Pegasos on the way - yay!

[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

[Wilse]

@Kenny:

It sounds as if your DIMMs aren't being detected. If you got some nullmodem serial output you would be able to tell for sure.

I'll see if I can bag me a cable on the way home.
Is the debug programme on aminet?

[Wilse]

KennyR wrote:
Use any term program. AmTerm on Aminet will do the trick.

I'll download it tonight, cheers.
What was the spec. of that null modem cable again?
9-pin serial to something or other?  :-?  :-P

[Wilse]

A Laplink cable has both 9 pin and 25 pin on each end, and you can use whatever one you like. I recommend this cable.

Cheers Kenny.

make sure it is nullmodem and not just a straight serial, or you will fry the chips of your Amiga!

Noted. :-)

[Wilse]

OK - getting somewhere at last! :-)
I have now got the Smartfirmware screen up. I'm still puzzled as to why it didn't work originally but....


Anyway, when I type:
boot/pci/cd boot.img
I get:
no such symbol "boot/pci/cd"
error: undefined word
no such symbol "boot.img"
error: undefined word
ok_

Will the terminal prog tell me what's causing it or do you think it's the RAM stick?
I have "Hyperterm" on the PC but haven't a clue how to set it up.

Anyway, main thing is, I've got something happening! :pint:

[Wilse]

Madgun68 wrote:
@Wilse:

boot /pci/cd boot.img
(need a space after boot)

OK, getting somewhere;

error: error while trying to load or boot

Could it be my aging CDROM?

Thanks again,
Robert

[Wilse]

Hi Kenny,

You don't need the terminal prog any more. The only reason it was needed was in case no memory could be allocated to init the gfx card to show the openfirmware screen in the first place.

Good. Glad that's out of the way.

The nullmodem isn't useless however, especially if you want to network your machines (or debug).

Would I be able to transfer files from the A1200 to the pegasos or PC this way?

Very possibly. I hear people had problems with the Peg not recognising old drives - not older drives, old drives - ie. 1998 and before.

I think mine is from '98, actually. I'll switch this PC off in a minute and raid it!  :-D

You're making progress. Bet you're glad you didn't send the Peg back now, eh?

Don't I just know it!  :-P
Strangely, it always seems to be when I'm just about stumped that things start working again. Same thing happened when I towered my A1200. Then it turned out that the Scandoubler wasn't pushed down firmly enough.

And the problem was probably a loose CPU card. I thought my board was broken too, for a while. You have to make sure that thing is really in there.

Possibly, as I did remove it, then replace it, although I was sure I'd wedged it in properly and it was a bitch to get back out.
I'll probably never know for sure.  ;-)

[Wilse]

OK, it was the CDROM. I've replaced it and now have:

ok boot /pci/cd boot.img

followed by a series of columns and rows that look a bit like a tracker display. There are 8 rows and 16 columns, 0 to F. Under this is:
Root dir: " " flags-0x2 extent=0x17 size=0x1000

Any ideas what now?  :-)

Cheers,

[Wilse]

@downix:

Ooooo, I know this one!

You see, that's the great thing about this site:
One minute we're all arguing about religion or whatever; the next, you lot are all helping do'nut here set up his machine.  :-D

It's still the CD-ROM that's at fault, but possibly because of location

Well, I'm back at work again, but I'll be sure to move it around when I get back home (in about eight hours  :-( ).

[Wilse]

@Madgun68:

You might try the serial output again. You're real close.

I never did figure out how to set up Hyperterm. Any tips? (It only seems to have options for dialing a remote computer via the 'phoneline.)

[Wilse]

I know it's bad form to reply to your own messages but:

OK, it was the CDROM. I've replaced it and now have:

ok boot /pci/cd boot.img

followed by a series of columns and rows that look a bit like a tracker display. There are 8 rows and 16 columns, 0 to F. Under this is:
Root dir: " " flags-0x2 extent=0x17 size=0x1000

I forgot to mention that, if I reset and try again, it does the same thing but also adds:

zlib: unknown error -2
error: abort
ok_

at the end.

[Wilse]

sdesros wrote:
Is there a spinning character shown after that "dump"/"tracker-like" display?  

Yes. After about 10secs, it stops spinning then nothing else happens.
If I then reset and try again, it stops spinning after about 3secs and then says:

zlib: unknown error -2
error: abort
ok_


 :-?

[Wilse]

KennyR wrote:
I'm not an expert on the MorphOS low level, but it sounds to me like the boot image is failing to unpack. Contact Genesi immediately.

Not the IDE channel then?
Oh dear.
Well, I've e-mailed Nicolas Sallin and passed on your comment.

Thanks,

[Wilse]

@tmhg:

try moving the CD-ROM; try different configurations of Master/Slave, try to set it manually by jumpers and not rely on "cable selection", try to have both the harddrive and CD-Rom on the same channel, try the opposite, try different channels, etc. Ultimately, try another CD-ROM.

Well, I tried switching channels, same channel and I've had every jumper combination I can (HD master CD slave; HD master CD master; HD master CD cable select, etc..)
I even tried yet another CDROM (that's three now.)
Still no joy.

If it still doesn't work, I would go back to the store and ask for another kind of memory.

If I get this "Hyper Terminal" debug prog. working, would it be able to tell me if it was a memory problem?

I hope you get your Pegasos working soon!

Me too.  :-D

Let us know when you are surfing from Voyager or Ibrowse!

I'm on iBrowse on my A1200 atm but am just about to switch to the PC. Don't worry, you'll know when I'm surfing via the peggy!  ;-)

[Wilse]

@red:

You probably would have been better to ask on the list you were susbcribed to, that is the support list.

I know but I can't send mails from that address during the day (at work) and have found the guys on here very helpful. I should really subscribe to the list with an address I can use from work but I haven't got round to it yet.