The damn Apollo 1240 seems to have given up the ghost...

[olegil]

I haven't been using the A1200 much lately, and the last time I tried to switch it on the apollo didn't work at all...

Usually it's just been really unstable until I managed to fiddle enough with it to make it work. This time nothing gave ANY indication of starting up.

The A1200 is in an E/Box tower and has a Mediator, so I'm not about to chuck it out... But with no accelerator the future doesn't seem bright.

So, does anyone know where a guy like me can get hold of a new accelerator? Datakompaniet doesn't seem to be able to get me an A1260 at all... I can live with an LC, but I seriously cannot live with an EC020  :-P

[olegil]

That wasn't an observation, that was a face-rub :-)

Come on, rub it in some more  :-P

[olegil]

Well, duh :-)

I'm saving up for an XE (not trading in my SE either), but that doesn't mean I can't cry a little over the lost A1240  :-P

[olegil]

Well, I'm running a custom jobbie ;-)

No fan, HUGE heat sink. 25MHz CPU overclocked to 8^H40MHz. CPU is soldered on, so cannot clean that socket. Tried booting without RAM, which doesn't help. (CPU never comes out of reset, it seems)

I'm a research and development engineer in electronics, so you would THINK I tried the usual tricks :-)

I guess I'll have to take it with me to work (along with the A1 for more linux-hacking (already have a private RS6k in the office...)) and check it with an oscilloscope...

I suspect the CPU might have been damaged by the stupid clock chip being loose (I don't know how well the 68040 handles 0MHz clock over a long period of time...).

[olegil]

Castellen wrote:
Are you sure it's the 1240 at fault??
Perhaps try it in another A1200, or try a different CPU board in your
A1200.

Since it's been dodgy in the past, it might be something as simple as
power supply problems, or intermittent connections between the 1240
and the A1200's edge connector.

Anthony.

It's the A1240. If I HAD another A1200 I would try that, but I'm NOT bloody buying a new A1200 just to try the accelerator in that.  Also, the A1200 works fine without the 1240.

[olegil]

TYPO ALERT!

Sorry, _40_MHz.

Anyway, the A1G3-SE is in the office today, we'll see if I can't carry the A1200 down here tomorrow.

[olegil]

I have another 68040 (33MHz, plus an LC33) myself, but the thought of desoldering 179 PGA pins doesn't amuse me the slightest :-)

Of course, if it turns out the ####er IS toast, I could whip out the power tools and do it the hard way. And mount a socket for a 68060 there. I wonder if it's possible for me as an R&D engineer in solid company to get a sample from Motorola  :-P

[olegil]

Good news, everyone (I've been watching my complete Futurama collection all last week, so be prepared to hear that line more frequently :-P )

Anyway, I took the motherboard, Mediator and Apollo with me to work, hooked it up on a table and started working under a microscope on the old acid-leak from the battery I replaced the leaking original battery with. Seems there was some serious doodoo there. Anyway, I have only powered it on and heard the floppy click, but since this is excactly what DIDN'T work yesterday at home, I am willing to call it good news. Took me an hour to clean up the mess and do some reconnecting on the databus (between CPU and RAM). There was a LOT of damage around the 12V fan psu pins. Removed those completely.


Edit:

The _bad_ side to all of this is I really wanted to take out the drill and make a 1260. It might seem as if that's not gonna happen anytime soon. Would have been fun trying to order a 68060 as sample from Motorola  :-D