PIC Arrived!

[CommodoreRock]

Hello.  I just received my programmed PIC in the mail from ACube (I ordered board without PIC, not realizing it was necessary).  I'm not certain how to insert it and do not want to break it.  I see where I believe it is supposed to go on the board, right next to the SD card slot if I'm correct, however I am not sure how to tell which way it goes in.  The only thing that distinguishes one end from the other is a small notch.  Should that side go toward the outside or the inside?  Is there something to do to get it to go in correctly?  I tried both ways and it doesn't seem to fit easily either way.

Thanks!

[CommodoreRock]

I believe I resolved it.  I realized there is a corresponding shape outlining the PIC's "seat" on the the board.  One side is solid, the other has an indentation.  I figured the notched side of the PIC goes to the side of the indentation.  I was then able to, with some doing, seat the PIC.  I'm going to power on now and see what I get.

[CommodoreRock]

Okay.  PIC is now on the board.  I plug it in, but still no display, which was my suspicion in my previous post.  PIC or no PIC, I did think there should be some kind of display even if it were only a blank screen.  I've got Minimig1.bin and a kickstart file from Amiga Forever on my SD card.  There is still no blue light as described in the manual.   What else might I not be considering, keeping in mind that I have no prior experience with FPGA or Minimig?  I am attempting to output to a 1080P modern display in the US (an LCD TV with PC input).  I would suspect an incompatible display IF I was seeing all the lights described in the manual.  The fact that I am not is leading me to believe the board is either faulty or something is still set wrong on my part.  The LCD TV with VGA input is my only monitor at home, but I could bring to work to try another monitor.

[CommodoreRock]

Thanks, bbond007.  I am going to try this first chance I get.  The monitor/TV may indeed have PAL compatibility problems.  I took it to work and hooked it up to a dedicated computer monitor and actually got a red boot up screen with text.  There was a firmware related error message there, possibly something about MDC or some such.  I didn't take a photo at the time, but I'll do so tomorrow. I feel as if I may be almost there.  Thanks for your help.  I am it the IT field, but my skills are limited to desktop support of typical business systems.  I am in completely new territory here.

[CommodoreRock]

Awesome.  Thanks, Darrin.  Just an update, I found that my main LCD in the living room displays just fine.  I hadn't tried before because of some cabling logistics in my AV setup and thought the bedroom TV would be easier to just test it.  I now see the red boot up POST type screen.  It shows:

boot loader BYQ090911
FPGA core FYQ090911
Agnus ID: $10(NTSC) Denise ID: $FF
Incompatible MCU Firmware.

I list the above only so I could post the exact message rather than go from memory.  I will absolutely check out minimig.net for the proper firmware.  I just read another thread by someone who it appears had a similar issue, and it would seem that they were told by Amigakit NOT to flash the PIC as they had already programed with latest firmware.  They advised instead to ensure the proper files are on the SD card.  Acube emailed that they preprogrammed my PIC as well, so, more than likely, I somehow have the wrong files on my SD card.  I remember adding a firmware file to my SD card.  I'll check into that.  I can only update the SD card using a Mac I have at work as my PCs do not have SD card readers and do not seem to like the Fat16 formatting when I hook up external readers.  I will get to the bottom of this though in the coming days!