DKB 2632 - no memory!?

[commodorejohn]

I just acquired a DKB 2632 RAM expansion for my A2630 accelerator. It was good when the seller sent it, and I've installed it as per the manual, but it doesn't quite seem to be working. The memory doesn't get detected, and I'm not even sure if the card itself is working, as the driver program prints the same messages whether or not the card is even installed! It doesn't show up in showconfig, if that means anything.

I know that the 2632 is supposed to be incompatible with Rev. 6 2630 accelerators, but mine's a Rev. 9. And the power socket on the 2632 is plugged into a known-good power source - is there something I'm missing here, or is it likely there's something wrong with the card?

[SACC-guy]

@commodorejohn
I know when I installed mine (years ago) I installed four 32 meg simms, it wouldn't work.

But when I installed three 32 meg simms and one 16 meg simm...it worked!

BTW, in my case, the A2630 has to have 7.0 roms.

[JimS]

I'm vaguely remembering some kind of glitch involving a capacitor... but it's been too many years, and it wasn't my system.
Not much help, but maybe it will jog someone else's memory.

[commodorejohn]

I know when I installed mine (years ago) I installed four 32 meg simms, it wouldn't work.

BTW, in my case, the A2630 has to have 7.0 roms.

Good to know about the SIMMs, but even with just the one 32MB SIMM it still didn't work. How do I tell which ROM version my 2630 has?

[SpeedGeek]

You need have a Simm in the top socket for any memory to be recognized. The board is populated from the top socket to the bottom. J1 & J2 select either 4, 8, 16, or 32 MB Simms. J3 select 80 or 100 ns Simms. If you have more than one Simm try swapping it with another. Showconfig won't show any memory until it's been added by the DKB driver or an addmem program. The memory doesn't auto-config.

[commodorejohn]

I've tried all four SIMMs I have by themselves in the top socket. They're all 32MB 60ns. None of them yield any different results.

[Rabbi]

I've got this card in one of my 2 A2000s (the other has the DKB Wildfire060).  You should check out the DKB 2632 manual in PDF form at http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/dkb2632 for more answers to your questions & to ensure that there's nothing that you're doing wrong or missing.

Two items to be careful about:
1) jumpers are set correctly
2) RAM being used is 32 bit, not 36 bit

[cha05e90]

Showconfig won't show any memory until it's been added by the DKB driver or an addmem program. The memory doesn't auto-config.

Yep - you need to have the "2632" command in your startup-sequence to bind the DKB's RAM. Alternatively you might use Thor's MMU Tools for memory configuration. The DKB RAM can only be activated by software - AFAIK the memory doesn't "autoconfig". I use the MMU tools for this purpose since a decade - works perfectly.

[commodorejohn]

The jumpers are set correctly - all off for 32MB SIMMs and no wait state. I looked at the number of memory ICs and their sizes, and it looks like a plain 256MBits of storage, unless I'm missing something. I've looked through the manual and everything appears to be in order, it just isn't working...

Yep - you need to have the "2632" command in your startup-sequence to bind the DKB's RAM. Alternatively you might use Thor's MMU Tools for memory configuration. The DKB RAM can only be activated by software - AFAIK the memory doesn't "autoconfig". I use the MMU tools for this purpose since a decade - works perfectly.

I do have the 2632 utility as the first item in the startup sequence - I've tried it on both my main WB3.1 install and the boot disk the seller provided me with. I might give MMU Tools a shot, though - where can I find it? Does it provide any kind of diagnostic information?

[Rabbi]

I'd recommend that you take the DKB 2632 out of the C= A2630 card & then re-install it back to eliminate any issues of a connection not being completely made between the 2 cards.  This has happened to me in the past & I've been fortunate to resolve it this way.

BTW, your previous post mentioned "256 MBytes of storage".  Shouldn't that be "256 kB"?

[commodorejohn]

256 megabits, or 32 megabytes, as opposed to 288 megabits for 36-bit parity SIMMs. And I've tried re-seating the card twice...

[cha05e90]

I do have the 2632 utility as the first item in the startup sequence - I've tried it on both my main WB3.1 install and the boot disk the seller provided me with. I might give MMU Tools a shot, though - where can I find it? Does it provide any kind of diagnostic information?

Aminet: http://aminet.net/package/util/libs/MMULib

I used the provided tools to build up a "MMU Configuration" which includes the RAM banks of the DKB 2632. If done right, the mmu.library (which is called by the 680x0.library which is called by the OS3.9 setpatch command...) binds the RAM during startup. So I ended up with a clean startup-sequence with only one setpatch command - everything else including memory setup is done "automagically"... :-)

There provided tools can be used as diagnostic tools as well - there is a lot of documentation provided with the MMU package, but it's not a task I would do "in between"...

[Rabbi]

I'd guess that you've tried re-seating the RAM, too?  Did you put the RAM in the topmost position?  Any extra RAM would work its way down.  The top 3 support 32 MBs & the bottom one supports up to 16 MBs only.

Does 16 MBs of RAM & higher require that jumpers J1 & J2 be open?  The manual isn't clear about this, is it?

[commodorejohn]

The manual isn't hugely clear, but they've handily printed a chart right on the board. 32MB requires both jumpers to be open, and they are. And yes, I've re-seated the RAM multiple times.

I'll give MMULib a try this afternoon and see if that tells me anything - I've also dug out some other 72-pin SIMMs to try it with.