Buddha 2018

[curtis]

Got my Buddha in today and started playing.

Gotta say this thing is finicky!  Using a TrueIDE adapter some CF cards are recognized and some are not.

Sometimes the DOM is seen, most times it isn't.

Tried a couple of 2.1G regular IDE drives (yes a real 3.5") drive and one was seen, the other not.

Like I said.  FINICKY!!!!!

[giZmo350]

At least it's working... so AmigaKit must have flashed it for you. I'll have to go back and edit my previous post about the TrueIDE not fitting on the new Buddha card - I forgot the bottom connector is 40 pin. Good to hear it's working for you! :laugh1:

[curtis]

Had some odd side effects along with the testing.  Not sure if their related, but curious if anyone else noticed anything similar.

Sometimes when I inserted a CF and fired the machine up I'd lose all but about 256K of my chip RAM.  Sometimes my expansion memory board wouldn't be recognized.

Only about have the time was the DOM recognized.

Not sure what any of the above means, but it is interesting.  At least to me!

[giZmo350]

Yo Curtis, what ROM is in your machine? Did the new Buddha come with a tool to check the firmware revision? Are these tests with your 030 combo board installed?

I still haven't received my 3.1 ROMs so I've been idle with my Buddha tests. I have a GVP 030 combo accelerator too so just waiting on ROMs to help you reproduce glitches.

[curtis]

It's a 3.1 ROM.  If there is a tool to check the firmware revision I didn't notice it.

Tests were with and without the 030 combo board that I have.  Didn't seem to make a difference whether the accelerator was installed or not.

Yo Curtis, what ROM is in your machine? Did the new Buddha come with a tool to check the firmware revision? Are these tests with your 030 combo board installed?

I still haven't received my 3.1 ROMs so I've been idle with my Buddha tests. I have a GVP 030 combo accelerator too so just waiting on ROMs to help you reproduce glitches.

[giZmo350]

Hey Curtis... I don't know who the manufacturer of the CF cards your using is but, I found out something very interesting! I'm now using my gutted old A2K to test my Buddha with (it's great). I just got 3 Transcend 4GB 133x CF cards from a guy on eBay. I prepared and partitioned one of them with HDToolBox. Worked perfect. Formatted the partitions. Worked perfect. Installed OS2.1. Worked perfect.

I also have a couple of 4GB 133x CF cards I bought about a year ago from Tiger Direct. I prepared and partitioned it with HDToolBox. Just acted really weird & couldn't correctly define a 2nd partition.  Formatted the partitions. 1st partition formatted OK but second failed as bad & came up as "not a DOS disk" - but displayed correctly on Workbench - just too odd. Installed OS2.1 on partition 1. Worked  perfect. Tried the whole procedure again on the Tiger Direct CF - acted even differently.

I then remembered I had trouble with these Tiger Direct CFs from the get go. I get to looking at the backs of the eBay CFs and the Tiger Direct CFs. They are different. The ones I got from Tiger Direct are FAKE! The REAL ones have a burgundy stripe at the top with the Transcend logo on it. And state at the bottom "Made in Taiwan". The fake ones have a rainbow stripe with no logo and doesn't state where they are made at the bottom.  

This FAKE card media is a very bad problem! There must be millions of fake cards out there and telling the difference is probably impossible. And where can a guy buy REAL ones? Tiger Direct was always reliable before they got sold (look up why - you won't believe it).

I'll post a couple pics tomorrow showing the difference. Maybe someone here can shed some light on this and might even know what the difference is with the Transcend cards. But there is a BIG difference!

So, you might have some fake cards. Just a thought. It's just terrible  that you can't trust re-sellers anymore. I mean, where can a guy go to  ensure that he's getting a genuine product? Sad.

I bought these ones and they work perfect.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3pcs-4gb-Transcend-Compactflash-speed-133-X-memory-card-for-CF-i-DSLR-cameras/272658970188?hash=item3f7bbdb64c:g:q0IAAOSw~y9ZDKRR

These are just like the ones I bought from Tiger Direct (look at the back with the rainbow colors) & have been nothing but trouble & possibly fake.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1pc-USED-4-GB-Transcend-Compactflash-133x-CFI-best-for-CF-cameras/261448178189?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D49917%26meid%3Dd73b3ae049bd42a39a02d5c02455fc68%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D272658970188%26itm%3D261448178189&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

This FAKE card media is a very bad problem! There must be millions of fake cards out there and telling the difference is probably impossible. And where can a guy buy REAL ones? Tiger Direct was always reliable before they got sold (look up why - you won't believe it).

Ha! Omg. I never liked that store and after googling, am glad I've given them very little of my money over the years.

Here's one amusing story for ya:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/brothers-guilty-of-fraud-at-systemax-computer-company-sent-to-federal-prison-by-miami-judge

[psxphill]

true,  i just use standard sandisk ultra or extreme cards in every amiga i own,none have failed to this day.

I used to use a lot of sandisk cards, we had terrible performance problems with cards from one of their factories.

[mechy]

I buy all my sandisk cards from B&Hphoto video or adorama,been getting them there for 15+yrs and never a problem with a single card. i Use cf's in all my amigas (but the 4k with ssd) and have set up hundreds of machines over the years for people with no one reporting any problems.

[LoadWB]

I buy all my sandisk cards from B&Hphoto video or adorama,been getting them there for 15+yrs and never a problem with a single card. i Use cf's in all my amigas (but the 4k with ssd) and have set up hundreds of machines over the years for people with no one reporting any problems.

+1 for B&H and Adorama.

[giZmo350]

@OM
Yea.... Tiger Direct. What idiots! :rolleyes: Hope the brothers are having fun in jail!

@Team
I bought stuff from B&H and Adorama  before! Thanks for the reminder!

Also, my AmigaKit order is out the door! The 3.1 ROMs will really help testing the Buddha... & hopefully I can help Curtis. :laugh1:

[kolla]

I once went shopping at B&H on Manhattan, nobody had prepared me, lol

[gazsp]

Just wanted to add, all the problems I've had with the new Buddha Flash on my A2000 went away when I updated the CPLD with the latest firmware.

It works perfectly now.

[giZmo350]

Great! I think Curtis needs to do that too - at least check his revision.

@gazsp If the BFlashTool V1.3 is loaded, will it show the current revision without actually flashing CPLD?

@Curtis Here's the latest flash tool for 20th anniversary Buddha....
http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/File:BFlashTool.lha

[kirk_m]

Great! I think Curtis needs to do that too - at least check his revision.

@gazsp If the BFlashTool V1.3 is loaded, will it show the current revision without actually flashing CPLD?

@Curtis Here's the latest flash tool for 20th anniversary Buddha....
http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/File:BFlashTool.lha

Just remember the CPLD update tool is a different utility, named Buddha_CPLD.  It comes in a separate archive on the iComp wiki.  You have to use a cable you either make, or Jens sends you (at the end of March) to update the CPLD from the Amiga's parallel port to the header on the card itself.  The card MUST be plugged into a Zorro slot at the time, else, the card will not be detected by the CPLD update utility, and it will error out and fail.  

The flash ROM, instead, can be updated directly to the card over the Zorro bus with no cables, from command line.

Make sure, with both utilities, that when they ask if you want to proceed with updating, you press CAPITAL Y, else it will not start.


To update the CPLD, you need BOTH of these archives (one is the update files, the other is the updater):

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/File:Buddha_CPLD.zip

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/File:BuddhaCPLD.lha

Update the CPLD *first* and then flash the ROM, else it doesn't work.  After doing both of my cards, they now work as they should.

[giZmo350]

Thanks for the clarification Kirk_M!