Problem with Amiga 1200 and BlizzardPPC

[Gavilan]

@ DeQuevedo: hola! feliz año para ti tambien!!


I tried installing CGX version 3, since my version 4 got broken and cant get it anywhere
Just the same: i keep seeing the light of the disk drive on all time, and the clicking noise coming from the disk drive very fast, all time , and this nasty requester saying "nodos" disk icon in my desktop... You think this is a timing problem??
Are there some kind of compatibilities between mediator and bvision??
I would like if you can pm and we can keep this in spanish please!!! ) Since i have a lot more questions to do concerning bvision and ppc...
For example, how shall i give more power to the bvision??

Regards
Sebastian

[neofree]

I'll try to take some pictures tonight. I *might* be able to do it if I only had some flux...  And could find my 15 watt solder iron.  But I fear I will make it worse.  I did do SMT soldering for HP, but nothing this small.

Man.. The whole thing has me very frustrated... Might sell the BPPC and BVision both and get a Mediator.  Are there any accel boards though that are PCI that work with mediator?

Thanks,

Neofree

[neofree]

What do people think of these?
http://elbox.com/news_04_12_17.html

Looks like maybe you could slap in a SharkPPC after OS4 comes out. (Per site the reason why SharkPPC isn't out yet is they are waiting for OS4 to be released.)

Thanks,

Neofree

[neofree]

Heard from person who sold me it...

He said he'd pay for repairs or give me the G-Rex and Voodoo card he tried to get to work on this thing, so I could sell it for repairs/replacement..

Any thoughts? What are G-Rex's worth?

Thanks,

Neofree

[Framiga]

ask to a technician, to rework the broken IC legs.

Its a 10 minutes job for a tech.

For the future, if you wanna know wich FlashRom version you installed, type in a shell:

version blizzppc.device full

If it is a 45.35 version, its the latest

[PulsatingQuasar]

The GRex DOES work with a rev0 BlizzardPPC. I have one running here! You just need to know what the trick is and it's a very simple one.

Don't use the latest flash and don't use the latest CyberGraphx drivers and it will work! Works for me.

If I remember correctly ALL the 4.3 CyberGraphx drivers are wrong. If I remember correctly The latest 4.2 release is beta 11. You need that one.

Go to grex.amigaworld.de and get the correct flash. It's not the latest but the one before that.

Also if you have a BlizzardPPC + BVisionPPC and you have the latest BIOS flashed in you NEED the Cybergraphx 4.3 drivers and the otherway round. I have a second system with a BVisionPPC and the 4.3 drivers which lockedup when using MagicMenu or 3D stuff. Flashed in the latest BIOS and voila. Stable.

[AdMartin]

While we're at it, I might as well post my problems as well:

* My A1200T (Eyetech tower) with BlizzardPPC and ZIV board rarely boots up on first try. If I power it down and power it on again a few seconds later it boots fine, though. I guess it's a power problem. I seem to remember reading that you could feed power to the mobo through the original floppy power connector. However, I don't want to try this before I asked someone, because sending power the 'wrong' direction seems a bit risky to me. So, is it a good idea to do so?

* I entered 'version blizzppc.device full' as Framiga recommended and it seems I have v44.31. Should I re-flash to 45.35 and where do I find it?

* I can't enter the BlizzardPPC menu by depressing ESC at boot. Doesn't my EZKey-EX support that? Would a Lyra be better?

Thanks,
Martin

[Framiga]

Hi AdMartin

your version seems good for me (~99-2000).

About the BlizzardPPC menu, if you can see the Amiga Early SS (both mouse button pushed at boot) you should see even the BPPC one but only with a monitor plugged to the Amiga RGB port.

EDIT- just noticed:

o ECS/AA 31khz support
    the Bootmenu now ALWAYS pops up in 31khz mode, so
    people with 15khz monitors have to use to
    switch the resolution to 15khz INTERLACE.
    The resolution is saved too in the flash so the next
    time it uses the resolution you set.
    The resolution switch is disabled if there`s a permedia
    card found.

and

o BootMenu which can be invoked by holding
    the Key key during the system boot.
    (It may not work for weird tower pc-keyboard hacks)

[AmiGR]

First of all, you CAN use the G-Rex flash with a BVPPC. You just need to have the LATEST G-Rex CGX version and use the Permedia2 driver. If this doesn't work, I urge you to flash with an older firmware. About the damage in the IC pins, this should be very easy to repair, my board had far worse damage.

[neofree]

Well I told him I'd take the G-Rex.

Assuming I got the G-Rex to work without frying my BPPC, doesn't it run hot?  I also was planning on running this machine 24/7 for a BBS after I installed lots of cooling.

[AdMartin]

Framiga wrote:
your version seems good for me (~99-2000).

So nothing significant is gained by flashing to a newer version?

o BootMenu which can be invoked by holding
    the Key key during the system boot.
    (It may not work for weird tower pc-keyboard hacks)

Yeah, I have another A1200 setup with an Elbox tower (and Elbox keyb adapter). If I plug the BlizzardPPC into that I can reach the bootmenu. I bought the EZKey because I read that it worked even with several keys depressed simultaneously, but if it doesn't work at boot I don't want it. That's £30 down the drain. I'll probably get a Lyra instead.

[AmiGR]

All menus, screens and stuff should be visible on the BVPPC up to the execution of the CyberGraphX driver. The firmware forwards the display.

[AdMartin]

Yeah, I would see the menu if I could enter it... :/

[neofree]

Alright you thread hijackers JK

Anyone have any comments about running G-Rex 24/7?

[AmiGR]

Well, I have a rev.2 board and while my Amiga was in use, up to last year, it was working 24/7 without any problems.

[neofree]

OK, here are the pics:

www.wattservices.com/1.JPG
This is a pic of the entire chip.  It appears to be the SCSI chip.  However, with the SCSI cable unplugged the unit still does not boot.  I'm using a 1084 btw, maybe it's giving SCSI info for the BVision, I don't know I havent gotten my BVision yet.

www.wattservices.com/2.JPG
This is the best pic of the damage.  If you can tell, the trace is lifted and up against the chip (look next to the 5th pin in from the right).  This happened when I soldered a small copper wire thread to the trace and to the side of the chip tonight.  But when I pulled away even very slowly the trace was lifted and you can see it is still there but up against the chip.  I was never able to get anything to stick.  It'd feel like it was stuck, but as soon as I moved my hand (ouch) or needle nose pliers away, it'd bust off.  

www.wattservices.com/3.JPG
Another slightly different view.  The purplish glare shows where the pin was on the chip, but so little is there to solder to.  I tried using a small metal pin to scrape away some of the chip insulation to have more to solder to, but never got enough.

Any ideas? I can't seem to get anywhere with this...

Thanks,

Neofree