GVP 030 Combo red screen issue

[blanghorst]

Hello,
 
This is my first post here, and unfortunately, it is about a problem.  
 
I have an Amiga 2000 (rev 6.2 board) with the following hardware:
 
1.  A2091 with 2 MB of RAM installed and a Quantum 52 MB SCSI drive.  ROM revision is 6.6.
2.  DKB Multistart II with 1.3 and 2.04 ROMs installed (2.04 is the default).
 
I recently purchased a GVP 030 Combo (40 Mhz model) off of eBay and am having difficulty getting it to work.  Installing it and powering the machine on gives me a red screen.  If I CTRL-Amiga-Amiga for 5 seconds to switch the ROM to the 1.3 ROM, it boots fine and I verified with SYSINFO that the 68030 and 68882 were seen.
 
Any idea what might be causing this?  It definitely seems related to booting with the 2.04 ROM but I can't quite figure it out.   As far as I can tell, the board hardware seems fine since I can boot with the 1.3 ROM.
 
Thanks!

[blanghorst]

It sounds like the GVP ROMs are very old. Try to find out from the seller what revision of t6he A2000 they had it installed in. You might be able to get updated GVP ROMs if they are still available.
GVP's web site is www.gvp-m.com. Since it's a combo board what is the Version for the FAST ROM?

How can I tell what the revision is? Is it written on the chip?
 
No luck on the GVP site.
 
EDIT:  The utilities disk I have is dated 1/17/92, so assuming it is the disk that came with the board, you'd think the ROMs would be OK.
 
Thanks

[blanghorst]

look on the board itself, there will usually be a eprom with a label.. 4.15 is the latest gvp rom.
 
Which GVP accelerator do you have?
 
Mike

It is a GVP 030 Combo board with the 40 Mhz 68EC030 and 68882 FPU. The ROM label says: V.45/DF24 GVP 1992. Based on the photo here, I am going to assume that the label has a typo and it is supposed to be v4.5.

[blanghorst]

If it isn't a ROM, the only other thing I can think of is that there is a jumper setting that is breaking it with the 2.xx ROM.  But which one?

[blanghorst]

A red screen usually means a bad kickstart ROM. Make sure that your 2.04 ROM is working properly without the 030 installed first. It's also possible that there is some incompatibility with the Multistart and the 030, so you might want to try without the Multistart.

I am thinking it might be the multistart.  The 2.04 ROM is fine -- without the board installed, I can boot right into WB 2.
 
I can't very well return the board because it definitely seems to work in WB 1.3.  If there is an incompatibility with the Multistart, I am not sure what I will do because I have older SW that needs the 1.3 ROM.  Suggestions?  I could sell the board and get a 2630 I suppose.

[blanghorst]

So guys, another question. Given what I've said and written, does anyone think the GVP ROM might still be at fault? It seems there is an inconsistency in version numbers. Some people are saying 4.15 is the latest but based on what I've seen, this version appears to be 4.5 and that also appears to be the version in the screenshot I provided. Can anyone explain this discrepancy? Is 4.5 perhaps a third-party ROM?  Does this ROM just control the SCSI card or is there code in there for the accelerator portion as well?
 
The reason I ask is that I found version 4.15 on eBay and am wondering if it is worth buying it to see if that fixes my issue.
 
EDIT: One thing I think I forgot to mention is that I did try the following scenarios:
 
Scenario #1: Removed A2091 card. Still have a red screen on power up.
Scenario #2: Removed GVP SIMMs (2091 was still removed, IIRC). Still have a red screen on power up.
 
Under 1.3, I ran the GVP utilities and tested the RAM, FPU, etc. and all passed with no issues.

[blanghorst]

Hmm? I was thinking a possible Pwr supply issue. Adding the extra card might be pushing it enough to freak out. But seeing youve removed the A2091 and it's fine on KS 1.3 that wouldnt make sense. Red=Rom problem as identified.
The 2.04 Rom doesn't have a soldered wire across the top of it ?
 
If you're game enough you could try the 2.04 in the A2000 socket proper.
 
The updated roms only make the GVP a tad faster. It should work fine. Especially seeing it works under 1.3.....

That's what I am thinking.  I didn't have time last night to try moving the 2.04 ROM to the socket on the motherboard to see if that makes a difference or not.   If I do that and it fixes the problem, then it is obviously something with the way the multistart works.
 
I have a flickerfixer coming from an Amiga shop so I may email the guy and see if he can throw in another 2.04 ROM, as that would make it easier for me to troubleshoot with.

[blanghorst]

With the Commodore accelerators of the period (A2620, A2630) you needed a later version of the accelerator's ROM to use anything above Kickstart 1.3 otherwise you got a red screen.
 
No idea about GVP but it could be the same.
 
4.5 (i.e. 4.05) is an earlier version. 4.15 is the latest.

Ugh -- it is obvious, isn't it? I guess you can chalk that up to a brain cramp. I guess I'll have to decide if it is worth spending $15 on the 4.15 ROM, as it seems pretty iffy to me whether or not it will fix the problem since the 4.05 ROM is dated 1992 and 2.xx was released in 1990.
 

http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/amiga/hardware/DKB_Multistart_II_Manual.pdf

Thanks, I'll take a look.

[blanghorst]

The only thing I can think of is that the ROM is defective. A 4.(0)5 should work fine with Kickstart 2+. If you need a 4.15 (never officially released BTW, the last official ROM from GVP was 4.13) PM me and we'll work something out.

Thanks. I'm in the US, so it might be easier for both of us if I just buy it off of eBay.
 

What happens if you take the Multistart out of the equation? I mean, take the 2.04 ROM from the multistart and put it straight in the kickstart socket?

That's my next step. I just ran out of time last night because the wife and I had to watch the college basketball championship.
 

If you want to know if it's the 4.5 ROM that is causing problems, remove J9, it should disable SCSI.
 
Set a jumper J3 to disable the MMU if you want to know if it's not some kickstart remapping problem (unlikely)
 
If you have a rev 4 board (GVP) check CN15 and make sure it's set at pins 1-2, not 2-3.

Thanks for these tips. I believe I did remove J9 and it didn't work, but I will try again.

[blanghorst]

Guys, I have another question which I am not sure has ever been answered.  On the GVP 030 board, is the sole purpose of the ROM the SCSI controller or does it have logic for the accelerator side as well?

[blanghorst]

I figured "what the heck" and bought the 4.15 ROM from eBay. I figure if I have to end up selling the accelerator, I might as well include the most recent ROMs.

[blanghorst]

I think the ROM controls both RAM and SCSI, otherwise why is there a SCSI Disable Jumper at J4.

Yeah, I think you're right.  I won't have time to really play with it until the weekend or early next week, so I'll post my results.  I hope I can get it working with the accelerator.  This A2000 has some sentimental value -- it was my high school graduation present 22 years ago and as a poor college kid, I couldn't afford things like accelerators, flickerfixers, etc.  I thought it would be a fun hobby to get into now.

[blanghorst]

Hmm? I was thinking a possible Pwr supply issue. Adding the extra card might be pushing it enough to freak out. But seeing youve removed the A2091 and it's fine on KS 1.3 that wouldnt make sense. Red=Rom problem as identified.
The 2.04 Rom doesn't have a soldered wire across the top of it ?
 
If you're game enough you could try the 2.04 in the A2000 socket proper.
 
The updated roms only make the GVP a tad faster. It should work fine. Especially seeing it works under 1.3.....

And the winner is -- gertsy! I finally got the parts I ordered (the latest GVP 4.15 ROM and a Kickstart 2.04 ROM) along with a flickefixer. The GVP ROM did not fix the issue. So, I flipped the drive cage over and noticed that at some point, my old Kickstart 2.04 ROM (this was a 1990 original) had a resistor or something soldered across a couple of pins. For whatever reason, it worked fine until I put the accelerator in.
 
So I put my new Kickstart ROM in, along with the flickerfixer, and everything works AND I can see it on my Dell U2410 monitor!! :lol:
 
Thanks to everyone that has helped me. I now have an Amiga 2000 with a 40 Mhz 68030, 68882 FPU, Microway flickerfixer, and a Multistart II board. The only thing I don't have working is the hard drive on the GVP board (it isn't powered up and I currently have autoboot disabled on it); I don't care too much about that because I have my eye on an IDE controller and I may go ahead and replace that drive and my 2091 with a CF drive.
 
Thanks guys!

[blanghorst]

whoops, got to this thread a little late. That Kickstart chip you had is only good for certain mobo's. Clip off that lead or resistor and try again - I bet that would have done the trick.
 
You take that Kickstart chip off one board and insert it in another?

Well, that's the odd part -- there was no connection physically present on the old Kickstart 2.04 chip.  You could see the solder and a bit of a wire lead on a couple of pins, but the resistor or wire was physically not present.  I didn't bother trying to insert the old ROM directly into the motherboard -- I inserted the new one I bought, it worked, and then I moved it into the Multistart board and hooked the MS board back into the KS socket on the board and clipped it back on the Gary.
 
This ROM and Multistart board were originally in a rev 4.3 board and when it was damaged by a battery leak (which I need to repair one day), I bought a 6.2 board off of eBay.

[blanghorst]

'Cummon Save, You can't steal my glory now.!!!
Dancing Bananas. :banana: :banana:Anything later than an A2000 Rev 4.4!!! :banana: :banana:
Bananas: Which are at $9 a Kg over here ar the moment 'cause of the Queensland floods and Cyclone.
 
Congrats blanghorst... Enjoy to the max. Buddah IDE is great, 'cept for CF Cards.

Yeah, I am going to have to research getting it to work with CF cards. I know it is possible but it seems that you have to hack around a little.
 
Thanks for the recommendation Alex. Acard AEC-7720U seems too expensive though, unfortunately.