128 Mb not working, or is it something else ???

[Effy]

I often sell 128 Mb modules on Ebay and rarely have problems. This time though I sold two modules to an english dude who complained (very friendly) that both of them do not work :

"Hi Effy,

I have just received both 128MB SIMMS, but neither of them is working. One causes the machine to not boot when installed, and the other causes both my connected harddrives to report read errors in the filesystem as soon as they begin to boot (I use SFS) and then the machine crashes.

I have a Microbotics MBX1230XA the same as that you have tested these SIMMS with, so I know it isn't that. The board works fine with the 8, 16 and 32MB SIMMS I have.

Kind Regards"

so I offered him to send them back, I would refund the shipping costs and send him two other modules. I guess these things can happen once in a while.
I got the modules today and decided to test them in an A1200 desktop, kick 3.0 I think, and an old fashionned Blizzard 1230/4 without 68882. Eh, both of them appear to give 133000 Kb Fast Mem in the workbench ... Now what to do ??  :-?

[Bazzaq]

BBoAH suggests that you can alter the cycle ranges and ram speed using software for this card.. May be a place to start???

I got 2 sticks off you a while back.. No probs in my bppc.

Edit: under 3.1 rom memory is auto configured. 3.0 requires setup.

[Effy]

True, you can set the ram speed, but strange that those other modules of other sizes do work, I guess most 32 Mb modules are 60 ns which is the same as my 128 Mb modules.
I am willing to ship him two other modules but I do not know if they will work. It used to work in the Microbotics I used to have a long time ago, that was with kick 3.1 ...

[CLS2086]

Microbotics MBX1230XA and kick 3.0, all is said...

[lionstorm]

I got the same pb with a 64Mb module in my BPPC.
It was working fine for several years and now not anymore, not even in B1260 or B1230.

[CLS2086]

@lionstorm : you've got oxydation problem. use an electronic contact spray cleaner. It also happen to me with the module Effy sold me. Now all work.

[wurzel]

Hi Effy,

I too, bought 2 modules from you and both work fine in my Blizzard 060.

Only problem is that they are just too thick to fit on both the Blizzard and the SCSI adapter.

Do you have one suitable? I currently have 1x128mb & 1x64mb, but it would be nice to have 256mb

[rkauer]

 A good start is RESET the acelerator, then boot the Amiga with the original Microbotics disk (the guy can download it from amiga.cx) and set/flash the onboard eeprom.

 And clean the contacts are allways a good point, btw.

[Effy]

I got a mail back from the buyer :

"That is a bit frustrating. Glad they got back to you OK, but I for the life of me could not get them to work on my Microbotics 1230XA. Worrying it was the card was why I tried all the SIMMS I have in it (some are single sided, some are double), but it always boots fine with my 8, 16 and 32MB SIMMS installed. The moment I inserted either of the two 128MB SIMMS, either it refuses to boot at all (no early boot menu), or it crashed whilst loading WB reset, and repeated. I even thought that the non booting of WB could be related to the board not autoconfiguring (even though I have KS3.1) so I used the SetXA util to make sure it was all done correctly, but this made no difference at all.
As the MBX1230 is the only accelerator card I have for my 1200 (I replaced it with a CSPPC when I upgraded my original 1200 to a Micronik Tower + Z3 busboard), I couldn't try it in anything else.
I have recently purchased a BPPC and BV which I am waiting for delivery on, which should also work with the 128MB SIMMS. If possible, can you try the SIMMS in your MBX1230XA board just to see if it is something odd with those modules and that make of accelerator. I do have a 68882 FPU fitted to my MBX board if that makes any difference at all.
If they still work for you with the MBX1230XA as well, I'll take them back and try them in the BPPC once it arrives."

Fact is that I shall send him two other modules, I was planning on doing that from the beginning, but it still keeps on worrying me that other Simms do work in his card and the 128 Mb does not but has no problem in my own Blizzard :madashell:

wurzel : I have tried to search for single sided 128 Mb EDO modules but the only ones I could find turned out to be Dimm´s and not Simm´s as they both are called EDO but definitely not both 72 pins ...

[Effy]

I just sent him two new modules, though I have a doubt whether they will work as the problem may be hardware related ...

[wurzel]

Effy wrote:

wurzel : I have tried to search for single sided 128 Mb EDO modules but the only ones I could find turned out to be Dimm´s and not Simm´s as they both are called EDO but definitely not both 72 pins ...

Ok, thanks for looking anyway

[_Steve_]

Bazzaq wrote:
BBoAH suggests that you can alter the cycle ranges and ram speed using software for this card.. May be a place to start???

I got 2 sticks off you a while back.. No probs in my bppc.

Edit: under 3.1 rom memory is auto configured. 3.0 requires setup.

Funny thing is, although BBoAH says that, it isn't actually the case. I have KS3.1 roms in my 1200, and you still have to use SetXA to tell the card how much ram is on board otherwise it just reports back what you have the flashrom set to expect. Thus if you slap a 32MB SIMM in it, and it was set to 8MB, after WB loads you just see 8MB.