Zydec A500 1.5MB

[nickoteen]

Hi ...
 
I've recently purchased Zydec A500 1.5MB board over ebay and I have a problem.
 
The card has been properly installed (following the instruction papers that came with it) and here's the thing:
 
Under KS 1.3, Amiga won't boot. It just flashes red ...
Under KS 3.1, it boots into WB, but it reports only 0.5 MB of additional RAM.
 
Now, the guy said the board is untested (he lacked the "console" to try it out), which was a warning flag right there, and was selling it as is.
 
My question is ... is there something I don't know regarding this board (a floppy disk I didn't get which would make the board fully functional), or the board is faulty hence doesn't work as it's supposed to ?
 
In the instructions paper it clearly states that KS 1.3 or higher is requierd, whereas under 1.3 it won't work at all ...
 
Thanks ...

[nickoteen]

I have the same board and same problem. you did connect it to that custom chip (Gary)?
iirc, I had managed to get 1,5Mb once. perhaps its not autoconfig, so it needs addram command?

I've connected it to the Gary, yes. I've pulled Gary out, installed it to a small "daughterboard" which is connected to the ram board after which I connected the daughterboard to Amiga mbo where Gary used to be. You have the same problem you say ? Phew, that gives me hope the board is not faulty after all.

[nickoteen]

Have you tried looking for it on amiga-hardware.com and amiga.resource.cx? If you can't get it to work satisfactory you may want to look at this one instead:
 
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=65155

Yes ! That's next on my shopping list. Along with ide68k.

[nickoteen]

Btw, can any1 instruct me on how exactly should I "addram" ? I guess it's a shell command, right ? If so, does that mean the board will be invisible to all autoboot software (games for example) which run without wb ?

[nickoteen]

I have the same board and same problem. you did connect it to that custom chip (Gary)?
iirc, I had managed to get 1,5Mb once. perhaps its not autoconfig, so it needs addram command?

I've found your old post regarding this board ...
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?p=572103
 
so I'll try to figure out what to do with addmem. Although, it says I need to KNOW my memory board addresses otherwise it'll crash my system. Memory addresses ?? How ... WHERE do I read these from ?

[nickoteen]

It's rev 6a.

[nickoteen]

Yup. That's the one. Mine looks exactly the same. Soo, have u remembered by any chance how exactly did u managed to get it to work ? Still haven't tried the addmem. Am a bit worried since it won't work under ks 1.3 (using ks switcher board). Will have to try it on my 2nd Amiga with a standalone ks.

[nickoteen]

Make sure it's not set for 1mb chip ram from the trapdoor or on the motherboard. That could affect it.

If you're reffering to 1MB chipram hack/mod, no, I don't have my mbo modded in any way.

[nickoteen]

no, I don't have any idea. perhaps its not addmem, or anything complicated (or else I'd remember). maybe its KS. mine has a heavily corroded battery area (batt was missing).

Hmm ... well mine is in an excellent visual condition. The battery has been replaced with a new one as far as I can tell ...

[nickoteen]

Ok, just 2 let you know, 'cause this is beyond explanation. As I said earlier, I was gonna try the Zydec board on my second Amiga (was waiting for an internal FDD which it lacked to arrive) with no KS switcher (rom sharer) board, with a plain, standalone KS 1.3, so i did. And the board works !! (wait, let me add a few more of these !!!!!!) WB 1.3 was succesfully loaded reporting 1935776 free memory. GOD DAMN IT ! It works on my 2nd, nickoteen yellow Amiga and it won't work on my 1st, heavenly white one ! But ... hope is not lost. Just wanted to tell you, there's no need for any addmem or utilites alike. The board is fully functional as is. It just needs to be plugged in.

[nickoteen]

what rev is the second a500?
 
is there any chip ram hack on it?

No modds of any kind. Both amigas have rev 6a mbos.

[nickoteen]

Yes, I'm using the same psu. I just disconnected my 1st Amiga and connected the 2nd one. The only difference between the two is that in the 1st one I'm using the ks switcher board and in the 2nd one I'm not. Other than that, the Amigas are exactly the same (well, they differ in colour offcourse ).