My MK III A4000D Arrived and I am having the Cold Boot issues.

Dynamic_Computing · Jan 8th 2023

Just hooked mine up today after receiving it on January 6th. The first boot it seemed to recognize the card, but the display was in a mode my monitor could not display. When I did get it booted normally, the Config tool said it could not find the card and would display nothing. I created the rescue disk, rebooted and let the utility flash the card. The Amiga booted fine after that, and I was able to create a nice screen display using the config too. When I went to save the configuration to Flash, the utility reported that the Flash was not saved to the card (after blanking the screen). Rebooting is fine - everything works on a reboot.... But as soon as she is powered down it loses all settings and comes up with the black screen again.
Same cycle - rescue disk, reflash, and it will come back but all is lost on a power cycle. Even booting from the rescue disk and flashing my saved configuration from the floppy does not fix it. It will boot normally with my modes intact, and then lose everything on a cold start.
Here is my config:

Amiga 4000 NTSC

BFG 9060 with 128 MB RAM, 68060/50 Mhz

Internal IDE with CF card

Amiga OS 3.2.1

Cybergraphyx 64 card with Picasso 96 (Not used while I am testing my MKIII)

Nothing particularly different with my Amiga OS install.

I have tried it with the CIA chip adapter and without (mostly without) - same results every time.

I understand that calling the flash tool on bootup and restoring the file is a solution for when we boot right into Workbench, but not a solution if we boot from floppy.

Jens · Jan 10th 2023

Quote from Dynamic_Computing

The first boot it seemed to recognize the card, but the display was in a mode my monitor could not display.

That's already odd, as the standard config in the flicker fixers will not go to any extreme in terms of output modes. The best explanation is that the unit didn't start at all, so the saved config isn't active. The monitor will detect that it's connected "to something", but that it doesn't get any signal. Sometimes these subtle differences between error messages from monitors are not very obvious.

Quote from Dynamic_Computing

I understand that calling the flash tool on bootup and restoring the file is a solution for when we boot right into Workbench, but not a solution if we boot from floppy.

This means that the actual access to flash is working, and that the std config will then be loaded. As mentioned in a different thread, your computer is one of the rare cases where the flicker fixer does not start during cold boot, but requires a "kick" to launch operation. While the rescue disk will do that as a side effect, it's not a good idea to re-flash on every boot. Instead, please use the MK3reset tool that I've made as a workaround for those cases (just put it as 1st line into your startup-sequence). I still do not have any computer that would let me reproduce the issue here, so I cannot tackle the source of the problem.

Dynamic_Computing · Jan 10th 2023

I am honestly not sure this is a "Rare Issue", as several people I know personally have the same issue, and several people in my latest review of the MK3 also have the problem. Not all of them live in the USA, so I don't suspect it is an NTSC issue.
The Reset trick works fine, but I honestly have to boot to the rescue disk and save any profile changes from there. It literally will not flash the card from within Workbench. Totally fails.
Same issues with two different motherboards and two different ZORRO backplanes, and all other devices in this A4000 are working just fine (including your lovely Xsurf100 & Rapidroad!)

Happy to share a video of the exact symptoms with you if you would like, and if it will be helpful.
Douglas

Jens · Jan 10th 2023

Quote from Dynamic_Computing

Not all of them live in the USA, so I don't suspect it is an NTSC issue.

That's right - I know of a case in the UK as well.

Quote from Dynamic_Computing

but I honestly have to boot to the rescue disk and save any profile changes from there.

To my knowledge, the rescue disk will save the profile data through the same channel as the config tool does, but I might be wrong - Timm knows.

What I can do is extend the MK3reset tool with output for more information: Right now, it only resets the FPGA-loader-state machine, totally unconditional and not even looking at what the result is. There is a little bit more information available through that low-level access interface, which will tell us if the FPGA is running at all, and if configuration after soft-resetting the state machine is successful. This will tell us where loading goes wrong: Loading the core, or loading the config.

Timm · Jan 11th 2023

1. Currently there is no "reset" tool.

2. The rescue disk does not save profiles. The config tool saves the config not only to the Indivision, but also to ENVARC: and ENV: on the WB from where it was used. When after a rescue the configuration on the Indivision contradicts the saved configation on disk, the config tool will alert you of that and you can restore the configuration by simply saving again.

3. What has helped in one instance I remember was to use the config tool with the SAVEAPPLY option on a config file from command line, but I don't know if it is related to this issue. If this helps, this could be placed e.g. in S:User-Startup:

SYS:Prefs/IndivisionAGAmk3 SAVEAPPLY ENVARC:IndivisionAGAmk3.conf

Assuming that the config tool is in the WB's Prefs folder.

DarrenHD · Jan 14th 2023

I was going to buy the MK3 as an upgrade to my MK2 but I think I will hold off until this black screen / reset issue is resolved. Hopefully that will happen soon.

Jens · Jan 16th 2023

If only we had a chance to reproduce the issue here! Anyone in Europe willing to send a board that triggers the problem, please send me an eMail.