A1 protected rom

[lionstorm]

Hi all,
I am asking your opinion about this. The Amigaone is supposed to be shipped with an unprotected ROM, which can be flashed for firmware upgrade. It looks like some boards like mine came with a protected ROM with no chance to upgrade. To add to my bad luck, I ordered an ATI radeon7000 which was supposed to work on an A1 but it is not so I did not have any VGA output only serial so unable to install debian on it. Hopefully my dealer sent me a voodoo3 so that I could use my board at least. Newest firmware supports my gfx card but I can not flash my ROM (remember, it is protected). So I asked my dealer again and he asked me to send the ROM back so that he can burn it and that would cost me 15 euros. Here I am very unhappy to pay a second time for something that was supoosed to be a feature. Why users have to pay the price for someone else mistakes ?
Lio

edit : and to add to this, I have to face the risk to damage the ROM during the pull out phase and pull in phase plus mailing !!

[SlimJim]

Have you asked this in the official ML or in the official
forum on Amigaworld.net, to get the official stance?

(Also, it's odd the Radeon7000 didn't work. You
should definately go to the support fora, friend.)
.
SlimJim

[lionstorm]

It does not work with first firmware revision (0.1.1 if I remembered). I posted this on amigaworld as well but not under any A1 (not related to linux and I have no access to amigaone owners forums since I did not buy the card from eyetech).
Lio

[SlimJim]

Your post has been moved into the official forums
already. You should have access to the fora even
though you didn't buy it from Eyetech (I know, becaus
I didn't either). Just contact DaveyD (I think Rose is
OK too) with your A1 serial number and you'll get into
the offical support forums.
.
SlimJim

[lionstorm]

ok , will have to open the tower again to find the serail number.
my post was moved very quickly to a part where for the moment I can not see answers (if there are).
I did not ask on A1-linux nor in A1-dev ml since it is not exactly relevant to these. I am just frustrated to pay again for something that should be by default, with risks a the end to have a dead-ROM.
Lio

[takemehomegrandma]

It looks like some boards like mine came with a protected ROM with no chance to upgrade.

Why on earth would someone do something like that? It must be a manufacturing fault IMO, because purpously removing the possibility for the customers to upgrade their flash memory doesn't make sense in any way.

[mikeymike]

Why on earth would someone do something like that? It must be a manufacturing fault IMO, because purpously removing the possibility for the customers to upgrade their flash memory doesn't make sense in any way.

I don't know enough about flashable memory, but couldn't this be a "feature not a bug" type thing, so that people can't completely screw up the flash ROM and have to return it?  Admittedly as I've been using PCs for years in the context of BIOS flashing, it does seem an odd thing to do.  Perhaps it's a workaround of an issue with the flash ROMs being used, to avoid one problem with them they're locking them?

Nonetheless, I concur with someone else's advice to ask on the appropriate support forum.  The A1 dev list?  The amigaone yahoo group?

[cgutjahr]

@mikeymike:

I don't know enough about flashable memory, but couldn't this be a "feature not a bug" type thing, so that people can't completely screw up the flash ROM and have to return it?

No, it`s a manufacturing fault, only some early models (first production run of XE's or sth. like that) are affected. IIRC, this was already confirmed by both KDH and Point Design on some German mailing list.

[takemehomegrandma]

@ cgutjahr

That's what I suspected! :-)

Then it should be covered by the warranty BTW ...

[Seehund]

mikeymike wrote:

Why on earth would someone do something like that? It must be a manufacturing fault IMO, because purpously removing the possibility for the customers to upgrade their flash memory doesn't make sense in any way.

I don't know enough about flashable memory, but couldn't this be a "feature not a bug" type thing, so that people can't completely screw up the flash ROM and have to return it?

Return it, like one would have to do if it was write-protected and needed upgrading? Now that's one "total quality experience" to pay extra for!

No, write-protecting firmware that's under constant development doesn't make sense. OTOH not much about AmigaOS and third party hardware makes sense. A plausible explanation could be technical error, like the flashing app refusing to install a corrupt firmware image or whatever, but who knows.

Nonetheless, I concur with someone else's advice to ask on the appropriate support forum.  The A1 dev list?  The amigaone yahoo group?

Agreed. And this is an open forum for Hardware issues and discussion, so hopefully lionstorm or another Teron owner will repost the reply here from the closed fora to end speculation or at least help others.

[Edit: I should reload the tab with the thread in before hitting submit. Technical error it is. Thanks cgutjahr.]

[lionstorm]

My dealer (KDH) will send me a new ROM at no cost for me and I have to send back my protected one.
Very nice, finally my A1 + ATI radeon7000 will see the light on a monitor.
Lio

[platon42]

> I don't know enough about flashable memory, but couldn't this be a "feature not a bug" type thing, so that people can't completely screw up the flash ROM and have to return it?

Well, yes and no. Most flashroms have means to protect all or parts of it (e.g. the first 8KB) against overwriting. The flashroms on the Algor have this feature. However, it would be a very stupid idea to protect them, as this feature is NOT reversible -- i.e. you can then throw away the "flash" of the rom.

[Warface]

If it is indeed a design fault (which I haven't seen confirmed), why do they ask money for replacing it? The only sensible thing to me is sending the bills to Eyetech for refund. What is Eyetech's stand on this?

[JurassicCamper]

Warface wrote:
What is Eyetech's stand on this?

If you live in the UK and Eyetech were your dealer and were sent an Amiga1 with a protected firmware.

Then  you have to send  back the board, preferably just the ROM if you are brave enough to prise it from the PLCC socket , and pay a £13 unlocking TAX.

[mikeymike]

If it is indeed a design fault (which I haven't seen confirmed), why do they ask money for replacing it? The only sensible thing to me is sending the bills to Eyetech for refund. What is Eyetech's stand on this?

Probably from their point of view, and the way it was presented on sale, that it isn't faulty.  If (whoever is experiencing this issue) can find something in the documentation or their website that says the ROM should be user-flashable, then they've probably got a case.