New product: MNT ZZ9000

[DarrenHD]

Originally Posted by mntmn

Hi everyone!

While investigating the cause of some RMAs I had the idea to recommend and offer a heatsink to put on the ZYNQ chip on the ZZ9000.

So far, 6 of around 500 ZYNQs have been damaged in the field, but not necessarly by overheating. This is just one of a number of possible reasons. It is advisable to cool all hot-running electronics/chips to increase their lifespan. ZZ9000 is no exception.

This doesn't mean there is any inherent problem on ZZ9000 or ZYNQ. But we are trying to analyze the failures anyway because nobody likes to go through the trouble of having their card fixed/replaced, and it certainly costs me money to replace dead ZYNQs. So far we do _not_ know what caused these 6 ZYNQs to die. A theory is that it might be caused by power surges finding their way through I/O lines.

Besides cooling your case, other recommended preventive measures:

- Make sure you have proper power supplies. If you use an ATX supply, please use a proper adapter like: http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/de...x_adaptor.html

- Use a surge protector on your power outlet. This can protect your electronics from surges caused by lightning, which can be common in hot summers.

- Ground yourself before touching electronics with your hands, so the electrostatic discharge from your body doesn't unload into the device.

Best
Lukas / MNT Research

Thanks Lukas, looking forward to my batch #5 board. I will put it in an AA3000+.

[mntmn]

If you are space constrained, another recommended passive cooler for ZZ9000's ZYNQ is Advanced Thermal Solutions ATS-60000-C1-R0, which is only 4mm high. Use in combination with a case fan.

[brett71]

Are there any options for active cooling?

[mntmn]

Hi again,

there's been an update to this. I found the cause for ZYNQs getting (too) hot and in some cases, getting damaged. There's a design fault in ZZ9000 R-1 and R-2 PCBS. I've sent an email to everyone who has purchased one, offering a number of fixing options.

Here are some more technical details: https://notes.mnt.re/s/BkBGokgMw

Sorry for this. I screwed up here, but at least we finally know what the problem is. And together we'll get everybody's card fixed.

Note that if you currently have a ZZ9000 on order, you'll receive a version that already has an updated/fixed design.

Best
Lukas

[RDP]

How can I "pre-order", or order if it shows "ZZ9000 for Amiga became unavailable." on the website? I'm not sure how to put my name down for the next batch!


thanks!
RDP

[Overmann]

I am super excited about getting this card (I'll be part of batch #5) and seeing the straightforward communicaton from mntmn and the eagerness with which the problem is getting handled fills me with confidence that my purchase is a good one.

[mntmn]

RDP, ZZ9000 is currently sold out. We are considering doing another, longer term batch soon.

[ptyerman]

I hope you do. It would be a crying shame for this to become unavailable!

[manossg]

This problem could have been a real shitfest, but huge props to mntmn for taking responsibility publicly and working it out.

[mntmn]

Here's some important information about ZZ9000 fixing that Chucky will probably cross-post to the FB Commodore Amiga Group:

The warranty applies to 1 year from when the card was received by the
customer. If one of the following people fixes your ZZ9000, you'll
retain full warranty:

John "Chucky" Hertell (Sweden/Denmark)
Paul "Acill" Rezendes (US)
Stefan Reinauer (US/San Francisco)
Tristan Zondag (Netherlands)
Jeroen Vandezande (Belgium)

We (MNT Research) will cover all costs that these folks in the list have
from doing these repairs.

If you do this fix yourself according to the instructions and don't
break unrelated stuff in the process, you'll also retain full warranty.

If you are in Germany or another EU country and are willing to pay for
the postage to send them to us (not the way back, we'll pay), you can
also send your card to us already:

MNT Research GmbH
Fehlerstr. 8
12161 Berlin

Please always use tracked shipping and send your tracking code to me:
lukas@mntre.com

There is now a new firmware 1.7.2 Beta for all platforms:
https://source.mntmn.com/MNT/zz9000-firmware/releases

If you use that firmware, you can use the ZZTop 1.1 tool to verify Core
Voltage:
https://source.mntmn.com/MNT/zz9000-drivers/releases

If your Core Voltage is around 1.78-1.80V, the fix is successful.
If your Core Voltage is higher, like 3V, the fix is still needed!

Also quick answers to 2 questions that pop up:
- Yes, all cards currently out there are affected and have to be fixed
- Yes, all cards sent out from now on will already be fixed / include a
fix in the design (Revision R-3)

Best
Lukas

[xraynorm]

Hi

Im thinking about getting one of these for an a500+ in a checkmate case with an 030. Just wondering what the RTG performance would be like on this setup. Would the zorro II speed make RTG a slide show at higher resolutions?


Thanks

[cugar124]

Originally Posted by mntmn

Here's some important information about ZZ9000 fixing that Chucky will probably cross-post to the FB Commodore Amiga Group:

The warranty applies to 1 year from when the card was received by the
customer. If one of the following people fixes your ZZ9000, you'll
retain full warranty:

John "Chucky" Hertell (Sweden/Denmark)
Paul "Acill" Rezendes (US)
Stefan Reinauer (US/San Francisco)
Tristan Zondag (Netherlands)
Jeroen Vandezande (Belgium)

We (MNT Research) will cover all costs that these folks in the list have
from doing these repairs.

If you do this fix yourself according to the instructions and don't
break unrelated stuff in the process, you'll also retain full warranty.

If you are in Germany or another EU country and are willing to pay for
the postage to send them to us (not the way back, we'll pay), you can
also send your card to us already:

MNT Research GmbH
Fehlerstr. 8
12161 Berlin

Please always use tracked shipping and send your tracking code to me:
lukas@mntre.com

There is now a new firmware 1.7.2 Beta for all platforms:
https://source.mntmn.com/MNT/zz9000-firmware/releases

If you use that firmware, you can use the ZZTop 1.1 tool to verify Core
Voltage:
https://source.mntmn.com/MNT/zz9000-drivers/releases

If your Core Voltage is around 1.78-1.80V, the fix is successful.
If your Core Voltage is higher, like 3V, the fix is still needed!

Also quick answers to 2 questions that pop up:
- Yes, all cards currently out there are affected and have to be fixed
- Yes, all cards sent out from now on will already be fixed / include a
fix in the design (Revision R-3)

Best
Lukas

Done as per instructions looking like all good power down from 2.9 to 1.8 thanks john and lukas. The zz9000 is a first class card.

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

[Vypr]

Done the fix on mine, used a scalpel to cut the trace between pin 93 and the through hole because I am not comfortable with drilling holes in a multilayer PCB, the chances of an internal short are just too much for me.
I am now reading 1.8V on C53 and 3.3v on C55.
I've also gone ahead and stuck a heatsink on the ZYNQ module. Unit powers on, RTG and passthrough video are OK and the NIC still works so I'm all good.

[FranciscoJr]

Hello,
As I do not have space for a heatsink or a cooler over the ZYNQ, I found a simple solution. Temperature stays around 57 Celsius always....

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...hg?usp=sharing

It really works...

Francisco

[madmungo]

I too have applied the cut trace fix. I have 1.78V on C53 and 3.30V on C55.

Everything is working as it was before the fix.

[Jope]

Originally Posted by xraynorm

Im thinking about getting one of these for an a500+ in a checkmate case with an 030. Just wondering what the RTG performance would be like on this setup. Would the zorro II speed make RTG a slide show at higher resolutions?

Once you have more screens open than fit in your video RAM, Zorro II starts showing its lack of speed when you flip between them. Swapping the screens from Fast RAM to video RAM is noticeably slow.

Opening/moving windows is reasonably fast.

RTG is definitely usable on a Z2 machine, but once you've tried it on Z3 or PCI, you will start noticing the slowdowns.

[pgovotsos]

Is there any benefit of doing one fix method vs the other? They both break the same trace, right?

[Jope]

They both do the same thing. I cut mine next to the connector because it's quite a safe cut when you do it away from the rear bracket. There's like four pins until the next trace when you go that way.

Drilling a hole would have meant lots of precise measuring and I wouldn't really have wanted to do it without a drill press myself.

[brett71]

Originally Posted by FranciscoJr

Could not transfer 128MB 32Bits Fastram from ZZ9000 to Amiga. This could be set manually or automatically, like as done in the Elbox Mediator. Waiting for a solution from MNT.

What is the process for allocating the ZZ9000's RAM to the Amiga as Fast RAM? What is the maximum amount you can allocate?

Trying to decide if I need my BigRamPlus that I bought after all, or if I can just use the ZZ9000 instead.

[stevelord]

Greg Donner's site is one of the best ZZ9000 resources around. See here: http://gregdonner.org/zz9000/appsnarms.html