Amiga1200 boot issue with IDE-CF card and ACA1221ec

17 September 2017, 07:27

I successfully replaced my 40Mb IDE drive with an 8Gb CF card.
The CF card was setup via WinUAE using ClassicWB Lite.

Everything works as it should,except many games would not run via WHDLoad due to lack of memory (standard 2Mb A1200).

So I purchased the ACA1221EC accelerator, with RTC module.

Now the Amiga hangs on startup with a black screen.
I overcome this by holding the left mouse button down during boot which takes me to the Maxmem boot menu - I then select "Reboot" and Workbench boots fine.

What is different between a normal startup and Reboot from Maxmem menu?

Does the ACA1221ec need more time to initialise?

Looking for any ideas! Thanks.

indigolemon · 17 September 2017, 12:27

What motherboard revision is your 1200?

18 September 2017, 08:24

The motherboard is Rev 1D.4

A500 · 26 June 2018, 11:16

Hi!

I have a very similar problem with a freshly installed ACA1221ec connected to a Rev 1D.4 board. The A1200 is an Escom on from Oct 1995.

I have a standard installation of WB3.1 from original disks (scsi.device updated to 44.20) on the CF card. Booting from the card results in a few spins of DF0: and a black screen. Changing boot menu settings has no effect on this.

Booting from df0: works normally. The card and both its partitions show correctly in Workbench, and the ACA seems to work as it should as well apart from the boot problem.

Edit: After I installed the ACA, there is a very short pink flash on the screen when powering the machine on. Is this an indication of a problem perhaps? I couldn't find any information on this so any help would be greatly appreciated.

DanyPPC · 26 June 2018, 13:30

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA1221ec

According to icomp wiki there is a jumper on the board which influence startup speed and the 1MB maprom function.
Futhermore timing-fixes are required on some motherboard.

26 June 2018, 13:38

Boots up fine with the jumper moved but then only 1Mb memory. (See my other recent post)

May be timing fix needed, but I read that the 1221ec doesn't have issues. The documentation for these cards is pretty mixed up and confusing.

A500 · 26 June 2018, 13:50

Thanks for the reply! Yes, I checked the jumper but that was not causing the trouble. I had "loadmodule scsi.device" in my startup-sequence so I could use v 44.20 which brings in support for HD sizes of over 4Gb, but for some reason this resulted in the black screen when the card was installed.

I had formatted my 8Gb card with PFS3AIO v19 (the latest one) which I had forgotten supports up to 8Gb, so simply removing the "loadmodule scsi.device" from my s-s did the trick. It took me only five and half hours of tinkering in vain to remember this

Jope · 26 June 2018, 14:21

The important question still remains: why doesn't loadmodule work with this aca1221ec?

A500 · 26 June 2018, 14:26

Yep, would be useful...let's hope an update is in the works, the card itself is great!

27 June 2018, 06:45

Very rusty with my Amiga knowledge after 25 years...

Anyway, my issue seems fixed.

I commented out the loadmodule devs:scsi.device in the startup-sequence

Now boots up fine, and sees both my 256Mb & 7,500Mb partitions on my 8Gb CF card.

Am using SFS 43.24.

Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions...

17 September 2017, 07:27	#1
Gazza Posts: n/a	Amiga1200 boot issue with IDE-CF card and ACA1221ec I successfully replaced my 40Mb IDE drive with an 8Gb CF card. The CF card was setup via WinUAE using ClassicWB Lite. Everything works as it should,except many games would not run via WHDLoad due to lack of memory (standard 2Mb A1200). So I purchased the ACA1221EC accelerator, with RTC module. Now the Amiga hangs on startup with a black screen. I overcome this by holding the left mouse button down during boot which takes me to the Maxmem boot menu - I then select "Reboot" and Workbench boots fine. What is different between a normal startup and Reboot from Maxmem menu? Does the ACA1221ec need more time to initialise? Looking for any ideas! Thanks.

18 September 2017, 08:24	#3
Gazza Posts: n/a	The motherboard is Rev 1D.4 Last edited by Gazza; 18 September 2017 at 08:29.

26 June 2018, 11:16	#4
A500 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Finland Posts: 364	Hi! I have a very similar problem with a freshly installed ACA1221ec connected to a Rev 1D.4 board. The A1200 is an Escom on from Oct 1995. I have a standard installation of WB3.1 from original disks (scsi.device updated to 44.20) on the CF card. Booting from the card results in a few spins of DF0: and a black screen. Changing boot menu settings has no effect on this. Booting from df0: works normally. The card and both its partitions show correctly in Workbench, and the ACA seems to work as it should as well apart from the boot problem. Edit: After I installed the ACA, there is a very short pink flash on the screen when powering the machine on. Is this an indication of a problem perhaps? I couldn't find any information on this so any help would be greatly appreciated. Last edited by A500; 26 June 2018 at 11:20. Reason: addition of info

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17 September 2017, 12:27	#2
indigolemon Bit Copying Bard Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: Kelty, Fife, Scotland Age: 41 Posts: 1,293	What motherboard revision is your 1200?

26 June 2018, 13:30	#5
DanyPPC Registered User Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Italy Posts: 765	http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA1221ec According to icomp wiki there is a jumper on the board which influence startup speed and the 1MB maprom function. Futhermore timing-fixes are required on some motherboard.

26 June 2018, 13:38	#6
Gazza Posts: n/a	Boots up fine with the jumper moved but then only 1Mb memory. (See my other recent post) May be timing fix needed, but I read that the 1221ec doesn't have issues. The documentation for these cards is pretty mixed up and confusing.

26 June 2018, 13:50	#7
A500 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Finland Posts: 364	Thanks for the reply! Yes, I checked the jumper but that was not causing the trouble. I had "loadmodule scsi.device" in my startup-sequence so I could use v 44.20 which brings in support for HD sizes of over 4Gb, but for some reason this resulted in the black screen when the card was installed. I had formatted my 8Gb card with PFS3AIO v19 (the latest one) which I had forgotten supports up to 8Gb, so simply removing the "loadmodule scsi.device" from my s-s did the trick. It took me only five and half hours of tinkering in vain to remember this

26 June 2018, 14:21	#8
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,874	The important question still remains: why doesn't loadmodule work with this aca1221ec?

26 June 2018, 14:26	#9
A500 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Finland Posts: 364	Yep, would be useful...let's hope an update is in the works, the card itself is great!

27 June 2018, 06:45	#10
Gazza Posts: n/a	Very rusty with my Amiga knowledge after 25 years... Anyway, my issue seems fixed. I commented out the loadmodule devs:scsi.device in the startup-sequence Now boots up fine, and sees both my 256Mb & 7,500Mb partitions on my 8Gb CF card. Am using SFS 43.24. Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions...

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