Amiga 3000/Deneb Lockup Issue

[ajacocks]

All,

This is an issue that I've had, for over a year now, and have been putting off troubleshooting, as it's a pain to diagnose. However, I've finally gotten tired of trying to work around it.

I have an Amiga 3000, '030/25, with a Deneb card, running OS 3.1, with kickstart 3.1, and buster 11. The bootdisk as an 18gb SCSI disk, running off of the built-in SCSI controller.

The problem is, that 9 boots out of 10, the first click I make in Workbench will hang the system. On that 10th boot, the click will go through, and everything will be OK, until next time I boot the 3000. This problem has something to do with the Deneb, as it never occurred until I installed the card.

The Deneb DOES work, on the non-freezing boots. I've tried using thumbdrives and USB ethernet adapters, and they are both recognized. Interestingly, anything that runs BEFORE Workbench (AmiTCP/IP, for instance) doesn't freeze the system.

Any ideas? I'm about at wits' end!

Thanks!

- Alexander

[alexh]

Latest deneb firmware? Latest poseidon? What other things do you have in your startup sequence / flash?

[rkauer]

Also force the Deneb to act in Zorro 2 mode, that may help.

You'll loose the high speed and DMA features, but that's all.

[ajacocks]

As to Zorro II mode, I've tried that, and it didn't seem to make any difference.

I hate to admit it, but I'm not sure how to tell what version of Deneb firmware, or of Poseidon I have. Is there a command that I can run to check?

I bought my Deneb back in 2008, and I know that I upgraded the firmware at least once, since then, probably to upgrade to -current, when I first got installed it.

Oh, and I only have AmiTCP/IP 4.0 Demo in my startup sequence.

Thanks!

- Alex

[ajacocks]

OK, so, to troubleshoot further, I downloaded Poseidon V4.4. To make sure that nothing else was causing a problem, I re-installed OS 3.1, on a freshly-formatted drive.

I also determined, by archive size, that I have Deneb V9 ROM code loaded.

The installation of Poseidon went OK, until I was asked if I wished to start 'psdstackloader', to initialize the USB stack. I said OK, and the system froze. I then rebooted the A3000, and got an error, on boot, saying that 'psdstackloader' could not be found, on ENVARC:. I checked there, and indeed, 'psdstackloader' is not present.

I also ran Luciferin, and checked what I have in the flash ROM, at present. Installed are:

denebpiousb.device
denebz2usb.device
massstorage.class
poseidon.library
hub.class
hid.class
psdstackloader

UPDATE:

After doing yet another full new install, and re-installing Poseidon 4.0 from the Deneb's ROM disk, the card works in Zorro 2 mode. Woohoo! Thanks for asking the questions that got me to figure out what the heck was going on. Now, to finish re-configuring my A3000...

Thanks!

[Brakus]

Hi,

I had the same problems on my '030 3000D and got around it by using SETPATCH NOCACHE in startup sequence... Emailed back & forth with the manufacturer but never really got another solution...

Interestingly, had the same problem with my '030 4000D and another deneb and I used the same method to get around the freeze too until I replaced the cpu card with a Warpengine 040 and had the motherboard repaired...

[alexh]

I would be reluctant to run a Deneb in Zorro II mode long term but try to work with the developers to find the cause and come up with a solution.

[Brosol]

Regarding the Deneb and cpu cache check out this thread

http://translate.google.com/translat...&sl=auto&tl=en

and a link for modules to flash the Deneb (disables cpu cache early at startup):

http://www.a1k.org/forum/attachment....4&d=1263769764

I flashed my Deneb with both NoCaches, NoDataCache modules to enable booting from FlashCard via Deneb USB.

I used setcpu in startup script to turn back on cache else the system will be very slow.

re: 'psdstackloader' could not be found, on ENVARC:

Are you able to run the prefs:Trident program? After saving your settings to the updated "psdstackloader" file, you must flash it to the deneb to enable changes/settings.

[ajacocks]

Thanks for that link.

I had no idea that 'psdstackloader' was supposed to be updated, in the flash. The original installer didn't create 'ENVARC:psdstackloader', so I downloaded the one stored, in the Deneb's flash, for original use.

Also, I read elsewhere that I should upgrade the version of Poseidon, in the flash. Is this necessary, if I'm not booting from USB?

Suffice it to say that I'm thoroughly confused about this whole process.

If anybody would be willing to link me to a set of start-to-finish Deneb/Poseidon installation instructions, for OS 3.1, I'd _really_ appreciate it. My current config is based on the Deneb docs (pretty thin) + what I can find by searching the net.

Thanks!

[Brosol]

I had no idea that 'psdstackloader' was supposed to be updated, in the flash. The original installer didn't create

>>>>the ENVARCsdstackloader file must be flashed to Deneb to reflect changes each time Trident prefs settings are changed. For example I recently installed a Buster 9 and flashed a Buster 9 fix file, denebdmausb.device to support DMA. Changed Trident prefs to enable DMA. When I rebooted Deneb was still in PIO mode because I forgot to flash the updated psdstackloader file....after the flash bingo!! I'm playing with DMA mode.

'ENVARCsdstackloader', so I downloaded the one stored, in the Deneb's flash, for original use.

>>>> Trident prefs settings by default are saved to ENVARCsdstackloader......you can also specify diff save location via Trident 'save as'

Also, I read elsewhere that I should upgrade the version of Poseidon, in the flash. Is this necessary, if I'm not booting from USB?

>>>>> The updated Poseidon might include bug fixes and new features besides usb boot support

[Brosol]

I wonder if the freeze problems are related to your buster 11 some how.

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthre...t=51456&page=3

[ajacocks]

I doubt it, as I have completely given up on running the Deneb in Zorro III mode, not to mention DMA. I fought with it for several months, almost 2 years ago, before giving up, and only recently got it working, even in Zorro II mode.

Also, my original chip was a buster 7, so that's not much of an option.

Thanks!

[Brosol]

Installing MMULibs might help.

Maybe the Deneb beta firmware that is being worked on will fix Buster 11 PIO, DMA Zorro III mode issues....from the threads it seems you are not alone with such problems

[ajacocks]

As a final follow-up, the Deneb that has been giving me such fits, in my A3000, works perfectly (well, it needs to be reset, in Trident, on boot, before it works perfectly) in my A4000, ALSO with Super Buster 11.

No idea why, but I'm now able to run in Zorro III DMA mode.

[Brosol]

More info regarding Deneb problems that seem to be unique with A3000s.

I can enable Deneb DMA mode in my A3000 Buster 9 setup. Things went fine during testing of various USB devices but the system becomes unstable during large USB drive file transfers. I also noticed graphic artifacts in Picasso II screen modes as the system became unstable during copying. There are no such problems in Deneb PIO mode.

Here's a reply I got from Michael Boehmer:

"The effects described point to a Buster problem. I will come back to this as soon as I find time, at the moment I'm kind of busy :-(

--
MfG Michael Boehmer
Fa. E3B"

[Kernel]

Interesting that I finally stumbled upon this thread after fighting this issue for so long... I literally within the last hour traced it to the ENVARC:Psdstackloader command that was plopped into my User-Startup file by the install.

I had been running my DENEB in forced Z2 mode via jumper since my purchase because of this lockup... I thought there was a chip issue and that it would relieve the problem but it didn't. So last night I put it back into Z3 mode and set everything up to use the zenebdmausb.device and even re-flashed the ROM to make sure it had all the latest of the files from the 4.5 install of Poseidon that I had just done.

Interestingly enough, I *forgot* to flash the PsdStackloader back into the ROM... I guess my question is if it's in both ROM and there is a startup line in User-Startup, isn't that redundant?

[ajacocks]

Good question. I, too, had given up on running the Deneb in Z3 mode. I'd love to hear about it, if you make any progress.

[Kernel]

Originally Posted by ajacocks

Good question. I, too, had given up on running the Deneb in Z3 mode. I'd love to hear about it, if you make any progress.

Actually, I'll probably jinx myself but I think I did in fact cure it!

What I did is disabled the User-Startup ENVARC:PsdStackloader line and used Luciferin to reload the FlashROM by way of the Quick Setup / Poseidon USB menu option.

I'm cautiously optimistic but I've rebooted (both warm and cold) at least 10 times now without a lockup.

My only remaining issue is that sometimes the DVD-RW icons don't show up on the WB. This could be because I have no battery installed so I have a bit of code that pops up a shell window asking for date and time. But then again, it's not repeatable in a pattern. Sometimes the drive will load and the icon will show up on the WB regardless of it I sit at that date prompt for a while or if I answer right away.

Guess there is still that DVD issue to resolve - but I'll take that over the lockups.

Good luck and let me know how you fare...

[Kernel]

So to finalize my previous post...

On my Rev 6.1 A3K system with 030/25 and 18MB RAM, by removing the PsdStackloader from the User-Startup, my boot freezing went away 100% and my CD, Network, and Flash devices were all available w/o fail.

I just replaced this system with a Rev 9/03 A3K system with 040/25 via a Rev 3.1 A3640 and 18MB RAM. Initially, I did not have USB at boot but running Poseidon after boot and resetting the stack, it all came to life. I followed the link in this thread to get NoCaches and NoDataCache and re-flashed my DENEB FlashROM with my installed devices and classes via the Luciferin Quick Setup -> Poseidon menu and with Nocaches and NoDataCaches along for the ride. It boots with all USB devices no problem. In Startup-sequence, I have the standard SetPatch QUIET command followed by CPU CACHE BURST to the list and so far no issues.

I hope this helps... I know I was going crazy for a long time over the lockups on the 6.1 system.

[trixster]

Dragging up an old thread here but I've encountered a similar problem with a Deneb in my stock A3000 Buster 11 - with either z3 pio or Dma set in trident I would get random but inevitable workbench lockups when accessing drives if the 030 cpu caches were on. With them off (using the Luciferin NOCACHE module) the lockups would stop but the machine would be very slow, as expected. However as soon is I use set cpu cache command the machine would lock as soon as a disk is accessed.

The fix was to install mmulibs and then CacheInhibit the denebinstall z3 memory space. In my case this was 0x40000000 to 0x40ffffff. With this set in ENVARC:MMU-Configuration I could remove the NOCACHE module in Luciferin.