Pegasos on the way - yay!

[Wilse]

@KennyR:

It's marked PWRON on the Pegasos schematic, and POWER SW on the tower cable.

OK.

In fact, if you need it, you can find it here on my webspace, in pdf.

Thanks. Things are much clearer now.  :-P

Each of the tower connectors should have a small label on it. This is oriented upward towards the top of the tower case.

I'll have another go tonight when I get home.

[Wilse]

It's pretty easy to actually build the system, it's just that Wilse (and myself when I went to try it) have no experience building ATX systems.

Indeed. I'm sure it would've been much more straightforward if I had the schematic.

The hard part is still to come - installing MOS is a sinch but I expect Wilse will need my help again when he tries to get it to auto-boot - I'll have to spout some open firmware nonsense.

Well, probably at least a couple of days away. I still don't know if the RAM will work and there's footy on TV tonight and tomorrow. Add to that my girlfriend has decided she's hogging the PC to learn Spanish, which means I'll have to dig my old monitor out from the very back of the cupboard under the stairs.......I may find myself in front of the goggle-box tonight.  :-P

[Wilse]

@Dave:

It just seems absurd that whoever sold Wilse the board didn't send easy to understand step by step instructions printed out.

There's a simple explanation, IMO. My original order, to pegasos-USA, got lost in the system and I still hadn't received my board two weeks after ordering. This didn't strike me as a major problem, bearing in mind I placed my A1 order six months ago and there is still no sign of it.
I made an enquiry to pegasos-USA and received a *very* prompt reply and apology from BBRV, stating that it should have been with me already and they'd rush me out another from Paris. That's just what they did - it arrived in matter of two working days.
So they forgot one piece of paper - I'll live. More important, they remembered the Peg, the cpu card, MOS CD, Feeble Files, Software Tycoon, Tales of Tamar and a T-shirt.

I was getting mental images of Wilse being electrocuted

:lol: Not yet, touch wood.
TBH, so far it's been a lot less stressful than towering my Amiga was.

I don't know if Wilse would have had the same experience with A1 or not - probably would but it bothers me that you say that the hardest part is installing MOS. Jeez.

Well, my A1 will come with linux, which I'd imagine will give me a lot more grief than MOS. Having said that, my A1 is taking so long, maybe AOS4 will be ready by the time I get it.  ;-)

[Wilse]

@KennyR:

It was probably just overlooked by accident.

Without a doubt.

I got the schematic and the other people who got this offer also did. He could have mailed or written to Genesi and sent him the schematic,

Well, I didn't know there was one but I've printed off the one on your site, so no matter.  :-)

Wilse should check if he has the full package and that nothing else has been overlooked.

What was the whole package? I have to say I'd be surprised if there was anything missing, as the contents of the box are already spanking value for money. Three games, mobo, cpu, MOS and a T-shirt for not a lot of money. I was very impressed, even though I haven't played a game in ages.  :-D

[Wilse]

KennyR wrote:
Did you get the little Pegasos sticker?

Yes, I forgot to mention that.  :-)

[Wilse]

It's marked PWRON on the Pegasos schematic, and POWER SW on the tower cable.

OK, that one's in place, with the POWER SW marking facing the top of the case. Reset, Power-LED & HDD LED are also in place.
The connecter that is supposed to go towards the top right, for USB, I have two of, marked 1 & 2.
The speaker connector is in place OK too.

I tried switching on with these connected up - still zilch.

After this I'm a little puzzled as the only connector I have left is a single hole one with 'SHIELD' written on it.

 :-?

[Wilse]

Hi Kenny:

All that I can suggest is that you recheck all your connections, and in particular make sure the ATX active power feed is in tightly.

It is.  :-x
No network cable to check with either.  :-(
I'm still trying to find a web site for the case - there's a single sheet of A4 with very basic instructions which don't even touch on the cabling. I can't even tell you who manufactured it. :roll:
The A4 sheet is headed "3008 ATX CASE" and the case says "Stealth" on the front. I got it from PC store, so I'll probably dismantle everything & take it back in & ask them to test it. Dang.

[Wilse]

@Warface:

Don't give up.

I won't. Not yet, anyway.  :-)

Both complained that the board is non functioning. For the first it turned out, that he tried to use a 4x CD-ROM from the jurassic, and a 200Mb(!) HDD. (Most probably from Noah's PC store) When he bought a new CD-ROM and a more moden HDD it worked.

Hmm. The HD is brand new but the CD-ROM is an old 24x device from about 5 yrs ago. I'll try it with the CDRW in my girlfriend's PC. It's only about 2 years old.
Was his case completely dead before he changed these parts?

For the second it turned out however that it broke in transit... Genesi replaced the broken board though, so you lose nothing, except time.

Hopefully it isn't that. The board certainly appears to be OK, not that that neccessarily means anything.

(I have to mention, that despite the Pegasos is available as Prebuilt systems, most of us purchased the mobo only - so we get what we deserve... )

I guess so.  :-)

[Wilse]

@Greenboy:

I always have about a hundred projects going. So the day my Pegasos showed up I took it to a local box-stuffer, spent a few minutes on the [heavy discount] sales floor picking components, and handed them the Pegasos and the MB diagram that came with it. The assembled machine was out the door 50 minutes after that - they even verified that it was booting to the Open Firmware. The assembly only cost me 30 Simolians above the component costs.

I'll try another CDROM tonight and if it still won't come to life, I'll take it into the shop.

They were also extremely interested in the machine and asked scads of questions

The guy in the shop I went to completely glazed over, as soon as I mentioned it was PowerPC and not running Windows, and stopped asking about it. :roll:

[Wilse]

@Everyone:

Are the HDD/CD jumpers all right?

I'm not at home right now, but I think so.
What configuration should they be?

Are the units at the right place on the 80 wire IDE cable?

Ahhhh.....When I asked for 80 pin UDMA cable, the guy in the local store gave me what looked like an ordinary IDE cable and told me they did the same thing. I'm beginning to think he sold me an ordinary IDE cable........I'll clarify this later today. :roll:

[Wilse]

If it's an 80-pin UDMA cable, one end will have a blue connector, and this is the end you plug into the motherboard.

I'm not at home but I'm fairly sure it didn't have a blue connector.
Could this stop the whole thing from powering up?

[Wilse]

@MDMA:

Have you called Genesi support yet?

No. I didn't realise they had a support no.

[Wilse]

KennyR wrote:

I'm not at home but I'm fairly sure it didn't have a blue connector.
Could this stop the whole thing from powering up?

Nope. The Peg should power up whether it has HDs in it or not.

That's worrying.
Is there a quick way to check if the board or case is dead?
Or will I have to lug the thing back to the shop?

[Wilse]

@KennyR:

I have a USB smartcard reader & USB digicam (although i've misplaced the camera :roll:). Would they do?

I was also thinking of stripping down the PC and swapping the cases round.

[Wilse]

Well it's definitely not the case. I've just spent the last couple of hours dismantling it and the PC. I tried putting the PC mobo inside the ATX case. I connected the large white power plug and the little "Power SW" connecter. Switched on and the CPU fan on the PC spun up. I've now reinstated the PC in it's original case.( which isn't quite ATX?) Now the PC Modem won't work, much to the annoyance of my girlfriend.
I'm typing this via 28k Modem on my A1200.

I'm beginning to think it might be the Pegasos mobo which is goosed.

[Wilse]

Hi Warface,

contact Genesi and they will exchange it for you. However, let that be the last option. I know it's unprobable, but it can be that you simply overlook something.

I've emailed them, asking if there is any way I can test the board. Last night I connected up only the board, cpu & graphics card. Something I hadn't noticed before was that the fan on the graphics card *does* spin up. It's so quiet compared to the PC and facing downwards, that I hadn't noticed it.
The output to the monitor is still blank though. (light grey/white screen)

The best option would be if there were a Pegasos user nearby, meeting him and trying out the mobo by replacing his mobo with yours. That'd give an exact YES/NO concerning whether it's a working or a damaged one.

Unfortunately I don't drive, so getting about is bit awkward.
OTOH, Kenny doesn't live too far from me. Hmm...you've got me thinking now.
Kenny, if you're reading this, perhaps I could jump on a train to Wishaw on Saturday, if you're free?
 :-P