A4000 desktop questions. . . .

[Edpon]

Hi,
  I finally got the chance to fire up my A4000 today, and noticed something strange. It's requesting the OS 3 disk when I boot up. I have two hard drives installed, and seem to be working, but are not apparently "talking" to my computer. Any suggestions? Also, here's more for you all;

1- I've opened my computer a number of times, but don't see where the Kickstart ROMS are. Where are they located?

2- Is there a way to tell if what I have on the 4000 is the most current or highest available chipset for every user replacable item? I.E. - Fatter Agnus, Kickstart, etc. etc.?

3- Does the A4000 have a IDE controller for a CD-ROM or do I have to have a board added to make use of one?

4- Anyone know a good place to get that software that allows you to revert to Kickstart 1.3 for older software?

Again, thanks as usual.

Ed

 :-D  :lol:  :-P  :-D

[Thomas]

0- try to do a warm start. If the HDDs are recognised then, they are just too slow on power-up. Also boot with the Install disk and run HDToolbox to check if the HDDs are still recognised.

1- the ROM chips are below the processor board, next to the front.

2- the A4000 has the most recent chipset (AGA). The only chip worth looking at is the Buster who controls Zorro3 DMA. Check the clock battery. Cut it off if it is leaking.

3- the IDE controller can take two IDE devices (one master an one slave). As you already have two HDDs, there is no way to connect a CD-ROM drive without additional hardware. You could either use a 4-way adapter which allows you to connect another two IDE drives to the motherboard (at the same limited speed) or an additional IDE controller like the Buddha or the FastATA4000 (= PowerflyerGold).

4- try WHDLoad from www.whdload.de. It allows you to install most games on HDD and run it on AGA machines.

Bye,
Thomas

[Edpon]

Hi all,
 
  Let me further boggle your minds with another set of questions to add to the others;

1-Do I need to install the A4000 Motherboard into a Tower to use a Mediator from Elbox?

2-If so, which can I use, any standard ATX or not?

3-ALSO, the majority of people on these forums recommend getting PPC boards for the A4000; Elbox offers those as well; are they the best to get, or get one from someone else? And if so, which brand and speed?

Thanks again.

Ed

 :-D  :lol:  :-P  :roll:  :-D

[X-ray]

"...Elbox offers those as well..."
----------------------------------

How much are they and what is the cost of p&p, and are they in stock?

[Edpon]

Here's the link. . .

http://www.buy.elbox.com/cgibin/shop?info=330SP1G

Kinda expensive, I wonder if getting one of these will also allow me/us to run OS 4 on it.....

Ed
 :-o

[countzero]

a quote from the very page ...

"Production of SharkPPC+ cards will start as soon as the final version of AmigaOS4.0 for A1 is released."

what I get from this is that the shark is not in stock yet. The OS 4 situation is much more complex. I'm not an expert on the subject but as far as I know Hyperion/Eyetech don't want OS 4 to run on Shark (or anything other than A1). And I have the impression that Elbox is delaying the release of Shark until OS 4 is released so they can find a way to make OS 4 work on shark somehow.

[Cyberus]

Edpon wrote:
Hi all,
 
  Let me further boggle your minds with another set of questions to add to the others;

1-Do I need to install the A4000 Motherboard into a Tower to use a Mediator from Elbox?

Yes and no. There is a desktop version if you want to keep the original case - it just replaces the original zorro daughterboard. There is also a version for towered A4000s which will give you more slots.

2-If so, which can I use, any standard ATX or not?

No, you will have to hack a tower...google for A4000 tower conversions

3-ALSO, the majority of people on these forums recommend getting PPC boards for the A4000;

Do they?
It would depend what you want to use the A4000 for as to whether you need a PPC card...they are pricy.

Elbox offers those as well; are they the best to get, or get one from someone else? And if so, which brand and speed?

Hmmm, they offer a Shark G4 card which is still yet to be released and has been in the pipeline for what, two-three years? I shan't comment on whether I think its vapourware or not, but I can say that it isn't available at this time...

Go to amiga-hardware.com and read about the Cyberstorm PPC (under A4000 accelerators). It has both a Motorola 040/060 processor as well 604e processor for a wonderful mix of compatibility and speed....

[Edpon]

Yes and no. There is a desktop version if you want to keep the original case - it just replaces the original zorro daughterboard. There is also a version for towered A4000s which will give you more slots.

I think this is the route I'll take. I have a few questions about this as well, lol, go figure eh?

1-Since this board will replace the daughter board? Will this be slowed down at all or is it kept the true speed of the PCI?

2-I plan on buying a Voodoo 3 3000 for this; will it allow me to finally use a "normal" CRT monitor?

3-Do the older and AGA games recognize the voodoo and take advantage of it?

Thanks.

Ed
 :lol:

[Piru]

@countzero

Yeah, Elbox isn't producing the "SharkPPC" heatsinks yet...

Sonnet crescendo 7200
vs
"Elbox" Shark PPC

[countzero]

@ piru

The link suggests me that picture is taken in 2001. well, I hope they've made some progress in four years. After all, they seem to have began taking pre-orders at their website. They can't be so evil. Only I can. He he he *eevil skeletor grin*

[MskoDestny]

Edpon wrote:
1-Since this board will replace the daughter board? Will this be slowed down at all or is it kept the true speed of the PCI?

DMA transfers from one card to another (which probably won't happen very often) are at full PCI speed. Transfers between the rest of the A4000 and PCI devices are only at Zorro III speeds. The only way to get any faster is with a Cyberstorm Mark III/Cyberstorm PPC and a G-Rex.

2-I plan on buying a Voodoo 3 3000 for this; will it allow me to finally use a "normal" CRT monitor?

For stuff that doesn't bang on the hardware, yes.

3-Do the older and AGA games recognize the voodoo and take advantage of it?

No. Normal workbench stuff and program specifically designed to work with a RTG card will show up on the voodoo. Everything else will still go over AGA.

Depending on what you want to do, a Prometheus might be a cheaper option if you can find one.

[mpiva]

Re: Harddrives

  I quick way to check to see if the harddrives is to hold both mouse buttons down on bootup, go to Boot Options and see if there are any drives listed there other than DF0:  If there are, then most likely none of the partitions are marked as "bootable" in HDToolbox.  If nothing is listed there than the drives are either broken, not installed properly, or not formatted as Amiga drives.  To check this, you'll have to boot off a floppy and load up HDToolbox as someone already stated.  IF HDToolbox recognizes them than you'll have to partition, format, and install the OS to HD before it will boot.

Re: CD-ROM drive

   The A4000's IDE controller works fine for a CD-ROM drive but if you've already got two HD connected you're out of luck unless you get some hardware to allow you to use 4 IDE devices.  Also, just because you connect a CD-ROM drive to your Amiga doesn't mean it will instantly work.  You'll need to install the software to use it.  Unfortunately, OS3.1 doesn't have this software.  OS3.5 & 3.9 do, but since those versions of the OS only come on CD, you're left with a bit of a chicken-and-the-egg situation. :-? You'll need to find a way to get something like IDEfix onto a floppy and install it to your harddrive before the CD-ROM will work.

[Edpon]

Thomas wrote:

1- the ROM chips are below the processor board, next to the front.

2- the A4000 has the most recent chipset (AGA). The only chip worth looking at is the Buster who controls Zorro3 DMA. Check the clock battery. Cut it off if it is leaking.

3- the IDE controller can take two IDE devices (one master an one slave). As you already have two HDDs, there is no way to connect a CD-ROM drive without additional hardware. You could either use a 4-way adapter which allows you to connect another two IDE drives to the motherboard (at the same limited speed) or an additional IDE controller like the Buddha or the FastATA4000 (= PowerflyerGold).

I've removed everything in my way to see the Kickstart, except the Commodore A3640 board; I'm assuming it's under there. I dont see an easy way to remove this without breaking the board, since it's sitting on top of 4 plastic posts and connected on the right side like a PCI board.

I have the Super Buster, v11. But am not sure where the battery is located either.

Ok, this part is easy, I've remove the messily 538MB HD that was there, now I can slave out a CD-Rom. What specific Brand and Model can I stick into the A4000; because the ones I have as spares are all too long for it.

Thanks.

Ed

[Thomas]

I dont see an easy way to remove this without breaking the board, since it's sitting on top of 4 plastic posts and connected on the right side like a PCI board.

You should be able to just pull it out. It's meant to be removable. The plug on the right is in fact the interface where other processor boards can be plugged in (once you've removed the original). The white plastic sticks are only spacers which prevent the board from breaking when the computer is moved. They stick between the motherboard and the processor board, but should not hold back the processor board (as long as they have not been replaced by screws or similar).

Bye,
Thomas

[Thomas]

But am not sure where the battery is located either

The battery is on the left side of the board next to the Fast-RAM sockets.

Look at the pictures at http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=30
There is one picture "A4000 Rev B Motherboard, Front" which is like mine. It is turned 90 degrees to the left, so the "left side" I am talking about is in the bottom. The battery has been removed on the picture but you still see the white square labelled "BT176".

If you scroll to the top you see the two Kickstart chips. You also see the processor slot and that two of the white spacers are still sticking there.

Bye,
Thomas