BigRamPlus?

[bjjones37]

I just installed a BigRAM+ board in my A4000 but ran into a problem. I have WB35 on my hard drive.  It does not see the board at all.  But if I boot off a WB31 floppy, it works just fine. Any ideas?

[bjjones37]

I use ShowConfig and Amiga Analyzer, even just the top window bar.  Like I said, it works fine in WB31 from a floppy boot, but when I boot from the HD with WB35, neither memory nor board show up. Even did a memory test on it and all the memory came up good (in WB31).

[bjjones37]

I tried to boot with no startup sequence and loaded amiga analyzer and it failed to see the memory. But as I said, when I boot from floppy, WB31 sees it just fine. I even ran a successful memory diagnostic.  Could the HD partition mask have anything to do with it?

[bjjones37]

Could somebody please tell me how I could modify the partition mask without repartitioning the hard drive?

[bjjones37]

I'm not familiar with this "Amiga Analyzer" software.  Just boot with no startup sequence and type 'avail' at the command prompt.  Autoconfig memory should automatically show up.  When all else fails, don't try fancy tools.  Just use the basic stuff already built into the OS for troubleshooting.  

I booted with no startup-sequence and typed avail as you suggested.  It shows my 2MB of chip ram and my 16MB of fast ram and that is all.  The ram board does not show up. (Unless I boot with WB31, then everything sees it.)

[bjjones37]

You should be able to do this in HDToolbox.  As long as you don't touch any of the other settings I believe this is a non-destructive change.

I actually tried that but it did not change my mask.

[bjjones37]

You have to type in a new value, press enter, and then save changes.

HDToolbox is funny that way.  If you don't press enter after each field it can act funny.  Known bug.

Thanks for that.  I was able to change the mask, but apparently that was not my problem.  Is anyone known to have a BigRAMPlus board working with Workbench 3.5?  I have no other boards in my system and have tried different slots. My kickstart is 3.1.  I have uploaded the startup-sequence from the WB31 boot disk.  It should be the original unaltered file from the install disks. Nothing special.

I am beginning to wonder if it is the OS patch from a boing bag.

[bjjones37]

With the exception of a few commented lines, that Startup-Sequence is identical to the one I use with WB35 on my hard drive.  

I just realized something.  When I cold boot (power-on), the memory is not seen.  But if I do a warm boot (Ctrl-A-A), the memory shows up.

I noticed previously that when I hold down the mouse buttons on boot up, the board appears in the Boot Menu diagnostic.  But If I wait a couple seconds to hold the buttons (I suspect after AmigaOS ROM Update loads) the memory board no longer appears in the Boot Menu diagnostic.

Annoying.  It may be some reset circuit on the MB not functioning properly.

[bjjones37]

I pulled out the daughterboard and cleaned out the motherboard slot and the daughterboard connector and slots with 91% alcohol.  If I disable the ROM update, most of my hard drive partitions will be inaccessible.

 I use a 120GB HD and only the first two partitions are within the 4GB limit.

The RAM board is the only Zorro III board I have.  I have an A2620 and an A2630 but those would not help at all.

I am kind of saving wiping the hard drive as a last resort.  Don't really want to lose all that effort.


I am relieved to know that it works correctly after a warm boot.