Enduring problems with A1200 busboards

[Eco]

I have two a1200 zorro II busboards (Z4 and Micronic) but I've been unable to get my CV64/3D and Xsurf II to work with either of them. Do you know if there are any recorded incompatibilities with these cards and the busboards? Is it true that the Z4 renders the first detected Z2 card inoperable, forcing you to use a dummy card?

I thought the CV64/3D would especially like the Z4, since it has the double speed option for two of the Z2 slots, but this does not appear to be the case. I'm going nuts over the repeated Picasso96/Cybergraphx 4.0 installations and OS 3.9 copying..

The cards show up nicely and in working state in the startup menu, almost regardless of which slot they're in, which busboard is used, or if both cards are connected at the same time. It's just that the resources of the cards cannot be used from the WB.

For CV64/3D, both Picasso and Cybergraphx pretend no card has been installed. As for Xsurf, the xsurf.device cannot be opened, the xsurftest program does not find the card, and the IDE devices are not detected even thought the IDE drivers are put in the expansion folder and binddrivers is executed.

Apart from nothing zorro-ish working, the system is stable and good for a lot of WHDLoading. The Xsurf came back from Jens a few months ago, he certified that it is totally working on his lab computer. The CV64/3D I cannot vouch for, but I did buy it as working on Ebay. It looks totally pristine, and it's the DCE manufactured one.

The rest of the system hardware is as follows:

A1200 2.0b
Blizzard 1230 IV (no scsi) with 64mb mem. (maprom used)
Scanmagic SD/FF
Oldie HD & CD drive connected via the IDE port, no buffered interface used.
With Z4 only: Lyra keyboard interface (Micronic has its own)

Help!  :-o

[Eco]

Nope, I haven't had timing fixes done on the board. Is there some sort of test I can do to see if this is my problem? I've done some limited testing without the accelerator plugged in, and at least the Xsurf seems to continue misbehaving without it.

I have a 250w AT power supply, and both busboards get powered through their power connectors - no power is supplied in the standard a1200 power plug (would be a bad idea..). I have made a special connector for the Micronic busboard, since it has a custom connector; the Z4 takes the normal P8/P9 connectors which AT PSUs have.

The busboards do not have any special power requirements, do they? Just plug in the power and you're set? No additional +5 wires required or anything?

Additional note on power: If I plug in a BPPC, I get 4.95 volts on the +5 rail on the card. The system is also totally stable with the BPPC.

[Eco]

Yes, "run >NIL: enforcer" runs after setpatch. Unfortunately it did not make the card work, but I have read that it is required.

I have tried to disable the maprom, also no difference.

How can I force the CV64/3D into zorro 2 mode? It does not have any jumpers, it's supposed to autodetect?

I've switched the order of the cards around may times, taken it one at a time, and usually only tried them individually since neither works. I have cleaned all connectors with IPA and re-built the tower two times, everything works fine except for the zorro cards.

Maybe I should degrade back to OS3.5 or 3.1? Could it help?

[Eco]

The FAQ is really impressive, but not much useful info for my DCE-made Cybervision 64/3D. And I really don't have any jumpers on the card.

Good info on the Z2 fast mode though.. I never knew it was a dirrrty hack  :-o

[Eco]

Has anyone fixed a zorro 2 busboard problem (like mine) by making these modifications? :-?

Maybe I should get another a1200 mobo, preferably of the earlier revisions. I could use a second one since I have two accelerators and two busboards.

[Eco]

(One motherboard switchout later..)

I'm now running a revision 1.D1 1200, and the XSurf has suddenly started working! It passes the xsurftest and everything seems in order.

Too bad I encountered a bit of Genesis weirdness, or I would have been writing this mail on the miggy. Genesis would not save its settings.. some protection flag thing?  :-?

However, the Cybervision 64/3D is still not working. If I plug it in, it will appear in the expansion list as a Zorro III card with an incorrect manufacturer and product ID. One would think that it is not properly detecting the Z2 mode, but perhaps my 1230 IV is preventing autoconfig from doing its thing properly? Surely 1230 IV should be compatible with the card??

I'll be unable to work more on the miggy for a few days, but feel free to theorize on what could be the problem with the CV64/3D.. Here are a few things to think about..

-In Zorro II systems, Enforcer must be running (this is ok, runs right after setpatch)

-CV64/3D needs 4 megs of autoconfig memory space to work (unknown if this is OK, maybe the accelerator is causing a problem? Must remove accelerator to check.)

-CV64/3D compatible with Micronic Z2 or the Z4 busboard?

[Eco]

The Xsurf II totally works. By all that is holy, my A1200 is on the net!  :-D

Now for round 2 with the Cybervision 64/3D. Kling kling!

Tried another go at the zorro slots with the CV64/3D. For all free slots, with or without the 1230 IV accelerator, the early startup and sysinfo show the following info:

Board address: $40000000
Board size: 16384K
Board type: Zorro III
Manufacturer ID: 30727
Product: 7
Serial: -2147483647

It seems to my uneducated eye that the CV64/3D thinks it should be working in Zorro III mode, which is of course not true. Also, I have discovered what I take to be damage to the legs of the chip at the far end of the board (furthest from the monitor connector), like something slammed down on it. Take a look, I think some of the legs are now touching each other:



amiga1260 gets a cookie for suggesting the card might be broken... :-o  :-)

Edit: typo

[Eco]

Thinking that the legs of the chip are indeed connecting to each other, I took a very thin flathead screwdriver and gently drew it across the "empty space" between the legs, removing some loose-ish metal in the process. And now the board detects as a Zorro II card!

Still doesn't work, though. Sysinfo tells me the board is now:

Board address: $00200000
Board size: 4096K
Board type: Zorro II
Product ID: 67
Manufacturer ID: 14403
Serial number: -107374132

Looks somehow almost correct, except for the serial number. Maybe there is further damage or more connected legs.. Gotta take it easy so I don't hurt the board while meddling.. :-D

[Eco]

There really isn't a broken solder joint I can add anything to. I tried measuring the pins with a multimeter to see if they're intact; they appear to be.