Probs with Mediator. Anyone experienced the same?

[doctorq]

Hi,

last night I hooked up on the internet with my A1200. Suddenly the gfx looked totally weird, nothing looked like the workbench screen I was just looking at.

Then the comuter made a reset, and after the Workbench has loaded all my PCI boards were gone :-( I ran PCIInfo and all it reported was device #1 and it was unknown. The fact is that I have a Voodoo Banshee card and a Realtek network card which PCIInfo can find under normal circumstances.

Has anyone else experienced the same as me?

[JurassicCamper]

Have you tried reseating everything ?

[doctorq]

I am going to, because it's a fresh OS3.9 install so I guess it's not a software problem. I would only like to know if it's only mine, or anyone else have had the same experience.

[cockney_dave]

Had a graphics corruption problem when I upgraded to a Voodoo 5 and Mediator SX (from a V3 and standard Mediator), but not the disapearing cards. Best advice I can give would be to get in touch with Elbox, they're always keen to help in my experience.

Also, have you checked you have the right jumpers set on the Mediator for your set up?

Good luck

[doctorq]

I am writing this on my A1200 and I got my graphics card working again.

I changed the cards a bit around, and now PCIInfo can see both cards again. I had to this a couple of times in the past also, a bit anoying, but if it works it's alright. Now I have my Voodoo Banshee in PCI slot 2 and my network card in PCI slot 4.

Regarding the jumpers, I think they are set alright, according to the manual. The only jumper that's set is the pins were the boards says 4 MB and 8 MB.

I once tried to install a Voodoo4 4500 in my Mediator. It didn't work. I then got an Amiga 4000 and bought a Mediator for this, and in here the Voodoo4 card worked fine, though the graphics weren't that good as the Voodoo Banshee.

[ikir]

Mmmm yes contact Elbox, they usually reply fast and pro with theur users.

[Sloxa]

i have exactly same problem... i do all
same thing what you do, but
one day my voodoo disabpear again.. and
i cant get it back.!  :-(
i re install everythin, even my whole os.,
but no help.. i have to send my mediator to elbox.
i have voodoo3 ethernet, sb128 and tv card.
blizzard ppc 233-040. 128 mb ram.
i think, it there is some over heating, becouse my mediator chip is very hot, and it cant find any card,
whitch have memory. (i try voodoo3, voodoo4, s3virge4mb, s3virge2mb.)

[doctorq]

Well, that's not exactly the same problem. If I remove all the cards and put them in a different slot all the boards are back and up and running.

But I fell your pain :-)

[Jono]

I had a similar problem in the past whereby I ended up having to reseat all my boards.  I have not had the same problem since, but am instead getting random lock-ups of the Amiga.

This seems is something that started to occur when I bought an Apollo 68060 for my A1200, but since I have bought the Mediator + 32Mb of RAM the problem has gotten worse, especially when surfing the web.

I have since rebuilt my A1200 twice this year.  If anyone has any other ideas I am open to options.

The last suggestion I received from the newsgroups was to remove everything and plug in the expansions one-by-one which I want to avoid if poss.

Regds
Jono

[cockney_dave]

dotorq wrote...

I once tried to install a Voodoo4 4500 in my Mediator. It didn't work. I then got an Amiga 4000 and bought a Mediator for this, and in here the Voodoo4 card worked fine, though the graphics weren't that good as the Voodoo Banshee.

Had similar experience when 'upgrading' from a Voodoo 3 to a Voodoo 5, found the output quality from the Voodoo 5 was noticeably poorer and the refresh rate seemed slow when compared to before - couldn't get my head round it - so went back to Voodoo 3.

[JurassicCamper]

Jono wrote:
I had a similar problem in the past whereby I ended up having to reseat all my boards.  I have not had the same problem since, but am instead getting random lock-ups of the Amiga.

This seems is something that started to occur when I bought an Apollo 68060 for my A1200, but since I have bought the Mediator + 32Mb of RAM the problem has gotten worse, especially when surfing the web.

I had this problem. I kept having to reseat my Network Card / Accelerator.
In the end I changed the network card for a matching one, that seemed to fix it for a while. Then it started happening again. I ended up putting in a new mobo about 12months ago and its been fine since.

[Jono]

JurassicCamper wrote:

Jono wrote:
I had a similar problem in the past whereby I ended up having to reseat all my boards.  I have not had the same problem since, but am instead getting random lock-ups of the Amiga.

This seems is something that started to occur when I bought an Apollo 68060 for my A1200, but since I have bought the Mediator + 32Mb of RAM the problem has gotten worse, especially when surfing the web.

I had this problem. I kept having to reseat my Network Card / Accelerator.
In the end I changed the network card for a matching one, that seemed to fix it for a while. Then it started happening again. I ended up putting in a new mobo about 12months ago and its been fine since.

Which network card did you get?
I bought mine from Power (cannot remember the brand) but it is the 10/100Mbs version.  It all works well, but again the lock-ups just annoy  :-(

Was your MB one of the modded versions, mine isn't and this was something I was considering replacing.  Especially as it is about 10 years old now.

Rgds
Jono

[patrik]

@thechapswithmediators:

I dont own a mediator and never have, but I have a few questions and suggestions.

As you all seem to suffer from random/wierd  errors, are you sure that all parts are getting enough power? (drawing as little power as possible through the powerlines of the motherboard is highly recommended) Also try cooling the chips on the mediator to see if overheating chips can be the problem. Just do a quick solution with a extra fan directed at the chips.


/Patrik

[lempkee]

patrik: i dont have any of theese problems and i have owned a mediator for 2 years now.

but i can say that once i got my usb2.0 card (spider) then i had to reseat all cards to get a boot at all.

anyway its a hack so i suggest all users to check their cards every now and then to see if they are connected properly at all times , heat makes them move and heat is the only thing there is enough of in the mediator amiga's.

also remeber to firmly attach the cpu slot hack (a1200) , this one is infact the one making most problems for people.

 

[Jono]

lempkee wrote:
patrik: i dont have any of theese problems and i have owned a mediator for 2 years now.

but i can say that once i got my usb2.0 card (spider) then i had to reseat all cards to get a boot at all.

anyway its a hack so i suggest all users to check their cards every now and then to see if they are connected properly at all times , heat makes them move and heat is the only thing there is enough of in the mediator amiga's.

also remeber to firmly attach the cpu slot hack (a1200) , this one is infact the one making most problems for people.

 

I will check all the cards are reseated again!! and will then try adding another fan.  

I did add one fan just beneath the Voodoo card to extracts the hot air from the heat-sink as I found it was giving trashing graphics every now and then.  Since putting this fan in, the graphic trashing has gone.

So I will get another bigger fan and install this to circulate some more air around the Mediator/MB and see how that goes.

Rgds
Jono