A1200 Blizzard PPC Problem

[Jasper_K]

Help!!!

I have an A1200 with Blizzard PPC / 040 installed. I have the latest version of WarpOS installed as well as OS 3.9.

There are 2 x 64 MB Sticks of memory installed on the PPC card.

My problem is this. Some PPC software runs perfectly, stable and every time. But other programs either seldom, or never run. When they do run I have no idea WHY, as I attempt to run them the same way.

Heat is definately not an issue as I have upgraded the heatsinks and fans and WarpQuake, ADoomPPC and AmiHeretic run perfectly every time for hours at a time.

Voltage to the PPC is not a problem since I am using a modified 400 watt PC PSU, and have an extra power adapter across to the floppy drive power connector.

On the WarpOS side I have Terminator set to 2, Hide patch set and Mem protection set to off.

The problem programs are Gloomdeluxe which runs about 30% of the time. and PaybackWOS, which has only ever run twice, but when it did it ran perfectly for hours. Payback 68k on the other hands runs every time.

Please, if anyone could shed some light on this problem I would be eternally grateful.

Oh, quick update - I have run Memtester PPC 3 times and it reports there are no problems with the installed RAM.

Thanks. :-?

[Jasper_K]

Hi there and thanks for the reply, appreciate any opinions/help I can get.

Well, I have edited my original post as I have run memtesterPPC 3 times and it reports there are no problems with the Ram. So I think we can rule out faulty ram.

I have never upgraded the BPPC firmware - I didnt know there were any upgrades, can you please give me a web address when I can download the firmware upgrades?

I shutdown EVERYTHING before I try and run PaybackWOS, MCP, Screenblanker, Amidock etc etc. it makes no difference.

The PC PSU delivers 4.85 Volts, but I cannot understand how it would be stable EVERYTIME with a PPC intensive program such as WarpQuake, and yet die when running PaybackWOS and Gloomdeluxe - which doesnt even use the PPC.

[Jasper_K]

Yessum, thats right.

Thats why I dont think it is a PPC problem..... Im lost.

[Jasper_K]

Np, thanks.

Well, hardware is:

A1200 Blizzard PPC 040 / 175 Mhz PPC
2 x 64 MB sticks of RAM
Subway USB
52 X CDRom
3.2 GB HD
20" LCD Screen

Software is:

OS 3.9 with both Boingball upgrades
WarpOS 5.1
WarpDT datatypes (latest)

In my startup-sequence I have the following running (not in this order):

FBlit
FText
Bppcfix
mumove4k
Idefix
mathlibspatch
Stackattack
CyReq
MCP
Quickrom
MathIEEESingBasPatch
BlazeWCP
CMQ030
MCPRamLibPatch
Visual Prefs
Full Palette
Outlinefont

In my WBStartup Drawer I have the following running:

Amidock
ASyncWB
CDEject
Matrix
Toolsdaemon (patched for OS3.9)
Sleeping Pointers
Deficons
RawBinfo
Snap2Grid
WBClock
Benchtrash
Magic Menu
Req Attack
StartPatchWB

Before I try and run PaybackWOS etc I shut down MCP, Busy pointers, magic menu, req attack, RawBinfo, Matrix and Amidock - via Exchange.

The only entry in Exchange I cannot shutdown is Toolsdaemon - it crashes if you try and kill it.

BTW - thanks for your help guys.

UPDATE - I just updated the firmware on the PPC card - no difference.

FURTHER UPDATE - I just wrote a short script activated from Toolsdaemon that shuts down all running apps (MCP etc) AND reduced the screenmode to 1 bit (B & W) and disables Window/Screen Patterns, AND flushes RAM, thus leaving me with 1967 Kb Chip - still no change - so I have ruled out it being a lack of Chip Mem.

And suggestions guys?

[Jasper_K]

hey guys, I have found the problem!!!

With all the patches etc in my system would you believe it was bloody poseidon causing the problem?!

If I comment out PSDModules command in startup-sequence and do not load Poseidon EVERYTHING runs fine.

So now I have a new (easier) problem. Since its a pain to have to edit my startup sequence everytime I want to run a PPC app, I need a way to purge Poseidon and its resident modules from memory whilst in WB.

Anyone know how to do this? I have tried AddUSBHardware REMOVE ALL from CLI but it doesnt work.

Would appreciate any help.

Thanks.