Help! Just bought a Sam440ep-flex, what now?

[som99]

Hello all, well I have been using MorphOS for long but today I got my hands on a SAM440ep-flex board for a price I could not resist.

So I thought well it's time to give AmigaOS 4.1 a go, I have never used AmigaOS 4.x so a few helpful tips what do get and do next would be much appreciated

So got an Sam440ep-flex 800MHz board + 512MB ram, a radeon 9250 256MB and a soundblaster audigy2 and the AmigaOS 4.1 CD for about 300$

Ill post my questions and ask for help from other AmigaOS 4.x users here.

I assembled the machine as pictures below will show, I only had a spare Thermaltake Lanbox Lite mATX chassi so I have to use that for now untill I find something more fitting.

I will tidy up the cables more and use a modular PSU in the next case


Here is what I got, the ATI card had no fan when I got it.


I decided to put a fan on the ATI card, as I have a few 92xx cards I know the fan is quite loud so I skipped that one and compared a few other fans I could fit to get a as silent as possible there.


This is the GFX card done with a new fan.


The motherboard fitted:


Her is all on place in the chassi.


Here is the spare mATX case I had lying around in the basement, ill replace it at a later date when I find something more fitting.

[som99]

My first problem just arise and I need some help, when I enter u-boot and pick the DVD drive it loads trough the kickstart files and I see the AmigaOS 4 splash screen for less then a second then I get the kickstart "insert floppy" image and nothing more happens.

tried removing the sound card, the mouse (as all other things are needed to start) but still the same thing can't get past, I need someones help

Edit: tried switching PCI slots from the top 66MHz to both 33MHz ones, dosen't help, tried 4 other hard drives, 1TB, 250GB, 80GB and last a 40GB one, still wont boot
Edit: Tried different SATA ports but then it wont boot at all, so they are correct (not as in picture, swaped j21 with j23)



pressing left+right mouse button for the boot menu does not give any options that helps me and no CD/DVD drive is seen :/

EDIT: problem fixed by setting the sii3114ide_conf to 1002 to tell uboot that there where a hdd on the first SATA port and bam everything seems to work so far!

[som99]

Nice NG Amiga you have there and a great deal! Have fun

Thanks, can't use it yet tho since install wont boot :/ Have any idea from above post why I get stuck in "insert floppy" kickstart screen?

[som99]

Hi,

Is your OS 4.1 for the Sam 440, I just went to Amigakit and it seems like there is several different versions.

smerf

Thanks for the reply, the AmigaOS 4.1 manual/quickstart Guide that came with the CD says "AmigaOS 4.1 for Sam440" So I use hopes so, nothing on the CD says anything.

[som99]

No man I dont know anything about Sams.

Thanks anyways

Well going of the box it looks exactly like the one I had for my sam440.

Thanks, since the manual says so i hope so

The Sam can only boot from some of the data connectors, I can't remember exactly which ones, but I think you used the wrong connector for the DVD .

I noticed that on my pictures before I started installing and switched from J21 to J23, but thanks ill try all SATA ports just to be safe

Edit: Tried switching around SATAS but no boot at all then so that's not the problem

[som99]

I would check the CD to make sure it doesn't have any errors on it, and maybe try another CD drive if you have one.

The CD is checked, ill try to dig out another SATA DVD drive and see if that helps

Tried another SATA DVD and tomorrow ill drive and buy a brand new DVD-drive and try that, if that dosen't work I got no clue what I am supposed to do

[som99]

Is your CD on J23 then (which is correct)? Anything else and it won't boot as that's where it expects the optical drive.

If UBoot doesn't boot on J23 then check the sii3114 environment variables from the uboot command prompt and make sure all ports are enabled. Also of course check your boot order is set correctly....

Thanks for the reply,

U-Boot prefs menu have very little options, an all seems correct, from the command prompt if I write "ide info" both the hard drive and the DVD-drive shows up no problems :/
How do I check if all SATA ports are enabled? Since both drives are in correct port and shows up I guess they are working.

If you haven't done yet, post this thread at http://www.amigaworld.net. There you can find all the support you want for OS4.1 related issues. The crowd there is quite nice.

I used to have a SAM460ex with OS4.1.6, but I sold it very recentely to have money to afford the new fpg board which is now starting to ship

Another good site is http://www.amigans.net. They also have a social group in Facebook; just look for them there under Amiga OS4.1.

Have fun with your system!

I haven't tried any other forums yet but I guess I gotta ask them if I can't solve this here.

Thank you ill try to have fun with the sam440 bord as soon as I get anything booting

Hi som99, was it a private sale? $300 Is what I'm looking at spending. Would love to have that setup, think I'm finally getting to end of my classic stage. Too buggy :-/

Yes it was a private sale and the best offer ive gotten so far for any AOS4 hardware thats why I took it

To bad your getting to the end of the line with your classic hardware, ive followed your big thread for ages but nothing I say can make you stay at classics if you are sick of all the hazzle

I will keep my eyes open for new deals if you want, but if you want to get NG cheep why not get like a mac mini and MorphOS?

I had a similar issue with my Sam 440ep and this is what resolved it.

Sam 440ep's are very picky as to what video cards work in the fast PCI slot (the top one.) I had a Radeon 9250 like you have and this the solution that worked for me.

Move your graphics card down to the second from the top slot and try booting your AmigaOS 4.1 install CD.

Good luck.

PS. I noticed you had a second graphics card you might want to try that one in the fast slot.

Thanks for your reply, ive tried both another card and different slots

Edit: Made a account on Amigaworld tho after writing a long thread I got a message when posting "Your posting privileges has been revoked for 1 days" SO I guess I can't post the first day joining

[som99]

Can you do a "printenv" from the UBoot command line please and show us what it says?

Edit: Another thought - have you tried connecting one CD-ROM to J200 and one to J203? Then booting from the one in J200, removing the disk, putting it in J203 and then Ctrl+Amiga+Amiga (i.e. soft reset, not hard reset)?

sii3114ide_conf=1000
sii3114ide_xfer=G000

Don't have that many SATA cd/DVD-drives :/

Edit: changed sii3114ide_conf to 1002 and saved and now it works!

good deal and welcome onboard AOS4 train !

I dont have a SAM but an A1XEG4 and when something like that happens, I usually go to UBoot and use/reset to default settings. Most of the boot problems come from bad or obsolete variables which I would guess, since you bought it second-hand, therefore having the UBoot settings of the previous owner.

good luck
Lio

Thank you for your welcome, ive also tried to update u-boot to the latest version but still the same problem

[som99]

The booting issue solved, changed the sii3114ide_conf to 1002 to tell uboot that there where a hdd on the first SATA port and bam everything seems to work so far!

Thanks to all who tried to help me

[som99]

Yay! Now enjoy

Thank you for all your help! Im a happy camper right now, currently taking a beer and playing around ion the OS, trying to get the SoundBlaster audigy2 to work

Edit: Trying to figure out what updates to install and not, since ive read about some problems with these sams and update 3 onwards (forcing me to use a 33MHz PCI slot for the GFX card etc).

[som99]

I don't have a Flex, but I know update 6 runs beautifully on my 440ep!

Thanks, im playing around with it now, ill let you know how it goes
Also planning on putting a CF/SD reader on the motherboard USB header since it could be handy.

I have been talking to the seller and ill buy a PCI Catweasle from him later on and use on the Sam, could be a nice feature

Edit: Update one done and no issues, ill continue

[som99]

Get the Catweasel if you can - they're very hard to find! And naturally make sure you're using drivers from my website (http://www.retroreview.com/iang/Catweasel/) or later (they're still improving whenever I get chance...)

Thanks for your effort and input, I will surely get one and finally digitize all my DD floppies

Has you connected your DVD drive to correct sata slot? Boot ability is only J20 and J23.

Also you should know this, to get uboot your keyboard should be in internal J19A or
external J18.

Get you copy of flex manual from here http://www.acube-systems.biz/download/flex_manual_0.2.pdf
I have excatly same setup, it is nice little machine and surpricingly powerfull, surfing web and watching avis are fluent.

Thanks for your reply, all is solved, I was using correct SATA and the top USB port, the problem was resolved by setting the sii3114ide_conf to the right sata port (1002) sow now everything works well!

I must say that the sam440 800MHz was snappier then I thought it would be, so im happy digging into the world of AOS4 now, now all I am missing to be happy in my Classig and NG setup is a 040 A4000D

Edit: Update 3 done, brought a new boot screen
Edit: Doesn't seem to get past boot screen now, lets check startup-seq and see if I can figure out what is the issue

Edit: Dammit, it was as I had read about, after update 3 I could not get past boot screen but when I switched the card to a 33MHz PCI slot it starts but randomly freeze, mostly before AmiDock is initialized :S

Edit: Fixed the video related problems by setting DMA0 for GFX (setenv save Picasso96/UseDMA 0). Now installing update 4 *crossing fingers*