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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Retrofan on March 22, 2010, 01:12:09 AM
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Hello:
I'm new at this and I'm from Spain, so excuse my english. First of all a salute to all the Amiga fans. To introduce myself I have to say I'm a retro fan, and have two C64's (one repaired by myself changing chips and reading forums), two 48k Spectrums, a Megadrive, a SNES and a lot of games.
I have to tell I know very few about computers and so, but I'm a handyman.
I have received the A1200 4 days ago (I've treated it with Retrobright with excellent results), but I've been reading things since 4 weeks ago. Forgot to say I'm into an internal cd-rom project too.
To go to the point: The Amiga came with a Hawk ramboard with 2 mb, and I put a 4Gb flashdrive as Hardrive and changed the kickstart chips to 3.1. I changed the memory of the Hawk board to 8 mb.
The Whdload games worked fine (only some of them because of memory problems), but today I noticed I haven't changed nothing when I put the memory, so today I changed the jumpers. All ok, it reads the memory, but when I try to play the same games that worked, they don't.
So if I put the jumpers to 2mb I can play them, but not if I change them to 8mb (it says not enough memory available or something like that).
The jumpers are in the right possition:
LK1 = open, close, close
LK2 = close, close, open
LK3 = open, close, close
I have to say I coudn't install the software disk of the Hawk ram because I bought the Amiga with the floppy drive out of order (for 50 pounds with box, joystick, instructions and all the Dynamite pack).
Any suggestion, please?
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I have to add that yesterday I changed the jumpers :hammer: to 4 mb and it works right. Now I can play games that coudn't before, but the thing is I'm losing half of the memory this way...
Can this be a software problem? As I've said, still I haven't installed the Hawk software (till the floppy drive replacement arrives).
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Do you have anything connected to the pcmcia slot (pc card slot) on the left hand side of your amiga? If so, try removing it....alot of these RAM boards conflicted with the pcmcia port memory addressing when more than 4 mb of fast ram was used.
In addition, make sure that you delete this library (if it exists) from your libs drawer: (libs drawer location is SYS:Libs)
68040.library
To do this, type "delete libs:68040.library" in the CLI, or type it into the "Execute Command" in the workbench menu and press return.
Out of curiosity, how did you install workbench without a floppy drive? And what version is it? Did you purchase the CF card with workbench and the games already installed?
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Hello:
Thanks for answering. Yes, it came with the workbench installed. I don't know exactly which version it is. It must be 3.1, as in the hard drive it brought (450 mb) has the 3.0, and it's different. In it appears "AmigaSYS 4 AGA". No, I haven't nothing connected to the pcmcia. Yes, I read it isn't compatible, although you can make it with a 8mb memory changing the jumpers to 4 mb (as in my case).
Really I don't know if I should go ahead making changes, as what I really want is to install a fantastic Blizzard 1260 that I bought in France for 211€ (what do you say?) with 16 mb. The thing is that it only works with the other Hard disk (the 450 mb's one). When I try to open it with the flash card HD, appears the Guru page, so I think I must install first the software (in floppy) and perhaps some patches.
I should open another post for it if I can't make it work.
Another post I'm wishing to open is for the internal cd rom project I'm into. It's (I believe) the best I've seen. I've made the cd bezzel in the same plastic of the Amiga buying an spare trapdoor, and the cuttings are perfect.
Today I installed some provisional cables, but have to wait for the floppy to install some software so the Amiga will recognize it (Ide-fix and perhaps any patch).
A lot of things for a guy that hadn't an idea of the Amiga four weeks ago, don't you thing so?
I believe I will let alone the Hawk ramboard for the moment...
And perhaps it's better to leave it this way so I can use the pcmcia...(now it works).
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Just a photo by now:
(http://yfrog.com/7eabcd0005dj)
The photo is here:
http://yfrog.com/7eabcd0005dj
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Thats a very neat CD ROM fitting there. Never seen ot put in the back like that.
BTW what sort of CD ROM did you use? How did you connect and power it?
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Hi:
I prefer to finish installing it before giving advices about model and so, because perhaps won't work.
I would like to answer about the rest, but I must open another thread for it, and for that I want to finish it before. Need to receive first the floppy drive and the Idefix software.
So, let's wait as I do...
By the way, I tried to upload a photo but nothing appears, and isn't the same a link to another page...
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Just a photo by now:
The photo is here:
http://yfrog.com/7eabcd0005dj
Very nice work Retrofan. I want to install a DVDRW drive inside my A1200 in the near future, but I am thinking of using a slot-loading SuperDrive from an Apple PowerBook of mine that has died. Can you show us some more pictures of the inside of your A1200 and how you mounted your drive to the case? Also how did you cut the new CDROM face and put the lettering on it?
I also like your avatar picture of the VW Beetle, is that your car, or just a photo that you found? I have a 1970 VW Karmann Ghia that I will be restoring later this year. Old VW's are cool cars and it is amazing that there are so many parts still available for them.
Edit: I have a Phase5 1260 Blizzard accelerator inside my A1200 with the SCSI controller option and two 128mb simm sticks of RAM for a total of 256mb of Fast RAM + 2mb Chip RAM. I think you should not bother with the Hawk RAM board and just install the Blizzard 1260 accelerator and get yourself a 128mb 60ns RAM simm module to put in it. Make sure you get the right simm module, AmigaKit may still have some, or they may be able to order one for you. AmigaKit also has replacement floppy drives for the A1200 if you have not already found one.
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Hello:
Very interesting post. I don't know where to start...
A pleasure to hear from a Vw entusiast. Karmann Ghías are really wonderful. Yes, the car is mine. As I said I'm a handyman (although work in an office), and I mounted the engine piece by piece buying parts from around the world. It's all chromed and works fantastic. I bought a video of someone in UK and some books, and mounted the engine with patient... The hole body was dissambled and rebuilded with parts that I was collecting for years.
About the memory is just what I was going to buy right now, but the seller has to allow me to buy it. The seller should have to be in this forum... why? You coudn't believe what he said... here goes a copy:
"hi Fernando
I have what you need
I was the largest reseller of Amiga chips for years. I used to travel to Europe for all of the Amiga shows. in fact Wolf Dietrich the owner of Phase 5 (blizzar)is still a good friend of mine along with the owner of GVP who was in my office friday. In fact, there is a really good chance that your 1260 board has a Motorola 68060 cpu that came from me..."
Interesting, isn't it?
I'm going to put a double sided tsop memory, as it seems it's impossible single sided. That's what he said: "I dont think that you can use one that is single sided, as I never saw that design,nor would it be possible to make it. The module would have to be twice the height in order to be 128 on one side".
I don't want to put the art. number still because he has two models, and I like one of which I don't know he has more, but he says it's compatible.
About what you say about putting a slot loading cd it's exactly what a guy at ASB Computer (they have to send the Ide Fix 97, and there was some kind of error and they still didn't) told me this afternoon he has done. He told me it was great as you only see an slot at the rear. Really nice, but I think and I told him that I did it the way I think the Amiga people would have done at the time they should, but it's a question of taste, and both ways should be ok. Even, it has to be easier to make it with only an small hole outside...
Believe me that I'm wishing to talk about the cd rom, but I would like to start a new post, (and with photos if somebody tells me how) and this should be made with the project finished.
But as you are so interested, you can use one page I found very interesting. The only thing it's in polish, but I used the google translator:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=pl&tl=en&u=http://www.ppa.pl/artykuly/artykul.php%3Fidd%3D1%26ids%3D4%26hide_in%3D57%26id%3D457&rurl=translate.google.es&twu=1 (http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=es&sl=pl&tl=en&u=http://www.ppa.pl/artykuly/artykul.php%3Fidd%3D1%26ids%3D4%26hide_in%3D57%26id%3D457&rurl=translate.google.es&twu=1)
The Cd rom letters are transfers (stickers) that I made. I could have put anything, but I liked to put the same logo (I downloaded them) that I found at the Idefix program (I have the program, but still not the key).
The one at the right is an sticker I bought at Ebay...:laughing:
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Here goes a photo of the retrobright work I did with the keyboard. You can see the color the keys had in the photo above the Amiga, which I taked to know where the keys should go:
http://yfrog.com/izabcd0009vj
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Hello:
Thanks for answering. Yes, it came with the workbench installed. I don't know exactly which version it is. It must be 3.1, as in the hard drive it brought (450 mb) has the 3.0, and it's different. In it appears "AmigaSYS 4 AGA". No, I haven't nothing connected to the pcmcia. Yes, I read it isn't compatible, although you can make it with a 8mb memory changing the jumpers to 4 mb (as in my case).
Really I don't know if I should go ahead making changes, as what I really want is to install a fantastic Blizzard 1260 that I bought in France for 211€ (what do you say?) with 16 mb. The thing is that it only works with the other Hard disk (the 450 mb's one). When I try to open it with the flash card HD, appears the Guru page, so I think I must install first the software (in floppy) and perhaps some patches.
Hello, Blizzard1260...nice card!
Yes, in order to get that to work on your system, it's simply a matter of installing the software that came with the card on your system. Notably, what you'll need is the dummy 68040.library (very small file) and the 68060.library copying over to your SYS:Libs/ drawer REPLACING your current 68040.library and 68060.library (if they already exist). But the installer on the floppy should install those for you automatically.
If your floppy disk is faulty, then you can still download the needed librarys and documentation from "the unofficial phase5 support page", which is exactly what you'll need for your Blizzard1260 card.
http://phase5.a1k.org/ (http://phase5.a1k.org/)
Have fun. :)
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Thank you very much for the information. Yes, I knew about that page.
The thing is I'm having problems with the Idefix. I haven't the disquette, but have the program installed, and the ASB Computer people sent me a mail this afternoon with the key to use it while I receive it. I installed it for the internal cd rom, and was perfect, it read the disk I had into (an OS3.9, which left for later), but when I reboot the Amiga some problems appear, and now I have at the System partition 0kb, and it says "volume system is not validated", and a problem at "System: s/user-startup" file in line 308".
I don't know what to do... A couple of times the Idefix led me to install it again (and I think I should have tried to install OS3.9), but now it's impossible as it doesn't let me...
Any suggestion, please?
... Wait a moment... I have just started the Amiga which I had left opening while I was writing and now it opens with the OS3.9 system of the cd asking me if I want to install it... I'm going to try...
No, for any reason now it opens reading the cd, and asks me if I want to install OS3.9, but it can't as it says again "Volume system is not validated". I have to fix it first to install anything...
I need some help, please!
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I have seen one simm that was double the height and single sided, instead of being double sided, but I can't remember if it was 128mb in size. Unless you can get a double sided simm that uses extremely thin chips, it will not fit in the Blizzard 1260, unless your 1260's simm socket is different than mine, which holds my simm flat against the 68060 CPU.
I do not try to close the A1200's trap door cover on my A1200 so I have considered putting some 1/4 inch feet at each corner of the bottom of the A1200 case to raise it off the desk and having someone remove my flat simm socket and replace it with an angled simm socket on my Blizzard 1260 card so my simm module will no longer be resting against my 68060. That would allow me room to install a thin heatsink on the 68060 to keep it cooler and remove the heat from the 68060 transferring to the RAM chips.
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Yeah, do you know what would be the best? To desolder the socket and find one mirrored (if they exist) so you could solder it the other side, looking inside. You should have a lot of space.You could try to ask here:
http://www.homestead-products.com/simtree.htm
That's the way the Hawk Ramboard has it's memory, and is the best. I can't understand why the Phase 5 people did it this way knowing there was so little space...
The simm I've already bought is Ebay art: 310208968719, and I asked him for the one in the center of the photo.
About my problems with "volume system is not validated", yesterday I tried the DiskSalv without result.
I've read this too:
"
Q: Amije, are you saying it is possible that the disk will fix it self? Is it automatically running a program that i have not noticed?
Thanks
A: yes it is, and of course you can't noticed because it is in rom. it's the diskvalidator once in workbench disk in l: directory. it's just for this purpose. when workbench boot searching for validating problems of any kind of disk and if it's find anything running the handler for the job. if you leave the disk along you will see for a long period the disk light on and the amiga will try to fix it. when the light turns off wait for a while and then reboot. if all gone well it will boot normaly. if not then use any disk salvage program you have."
Surely that's why when I returned leaving the A1200 turning on, it was reading the cd. I will try to let it alone to see if it makes all my work... If so I will send the Amiga to go to work to the office by me...
Any suggestion about how to fix it? I made a copy of System to another directory, but what must I do with the System one?
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About my problems with "volume system is not validated", yesterday I tried the DiskSalv without result.
I think I always got my disks validated when running DiskSalv. But sometimes it required 2 -3 runs to get fixed. The error can change between runs: "block xx used twice" "block out of range" or something like. Copying from a backup was always faster.
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I'm gonna wait for the floppy drive to arrive, so I can install again the Workbench. That will be the easiest way
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I'm gonna wait for the floppy drive to arrive, so I can install again the Workbench. That will be the easiest way
Do you still have all of your WHDLoad games and AmigaSYS on your CF card? Is that the drive which has gone down with the validation problems? If so then I'm sure you'll want to save those games?
Something that you did caused this error...
Was it when you installed IDEFix? Did you try and upgrade the AmigaSYS to OS3.9?
But yes, the simplest method now is to start a fresh by the sounds of it. :)
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Hello:
Yes, the cf card is well, but not the system directory on it. I made a copy of it into the Applications one. It was very extrange because the partition in which System was has 213 mb I believe to remember, but it has 0kb free. I don't know if for some reason the partition was full (I don't believe so), or it was as it was left for the problem with "system is not validated".
I believe I will format the partition and will install what it had into again...
But the floppy drive won't arrive at least till monday :(