Posts by rmzalbar

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.

  • ACA1233n-new: MapROM unstable

    I have put the card in the post to you today. It's been in use on a daily basis, and no new issues have been noted aside from the MapROM issue. I've removed the Amigastore PSU from service and replaced it with a Commodore A500 PSU bought online and then recapped.


    Thank you,

    Rob

  • ACA1233n-new: MapROM unstable

    Hello Jens.


    Thank you for attending to this. I plan to send to card back ASAP.


    In reference to the linked thread on the German side, here is the stenciling on top of my Gayle:


    CSG

    391424-02

    AA-GAYLE-R5

    copyright CBM 1992
    4992 50023A


    Quote from Jens

    Please retire that; it's no good for an Amiga. It uses a MeanWell chassis that has already been shown to not be suitable in other support threads here. Further, the wiring of this PSU is chosen to actually cause maximum voltage drop on the input coil of the A1200, causing more trouble, including latch-up of CPLDs in modern hardware. The original PSU is what you should use, and after all these years, all you need to do is to exchange the output electrolytic caps.

    I'd like to ask about the PSU situation. I had previously retired the A500 PSU due to noise with a very large peak-to-peak. I was experiencing some chip memory errors in conjunction with an accelerator I was testing for the A500, and I can see wavery interference in the RGB video as well. So I scoped VCC to VDD at the 68000 socket and saw high p2p noise there. Here's what it looked like on the scope. Replacing the capacitors in the PSU made no difference. I tested it briefly with this situation, but I think it's not safe to use.


    The Amigastore PSU showed a much smaller p-2-p, and I am getting more than 4.9v at the CPU, so I started using that instead. The memory issues didn't occur with this PSU.


    I also have the parts to build a PicoPSU, which is an increasingly popular option. Do you happen to have any advice with regards to modern PSU replacements, in the event I can't resolve the A500 PSU noise? There appears to be a vacuum in the availability of high-quality PSUs for Amiga.


    Thank you,

  • ACA1233n-new: MapROM unstable

    Hello,


    ACA1233n-new 55mhz

    Warranty code: GT4C/


    I've had the card for two days, and have tested it carefully. Only one thing is not working: ACAMapROM (as well as MapROM function in ACATool) causes immediate and severe instability. Typically the machine will crash immediately, but sometimes it lives long enough to invalidate the HDD, scramble the screen graphics, or bring up a Guru trap in Workbench (perhaps several seconds.) A simple reboot does not cure this, a power cycle is needed (I assume MapROM is reset-persistent.)


    I've tested in the following manner in an attempt to rule out any software interference:

    ACA1233n card factory default options only

    ACATool and ACA1233nLib from Wiki (latest, not beta or alpha versions)

    Cold boot with no startup-sequence, then invoke "ACAMapROM i" or ACATool Maprom

    Tested both before and after setpatch

    Both with internal ROM and Kickstart images

    MMUlibs are installed to the OS, but are not loaded in my testing (disabled startup-sequence, cold boot, no use of CPU FASTROM, MuFASTROM or any other MMU-activating commands.)

    Have tested with two different PSU (see below)

    Have tested by pulling card back on the connector slightly a few times

    RAM tests so far in MBRTest-2 have passed every cycle (tested with MMU disabled, of course)


    A1200 NTSC US

    Motherboard rev. 1D.1

    E123C and E125C were initially present, but have been removed with no change in behavior.

    E121C and E122C were unpopulated from the factory.

    Power Supply: Have tested with A500 4.5A brick, and with AmigaStore Spain brick.

    HDD: 2.5" IDE CF card adapter on very short cable. Have also tested with an Elbox EIDE'99 buffered adapter which works excellent in conjunction with IDE Speeder.
    Kickstart 3.1.4 EPROMs installed (internal MapROM tested, and also tested with 3.0 A1200 kickrom image file)

    AmigaOS 3.1.4.1


    Finally.. using CPU FASTROM or MuFASTROM works perfectly. No issues mapping internal kickstart ROM to 32-bit RAM when using the MMU to do so, and dramatic performance improvement in opening folders confirms this is working.


    I'd like to add that aside from this, the card has been functioning without any other flaw. Not one single guru or any observed issue outside of testing with MapROM. Sysinfo reports more than 11000 stones, and data burst mode is confirmed to be stable. IDE speeder at maximum setting works excellent if used in conjunction with buffered interface. No anomalies noted with TGTest in AIBB. WHDLoad compatibility has been perfect, even where my previous M1230XA accelerator failed. I get nearly 5MB/sec IDE performance. It's a remarkable achievement. With such stable behavior, I would not suspect a hardware fault.