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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: SuperTurbo on December 06, 2006, 12:12:11 AM
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Hi again... I have a Spider II (with registered Poseidon!!) which have caused me quite a headache. Firstly it wouldnt fit easily into the PCI slot, I almost had to use a hammer to get it into place (ok... i´m exagurating a bit here ;) )
My specs are: A1200T/blizzard060/64mbram/mediator1200/Voodoo5500/network/SB128/SpiderII/PowerFlyerII/2x10GB HD´s/OS3.9
And when I got it into place the computer would not work unless I set the Mediator wait jumper to on (Voodoo drivers failed to load properly, thus freezing the screen, worked nicely without the Voodoo drivers installed though). (what exactly does this jumper do BTW?)
And when I installed Poseidon and got it working alright, I noticed how much more unstable my system got. Sure my Amiga system have always been very unstable since I got my blizzard060 and even more so after I got my mediator, but now it´s even more likely to crash than ever.
Elbox thought it might be because of some other drivers or patches that I had installed so I tried to make a clean install, installing only the drivers for the mediator (voodoo, network, sb128) and powerflyer2 and Poseidon. However that didn´t seem to help.
The worst thing however is that after my Amiga crashes (which it always does)I have to it turned off for several minutes before I can boot into workbench again. Otherwise it will stop loading halfway thru the boot-process for no appearant reason (my guess is that it´s the Voodoo driver conflicting again).
Anyone had some similar problems with their Spider2 cards? I got the newer and smaller version (NEC) and not the one they´re displaying on their website.
BTW, I don´t like way elbox have ignored some of my questions about the mediator just because I bought it second hand (ignore as in no reply at all). I bought the spider though and they helped me a bit on the way. But as this matter might regard the mediator itself (voodoo drivers?) I belive that´s why they chose to ignore me...
I think it´s a loosing strategy to just ignore people, perhaps people would consider to buy more stuff from Elbox if they were acting more friendly even to second hand customer? Just my thoughts....
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Your dealer should help you with this.
Which Mediator 1200 have you got? Have you set the 8MB window?
It is recommended to put the Spider into the last PCI slot.
Ensure that the accelerator pass through adapter hasnt been misaligned when you installed the Spider. This can cause system instability if it has.
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Thanks for the reply. I have the old mediator (4-slots)called MediatorPCI1200 (http://www.elbox.com/products/mediator_pci_1200.html) with the new Mach chips installed. I take it that it should be similar to their newer MediatorPCI 1200 LT4. And I have set the memory window to 8 MB (or else I think it wont work with a 060 accelerator) and I have my Spider in the last PCI slot (first from bottom).
I didn´t see any misalignment with the passtrough adapter, but it might be good to check it again.
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No way it can be as bad as this
(http://www.bowdoin.edu/~mherzfel/Gruesome1200SpiderIIProblem.png)
EDIT: Erm, seriously, however, my 4000T recently started freezing halfway through the boot process after some hardware maintenance. I tracked it down to LoadMonDrvs being the problem command. A quick reseating of all my boards solved the problem. There's no Mediator in this system, but maybe it's something simple as a loose connection.
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Well, I hope my spider isnt squished yet :-P
I have already checked the connection of all boards, but I suppose something might have come loose while carrying it around. The connection of the Powerflyer is a somewhat unrealiable one...
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You said that you had trouble fitting the spider. Could this misalignment be causing the mediator/motherboard to bend? This can create real problems with seemingly random instability.
You may want to check the backplane of your tower is not bent, casing the problems in fitting the card.
Also - are you using any unpowered hubs or any other unpowered devices? The spider (iirc) does not like to power devices of more than 0.4A through any USB channel.
Regards
Rich