Question on PCMCIA Wireless Card on A1200

[Sim085]

Hello,

Installed PCMCIA Wireless Card on A1200 using the very good tutorial provided here;
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/k7yF340BwUM9z3bVBLW

I can now browse the internet from my A1200 (or at least some parts of it ).

During testing I have noticed some things and I am not sure if I have done something wrong or else it is just the way it works.

1) from cold start-up A1200 does not boot to workbench with pcmcia card inserted. I have to remove the pcmcia card, boot, insert and restart.

2) from warm start-up workbench doesn't boot until card connects to router (link light turns on). I can notice this also with qboot.

is the above normal? or i have done something wrong?

[Daedalus]

Yep, they both sound normal, and are sort of related. It would appear you have the driver installed so that it runs and the startup waits until it connects successfully. This causes the failure to boot in both cases. The first issue is due to a hardware bug on the A1200, where the PCMCIA port doesn't initialise properly from cold boot. You can get both hardware and software fixes for it (see cardreset.lha on Aminet), but it means that the startup can't continue because the card never connects.

In the second case, it's just waiting until the driver is finished connecting. If you use the Run command to run the driver in the background, the system should carry on booting while it tries to connect in both situations.

[Sim085]

Thanks Daedalus for the quick reply.

So cardreset should solve problem with cold start-up? I did move this (and cardpatch) to System:C and call them from startup-sequence. Will see if I have some mistake there.

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Yep, they both sound normal, and are sort of related. It would appear you have the driver installed so that it runs and the startup waits until it connects successfully. This causes the failure to boot in both cases. The first issue is due to a hardware bug on the A1200, where the PCMCIA port doesn't initialise properly from cold boot. You can get both hardware and software fixes for it (see cardreset.lha on Aminet), but it means that the startup can't continue because the card never connects.

In the second case, it's just waiting until the driver is finished connecting. If you use the Run command to run the driver in the background, the system should carry on booting while it tries to connect in both situations.

[Daedalus]

Ah, I can't remember if you need both patches - maybe only CardPatch is needed? But yes, they should solve the issue if they're before the wireless driver. It's possible the card needs a little time after the patch is run to initialise, I don't know...

[Sim085]

I managed to solve the second problem thanks to your suggestion. Previously in Network-Startup it called AddNetworkInterface directly. I added Run >NIL: before AddNetworkInterface and now on warm start-up it continues to boot to Workbench whilst connecting to router in parallel (prefer it that way).

Originally Posted by Daedalus

In the second case, it's just waiting until the driver is finished connecting. If you use the Run command to run the driver in the background, the system should carry on booting while it tries to connect in both situations.

With regards to the first issue. I am not sure. The first thing called in my startup-sequence is qboot which I use to know what is happening on startup. On a cold start-up qboot does not even show up. Also the moment I pull the pcmcia card out the A1200 is as if it restarts (although it could just be going on with the first start not sure).

[Sir_Lucas]

@Sim085
What card do you use?
I'm sure PCMCIA Gayle adapter will solve all your issues.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAND-NEW...wAAOSwc~NbTGr8

or here:
https://retroready.one/collections/a...a-a1200-pcmcia

[Sim085]

My card is Linksys WPC11 (ver3). Could it be that CardPatch and CardReset do not work with this card? In that case I would probably go for the pcmcia gayle adapter. Only reason why I am checking is because from how others speak about CardPatch and CardReset it sounds like a solve-all sort of thing. However in my case it looks like something stops the amiga from even hitting the startup-sequence file as qboot is not even loading and that comes before CardPatch and CardReset are applied.

Originally Posted by Sir_Lucas

What card do you use?

[Sir_Lucas]

Originally Posted by Sim085

My card is Linksys WPC11 (ver3). Could it be that CardPatch and CardReset do not work with this card? In that case I would probably go for the pcmcia gayle adapter. Only reason why I am checking is because from how others speak about CardPatch and CardReset it sounds like a solve-all sort of thing. However in my case it looks like something stops the amiga from even hitting the startup-sequence file as qboot is not even loading and that comes before CardPatch and CardReset are applied.

Yes, it's a lottery with A1200 and PCMCIA cards. Some motherboards work really well and CardPatch and CardReset do the job. Others just need the PCMCIA Gayle Reset fix. That's it.

[Sim085]

Hello again, not sure I am misunderstanding something. Searched on the pcmcia hardware fix and found the following description with one of the ready available modules on the market;

"KA 21 is hardware solution for Gayle PCMCIA reset bug. The Gayle chip in Amiga 1200 does not reset PCMCIA card during system reset event (for example keyboard reset). Then some cards are not working after such event until the Amiga is powercycled..."

However this sounds to me as the opposite of my problem. In my case pcmcia card works fine with system reset event with keyboard. The issue is when I do a cold boot.

So could it be cardpatch and card reset are working fine for me and issue is something different?

[Sir_Lucas]

It's not the keyboard that resets the card.
It's the Gayle Chip that needs reset from cold boot or the power cycle.
Trust me, KA21 is the solution that you need. I've been using it with an identical Linksys card and A1200 and it does the job.
Have a look here:
https://www.retro-kit.co.uk/page.cfm...CIA-reset-fix/

KA21 offers what you need.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAND-NEW...wAAOSwc~NbTGr8

https://retroready.one/collections/a...a-a1200-pcmcia

[Krashan]

Originally Posted by Sim085

However this sounds to me as the opposite of my problem. In my case pcmcia card works fine with system reset event with keyboard. The issue is when I do a cold boot.

Gayle simply does not generate CC_RESET pulse at all. Usual network card will initialize itself at power on, but some designs may rely on CC_RESET signal to do it. Such a card will be in undefined state after cold boot.

KA21 takes system wide RESET signal (not only from keyboard, it is also asserted at cold boot, software reboot etc.) and generates CC_RESET at any time when Amiga is restarted.

[Sim085]

I got one of these and can confirm that now the A1200 continues to boot to Workbench even from a cold-start.

Couple of questions; does this mean I can remove the CardPatch and CardReset commands from the Startup-Sequence script?

Also do I need special tools to remove this type of hardware from the motherboard. It fits quite tightly and I am afraid of breaking something should I want to remove it.

Originally Posted by Sir_Lucas

Trust me, KA21 is the solution that you need.

[Sim085]

Question 2 I can answer myself; found the following which might be helpful to others; https://rastport.com/products/KA21/

"KA21 may be dismounted with some thin, stiff, but not sharp tool, like butter knife or small flat screwdriver. Put some paper (or ESD bag, like on the photo) under the tool, to avoid mainboard scratching. Then insert the tool edge into the gap between KA21 socket and the mainboard. Pry up the socket on a corner. Then carefully remove KA21 by hand, pulling it up. Do not use excessive force, pry up the opposite corner if needed."

Originally Posted by Sim085

Also do I need special tools to remove this type of hardware from the motherboard. It fits quite tightly and I am afraid of breaking something should I want to remove it.

[Sir_Lucas]

Originally Posted by Sim085

I got one of these and can confirm that now the A1200 continues to boot to Workbench even from a cold-start.

Couple of questions; does this mean I can remove the CardPatch and CardReset commands from the Startup-Sequence script?

Also do I need special tools to remove this type of hardware from the motherboard. It fits quite tightly and I am afraid of breaking something should I want to remove it.

Yes, with KA21 installed you can now remove CardReset and CardPatch.
I'm glad it works for you.