BVision woes

[mikolas]

Hello once again :-)

During my custom case conversion my BVision stopped working. I removed the BPPC/BVision and the motherboard from the case in order to solder test point reset header and after reinstalling everything, the computer refuses to boot if BVision is installed. If I boot without BVision, the computer boots every time. Before I took the cards out, the combination worked perfectly after a few power cycles.

I experienced this behaviour when I had everything inside the original desktop case, so that I had to do sometimes multiple power cycles in order to get the system boot properly, with my custom 125W power supply. This happened also with BPPC only, so I suspect this had something to do with inadequate power supply. Now there is plenty of amperes available from the ATX PSU so the BPPC always seems to work alone.

Now, my question is: is my BVision broken or is this a power supply problem? There are no visible damage in the card, no missing components or broken traces and no signs of burned components. Is there any easy way to feed more power for the BVision only, just to test if this is a problem with inadequate power supply from the A1200 expansion connector?

[HellCoder]

I had the same problem when I changed a powersupply. Apparently the brand new one wasn't stable enough giving me 4.9V instead of 5V. Or perhaps it was 11.9 instead of 12. But the powersupply caused it. Try it with your original powersupply to see if it works.

[mikolas]

I'm getting straight 12V and 5V from the PSU. No deviation in the voltage, measured from different points on the motherboard. And as I said, the card worked earlier with the same PSU... Will have to try the original PSU anyway, to see if it works.

[mikolas]

Once again the problem was somewhere else. After removing and adding the card AGAIN it worked OK. It seems that the expansion connector on the BPPC has worn out. Now, is it possible to find correct connectors anywhere, in order to change the worn out one? I tried to bend the pins on the connector a bit, but this did not work out. Need to try some electronics cleaning solvent next and see if that helps...

[mikolas]

It seems that cleaning with isopropyl alcohol did not fix the problem. Does anyone know if this problem can be fixed or could this simply be a motherboard timing problem?

[delshay]

first look at the Bvision connector see if any of the gold contacts is bent.

if all ok then its likely you may have a problem with the soldering contacts on the Bvision connector. this can happen when you insert the card into the Blizzard PPC with a littel twist when you insert the card. if this is the case,you will not see the loose contact(s) & is not visable to the eye.

**AT YOUR OWN RISK**

get a micro screw driver or test point lead ( with a sharp point ) push each & every leg ( VERY GENTLY ) to see if there is any movment on the connector legs ( this is best done under a microscope or some magnifcation. the most likly point of H/R ( if any ) is near one end or the other end of the connector.

you **must not** push to hard when doing above,as the connector contact points you are checking can bend to far to the left or right when checking for H/R.

micro soldering iron tip also required.

[mikolas]

The computer does not boot even without BVision now. It worked fine a few hours back and after being turned of couple of hours (I did not touch anything) it does not boot. This is driving me crazy :-)

[delshay]

mikolas wrote:
The computer does not boot even without BVision now. It worked fine a few hours back and after being turned of couple of hours (I did not touch anything) it does not boot. This is driving me crazy :-)

check your modifcations.

[mikolas]

The only mod to the motherboard is TP1 reset. Seems to be fine. The power comes from ATX PSU, but given that the voltages are stable I can not see how it should not work.

[mikolas]

Some further problems: the SCSI interface. UnitControl, HDToolbox and HDInstTools all hang when scanning the bus. Worked yesterday. Still no luck getting a successful boot when BVision is connected. Seems like the BPPC is dying - just when I finally managed to make a proper case :-(

[delshay]

i dont think your Bvision is not dead,check you dont have small bits/fragments of metal touching or in contact with any of the micro chips.


NOTES:

when doing modification regarding cutting any metal you must clean the area of fragments. a small new paint brush will do.

[CLS2086]

How much of voltage do you have on the bppc fan connector ?
can you unplug hdd+cd and try to boot ?

In every case, send your bppc+bv to amigacenter for a check-up :rtfm:

[mikolas]

CLS2086 wrote:
How much of voltage do you have on the bppc fan connector ?
can you unplug hdd+cd and try to boot ?

In every case, send your bppc+bv to amigacenter for a check-up :rtfm:

This is getting pretty interesting as a clean (power cycled so no patches resident) boot with original 3.1 install disk makes HDToolBox work. UnitControl still hangs, even with no hard drive connected :-) I think I need to contact AmigaCenter and have them take a look. Hopefully the damage is not in the inner layers of the PCB.