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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: nine3o on February 11, 2008, 02:38:42 AM
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Hi All,
Need some help with my blizzard PPC.
I have a A1200 Rev 1D mother board and a 200mhz PPC/ o4o card and when I power on I either get a black screen or sometimes a red screen.
The o4o does get quite warm (so I don't think it is dead but I could be wrong) and the machine can be rebooted (A, A, Ctrl) but no matter what I do (hold Esc, or both mouse buttons) I can not get anything on the screen besides black or some times red.
I have tried this with no ram mounted and no other devices attached with the same results above.
I do have a 235 watt AT power supply powering the whole thing (I tried another power supply just in case) and I have an extra 5Vdc wire going to the PPC fan connector and the fan powered separately.
Do I have a dead board? :-(
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How much ram is installed on the card?
The BPPC needs at least 4MB to even run.
However
I have a similar problem with my BPPC.
It is a 603e+ 040 200(210)/25
I have 64 MB of ram installed
When i power on the computer it goes black, and i need to power off and back on again for 3 - MANY times but normally 5 times. Then the A1200 boots up and works quite nicely. except though, i cannot get the BVision functioning. I am going to change the cpu to a 060 and hopefully it will make some difference. at least i will get a faster cpu...
To your problem:
No one (i have spoken to) have any clue to why that happends or how to fix it.
But, have you done the timing fix (http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/amiga_hacks/A1200_Mobo_fix/a1200_mobo_fix.html)?
It may provide some stability when the computer finally boots up...
EDIT:
Oh, and put PSU power to the floppy power connector. If you have not done so...
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Yes apply the timing-fix if you haven't already. On a side note: all my power & power-on problems with PPC+BVision went away after installing a Mediator with Voodoo 3.
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Thanks for the info on the timing fixes, but does that apply to all motherboards???
The way I read it, seems the timing fixes are for 1D4 and 2B motherboards. I have a 1D1 and not sure if removing E123C and E125C apply???
And yes I do have the PSU power to floppy connector as well ;-)
@pyrre
Have performed the timing fixes to your motherboard? What revision board do you have?
Also if you upgrade your o4o to an o6o any time soon, can you let me know if it does resolve your issues?
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In the worth case,
take off the ram and press ² while booting.
If it's still problematic, send it to amigacenter.
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OK, I have not mustered up enough courage to take a soldering iron to the back of the A1200 to remove the SMT capacitors, but I did try no ram and holding down 2, and unfortunately it still comes up with a black screen.
Does this mean I need send it to JJ for repairs?
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OK, so I made a mistake in my last post... If I do hold down the 2 key with or with out RAM installed the 1200 boots up...
So what does that mean???
Also, the silk screen on the mother board does say 1D, is that a 1D1???
Also if this is a 1D1 does the timing fix of removing the 2 SMT capacitors on the back still valid???
Any more help would be much appreciated guys, and I thank you for all the help so far!
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Timing problems cause occasional lock-ups, they don't prevent the machine from booting.
The fact that your Amiga boots with reset combo + 2 means that the 68040 is working. Perhaps you need to cool it down.
Try to connect only the disk drive, switch on the PSU and wait for 30 seconds. Do you see the "insert disk" screen?
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hi . u didnt say if you just brought the blizzard ppc card.
if so when brought mine it brand new all those years ago.
it just didnt go with my orginal motherboard rev id 4
l thought brought a dud card.
so went got second hand 1200 and worked right away.
its been going ever since many years with out any problems.
just suggestion.
also go into the ppc boot menu and try setting up diffrently ie 70 ns memory no maprom etc . also disable the scsi . just ideas.
hope u work it out soon am sure u will. :-)
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Hi,
My understanding is that the timing fixes apply only to 1D4 and 2B boards. (Escom did fix some of the boards, as in the case of my 1D4.)
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@AmigaMance
Thanks for the response, it makes me feel a bit better that its not a dead o4o. I tried removing the hard drive and only power up with just the floppy, same thing, I also tried with no floppy or hard drive, same thing, also tried just hard drive, same thing, the "insert disk" screen never appears.
@actung_bab
I purchased this card almost a year ago, it worked with my old A1200 (I don't recall the revision on that board) but that A1200 died and never tried the card again until I received this A1200, been very busy travelling for work) and I just recently tried running with this card (I had a 1230 MKIV in this A1200 with no problems)
Problem is I can't get into the PPC boot menu or the Amiga boot menu, the machine never changes from a black screen unless I hold down the 2 button. I have a fan blowing across the o4o but I will try installing a heat sink/fan combo.
@ -D-
Thanks for clarifying that, but I did find in another post on here that some one with an 1D1 motherboard did remove the caps on the back (E123C & E125C), once I find that post I will provide a link and ask the fellow if it did make a difference.
:EDIT:
OK looks like Painkiller removed the 2 caps on his 1D1 board
Here (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=34140)
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OK, so i removed E123C & E125C, now the machine comes up but only after 2 minutes of a black screen. (I know this is not a fix for 1D1 motherboards but I'm desperate!)
By holding down the two mouse buttons it shows no cards installed.
If I boot up workbench the fast ram shows up and it shows that the o4o is installed (typing CPU in shell).
But the thing is everytime soft reset or cold power cycle the machine always takes about 2 minutes boot up...
(I never xfered the 3.1 chips from my dead motherboard, was afraid since I don't know what is wrong with the old one, I may just order a new set from amigakit)
Is it because I am running this card with 3.0 Kickstart?
Will this card work better with 3.1 Kickstart?
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just get another motherboard its that simple its never going to work with that one.
just some dont and thats all there is to it its the facts of life nothing wrong with the blizzard card or the 1200 mb just some borads dont like this blizzard ppc design.
l send you one my spare 1200 mbs if it help. but u shoulkd be able to buy one easy enough. when l had my problem same as yours the dealer that l brought the ppc card told me just this and sold me another 1200 real cheap. so not a problem.
:-)
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nine3o wrote:
OK, so i removed E123C & E125C, now the machine comes up but only after 2 minutes of a black screen. (I know this is not a fix for 1D1 motherboards but I'm desperate!)
By holding down the two mouse buttons it shows no cards installed.
Totally normal, A1200 just show defective boards or accelerators.
If I boot up workbench the fast ram shows up and it shows that the o4o is installed (typing CPU in shell).
But the thing is everytime soft reset or cold power cycle the machine always takes about 2 minutes boot up...
Substitute the caps around the board (only the electrolytics, of course). Sounds like some of them are bad!
(I never xfered the 3.1 chips from my dead motherboard, was afraid since I don't know what is wrong with the old one, I may just order a new set from amigakit)
Is it because I am running this card with 3.0 Kickstart?
May be!
Will this card work better with 3.1 Kickstart?
Probably.
Just one question/affirmation: ROM or EPROM chips don't burn anything, even if they are defective. In the worst situation, the Amiga simply refuse to boot.
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Just an idea (and I must admit I'm not too familiar with the Blizz PPC cards), does you board have SCSI? I know some Apollo cards will search forever (black screen) for devices, unless SCSI is disabled.
Another thought, IMHO there's nothing wrong with trying 3.1 ROMs. E.g., I have an '030 card that only likes 3.0 ROMs... so as I see it, it's a cheap/easy thing to try.
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The fact that your Amiga boots with reset combo + 2 means that the 68040 is working. Perhaps you need to cool it down.
*cough* Ok... I made an error in this point and i think that i might gave you false hope. I just remembered what this combination does. It disables the accelerator and the on-board 68020 takes control. So it doesn't prove that the 68040 works ok. It doesn't prove that it doesn't work either.
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@pyrre
Have performed the timing fixes to your motherboard? What revision board do you have?
Also if you upgrade your o4o to an o6o any time soon, can you let me know if it does resolve your issues?
Yes, i have done the timing fixes. and i have a 1D4 motherboard. The timing fix helped on some stability. My 040 hung up after an hour or two in WB... Now it can stay on for days without hanging up...
Be aware some A1200 motherboards were incompatible with some accelerators.
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@ all
Guys thank you for your help in resolving this issue.
The card is now running perfect again (well from cold boot it does sometimes require a soft reset).
The fix??? Need to pay closer attention to detail :-D
I removed E123R not E123C!!! I replaced E123R and removed E123C and all is perfect again!!!
Thanks to all of you for your continuing support!!!
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Nice to see a positive ending.....Enjoy your PPC!
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i a similar problem it was cause (well i think) the reset line on the trap door was dirty and if i reset it it would not boot but if i powered down and left it off a wile it worked if i removed the card and pluged it in it booted up fine.
maybe the heat caused the board or socket to flex and loose connection.
when the board was cold it worked normally but not when it was hot
when i cleaned the trap door socket and pcb it worked great from then on
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When I fixed the Mediator passtrough, I discovered a pin who was slightly out.
This pin was one (of 2) responsible for the non-functional Mediator. The other was simply broken down.
What to do?
Whit a SMD rework solder station, I take the 1200 connector out of the passtrough, take the two problematic pins and replace them for two in the upmost pins of the very same connector, then re-solder it to the passtrough.
Now my Mediator runs like a charm.