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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Hanzu on August 23, 2011, 01:09:41 PM
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I'm trying to repair Phase 5 Blizzard PPC 040 which I modified to 060 but which has its flash memory completely removed by previous owner (for unknown reason, maybe as a spare for some other card). So for starters I ordered new unused AMD AM29F040B flash memory just because silkscreen under in the card had white text saying 29F040. Later I noticed that 29F040 flash memory is 512k according to datasheet.
I downloaded the latest flash update here:
http://phase5.a1k.org/download.php?f=a12c7b93e0a936ab933791543da26d84&countonly=1
But readme says
for a Blizzard PPC 040(SCSI/NOSCSI) use BlizzPPC040Update
for a Blizzard PPC 060(SCSI/NOSCSI) use BlizzPPC060Update
for a CyberstormPPC with a 128KB Flash use PPCUpdate
for a CyberstormMK3 with a 128KB Flash use MK3Update
for a *DCE* CyberstormPPC with a 512KB Flash use BigPPC040Update
for a *DCE* CyberstormMK3 with a 512KB Flash use BigPPC060Update
So I'm not sure if I should use
BlizzPPC060Update (because I have Phase 5 version)
or
BigPPC060Update (because I have 29F040 which is 512k)
Actually this FlashUpdates-26042002.lha packet does not contain files called
BigPPC040Update
or
BigPPC060Update
I wonder if those Big ones have ever been included in older flash updates...
So I guess I need to use BlizzPPC060Update, right?
What happens if this BlizzPPC060Update is only for 128k flash memory?
What are my chances on flashing empty 29F040 anyway is it impossible when chip is already soldered and there is no prommer adapter or hex for firmware available?
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Also is there any way to check what "firmware version" those excecutables contain? (For example this one - BlizzPPC060Update)
And is there any way to check "firmware version" of any Cyberstorm PPC or Blizzard PPC?
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Also is there any way to check what "firmware version" those excecutables contain? (For example this one - BlizzPPC060Update)
And is there any way to check "firmware version" of any Cyberstorm PPC or Blizzard PPC?
On my Phase 5 Blizzard 060/PPC which I believe has the most up to date "flash" files stored on it, all I can tell you is the following...
It should have these library versions installed in the "flash" once done... :)
68060.library Ver 46.15
PPC.library Ver 46.35
I've never had to re-flash my PPC and the documentation that comes with the flash updates doesn't give you a clue as to what versions of the libraries they contain but when you do re-flash the blizzard just check to see if the 68060.library and the PPC.library match the versions given above and then you should have the most up to date "flash" available... :)
You should use the "BlizzPPC060.UpDate" file to reflash your Blizzard and I believe the file you provided a link to is the correct one to take you to the versions mentioned above but like I say, the documentation is very poor and until you actually run the flash installer on your Blizzard there is no way of knowing if it is indeed the correct one...
I have a number of these flash updates & other than the dates on the files there is no way to say which is the correct one until you actually "flash" the Blizzard... :(
So unless you can contact the author or someone posts here telling you if you have the correct update, all you can do is give it a try and see if you end up with the library versions installed on your Blizzard's Flash as mention above... :)
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It should have these library versions installed in the "flash" once done... :)
68060.library Ver 46.15
PPC.library Ver 46.35
Ok thanks. I'll see what comes up if I manage to flash successfully.
68060.library seems to be same than the newest one that is separately available from www.a1k.org downloads (http://phase5.a1k.org/index.php?driverslibraries), but the newest PPC.library available separately there is only Ver 46.31.
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Like I say I have number of the "Flash Update" files but due to the lack of info in the documentation I have no idea which versions of the library they contain... :(
All I know is the PPC.library installed on my Blizzard is version 46.35, so if you send me a PM with an email address I'll email you the UpDate archives I have and you can give them a try to see if one of them will take you up to PPC.library ver 46.35... :)
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I'm trying to repair Phase 5 Blizzard PPC 040 which I modified to 060 but which has its flash memory completely removed by previous owner (for unknown reason, maybe as a spare for some other card). So for starters I ordered new unused AMD AM29F040B flash memory just because silkscreen under in the card had white text saying 29F040. Later I noticed that 29F040 flash memory is 512k according to datasheet.
I downloaded the latest flash update here:
http://phase5.a1k.org/download.php?f=a12c7b93e0a936ab933791543da26d84&countonly=1
But readme says
So I'm not sure if I should use
BlizzPPC060Update (because I have Phase 5 version)
or
BigPPC060Update (because I have 29F040 which is 512k)
Actually this FlashUpdates-26042002.lha packet does not contain files called
BigPPC040Update
or
BigPPC060Update
I wonder if those Big ones have ever been included in older flash updates...
So I guess I need to use BlizzPPC060Update, right?
What happens if this BlizzPPC060Update is only for 128k flash memory?
What are my chances on flashing empty 29F040 anyway is it impossible when chip is already soldered and there is no prommer adapter or hex for firmware available?
there is no way you can flash an empty 29F040 chip.
The FlashUpdate are just ... updates and NOT full flash images!
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I'm sure someone can dump their 060 flash chip for you to flahs your chip, and I'm sure there is a way out of his predicament, there almost always is.
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I'm sure someone can dump their 060 flash chip for you to flahs your chip, and I'm sure there is a way out of his predicament, there almost always is.
no way ... forget it.
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Like I say I have number of the "Flash Update" files but due to the lack of info in the documentation I have no idea which versions of the library they contain... :(
All I know is the PPC.library installed on my Blizzard is version 46.35, so if you send me a PM with an email address I'll email you the UpDate archives I have and you can give them a try to see if one of them will take you up to PPC.library ver 46.35... :)
Looks like I'm not even getting that far... :(
there is no way you can flash an empty 29F040 chip.
The FlashUpdate are just ... updates and NOT full flash images!
I should have guessed that when it comes to grappy manufacturer like Phase 5 and DCE which never really cared about customer support, made empty promises in their manuals (for example promising 060 update pack for Cyberstorm Mk I 040) and keep documentation, schematics, firmware and everything locked in some private archive even when they will have less and less market value for them in future and for use they would be valuable.
Also why do I have to kill my nostalgia again and again to see why so many things in Amiga equipment business had to be done so anti-professional way even when it is not about resources. Imagine if you would not get full BIOS or firmware file for example for your PC motherboard but only update. The world would have so much more electronic trash from those who managed to corrupt their BIOS or firmware.
I'm sure someone can dump their 060 flash chip for you to flahs your chip, and I'm sure there is a way out of his predicament, there almost always is.
That would surely be great, but I doubt that no-one have TSOP capable programmer or TSOP-adapter for ZIF based programmer to get that dump inside empty 29F040. I know That kind of adapters exist but they are very expensive.
I have no problem desoldering that 29F040 and adding new one including full dump, but I really doubt that anyone can do such a favor even if I offer to pay for it. :(
I need to start considering selling/ebaying this Blizzard PPC as faulty/spares.
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I should have guessed that when it comes to grappy manufactorer like Phase 5 and DCE which never really cared about customer support and why so many things in Amiga equipment business had to be done so anti-professional way.
If the flash ROM is empty there is just no way the HW can initialize itself. It's rather stupid to blame Phase5 for the trouble you're having.
Imagine if you would not get full BIOS or firmware file for example for your PC motherboard but only update.
Have you ever tried to flash a PC motherboard with an empty BIOS?
Hint: It won't even POST.
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DCE basement's shelves are full of CSPPC and BPPC, in need to full reflash theyrs firmware chips! :-/
and IIRC, the firmware content is cripted as well.
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and IIRC, the firmware content is cripted as well.
It's not.
If you're not sure why spread such nonsense?
EDIT
Parts of the firmware are compressed to allow more code being included (BPPC firmware is quite stuffed, it has 68060.library, ppc.library, GRex support etc included). This has nothing to do with "encryption" which would be totally pointless anyway.
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It's not.
If you're not sure why spread such nonsense?
sorry mom!
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DCE basement's shelves are full of CSPPC and BPPC, in need to full reflash theyrs firmware chips! :-/
and IIRC, the firmware content is cripted as well.
The firmware content is encrypted but rather poorly, less than 20 minutes to crack... :)
Course it still doesn't help if you can't write to the Flash in the first place... :(
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The firmware content is encrypted but rather poorly, less than 20 minutes to crack... :)
Course it still doesn't help if you can't write to the Flash in the first place... :(
uh! encrypted like the Elbox drivers? i didn't know .... thanks!
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encrypted like the Elbox drivers?
The BPPC/CSPPC firmware is not encrypted. You should know better than to listen to more lies about this.
Any encryption would be pointless as it would need to be decrypted at run time, making it trivial to extract the decrypted code. Needless to say no such encryption exists.
Elbox Spider USB drivers were encrypted, with special checks to see if the encryption had been removed. If the detection was triggered the code would overwrite the RDB. This was done so that Elbox could keep on selling USB2 cards at premium price.
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in few words you are saying that you are allowed to crack their drivers while they can't trash your RDB? interesting ...
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in few words you are saying that you are allowed to crack their drivers while they can't trash your RDB?
Uh, no I am not. I was merely explaining why Elbox did what they did. It should also be quite obvious that Phase5 didn't need to do such tricks since they did't try to sell stock PCI cards with premium.
Trashing the RDB is evil thing to do, regardless if someone tries to crack the driver or not. AmigaOS doesn't have any memory protection and thus just some unlucky memory trashing could result in the RDB being wiped. There's no excuse for what Elbox did.
interesting ...
It sure is interesting that you chose to interpret my concise explanation in this way.
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If the flash ROM is empty there is just no way the HW can initialize itself. It's rather stupid to blame Phase5 for the trouble you're having.
Have you ever tried to flash a PC motherboard with an empty BIOS?
Hint: It won't even POST.
It's rather stupid to make flash files that are just updates, because there is actually more work to take care not to overwrite those parts that are not covered by the update. So it would have been easier to make full dumps and also secure if they are crypted like Framiga says they are.
I won't blame Phase 5 for the trouble. I blame them for "going under the fence where it is lowest" and still getting near cult reputation which they in my opinion never would have deserved.
By inspecting and repairing 2 Blizzards 1260s, 2 Cyberstorms PPCs and 1 Cyberstorm Mk 2. I have seen so many design flaws, bad inspection and bad component choises it had made me highly doubt their know-how.
An example: One Blizzard 1240 I owned had resistor network with non-soldered feet. All that time since it was manufactured that resistor network was hiding under the CPU and slowly it lost contact because it only touched pad with no solder at all. Well I desoldered 040 CPU and ran microscopic inspection under it and found it. Luckily card came into life and I updated it to 060 version. But for expensive products like they were, should not have contained these kind of rookie manufacturing errors.
No I have not tried to boot PC mobo with empty BIOS chip. I have never managed to be unsuccessful enough to corrupt any BIOS. But after all this time they have started to put their BIOS files to easy detachable socketed ZIP ICs just to allow easy swap in case of failure. For example my new Asus P8P67 Deluxe motherboard has this feature. So my point is, if Blizzard 1240/1260 had firmware chip in socketed PLCC that is easy to extract ans swap, in Blizzard PPC they should have never gone to soldered TSOP chip just because it was cheaper as manufacturing process and lacks one work routine of assembling that PLCC chip after PLCC socket is paste soldered.
I want to explain the reason why I initially thought it might be possible to flash empty 29F040 on board is:
Because of the first reply I thought flash memory only contains those libraries and some of the programmable logic chips located in the card contained data cards needs for intitializing itself. The fact that there are keys that can be depressed to disable the card or its features supported my thought about this theory.
If I would have working BlizzardPPC and some foolish bravery I could try what happens if I boot some A1200 with working card and then hot swap the one with empty flash, and then, assuming I do it fast enough (which surely is impossible) that A1200 does not reset, then trying to flash assuming flash data is loaded in memory. :crazy:
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The BPPC/CSPPC firmware is not encrypted. You should know better than to listen to more lies about this.
Any encryption would be pointless as it would need to be decrypted at run time, making it trivial to extract the decrypted code. Needless to say no such encryption exists.
Elbox Spider USB drivers were encrypted, with special checks to see if the encryption had been removed. If the detection was triggered the code would overwrite the RDB. This was done so that Elbox could keep on selling USB2 cards at premium price.
Dunno if you've ever checked the software updates but as usual you are wrong, they are encrypted & packed, still as you know everything then I bow to your superior intellect and knowledge even though you obviously aint ever checked them... :rolleyes:
Ooops... sorry I forgot you can't read this... tough luck eh... :roflmao:
PS: The ElBox FastATA drivers are also encrypted to check for hardware but a simple modification of 24 bytes at the start of the code removes this protection and the same applies to the AllegroCDFilesystem... easy when you know how... ;)
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It's rather stupid to make flash files that are just updates, because there is actually more work to take care not to overwrite those parts that are not covered by the update.
The flash updates are not partial updates. They contain the full firmware contents. However, the updater application needs to read the contents of the original flash ROM to get the correct configuration information.
IIRC the flash updater tool might even have some switches to provide some of this configuration information, but I might remember incorrectly (I'm fairly sure that there were some options to specify the CPU speeds etc).
As for the Phase5/DCE build quality: I've had Blizzard 1230-IV, 2 x Blizzard PPCs, BVision PPC, 2 x Pegasos I, Pegasos II and an EFIKA. All have been of excellent build quality (it's a small sampling I know).
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It's rather stupid to make flash files that are just updates, because there is actually more work to take care not to overwrite those parts that are not covered by the update. So it would have been easier to make full dumps and also secure if they are crypted like Framiga says they are.
hysterical replies apart, Piru knows Phase5 products better than me.
So apology for the mess (about the damn encrypted thing) :-)
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Sorry to interrupt intresting debate, but this is not really helpful. By going close to offtopic and struggle for expertice makes this thead way longer and decreases chances that someone that still has optimism for this issue reads all these replys and provides something useful.
It would be nice to hear if anyone could borrow DIL40 to TSOP32 adapter like this or provide a link where it would be available with a lot cheaper price:
http://www.elnec.com/products/programming-adapters/?f=DIL32_TSOP32_ZIF_18.4mm
If flash memory content is not codeprotected it would give some hope if I would get another Blizzard PPC even faulty one with working flash memory, I could carefully desolder and place to that kind of adapter. It does not matter if flash memory content is encrypted, compressed or anything else if the chip itself is not programmed with code protect on. I assume code protect is off, because running flash update is possible.
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If flash memory content is not codeprotected it would give some hope if I would get another Blizzard PPC even faulty one with working flash memory, I could carefully desolder and place to that kind of adapter. It does not matter if flash memory content is encrypted, compressed or anything else if the chip itself is not programmed with code protect on. I assume code protect is off, because running flash update is possible.
Indeed it would work, except that AFAIK the flash contains the HW configuration (CPU speed etc). So it'd be best to have a dump from a matching BPPC if only possible.
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Sorry to interrupt intresting debate, but this is not really helpful. By going close to offtopic and struggle for expertice makes this thead way longer and decreases chances that someone that still has optimism for this issue reads all these replys and provides something useful.
It would be nice to hear if anyone could borrow DIL40 to TSOP32 adapter like this or provide a link where it would be available with a lot cheaper price:
http://www.elnec.com/products/programming-adapters/?f=DIL32_TSOP32_ZIF_18.4mm
If flash memory content is not codeprotected it would give some hope if I would get another Blizzard PPC even faulty one with working flash memory, I could carefully desolder and place to that kind of adapter. It does not matter if flash memory content is encrypted, compressed or anything else if the chip itself is not programmed with code protect on. I assume code protect is off, because running flash update is possible.
The encryption isn't checked for by the Blizzard hardware itself, it's only there I assume to stop anyone changing the actual software update code with a hex editor and distributing a "dodgy" version of the software update... ;)
So installing it isn't protected in any way by looking for the attached genuine hardware, it's only to try and prevent folk mucking around with the software update code... :)
Not sure, but I assume you have already removed and replaced the original flash ROM, might be worth trying the flash update to see what happens, after all what have you got to lose... :)
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Indeed it would work, except that AFAIK the flash contains the HW configuration (CPU speed etc). So it'd be best to have a dump from a matching BPPC if only possible.
Great thanks! Now we are getting somewhere.
The encryption isn't checked for by the Blizzard hardware itself, it's only there I assume to stop anyone changing the actual software update code with a hex editor and distributing a "dodgy" version of the software update... ;)
So installing it isn't protected in any way by looking for the attached genuine hardware, it's only to try and prevent folk mucking around with the software update code... :)
Not sure, but I assume you have already removed and replaced the original flash ROM, might be worth trying the flash update to see what happens, after all what have you got to lose... :)
Makes sense to me. Thanks!
Having expensive Elnec Beeprog+ in work...
http://www.elnec.com/products/universal-programmers/beeprogplus/
...would make me to get one of these adapters, if the price would not be so high:
http://www.elnec.com/products/programming-adapters/?f=DIL32_TSOP32_ZIF_18.4mm Price: 136.00 € excl. VAT
http://www.elnec.com/products/programming-adapters/?f=DIL32_TSOP32_ZIF-CS_14mm Price: 145.00 € excl. VAT
http://www.elnec.com/products/programming-adapters/?f=DIL32_TSOP32_ZIF_11.8mm Price: 249.00 € excl. VAT
If I could help someone else to repair their Blizzard PPC it might be more worth buying to share expences.
FlashUpdates-26042002.lha that I linked in the first post has FlashBIOS.doc file describing those flash options. Not really very detailed but there are chances to get it right since most of the options are for SCSI which is not installed for this card.
I guess I will try to update, I can always remove 29F040 and add new one. They are not expensive.
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I'm afraid I would need a little favor to proceed faster. This is what I would need.
1) Download this archive http://phase5.a1k.org/download.php?f=a12c7b93e0a936ab933791543da26d84&countonly=1
2) Extract the archive and put this file BlizzPPC060Update to formatted 880k AmigaDOS disk
3) Convert this disk as ADF file
4) email it to me at hanzux (at) gmail.com or provide me with download link
5) once I received it I will post here to let others know I don't need it anymore
Why don't I do this myself with all that gear in my sig, you may ask. Because right now they are not where I'm and all I have in front of me right is A1200 mobo without any OS installed where I'm supposed to try the flashing and PC with Catweasel 4 where I could write ADF-file as a flashdisk.
If there is no-one who can do this for me. It takes several days before I'm with those A4000 to do it myself.
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@Hanzu,
Have you ever tried to run BPPPC without 29F040B installed?
You will not have FPU, SCSI and PPC in AOS because all necessary libraries are inside flash memory, but you will be sure that BPPC hardware is ok.
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@Hanzu,
Have you ever tried to run BPPPC without 29F040B installed?
You will not have FPU, SCSI and PPC in AOS because all necessary libraries are inside flash memory, but you will be sure that BPPC hardware is ok.
No I have not, but now that you mentioned it. That is what I'm going to do if I can't flash that empty AMD AM29F040B-90ED. Thanks for telling me about that possibility!
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I'm afraid I would need a little favor to proceed faster. This is what I would need.
1) Download this archive http://phase5.a1k.org/download.php?f=a12c7b93e0a936ab933791543da26d84&countonly=1
2) Extract the archive and put this file BlizzPPC060Update to formatted 880k AmigaDOS disk
3) Convert this disk as ADF file
4) email it to me at hanzux (at) gmail.com or provide me with download link
5) once I received it I will post here to let others know I don't need it anymore
Why don't I do this myself with all that gear in my sig, you may ask. Because right now they are not where I'm and all I have in front of me right is A1200 mobo without any OS installed where I'm supposed to try the flashing and PC with Catweasel 4 where I could write ADF-file as a flashdisk.
If there is no-one who can do this for me. It takes several days before I'm with those A4000 to do it myself.
No Problem... do you want it left in the lha archive or extracted to disk on the ADF file... :)
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@Hanzu,
I've asked this, because I have flash content:
https://picasaweb.google.com/110121921198567459630/BlizzardPPCFlashReadingWriting#
I can send it to you, no problem (I'm at work now).
But you have to be sure that BPPC itself is ok.
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No Problem... do you want it left in the lha archive or extracted to disk on the ADF file... :)
What I mean is that I need ADF-file that contains image of normal AmigaDOS disk containing BlizzPPC060Update.
The disk does not need to be bootable or have startup-sequence since I will boot from Early Startup and just type BlizzPPC060Update to flash.
And do not worry I won't blame anyone if flashing fails. That is expected.
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What I mean is that I need ADF-file that contains image of normal AmigaDOS disk containing BlizzPPC060Update.
The disk does not need to be bootable or have startup-sequence since I will boot from Early Startup and just type BlizzPPC060Update to flash.
And do not worry I won't blame anyone if flashing fails. That is expected.
That's what I ment, I'll extract the archive and create a normal AmigaDOS ADF image. I'll have to leave out the 040 update though as there is too much data to fit onto an Amiga floppy image... :)
Give me a few minutes and I'll send it to you... :)
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@Hanzu,
I've asked this, because I have flash content:
https://picasaweb.google.com/110121921198567459630/BlizzardPPCFlashReadingWriting#
I can send it to you, no problem (I'm at work now).
But you have to be sure that BPPC itself is ok.
Wow! That adapter looks nice. Did you do it yourself for Willem or is it bought one?
Maybe I would be better off buying one programmed 29F040 from you and soldering it to the board...?
But like you said I'll see first if card is visible in early startup without anything in flash.
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Sent the ADF... :)
Hope things work for you... :)
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Ok, no problem.
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But like you said I'll see first if card is visible in early startup without anything in flash.
If you manage to boot the miggy with the card plugged in, you should be able to run the standard flash utility with the FORCE param (or so). I've used this in the past to force-flash a broken card after a friend decided to reboot while in the middle of flashing process.
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But you have to be sure that BPPC itself is ok.
Unfortunately now that I tested A1200 will not boot with this card at all. So I could not do any flashing.
Sent the ADF... :)
Thank you. It will come handy if I meet more Blizzard PPCs later on.
Sorry for wasting everybody's time by talking about flashing when I should have tested the card first with empty flash memory.
Now situation is this:
-Power LED flashes with endless loops of resets.
-screen is black and/or dark grey
-Holding mouse buttons to get to Early Start Up is not working.
-Pressing ESC, 2 or S from keyboard do nothing.
-CY7C3741 chips seem hot when touching them
+All soldering looks good and I have actually measured every solder to have contact with their pad
+060 CPU is socketed by me
+card surface is not damaged even though it is multilayered. I inspected it with microscope before soldering CPU socket
+CPU is not faulty since it came from another source. I can test it in Cyberstorms to make sure it didn't get broken now by faulty card
+Fan is rotating.
+There is new thermal paste in PPC CPU heatsink.
+A1200 is Rev 1D4
+PSU is old Bigfoot
+Blizzard PPC has no SIMMs installed
+"jumper"-resistors are set correctly
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+Blizzard PPC has no SIMMs installed
Try with a SIMM. IIRC BPPC doesn't work without.
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@ Hanzu
Sorry to hear you couldn't get it working... :(
Been a long time since I've opened my tower to check anything but I notice you did say the BPPC has no simms installed...
If I remember correctly I when I first purchased mine I tested it first to see if it was working without any simms and got nothing, pretty sure you have to have simms installed before it will work... ;)
Or it could have been the fact that I had to replace the edge connector on mine, think old age is creeping up on me memory... :)
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It would be nice to hear if anyone could borrow DIL40 to TSOP32 adapter like this or provide a link where it would be available with a lot cheaper price:
http://www.elnec.com/products/programming-adapters/?f=DIL32_TSOP32_ZIF_18.4mm
If you want to create a programming adaptor on the cheap, what about using one of these:
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=2031+204786&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt=TSOP+adaptor&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial
The disadvantage of these adaptors is of course that you would have to solder the devices to the adaptor first, program them, and then desolder. The advantage is that it's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a TSOP ZIF socket.
AH
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Try with a SIMM. IIRC BPPC doesn't work without.
Thank you for the idea! Although I have doubts it is true since none of the other Phase 5/DCE I have had B1240/B1260, CS1, CS2, CSPPC have required it. But will be worth trying anyway as I have tons of SIMMs available with all sizes from 128MB to 1MB.
If I remember correctly I when I first purchased mine I tested it first to see if it was working without any simms and got nothing, pretty sure you have to have simms installed before it will work... ;)
Or it could have been the fact that I had to replace the edge connector on mine, think old age is creeping up on me memory... :)
I wish would have got nothing either, but A1200 resets with first second blinking power led. I'm pretty sure if SIMMs would be required it would do nothing without and not crashing. But worth trying indeed. I wonder if both SIMMs are required or just one and if one only then which one is bank 0. The 90 degree one or 45 degree one. I guess I should really read that from PDF manual...
If you want to create a programming adaptor on the cheap, what about using one of these:
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=2031+204786&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt=TSOP+adaptor&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial
The disadvantage of these adaptors is of course that you would have to solder the devices to the adaptor first, program them, and then desolder. The advantage is that it's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a TSOP ZIF socket.
AH
Thank you for the idea. I'll memorize that if I get the card working and flashing with adapter becomes crucial. The good thing is that I work in electronics industry where we use Farnell as one of the suppliers.
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Thank you for the idea. I'll memorize that if I get the card working and flashing with adapter becomes crucial. The good thing is that I work in electronics industry where we use Farnell as one of the suppliers.
Yes me too - I'm an Electronics Engineer. And, as we're a manufacturing outfit as well as Engineering, we order a lot of components and that means we get end of line pricing with Farnell and RS. This is great for us in Engineering when we just want to order ones and twos of components for prototypes and we get the cheapest prices :)
Good luck with your card repair. There's an old saying here in the UK; "misery loves company". It's quite apt because I have a broken PPC card to deal with as well. In fact, I have two!!!
AH
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DCE should give back the PPC cards they have in their basement for good use! They literally robbed those from users! Also the damn PPC-schematics should be given/released to people who could actually do something GOOD with them. Good ol' PPC's could then possibly be updated/maintained (hardware-/firmware -wise) but stupid DCE just holds these things for themselves for NO reasonable reason :furious:
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DCE should give back the PPC cards they have in their basement for good use! They literally robbed those from users! Also the damn PPC-schematics should be given/released to people who could actually do something GOOD with them. Good ol' PPC's could then possibly be updated/maintained (hardware-/firmware -wise) but stupid DCE just holds these things for themselves for NO reasonable reason :furious:
I agree, but if I understood correctly years ago some Amiga users made them so angry by their wrong type of approach that the one who would have the power to release all data holds them like it is still a war going on between them and current Amiga users. No matter how much they are insulted, still they should show us some gratitude that we bought their products back when they were new and kept them in business. For what I understood pretty much everything Phase 5 or DCE manufactured for Amiga was sold out. So what more we should have done. It is not our fault if there is no enough profit or if design has flaws or production has bottle necks.
It could be also that they do not want to release schematics, part lists and so on because they are afraid that someone would use their old know-how to design new accelerator cards. If so why won't they do like GVP (Great Valley Products) did and re-released some of their best cards?
If they have any reservations for plans like GVP, they should act now before some of the key components used become so obsolete that all their products would need to be radically redesigned which would require new reserch and developent and not just some production lines and some people to operate, inspect and repair production.
The longer they wait the less value that old data is to them, since Indivisual Designs has already made some new low end accelerator cards to fill A1200 and A600 slots and things like Natami are also going to eat intrest for classic Amiga hardware.
I have no idea why DCE (http://www.dce.de/) which is still existing but cut all ties to Amiga, has not sold their licences and data to Indivisual Designs, Vesalia or some other German based companies since communicating and negotiating locally would be quite easy. Assuming getting money for something that has no value for them is always welcome.
What we could do as community would be to make a petition for the one who can decide what to do with schematics.
Or we can wait for those to be transferred to future generations who might be more understanding and release them, but if so that is going to be too late since we are getting too old before that. :)
BTW. Why is Indivisul Design not producing anything 060 related? I just bought two new unused 68060 sockets from China, so something like sockets can not be reason. If they have no source for 68060 they could make a card with socket only so we could use our old 060 CPUs when everything else fails.
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Anyway back to the topic
-This Blizzard PPC is not booting with SIMMs either.
-Holding A is not working either and I assume there would have to be some content inside 20F040 for those key holding functions to work.
-Tried to switch those 50MHz oscillators with no help
-Once I got dark red back ground.
Would Blizzard PPC 060 require so much power that I would have to misuse A1200 mobo floppy PSU connector output as input to get the card to boot? I would expect old A1200 bigfoot PSU can supply enough voltage so that supplying additional voltages through floppy PSU connector would not be required.
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I agree, but if I understood correctly years ago some Amiga users made them so angry by their wrong type of approach that the one who would have the power to release all data holds them like it is still a war going on between them and current Amiga users.
who told you so? we were very close to a class action against DCE but then we quitted for some reasons. (some personal "others" not)
Anyway, case closed. DCE was the winner at the end.
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A1200 PSUs don't have much power, try an A500 PSU.
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who told you so?
Heh, you make it sound like I would be an outsider who accidentally got some inside information. Well even though I have only become active here lately, I've been around since the golden days of Amiga. Maybe I refrased it in a wrong way, but to put it another way I got the impression DCE does not want to co-operate with Amiga community. Can't find the old source where I read it first or did someone explain it in email, but this (http://eabmobile.abime.net/showthread.php?p=513963) could be one of those where I got my impressions. Well better stop stirring bad memories. It feels depressing to think about it.
A1200 PSUs don't have much power, try an A500 PSU.
Apparently this Bigfoot PSU I use for A1200 was not marketed everywhere. It is a big Baby-AT powersupply with A500/A600/A1200 PSU cord coming out of it. A commercial product without any specs or stickers, but just beige paint. I think it is more sufficient than original A500 PSUs which like you said have higher Amps than original A1200 ones.
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Hi
I have to reflash an AM2SF040B chip to get alive an BPPC 060/50 of a friend.
The only thing that i need now is the .bin file.
I would be very grateful, and the user of that card still more, if someone tell me how to extract that information from flash update executable, if is possible.
Or more difficult if any have read one of these chip and send me the file.
Thank very much in advance
QuarX