Haylp - Blizzard Mk II doesn't Autoconfig!

[spirantho]

Hi everybody,

First off, a very merry xmas to all you and yours.
Secondly, given that I'm stuck at my parents' house at the moment, and have free time, I'm trying to resurrect my Blizzard 1230-II....

It's a full 50MHz beastie, and the CPU is running fine. However, it doesn't autoconfig, so the Amiga can't see the RAM, so of course it runs about the speed of a standard 1200! Not a lot of use....
I did have the SCSI kit for it, but I sold it aeons ago.. I remember removing some chips from it, two socketed chips which I think came with the card. Certainly there are now two unpopulated sockets on the card, not counting the FPU sockets.

Hence I was wondering if anyone can help? I'd be willing to purchase a SCSI kit for it if anyone knows of one for sale...? Alternatively, I reckon I may be able to use AddMem or something to find the memory, but I don't know the addresses. Does anybody know the addresses used by a 1230-MkII? I have an 8MB and a 4MB SIMM installed at the moment.

I'd be very grateful for any pointers, either to RAM addresses or to a way to get it autoconfigging, even if that means buying a SCSI kit for it again!

Thanks!

--
Ian Gledhill
IanG@pcnet.org   (fake email addy- change the 'pc' to a much better computer!)

[pjhutch]

Autoconfig, means that it does not require software, addresses or any other fix to work. Once fitted, it should just pick it up. If its not recognising the RAM then it could be due to:
a) Wrong kind of RAM fitted. You need Fast Page RAM.
b) RAM chips are not fitted correctly.
c) RAM chips are dead.
d) Board is dead.

You shouldn`t need the SCSI kit for it to work. It should work without it.

ftp://de.aminet.net/pub/aminet/docs/rview/Blizzard1230II.txt

[spirantho]

Got it! It's working now, thanks to you!

Thing is the card is working fine, it's just the autoconfig that's not. I know the RAM is good as it's the RAM I used originally, I know they're fitted right as I've quintuple checked that, I know the RAM works because I've tested it in a 1230 MkIV, and the board is running fine.

However, thanks to that little link you sent me at the end, I now know the RAM addresses! I just did an addmem in the correct place and Bingo! I have 12MB FAST RAM, and a machine that instead of running 1.5x the speed of an A1200 with no Fast RAM, it runs at 6.72 the speed according to Sysinfo!

Many thanks again - would still like a SCSI kit though if anyone has one..!

[alphonsus]

OK, so as sysinfo reports a machine runnning at 6.72 times A1200 basic, the 030 is running, some part of the card must be autoconfig-ing.
Is your board one of the ones with jumpers to set the RAM size? If so, they may be incorrectly set and making the RAM non-visible to the board, although addmem can still address it corrrectly.
The other possibility is one I get on a regular basis with A1200 trapdoor expansions, corroded/dirty contacts. Try removing/wiggling the board around a few times to see if that helps in anyway (with the power off, of course ;o) )

[spirantho]

Hi,

Belive me I've reseated this card so many times if I do it much more it'll wear it out.

AFAIK the CPU overrides the 68020 on the motherboard anyway, I don't think any of the accelerators that I've ever seen have autoconfigged their CPU, as they don't need any memory address.

The board does have jumpers, yes, but I tried numerous combinations and it never autoconfigured at all.

I reckon if I ever get a SCSI kit again for it, though, it'll all start working ok, but in the meantime it's working well enough for now - I can use it, it's just non-OS supporting games that won't use it, but they all use Chip RAM anyway!
Thanks for the ideas though!