Indivision AGA MK2cr no picture

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Hello all,

    I just received a used Indivision AGA MK2cr that gives me a black picture, or rather no picture at all.

    After some 5-10min the MK2cr feels hot to the touch, is this to be expected?

    Is there something I should try to make it work?

    The seller seems trustworthy and says it worked for him.


    The pins in the brown socket on the AGA MK2cr seems nice and straight and it attaches to LISA chip with a firm grip. I have cleaned all the pins using cotton swab and isopropyl alcohol. The MK2cr has been handled using anti-static wristband and resonable force during installation. The A1200 is outputting picture through the VGA connector on my other flicker fixer/scandoubler, DCE FlickerMagic. Booting into AmigaOS 3.1.4 from SD-card adapter is ok and also using Gotek floppy adapter works fine loading adf games from USB stick.


    I have used the following hardware during troubleshooting:

    - Second hand Indivision AGA MK2cr with original DVI-I output connector cable

    - Amiga 1200 with a Rev1D motherboard, not recapped yet but new capacitors just arrived, PSU is original Commodore 80 W model

    - ACA1221EC installed, still no picture if removed

    - "Nice quality" DVI-D cable, rather thick model with large ferrit cores, cable apparently ok as it gives me picture from my PC

    - "No name" DVI-D cable, thinner model and also working with my PC

    - Monitor Dell UltraSharp 2709Wp, 27" 1920x1200 monitor, tried both DVI-D 1 and 2 inputs

    - Monitor Alienware AW3418DW, 34" 3440x1440 monitor, using HDMI input with the adapter below

    - HDMI adapter for the MK2cr, made by Ayley over at AmiBay, many happy users vouching for it, I guess mine should also be ok


    The card has no warranty left I guess, I don't know where it was originally bought but it has a silver sticker with QR code and warranty code.
    I might consider sending in the MK2cr for checkup/service to Individual Computers if this option is available?


    Any help appreciated!


    Thanks, Hans

  • So maybe the previous owner had set a profile which does not work with your display. Do you have a screen you can connect to composite or RGB then install the AGA MK2 utility and set everything to default?


    I know I have had black screen many times when messing with my AGA MK2 where I had to connect a screen to RGB to change settings on the AGA MK2.

  • After some 5-10min the MK2cr feels hot to the touch, is this to be expected?

    That depends on what "hot to the touch" is to you: Can you keep your finger on and say "that's pretty warm", or do you need to pull the finger away after two seconds because it's burning-hot? Please take a picture and circle the area that you think gets too hot, as this may be an indication of what's defective on the unit (if anything).


    Do you have a multimeter, can you do basic voltage measurements?

  • I have a picture!
    I finally got hold of a DVI to VGA adapter and could try the VGA input on my Dell monitor.
    Thanks turrican9!:thumbup:

    The picture is off center quite a bit but I hope to fix this with some tweaking using the AGA MK2 config tool (just need to transfer/install the config tool on my A1200).
    My goal is to use the HDMI input of my Aliemware monitor. Is there a "disable analog and enable digial output" option I have to enable in the config tool to make it work as intended?


    What still worries me is the temperature. After a while the three voltage regulators on the AGA MK2cr gets too hot to keep my finger on. I have these marked A, B and C in the picture below.


    I borrowed a FLIR i3 thermal camera from work to do some measurements.
    The A1200 case and keyboard are flipped open and I measured the temperature of pos A, B and C every 5min over the course of one hour.
    Room temperature was around 24 C and no AC, fans, etc. were used.
    After 25min the temperatures seemed to have stabilized around 67 C for each of the "hot spots" and did not increase any more.

    These are the final temperatures of the AGA MK2cr after 60min:

    Pos A


    Pos B


    Pos C


    Overview (currently measuring pos B)



    The temperatures would likely be higher with the A1200 case closed. I am currently not using any active cooling in the A1200, would this be required for the AGA MK2cr and ACA1221EC combo? (The ACA1221EC stayed lukewarm at around 45C during the open case testing).

    Jens, I have a "FLUKE 115 true rms multimeter" and can do voltage measurements if you direct me to where. It is not a calibrated multimeter but I can borrow a more advanced model from work if it is inadequate?

  • My goal is to use the HDMI input of my Aliemware monitor. Is there a "disable analog and enable digial output" option I have to enable in the config tool to make it work as intended?

    Yes, there is - maybe the previous owner has switched off the DVI signals, so the VGA quality gets better. Some DVI-I->VGA adapters don't properly terminate the DVI signals, which leads to ugly vertical bars, so if the previous owner used VGA, it is very likely that he switched DVI off.


    What still worries me is the temperature.

    Nothing to worry at all. The "hot spots" are the voltage regulators, and it's just the nature of linear regulators that they get warm. The operating junction temperature is typically up to 125 degrees. With a thermal resistance of 15 degrees Celsius per watt between the silicon and the case, you start to worry if these components exceed 110 degrees Celsius.


    The regulator packages have a typical case-to-ambient thermal resistance of 160 degrees per watt, Your difference of 67-24=43 degrees is well within expected regions, as it shows that the device is dissipating just over 260mW. I wouldn't expect the temperature in a closed case to raise more than 5 degrees at these low energy values.


    (The ACA1221EC stayed lukewarm at around 45C during the open case testing).

    That consumes less energy on the 3.3V rail. Further, the CPU dissipates it's heat on a larger surface. Still, I'd expect the 3.3V regulator of the ACA1221ec to not much cooler than the regulators on Indivision AGA MK2.

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.