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Author Topic: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board  (Read 2281 times)

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Offline doctorqTopic starter

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Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« on: November 01, 2005, 03:04:50 PM »
Hi,

I have a small problem, which someone outthere hopefully can solve for me.

The thing is, I have an A1200 in tower, with Mediator, FastATA MK-II controller and a Blizzard PPC board with 040@25 MHz and 603e@160 MHz with latest flash update.

Now to the first odd thing; if I run ShowboardsMUI, it says I have a BlizzardPPC with SCSI, which I know is not true. WhichAmiga says the same, but IIRC they use the same library for displaying installed devices? Not a big problem anyway...

One thing I am puzzled about though, is why I can't use BlizKick with the BPPCFix module. If I use it, then I just get this well-known requester saying that PPC.library was detected when trying to launch WarpOS. I have tried with BPPCFix, BPPCFix11, tried with and withour NOPUPREBOOT, but still no joy :-(

If I use the BPPCFix program, with BPPC INSTALL REBOOT >NIL: in the startup-sequence, I don't get this requester, and everything works just as one would expect it to work. Any ideas to this problem?

The last odd thing with this board is that ATA3Prefs says it's defective, some other program from ELBOX (I think it was called Check040) also claimed it to be defective, but WarpUP and Warp3D demos work, and Wipeout 2097 plays just nicely. Has anyone else experienced this issue with the FastATA utilities?
 

Offline x56h34

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2005, 03:57:32 PM »
I would suggest double checking FastATA controller. See if it sits inside the rom sockets securely (god I hate how they designed this, with the cable ties holding it through motherboard holes designed for 2.5" hd cradle).
I've had lots of trouble in the past with FastATA and BPPC cards due to weak contacts with the FastATA controller and rom sockets, as the controller really, and I mean really needs to be tightened well with cable ties unless you want it to pop out. I would suggest checking if FastATA is seated well.

ATA3Prefs utility almost always declares that a BPPC card is defective. I also suspect that this is related to poorly seated FastATA controller in the rom sockets.

Try removing FastATA altogether and use the native IDE controller, just for a while until you straignten things out.
 

Offline doctorqTopic starter

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2005, 04:13:09 PM »
@x56h34

Thanks for the input. The problem is though, that the same problem occurs for when using a Mediator ZIV + FastATA ZIV, but it doesn't hurt to check anyway.

If only I could get the BPPCFix in BlizKick working; I'm not that bothered about the other two issues, but 3 resets to load the OS is 2 too many :-)
 

Offline x56h34

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2005, 04:21:03 PM »
Come to think of it, there may be an 040 specific BPPCFix module that comes with BlizKick. Perhaps you need to use that one? :-?
 

Offline Framiga

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2005, 04:22:50 PM »
the SCSI chip is been removed? or the card was originally without SCSI?

 
 

Offline x56h34

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2005, 04:27:04 PM »
Quote

Framiga wrote:
the SCSI chip is been removed? or the card was originally without SCSI?

 


If he were to post a picture of the board, I'd most likely be able to tell him if there was originally a SCSI chip on it or not.
 

Offline doctorqTopic starter

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #6 on: November 01, 2005, 04:31:49 PM »
@Framiga

Definetaly originally without SCSI. If there was ever a SCSI controller on this board, I take a bow for the person who removed the SCSI parts, as no traces what so ever can been seen on the area where the SCSI chip would have been or where the 50 pin header would have been.

@x56h34

I tried all three BPPCFix modules included with BlizKick; BPPCFix, BPPCFix11 and BPPCFix040. Since the serial number is only HAB0017 (which also indicates the board was born with no SCSI controller) there might be a bug somewhere on the board, which prevents me from using BlizKick.
 

Offline Framiga

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2005, 04:38:19 PM »
you said the latest FlashUpdate? the latest from P5 (Oct 99) or the newer one?

 

Offline x56h34

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #8 on: November 01, 2005, 04:38:44 PM »
Have you flashed the card with the latest flashrom update (the one from 2000, not the one from 1999 that was on DCE's page as the latest one with BVision support, although it was not)?

Have you tried using different simm(s) on the card?

Try placing BPPCFix040 module somewhere else in the BlizKick line. I've had instances in the past in which certain modules would work when placed at a particular spot and not work if placed elsewhere.

Make sure there's enough buffers (I forget the exact name of this) for all the modules to be loaded within BlizKick.
 

Offline Gavilan

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #9 on: November 01, 2005, 04:43:16 PM »
doctorq: we seem to have the same exact configuration, only difference is that my BPPC HAS scsi onboard...what can we do in order to achieve success here??
If i can give you some ideas/info, just let me know. i would like to share your point of view, together with all others, since it really irritates me to have to reset 3 times the machine untilf finally boot up...

cheers

Sebastian
 :-D
C= & Amiga user & abuser since 1986
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
 

Offline doctorqTopic starter

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #10 on: November 01, 2005, 05:11:39 PM »
@Framiga/x56h34

The flash from october 99 (19101999). I don't think I ever had the one from later on. Have a link anyone?

@Gavilan

I'm working on it, but are you sure you have the same problem as me?
 

Offline x56h34

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #11 on: November 01, 2005, 05:22:41 PM »
This is the last one before the Grex flashroms came out:

FlashUpdates-09042000.lha

Not that it's going to make a huge difference, but it might be worth a try to use it.

Later today I will c&p in this thread my startup-sequence script with the blizkick line in it for you to try, so that you could compare it with yours. I have a feeling that it's something very simple that causes problems, but we'll see. :-)
 

Offline Gavilan

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #12 on: November 01, 2005, 05:32:25 PM »
@doctorq: definitely YES! Have the same syntoms that you mention. I repeat, we have same sys configuration, only difference is that i have scsi onboard on my bppc...

Anyway, lets see if wecan compare our startup-sequence lines!!!

 :-D  :-D
In theory, how many times should the machine reset before it loads up WB? I mean using some of the bppcfix or similar utilities...

How many seconds takes your machine until it finally shows up wb screen??
C= & Amiga user & abuser since 1986
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Offline doctorqTopic starter

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #13 on: November 01, 2005, 05:52:55 PM »
@Gavilan

Only one reboot is needed if it's installed correctly. Dunno how long my system takes to load on that setup, 8-10 seconds maybe. If you haven't edited the SCSI menu of your BPPC card then it will be a lot longer though.
 

Offline x56h34

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Re: Odd issue with a Blizzard PPC board
« Reply #14 on: November 02, 2005, 04:59:04 AM »
Here's my BlizKick line. It's the first line of Startup-Sequence file:

Blizkick * EXTRESBUF=165000 HOGWAITBLIT SpeedROM MODULE BPPCFix Bblank NewAlert ROMFIXES Noclick MoveVBR RemCards FixMath404 MuMove4k FixGetMsg scsi.device FastFileSystem Filesystem.Resource console.device Ram-Handler romupdate.idtag shell Bootmenu exec.library NOPUPREBOOT KEEPEXEC QUIET

Setpatch line should look like this:

SetPatch NOROMUPDATE QUIET

If I were you, I'd place the FastATA line after the BlizKick line.