Amitek 8mb upgrade on A1200 clashing with PCMCIA CD-ROM

[gafstu]

I have an a1200 with an 8mb Amitech trapdoor expansion.  However, this clashes with pcmcia my cd-rom.  I gather this is something to do with an addressing conflict.  I read on the net that there was a fix for this.  Does anyone know what it was?

[Doobrey]

Yup, unfortunately the PCMCIA shares 4Mb of the 8Mb address space.

Either replace the SIMM with a 4Mb one , or buy an accelerator  card

Edit:
 Dunno if this'll work, but try setting the jumpers to 4Mb.
It'll save you having to get a 4Mb SIMM if it works, but you still loose 4  :-(

[gafstu]

Thanks, I will give that a try.  

So, if i have an accelerator card with 8mb of ram, my pcmcia cdrom will work?

[Darklight]

@ gafstu

What Doobrey is saying is that many expansion cards for the A1200 cause the PCMCIA port to stop working completely because they put part of their ram in the same address space as the PCMCIA port.  RAM only expansions are more likely to do this than accelerators however.  To solve the problem, you need to disable the second 4mb of ram on your expansion card, therefore leaving the PCMCIA port conflict free.  If you get a decent accelerator card (like a Blizzard, for example), it addresses the RAM in a different space so the PCMCIA port works.  So either get a good accelerator and add as much ram to it as you like, and your CD-Rom will work, or disable 4 mb on your current card, that should fix it.  :-)

[mattabat]

Early accelerator cards will no overcome the 8 MB addressing problem, later ones generally do.
Any accelerator card that doesn't isn't worth purchasing

[xaccrocheur]

mattabat wrote:
Early accelerator cards will no overcome the 8 MB addressing problem, later ones generally do.
Any accelerator card that doesn't isn't worth purchasing

I'd have to agree with the latter, but not the "later ones" bit.
I own one of the most recent accell boards (Phase5 Blizzard 1230/IV w/ 8Mb RAM (70ns I'd say, maybe that's the PB ?)) and I have yet to see *any* PCMCIA thing working alongside. I got two examples : Both my C= (or is it C=) PCMCIA HD (A1200 Form factor, see, the bulky plastic things? I'd like to fit a BIG 3.5 innit) and a friend's Squirell's (1st simple version) *refuse* to work unless I disable the Blizzard board (alt+F2 IIRC). Then back to 020/2Megs . It is, I must say, a real pain.

This, as I notice that *a lot* of drivers have been released for laptop PC's PCMCIA NICs, really pisses me off. :madashell: Am I missing a grate opportunity to put my A1200 online ? Is there a slight chance for my Blizzard to stop blocking my PCMCIA port ? Sometimes I'm suspecting the PSU (original 25W one) to be the culprit, as it makes sense that W/ The Blizzard attached, it cannot deliver enough for any PCMCIA usage..?

Thanks for your help anyway, and for coping w/ my english. I'd really like one of those PCMCIA NICs...

pX