ACT Apollo 1260: crash-reboot loop when memory added

Hi all,

I'm trying out WinUAE emulating an ACT Apollo 1260. I have this board in a real A1200 and I'd like to replicate the config inside WinUAE.

I've ripped the expansion ROM for the Apollo using my A1200, configured the ACT Apollo 1240/1260 option in WinUAE, and given it the ripped ROM file. This appears to work: boot time is longer while it's presumably scanning the SCSI bus; the board appears in the boot time menu and ShowConfig output, and the Apollo "cpu60" utility detects it.

However when I set the "Accelerator memory" option to anything other than zero, it all goes wrong. The computer is in a reboot loop with a flashing power LED - I'm assuming there's a guru-causing crash early in the boot process, causing the flashing power LED a few times, then a reboot, but the crash happens again before the guru is displayed, over and over. (To be clear, it is not booting any drives.)

I've attached the WinUAE log files; hopefully useful but please let me know if there's any useful information I can provide.

Cheers
Richard.

[Toni Wilen]

Attach also config file, thanks.

Hi, is this the file you need?

I should add that this uses a Cloanto 3.x ROM also ripped from my A1200, but that the problem is reproducible on a 3.0 ROM too.

Thanks
Richard.

[Toni Wilen]

Yes, that is it. Thanks. It looks fine.

Do you get normal insert disk screen if you remove all harddrives? If yes, it sounds like you have something on your boot disk that is not compatible, like missing 68060.library (68040.library + 68060 = instant crash).

No, it never gets as far as booting a drive. If I remove all hard drives from the config, it still gets into a crash/reboot loop when powering on.

It seems specific to the "Accelerator board memory" option in the "Accelerator Board Settings". If it's "none" then all is well - HD boots if its attached, or insert-disk screen if not. But if this option is set to anything else (1M up to 128M) then I get the crash/reboot loop.

Thanks
Richard.

[Toni Wilen]

"Works for me" so perhaps ROM image is different? (Is it same or different than the one on the zone called expansion_boot_roms.zip?)

Does it work in 68040 mode?

I downloaded expansion_boot_roms.zip and gave that a try - mine is different, but they both fail inthe same way.

BUT... it seems I was wrong earlier when I said I saw the same problem with KS 3.0 - I've tried it again now and it is working with KS 3.0 (I must have done something wrong when I last tried). It crashes on KS 3.1 and 3.x.

On real hardware the Apollo ROM works on 3.0, 3.1 and 3.x and it'd be great if it does on WinUAE too. Is there anything else I can do to track down why it might be failing?

Thanks
Richard.

[Toni Wilen]

It is possible emulation is not complete, part of it always has to be (unfortunately) based on guesses without access to real hardware.

If you have real Apollo 1260, could you include WB tools/showconfig output? (EDIT: better use debug command line: "tools/showconfig debug >output.txt")

[voxel]

if I remember well, apollo mem isn't autoconfigured ? or something like that. there is limits on possible mem size too, and type...

ShowConfig info is attached. Thanks!

[Toni Wilen]

Thanks. Fixed and also memory disable jumper added.

Please confirm using this version: http://www.winuae.net/files/b/winuae.7z

(Note: because address space changed, go to advanced memory option and make sure mainboard ram size is zero)

Much better - no crashes during boot now!

A new issue is that if i select *less* than 16MB RAM, ShowConfig is will show 16MB. I also had some unexpected crashes after I got to Workbench (possibly because it's trying to use memory between what I selected and 16MB?) If I select 32MB or more, then ShowConfig is correct though.

Thanks
Richard.

[Toni Wilen]

<16M now works but it probably does not work in JIT modes. It needs some other updates.

EDIT: Memory detection routines assume RAM mirroring (if <16M), which can't be JIT direct compatible.