Cyberstorm PPC

[57goldtop]

Hi.

I have an A3000D with a Cyberstorm PPC @ 200Mhz installed that I want to test fully before I sell.

I'm unfamiliar with the card and wondering what series of tests I can perform to verify functionality. I don't have an ultra wide SCSI drive to test, so I guess I cannot verify that its working unless someone can make a suggestion.

I'm sure the 060 works, otherwise the machine would never come up!. Just not sure about the PPC, I have run ppctest and all there are no errors returned but I don't know how thorough that is ?..  , can someone recommend any other PPC apps to run to verify full function of the PPC chip ?

Cheers.
57GT

[mboehmer_e3b]

There's a small "testdisk" for the PPC available from a guy on a1k.org/forum inside the hardware section.
Please mail him, as I don't know if it is meant for public distribution, but it helped me a lot to quickly check the PPC (in my case after a repair).
This disk needs a PAL monitor connected, or a ScanDoubler for you to see the output.

For deeper tests I recommend running the RC5 client for some time, to keep the PPC busy - this heats up the beast, and you can check if everythings stays stable.
This test needs WarpOS or PowerUp, or a running installation of Amiga OS4 Classic.

Michael

[57goldtop]

Thanks for replying. I don't have Amiga OS4 or WarpOS. Just a an OS 3.1 installation. The fan on the PPC definitely needs changing so I shouldn't be running it for too long without replacing the fan first.

Do you mean the ppctest.dms test disk, I found this here

http://mitglied.lycos.de/thomasrapp/ppctest.dms

There are two options, the second does not work because I do not have WarpOS but if I run the first option there aren't any errors reported.

[57goldtop]

Well I inserted the PowerUp CD, there are some sample apps there that I ran while running the PPCTool.

For example if I run the memtest application testing Memcopy, Memread and Memwrite methods they all work on the PPC chip and the process also shows up in PPCTool when I click update while the test is being performed.


So I suppose it must be working...

However, I'd like to perform a more CPU intensive test as you suggested but I'll wait until I get the new fan!, don't want to take any chances as things are already quite tight and components easily get hot inside the A3000.

[mfilos]

I used SysSpeed to verify my CSPPC. You just need to copy the neccesary libraries for the PPC to show correctly.
Then you go to SysSpeed --> Main --> Low and click on the PowerPC button. If you get readings of the tests (Numbers instead nothing but "---") then your PPC is ok

[mboehmer_e3b]

Thanks for replying. I don't have Amiga OS4 or WarpOS. Just a an OS 3.1 installation.

The test disk should have all you need on it.
At least for me it works even without any HDD in the system.

Just start the first test, wait for a (hopefully appearing) OK, and the next one. I get a requester telling me to shutdown some processes, then the second tests starts and finishes OK.

The fan on the PPC definitely needs changing so I shouldn't be running it for too long without replacing the fan first.  

You shouldn't run your CSPPC with a broken fan at all.
Huge amounts of heat will be "dumped" via the balls into the PCB material, heating up the FR4. This can damage the structure of the PCB in the extreme, and can lead to breaking wires.

Michael

[zipper]

Sysspeed 2.6 needs Warpup installation for PPC tests. But it's a good one, with loads of test modules from different setups available in Aminet.

[57goldtop]

You shouldn't run your CSPPC with a broken fan at all.
Huge amounts of heat will be "dumped" via the balls into the PCB material, heating up the FR4. This can damage the structure of the PCB in the extreme, and can lead to breaking wires.

It's just making a funny noise, it's weak( wearing out ).  I won't be using the machine until I get the new fan from amikit..

Cheers and thanks.

[Robert17]

@57GoldTop

Where are you located? There might be someone local who can offer you some help.

Robert

[57goldtop]

I live near Sydney.

Cheers

[zipper]

I replaced mine with an ordinary 40 mm (486) fan.