Strange problem ACA1221LC with PCMCIA 3com network card connected

Caution: Non registered users only see threads and messages in the currently selected language, which is determined by their browser. Please create an account and log in to see all content by default. This is a limitation of the forum software.


Also users that are not logged in can not create new threads. This is a, unfortunately needed, counter measure against spam. Please create an account and log in to start new threads.

Don't Panic. Please wash hands.

    Hello,

    I wrote about this on e-mail, but let me repeat over here.


    My A1200 has IDE splitter(plain cable one), 3.5 IDE connector on the back of the case(for slave IDE device). If IDE device (CDrom) is connected, PCMCIA works on cold boot, every time, no matter if drive is mounted automatically or not. I open Genesis and it works without issue.


    If IDE CDROM is not connected upon cold boot, and I try to connect, Genesis throws me an error:

    iface_init: could not open DEVS:Networks/3c589.device unit 0


    If I pull card out Amiga goes black screen (resets?) and when I plug card in Genesis connects without any issue.

    However, this with CDROM is interesting, why that works?


    Is this known problem, and what is the best way to fix it? Obviously ACA1220lc works fine in this case, this is some other issue, I think.

    It is worth noting that once I had Blizzard 1230/IV i had no issues with this PCMCIA network card. Also, before I put ACA1221LC in, My Amiga had 4mb/8mb memory expansion, and with that in 4mb mode I had no problem booting while PCMCIA in.
    ROM:3.1.4, Classicwb FULL installed (adapted by HSTWB)


    Thanks in advance.

    Quote from lokz

    My A1200 has IDE splitter(plain cable one), 3.5 IDE connector on the back of the case(for slave IDE device).

    Unbuffered cable, extended outside? That's just asking for trouble. Go for a buffered IDE interface. Your current setup might work with one accelerator, but using more than a single device on a 5cm cable is outside the specifications of the A1200. One reason why this may work with the old Blizzard card is that the CPU has stronger data bus drivers. Once again, you are loading the data bus with an unreasonably high load - split bus, unterminated and unbuffered.


    Your PCMCIA problem might be fixed by the reset-tool that Commodore published shortly before they went belly up. I believe that's available on Aminet. Without a proper reset, it's always a game of chances if a PCMCIA card works or not.


    Once you have the PCMCIA card working all the time, you might want to get rid of the CD drive, as you have netowrk access and you can mount ISO images from a NAS or access the NAS with CIFS. It should not be required to have a CD drive connected to the Amiga at all if you have network.

    Thank you for the reply. I will try with the PCMCIA software fix and report back.
    About ISO mount thing, do you have link to some Guide, so I can check it up? From Amiga perspective, any difference than loading real CDROM?


    EDIT: I forgot to mention, CDROM (slave IDE device) is powered externally, not from Amiga, so cable is only for signals.

    Quote from lokz

    About ISO mount thing, do you have link to some Guide, so I can check it up?

    That's something I'd try to do with one of the file-to-blockdevice things. Matt Dillon wrote the first, but I think there are more recent ones on Aminet.

    Quote from lokz

    From Amiga perspective, any difference than loading real CDROM?

    Speed will probably be different: access time will be faster, and transfer time lower, as you are on 10MBit. Still, CD-ROMs are not about speed, but storage. The local file system stays the same, you just change the mount list.

    Quote from lokz

    EDIT: I forgot to mention, CDROM (slave IDE device) is powered externally, not from Amiga, so cable is only for signals.

    ...and the signal lines are the ones that are loaded by the mere presence of the cable. Once again, make sure that the cable is short. 5cm is ideal, anything beyond 8cm will cause instability. The internal IDE was never made to be used for a master and a slave at the same time.


    Quote from lokz

    What about these Gayle reset fix adapters that I see around? Better than software solution or not needed?

    Although I'm a hardware guy, I'd say try the software solution first. The hardware-fix might work, but the software fix might work just as well, and it's free. As an added bonus, the Gayle chip stays free for other expansions, or for plain better ventilation.

    Quote from lokz

    What about these Gayle reset fix adapters that I see around? Better than software solution or not needed?

    From my experience (i'm no hardware specialist!), the software is just as good..


    If im not mistaken the manual of the 3c589 driver stated that issues like reset can happen when hotplugging/unplugging the card.


    Back in the days i bought some 16 bit PCM netwokwork cards (just before the last amiga shop in Rotterdam closed about 20/25 years ago...) and they did come with the Gayle reset fix adapter. I never installed them and never had any issue with software only.

    Back then i was using my amiga 1200 (for over 8 hours a day..


    At the moment i dont have the software installed too, but now a day i dont have these cards connected al the time, just when needed to keep my desk 'clean'.


    I have to admit that I rarely use the 3com, its feels cheap and fragile on the ethernet connector witch pops-out. with the connector sitting on the top of the card.. So its not so handy with a cat7 connector and cable in between my and my cup of coffee :)..



    The card i use : "target network line"(24007), dynalink (L10C) and a newer 3com(3cxe589et).

    Update: I tried to add C:CardReset to User-Startup (of course, file is in C:) and during cold boot I get:
    C:CardReset failed returncode 10 (usually you get this wit CardReset if no PCMCIA card is connected during the boot). Soft reset, same problem.
    Pulling the PCMCIA card out/in Amiga resets automatically and workbench is loaded normally, PCMCIA works, it connects online.


    I suspect this problem has roots in some memory regions which ACA uses, autoconfigures while plugging the card if computer is ON.
    I have to check ACAtool manual how to turn off certain regions and test.

    Also, I am not sure if Hardware reset fix will be of any help with this problem, since Aamiga behaves exactly the same even without CardReset call in User-Startup

    Hmm, can someone give me quick explanation how this command exactly works, I do not understand what switches do exactly

    http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACAtool#Command_line_options


    MM=MEMMODE/K/N

    0 all fastmem including $C0 memory (default)

    1 fastmem but no $C0 memory

    2 only $C0 memory and chip memory

    3 only chip memory

    So if I do
    >acatool mm=0
    or
    >acatool memmode=0

    Acatool GUI frontend pops up? No explanation is command is applied, will it remain like that after power cycling etc?

    How exactly are /K/N switches used in this case? I se no "legend" on the support page explaining what do they stand for? Correct me if I am wrong.

    Thank you.

    Command line option syntax follows Commodore's wording.


    If the tool is started without arguments, the GUI comes up. If you give it an argument, it will not start the GUI, but execute the actions given in the argument. For the ACA1221lc, settings are saved in the EEPROM of the card, so including a line in startup-sequence is not required. Settings will remain in the EEPROM even over a power cycle.

    Please write me correct line of code, how do I select this "1 fastmem but no $C0 memory" and save to flash.

    About remark you mentioned in other thread (CDROM).
    Please note that if I use 3com PCMCIA network card with 4mb/8mb fast RAM expansion bought for Amiga-store (in 4mb PCMCIA frendly mode), I have no problem booting and accessing this network card.
    When I boot with ACA1221lc I have this issue.

    No CDROM in/on the machine, stock A1200. Why fast ram expansion gives no problem, but ACA does?

    Quote from lokz

    Please write me correct line of code, how do I select this "1 fastmem but no $C0 memory" and save to flash.

    Maybe Timm will comment on this. I'm not here to read the documentation to you.


    Quote from lokz

    About remark you mentioned in other thread (CDROM).
    Please note that if I use 3com PCMCIA network card with 4mb/8mb fast RAM expansion bought for Amiga-store (in 4mb PCMCIA frendly mode), I have no problem booting and accessing this network card.

    You already have the explanation - a technically correct summary why the different observations are true, and why your setup must be brought into a state "within specifications" first. I will not discuss this any further. There is no support for computers that are operated outside standard specifications.

    Quote from lokz

    No CDROM in/on the machine, stock A1200. Why fast ram expansion gives no problem, but ACA does?

    Remove/shorten the cable, use a buffered interface.

    Quote from lokz

    Please write me correct line of code, how do I select this "1 fastmem but no $C0 memory" and save to flash.

    This is not getting written to flash. The documentation may be scarce here, but at least it says: "when switching CPUs" and "This option is useful in combination with the CPUOFF and CPUON options". The ACA1221LC does not support switching the CPU.

    If you don't switch the CPU, it's not being considered, and the tool behaves as if no command was given, so it brings up the GUI.

    So, for example, this would work, if you had a ACA1233n:

    # acatool cpuoff mm=1


    Admittedly, some feedback from the tool would be nice in that case.

    Dear Timm, basically you say I cannot select memory modes with ACA1221lc?

    We has some discussion here as well:
    ACA 1221lc command "acatool cpuoff" cannot disable card cpu

    Jens said:


    Quote

    The ACA1221lc does not support switching off the CPU - instead, it supports 14MHz synchronous operation, which is equivalent to the 14MHz CPU of the A1200. This will leave fastmem active, and it will be cycle-exact with the original A1200 timing.

    So I cannot select 14MHz synchronous operation and leave only FAST MEM without SLOW MEM region if I need to?

    Quote from lokz

    Dear Timm, basically you say I cannot select memory modes with ACA1221lc?

    Exactly. You can change the CPU clock, and with the 14MHz clock you get synchronous operation, but the CPUPON, CPUOFF, and MEMMODE options are not for the ACA1221lc card. The memory in the "slow mem region" is not really slow on the ACA1221lc, it's fastmem that just happens to be in that region.

    Dear Timm, then it is time to update your Acatool wiki with this information.

    I suspected that PCMCIA booting issues are caused with "slowmem" region (since it boots fine with plain expansion), but no way to do it right now.


    Can support for this type of management be expected in some ACA firmware updates for this card?


    Thank you.

    Quote from lokz

    Dear Timm, then it is time to update your Acatool wiki with this information.

    I suspected that PCMCIA booting issues are caused with "slowmem" region (since it boots fine with plain expansion), but no way to do it right now.


    Can support for this type of management be expected in some ACA firmware updates for this card?

    Done, updated in the WIKI. At your service. :-)

    No, to my knowledge the ACA1221lc hardware doesn't support switching the CPU.

    Possible memory configurations of the hardware are listed in the register documentation:


    http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA1…ers#Memory_configurations


    It is indeed not possible to switch off the "slow mem region", as there is no known software that conflicts with it. I have a hard time believing that this specific networking card is the first that causes trouble - and it's even harder to believe that the slow mem region is the cause, as you reported that it works if you unplug/re-insert the card during operation. This is a clear hint at improper software initialization.

    I just wanted to mention if it helps troubleshoot on ICOMP side.

    Recently I got another PCMCIA network card, Genious ME3000II SE. That card works with CNET driver form Aminet.
    If I use that card on my Amiga, it boots without any issue and I can connect to internet without having to reseat PCMCIA card.


    3com card gave me mentioned issues. I plan to install hardware PCMCIA fix on my A1200, and I will report behavior of both cards after that step.


    To finalize this thread. Recently I did hardware PCMCIA fix to my A1200 rev 1D.4 board.
    After that it works and resets correctly every PCMCIA lan card I throw in. I tried with three 3com cards and Genious ME3000II SE.


    Bots fine, works fine, resets fine, full ACA1220lc ram available.

    I want to stress out that it did not want to work with software reset fix only.

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

    • :)
    • :(
    • ;)
    • :P
    • ^^
    • :D
    • ;(
    • X(
    • :*
    • :|
    • 8o
    • =O
    • <X
    • ||
    • :/
    • :S
    • X/
    • 8)
    • ?(
    • :huh:
    • :rolleyes:
    • :love:
    • 8|
    • :cursing:
    • :thumbdown:
    • :thumbup:
    • :sleeping:
    • :whistling:
    • :evil:
    • :saint:
    • <3