from the ACA500+, but with that removed it is not an option.

Agnus removed, pin 41 masked, Agnus fitted and it booted straight into the KCS PC straight from a floppy.

Now need to decide if I want to keep this ACA500+ or swap it for a PiStorm... or sell the KCS card. Hmm.

Jope · 12 December 2021, 18:57

The KCS card might not be very pistorm compatible either. Will be interesting to hear how it went if you decide to attempt it.

gurth · 12 December 2021, 21:11

yes I have been doing some asking around / googling and the answer is "unknown".

Jope · 13 December 2021, 09:14

Don't be too disappointed if it doesn't work. The KCS Power PC board is an expansion that was designed with a mostly stock A500 in mind.

The optional Zorro II adapter would probably make it more compatible.

gurth · 13 December 2021, 21:59

I like the ACA500+ because it gives me a sdcard hard drive but there is no option to disable the card or the CPU. Many of the sdcard options for a A500 come with a CPU upgrade.

I think I need a second A500 ;-)

Jope · 14 December 2021, 08:02

Hehe.. So begins the Amiga hoard. One for each use case. But in the end, which use cases will get any time on the bench?

McTrinsic · 15 December 2021, 22:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by gurth

I like the ACA500+ because it gives me a sdcard hard drive but there is no option to disable the card or the CPU. Many of the sdcard options for a A500 come with a CPU upgrade.

I think I need a second A500 ;-)

What about the cloaking option of the ACA500+ ?

gurth · 15 December 2021, 22:41

Tried that. Did not work sadly. Even tried dialling down the ACA500+ cpu to 7mhz.

gurth · 02 January 2022, 16:47

Decided to part with the card

No other reason than it is a faff with Checkmate 1500 case (needs me to open the case and remove the ACA500+ if I want to use the PC side of things).

https://www.amibay.com/forum/want-to...-fresh-battery

06 September 2020, 19:14	#1
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	Problems with KCS Power PC board I have recently purchased a KCS Power PC board (Revision P25-42). When I first installed it I managed to get the pins off by 1 as I have a Checkmate case and not a A500 in an original case (the trapdoor slot guides you into position). It seems the 1st set of pins (marked with a red dot on the connector) should not be used by the Amiga, instead you have the option of bridging the pins to disable the memory (I read the manual). I switched the Amiga on a few times in this configuration, I hope I did not damage it. Once I realised my mistake and refitted the card in the correct position the A500 lit up. All good. At first glance it is was working as I have ~800k of chipram after booting into Workbench. It would suggest I did not damage the card. However when I run the software it crashes to a guru mediation. Have the latest v4.5 ADF from the Internet, and also a v4.0 and v3.0 on floppy disk here. All fail. Interestingly the v3.0 software gives me a message "PC emulator hardware not present" before the guru. Have I broken it? I am not convinced the onboard battery is well. When I run the pcclock command it gives me JAN '74. If I try to set the time with Code: pcclock opt SAVE it does tell me it has written to date successfully but the value I get back is random and sometimes corrupt. New battery?

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Kcs power pc board	ikorodu	support.Hardware	10	14 March 2020 20:25
KCS Power PC Board Software	BlindGerMan	support.Hardware	18	03 January 2017 20:54
KCS Power PC Board – Help?	Fingerlickin_B	support.Hardware	64	25 May 2015 12:37
KCS Power PC Board in A2000	genny	support.Hardware	9	30 November 2010 18:20
Help with KCS Power PC Board	DyLucke	support.Hardware	3	01 July 2010 18:29

06 September 2020, 19:15	#2
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	Forgot to mention, I have an ACA500+ and ACA123x card with 128Mb or RAM. Could that be related?

06 September 2020, 20:45	#3
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	This is how I have the card inserted:

06 September 2020, 20:46	#4
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	So 2 pins off on the end.

06 September 2020, 21:15	#5
croupier Registered User Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Koper, Slovenia Posts: 94	Pls disregard....just re-read your post....

07 September 2020, 18:01	#6
E-Penguin Banana Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Darmstadt Posts: 1,213	It doesn't work with the aca500plus

08 September 2020, 20:29	#8
E-Penguin Banana Join Date: Jul 2016 Location: Darmstadt Posts: 1,213	Ah now that is interesting. The KCS Power PC expert on the German a1k forum says it won't work https://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?...2/post-1387756 Also here https://www.a1k.org/forum/index.php?...2/post-1392369 I guess the problem is that the KCS board wants to take over the cpu bus, but that's already being done by the aca500plus

09 September 2020, 08:30	#9
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	I think it can work because on the disk is a 020 variant of the their software which suggests it must support accelerated A500s and A2000s.

04 October 2020, 18:57	#10
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	I'm still struggling with this KCS Power PC Board. I've soldered a new battery on to the board, seems okay. If I boot the Amiga up it sees the extra RAM in Workbench 1.3 and 3.0, depending which kickstart I use. In Kickstart 3 mode, if I hold down both mouse buttons and check the card there it says it is working. I install the software but each time I go to run it I'm told the PC board is not found. I have removed the ACA500+ and try it that way, booted straight from the floppy and I get the same message. This thing does not work with NTSC Amigas: http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/powerpc Now I have a PAL machine but swapped the Agnus a long time ago, I think it was to support a hardware mod on the motherboard to get 1mb of Chip RAM. Running ShowConfig I can see it is being identified as a "ECS NTSC Agnus" Could that be the issue?

05 October 2020, 03:59	#11
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	I wonder if it the checkmate zorro board conflicting. I see it mentioned here of a incompatiblity although that might be for the original Checkmate. https://forum.amiga.org/index.php?topic=72905.0

12 December 2021, 17:33	#12
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	Found a little time to look at this again.... Removed the the ACA500+ entirely and was still having issues. I suspected this was due to my Amiga being stuck in NTSC mode back from when I did a 1Mb chip upgrade to the motherboard and changed the Agnus. Never been an issue as I would always force PAL from the ACA500+, but with that removed it is not an option. Agnus removed, pin 41 masked, Agnus fitted and it booted straight into the KCS PC straight from a floppy. Now need to decide if I want to keep this ACA500+ or swap it for a PiStorm... or sell the KCS card. Hmm.

12 December 2021, 18:57	#13
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	The KCS card might not be very pistorm compatible either. Will be interesting to hear how it went if you decide to attempt it.

12 December 2021, 21:11	#14
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	yes I have been doing some asking around / googling and the answer is "unknown".

13 December 2021, 09:14	#15
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	Don't be too disappointed if it doesn't work. The KCS Power PC board is an expansion that was designed with a mostly stock A500 in mind. The optional Zorro II adapter would probably make it more compatible.

13 December 2021, 21:59	#16
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	I like the ACA500+ because it gives me a sdcard hard drive but there is no option to disable the card or the CPU. Many of the sdcard options for a A500 come with a CPU upgrade. I think I need a second A500 ;-)

14 December 2021, 08:02	#17
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	Hehe.. So begins the Amiga hoard. One for each use case. But in the end, which use cases will get any time on the bench?

15 December 2021, 22:41	#19
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	Tried that. Did not work sadly. Even tried dialling down the ACA500+ cpu to 7mhz.

02 January 2022, 16:47	#20
gurth Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Halifax Posts: 225	Decided to part with the card No other reason than it is a faff with Checkmate 1500 case (needs me to open the case and remove the ACA500+ if I want to use the PC side of things). https://www.amibay.com/forum/want-to...-fresh-battery

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)