Zydec A500 1.5MB

[nickoteen]

Hi ...
 
I've recently purchased Zydec A500 1.5MB board over ebay and I have a problem.
 
The card has been properly installed (following the instruction papers that came with it) and here's the thing:
 
Under KS 1.3, Amiga won't boot. It just flashes red ...
Under KS 3.1, it boots into WB, but it reports only 0.5 MB of additional RAM.
 
Now, the guy said the board is untested (he lacked the "console" to try it out), which was a warning flag right there, and was selling it as is.
 
My question is ... is there something I don't know regarding this board (a floppy disk I didn't get which would make the board fully functional), or the board is faulty hence doesn't work as it's supposed to ?
 
In the instructions paper it clearly states that KS 1.3 or higher is requierd, whereas under 1.3 it won't work at all ...
 
Thanks ...

[Leffmann]

Have you tried looking for it on amiga-hardware.com and amiga.resource.cx? If you can't get it to work satisfactory you may want to look at this one instead:

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=65155

[orange]

I have the same board and same problem. you did connect it to that custom chip (Gary)?
iirc, I had managed to get 1,5Mb once. perhaps its not autoconfig, so it needs addram command?

[nickoteen]

I have the same board and same problem. you did connect it to that custom chip (Gary)?
iirc, I had managed to get 1,5Mb once. perhaps its not autoconfig, so it needs addram command?

I've connected it to the Gary, yes. I've pulled Gary out, installed it to a small "daughterboard" which is connected to the ram board after which I connected the daughterboard to Amiga mbo where Gary used to be. You have the same problem you say ? Phew, that gives me hope the board is not faulty after all.

[nickoteen]

Have you tried looking for it on amiga-hardware.com and amiga.resource.cx? If you can't get it to work satisfactory you may want to look at this one instead:
 
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=65155

Yes ! That's next on my shopping list. Along with ide68k.

[nickoteen]

Btw, can any1 instruct me on how exactly should I "addram" ? I guess it's a shell command, right ? If so, does that mean the board will be invisible to all autoboot software (games for example) which run without wb ?

[nickoteen]

I have the same board and same problem. you did connect it to that custom chip (Gary)?
iirc, I had managed to get 1,5Mb once. perhaps its not autoconfig, so it needs addram command?

I've found your old post regarding this board ...
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?p=572103
 
so I'll try to figure out what to do with addmem. Although, it says I need to KNOW my memory board addresses otherwise it'll crash my system. Memory addresses ?? How ... WHERE do I read these from ?

[psxphill]

Under KS 1.3, Amiga won't boot. It just flashes red ...
Under KS 3.1, it boots into WB, but it reports only 0.5 MB of additional RAM.

If it's like other similar boards then the first 512k is at 0x00C0 0000, the second at 0x00C8 0000 and the third is at 0x00D0 0000.
 
It's possible that the cable that goes from the gary board to the ram board has a problem.
 
What revision is your amiga's motherboard?

[nickoteen]

It's rev 6a.

[psxphill]

It's rev 6a.

Make sure it's not set for 1mb chip ram from the trapdoor or on the motherboard. That could affect it.

[orange]

mine looks like this:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=46428

[nickoteen]

Yup. That's the one. Mine looks exactly the same. Soo, have u remembered by any chance how exactly did u managed to get it to work ? Still haven't tried the addmem. Am a bit worried since it won't work under ks 1.3 (using ks switcher board). Will have to try it on my 2nd Amiga with a standalone ks.

[orange]

no, I don't have any idea. perhaps its not addmem, or anything complicated (or else I'd remember). maybe its KS. mine has a heavily corroded battery area (batt was missing).

[nickoteen]

Make sure it's not set for 1mb chip ram from the trapdoor or on the motherboard. That could affect it.

If you're reffering to 1MB chipram hack/mod, no, I don't have my mbo modded in any way.

[nickoteen]

no, I don't have any idea. perhaps its not addmem, or anything complicated (or else I'd remember). maybe its KS. mine has a heavily corroded battery area (batt was missing).

Hmm ... well mine is in an excellent visual condition. The battery has been replaced with a new one as far as I can tell ...