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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Pinballer on May 31, 2014, 10:37:40 AM

Title: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: Pinballer on May 31, 2014, 10:37:40 AM
Hoping someone can please help me get the most out of my recently acquired A1200 and the ACA1230-28 card that is installed?

I have downloaded the ACATune_v17 tool and installed the file in the  root directory.  I am looking to use the system primarily for WHDLoad  games.  

I read that the startup-sequence should contain the ACATune commands.   My question is what should the string contain?  The instructions are  over my head as far as knowledge is concerned.  It mentions this as an  example: -

ACATune _
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: Pinballer on May 31, 2014, 10:38:23 AM
Following some help I received which stated the following: -

go to cli
then write

ED S:startup-sequence
and in first line write


C:ACATune -maprom *  
>NIL:
         


thats enough if you want map rom to fast
(http://www.amibay.com/images/smilies/great.gif)

dont worry will be ok

if you check that ACAtune working , U can write in cli

ACAtune -status

thats all
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: Pinballer on May 31, 2014, 10:39:15 AM
The following happened when I started the Amiga after following those instructions: -

First screen to appear when it boots reports it had added 62MB Fast Ram to system.

The it reports Kickstart file '*>NIL:'

A box pops up labelled system request and it states "Please insert  volume *>NIL" in any drive.  If I click cancel another box appears  stating the following: -

System Request. Intuition is attempting to reset the Workbench screen.  Please close all windows, except drawers.

Shortly after the screen changes to the ClassicWB screen, however the  colors are almost black and white.  I loaded a game through WHDLoad  (Rainbow Islands) then shortly after starting the game it crashes.  It  did this before, just the ClassicWB screen was displayed correctly.

Hopefully someone can help.
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: Pinballer on May 31, 2014, 11:06:00 AM
I missed the space between the * and the >.  

My next problem is some of the games crash shortly after loading. As an  example Bloodwych plays ok. However Rainbow Islands and Future Wars  crash almost immediately after starting a game.

ClassicWB stats it is running with a tick under 2MB of chip ram and 62MB or fast RAM.
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: som99 on May 31, 2014, 11:38:32 AM
I use:
C:ACATune -maprom * -cache on -burst on >NIL:

On my ACA 1231/40MHz an it works great for me:)

What revision of the motherboard do you have? I have the 2B and I had to perform the timing fixes and I have an indivision AGA MK2 and my Lisa ran so hot that without cooling my entire system became a unstable crashfest in matter of minutes. But cooling Lisa and doing the timing fix fixed all my problems :) My aca heat sink ran to above 60c in minutes so I did build my own copper heat sink and temps went down 20c, don't know chip temp but at 60c+ I can imagine the CPU was hot but still safe but I preferred to keep it cooler so it lives longer :)
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: mfilos on May 31, 2014, 12:11:38 PM
Yep this is the most stable and standard setting for all ACA's :)

Some time ago (and since it wasn't documented elsewhere) I decided to make a readme file about ACATune changelog and some troubleshooting and extra stuff.
It also has links for all ACATune versions that released in public.

You can check it out here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/939939/ACATune/ACATune_ReadMe.txt
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: Pinballer on May 31, 2014, 12:27:30 PM
I used  C:ACATune -maprom * -cache on -burst on >NIL:

as you suggested.  Initially I thought it was fixed, I played Rainbow Islands for a few minutes before it crashed.  Soft reset and loaded again, crashed almost immediately this time.
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: som99 on May 31, 2014, 12:57:15 PM
Quote from: Pinballer;765398
I used  C:ACATune -maprom * -cache on -burst on >NIL:

as you suggested.  Initially I thought it was fixed, I played Rainbow Islands for a few minutes before it crashed.  Soft reset and loaded again, crashed almost immediately this time.


What is the guru/whdload error code? What motherboard revision do you have, any other expansions?
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: Pinballer on May 31, 2014, 01:14:52 PM
No other expansions.  No error code displayed on the screen, it just freezes and requires a reset.

Will check on the motherboard revision now and report back.
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: mfilos on May 31, 2014, 01:19:05 PM
I'm almost certain that CPU is getting rather hot. Imho, try putting a fan underneath for some time to see if it helps.
If you get stability, then this was the issue.
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: Pinballer on May 31, 2014, 02:23:40 PM
My motherboard is a 2B Revision.

I deleted the files on my CF partition that contained WB, then copied  the DH0 image from ClassicWB to it. Then included the statement  C:ACATune -maprom * -cache on -burst on >NIL:  in the startup  sequence.  It now seems settled, played a game for a while and then lit  it sit idle with the game  running and it worked fine.  Thanks to all that helped.

Which chip is the one I should cool or attach a heatsink?
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: som99 on May 31, 2014, 03:31:29 PM
Quote from: Pinballer;765407
My motherboard is a 2B Revision.

I deleted the files on my CF partition that contained WB, then copied  the DH0 image from ClassicWB to it. Then included the statement  C:ACATune -maprom * -cache on -burst on >NIL:  in the startup  sequence.  It now seems settled, played a game for a while and then lit  it sit idle with the game  running and it worked fine.  Thanks to all that helped.

Which chip is the one I should cool or attach a heatsink?

Have you set max transfer to 0x1FE00 on the CF card?

4D sports driving is one of my favorite WHDload stability test games, that game seems to crash when I have issues fast as hell, either start a game or let intro loop.

Remove the trapdoor on your Amiga, put a fan blowing on the ACA card, if it's stable after that you know it's a heat issue, run 4D sports driving first without cooling the ACA and see what happens, then put a fan there or something and see what happens, also check the max transfer i wrote above.

Since you have the 2B motherboard as me you might need to do timing fixes but first exclude CF and heat issues :)
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: Pinballer on May 31, 2014, 10:29:34 PM
Quote from: som99;765410
Have you set max transfer to 0x1FE00 on the CF card?

Yes, that is what I used when I setup each partition on the CF card.

Quote from: som99;765410
4D sports driving is one of my favorite WHDload stability test games, that game seems to crash when I have issues fast as hell, either start a game or let intro loop.

I set this up today and report back.  Thank you for your help so far.

Quote from: som99;765410
Remove the trapdoor on your Amiga, put a fan blowing on the ACA card, if it's stable after that you know it's a heat issue, run 4D sports driving first without cooling the ACA and see what happens, then put a fan there or something and see what happens, also check the max transfer i wrote above.

Since you have the 2B motherboard as me you might need to do timing fixes but first exclude CF and heat issues :)
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: som99 on May 31, 2014, 11:13:28 PM
Quote from: Pinballer;765426
Yes, that is what I used when I setup each partition on the CF card.



I set this up today and report back.  Thank you for your help so far.


No problem ��, I'm just happy to help.
I hope we can solve this so you can enjoy your A1200 fully!
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: Pinballer on June 01, 2014, 01:37:32 AM
I can't explain it.  This morning it crashes.  Haven't touched the software on the card at all, which is weird.

The issue gets worse the longer the unit is turned on.  So it might be a heat problem, although I'm not entirely convinced.  I removed the trap door and felt the surface of the processor on the accelerator card.  It feels warm, but not hot.  

Unfortunately, I don't own a fan, would you believe it.   Is there anything else we can check?  You mentioned timing issues in an earlier post?
Title: Re: ACA1230-28 ACATune settings help
Post by: Pinballer on June 01, 2014, 01:56:13 AM
UPDATE: I removed the accelerator card and reseated it.  As the system had been sitting powered off for a while, the processor on the accelerator was cool to touch.  So I powered the system back on and it froze early on, seconds into the first game of Rainbow Islands.  Felt the processor again and it was still cool to touch.  Maybe it's a timing issue??