A4000 Mediator, S3 Vrige, Voodoo and Buddha

[trekster]

Hi all, first time posting on here and not long become a member. Been a silent user for sometime tho.

I recently decided to get back into Amigas after a good few yrs away from them. Used to have an Amiga 1200 kitted out many yrs ago but due to my job I was forced to switch to Macs full-time.

Anyways, bought an Amiga 4000 not long ago and thought I'd tower it in this clear pc case I had. Its come out pretty nice so thought I'd get some upgrades for it, turn it into a more usable system (usable in this day and age anyways )

So I bought a Mediator and a few other bits. Already had a Voodoo 5500 from my Amiga 1200 with other cards and set out to get the system sorted to become an everyday box like my old 1200. Well the problems started straight away.

I can not get any graphics to work, they are all setup correctly, found by the Mediator etc. But when I start them under workbench I get a screen thats just grey under the S3 and the amiga freezes. The Voodoo just gives my lots of nice pretty colours filling the whole of the screen and again the amiga crashes.

Any one got any ideas on what it could be? Sure theres tons like but something might spark and sort it.

Also, anyone got a Buddha Flash Phoenix edition working with their A4000 and a Mediator board? I just get "No Board Found" all the time.

Cheers, Mike.

[Kin-Hell]

The Freeze will be something that DMA is not liking. The Mediator has issues with DMA & you may find swapping slots with your PCI cards will get you a result. You don`t mention using a NIC & to be more up to date, I would guess you need to get on the Web. Be sure you use the bottom slot for the NIC & the Voodoo above it. Dont understand why you would want to use  an S3 card as well as a Voodoo. Voodoo floors S3 - bin it & try again.

Also, you need to set the Mediators window size to 512mb on its Jumper when using a Voodoo 5500. Have you done this?

[CLS2086]

reseat MAC chips,
be sure of the PSU quality and check voltage !!!
be sure that your PCI cards are deeply plugged (often the mal shield is problematic).
be sure about the window size
be sure you don't have a virus (try on an old 1/2 Gb drive a fresh installation)

[trekster]

Cheers for replies.

@ Kin-Hell

Yeah I've set the jumper to the 512M for the Voodoo, and I do have a NIC for the system.

With the S3 I meant I've tried that too, not at the same time as the Voodoo just to see if I could get that working. Of course changed the jumper settings on the Mediator for it.

I've tried all different combo's and positions for the gfx and other cards and still no joy.

@ CLS2086

All seems fine and plugged in correctly.

I've used a clean harddisk for the install at the start as I was hoping to make use of a bigger one but like I says, can't get the buddha to work at all.

Reckon the Mediator could be bust?

Cheers, Mike.

[Kin-Hell]

Okay. Starting over, Strip the A4000 so you just have a Bare A4000 motherboard in your case. Be sure the Mediators Edge connector is clean using some electrical cleaner. Seat it in & out of the 4000's Daughter card Slot a few times & re-clean. Be sure when you leave it in for the last time that it is fully seated. You should also do the same to the Mediators Bridgeboard (Zorro to PCI board) & try again with just the PCI NIC in the fist slot above the Mediator Bridgeboard & the Voodoo above it by a clear PCI slot or 2. This will allow better airflow for the Voodoo as she is a hot card. You MUST have the Voodoo in place with Drivers before using the NIC, as the NIC utilises some of the Voodoos 64Mb ram as a DMA buffer. Based on this fact, install the Voodoo Drivers first & be sure you have the latest 3.10 Elbox Drivers for this.
At this point, we are talking a fresh install again, but please persist. If you still appear to be dead in the water, use Medication to see if your Miggy is talking to any of your PCI cards.

One thing concerning me is you using a Plastic case! I wonder of you should be running a Ground wire from one the 4000's motherboard mount screws & one of the Mediators mount screws back to the Towers PSU case? I really am not sure about this, but I know grounds have to be used when using an ATX PSU in an A3000 due to the way the Miggy times itself through the Power On Button.

I know my A4KT was a b1tch to get up & running with the Mediator but persistance prevailed. This link might be of some help to you & it`s definately worth a read.

http://www.stom.co.uk/amiga-mediator/content/tutorials/guides/index.shtml

If all is good eventually, I bet you a bottle of Jack Daniels your Miggy will lock up as soon as you try to go online with the Budda Installed. Mine did & was sold on very  quickly as I am a SCSI guy when it comes to Miggys. It has something to do with the Fudge Elbox did RE DMA & I never found a solution. I really wanted the Faster & more versatile Floppy access from that card, but "hey ho" as they say!

Best of luck with this Kiddo. I hope things work out for ya!

Cheers,

Kin  :-)

*edit*

Have you tried using just the Budda in one of the Mediators Zorros without any PCI cards installed?? Again tho, cleaning the edge connectors may fix this & those earth wires back to a screw on the PSU wont hurt to try.  ;-)

[wurzel]

Just a thought, which I discovered recently. You need to plug a power cable into the Voodoo 5500, as it takes too much power otherwise.

[Kin-Hell]

Yes wurzel, you`re quite right, but common sense would suggest you need to supply power if there is a power connector on the peripheral. ;-)
Also, the PSU should be 350W at the worst. 450W would be better & 550 better still. Dont buy a cheap one either as cheap PSU`s don`t Auto switch. Plug a cheap non-switching PSU into any mobo whilst it is live from the mains will cause all the Fans to twitch. Auto Switching PSU's dont do this.  

[trekster]

Cheers for reply....

I'll have a shot at stripping it down over the weekend.

Hopefully all will be sorted.

Never had this much trouble with my Amiga 1200

[trekster]

Reet, finally got some spare time to have a shot at sorting my amiga out and still no joy.

I've got the voodoo all setup, but when you select it in the ScreenModes, it just shows a grey screen with black vertical lines and hangs the amiga.

Any ideas any one?

[trekster]

Well finally I've gotten somewhere!

I removed the harddisk that was in there and put it in my amiga 1200 so done another clean install on the amiga 4000.

The voodoo started working, although the screen was all messed up, I could see something that looked like a cursor moving. So I replaced the voodoo with my S3 virge, and bob's your aunty, its working

It mustn't like the voodoo dunno why as it works fine.

Cheers for all the help and keep up the good work helping others,

Mike.

[Kin-Hell]

Beers are us then!  :-D

:pint: :pint: :pint: :pint: