Pinout /manual for the a1200 z4 board

[Eco]

I've recently acquired a Z4 board for my A1200. The Big Book of Amiga Hardware identifies it as the "Elbox (Power Computing) Winner / Zorro IV Busboard".

However, the board did not come with any documentation, and I guess I should power it using the power connector on it, marked P8/P9. The trouble is, I've been unable to locate the pinout of the connector. Do you know the pinout? Is the connector some standard one?  It kind of looks like a standard AT connector..   :-?

While my system does work with power connected to the standard A1200 power connector, my XSurf 2 does not work in any slot on the Z4, I keep failing the 16 bit memory test when running xsurftest. I know the jumper settings of the Z4, they are correct for my BPPC (all open).

[Dragster]

Hi,

I have a power tower and a ZIV busboard and the A1200 gets power via the power connector of the floppy directly on the motherboard and the p8p9 (AT type connector) via the ZIV busboard, the cable that comes with the power tower to connect the PSU to the a1200 power connector is no longer needed as long as you have the p8 and p9 connectors connected to the busboard.

I don't know the pinouts of the AT connector, you should be able to find them easily on the net with a google search.

Regarding the xsurf, try to clean the Zorro connector with isopropyl alcohol or a special liquid to clean ICs and reseat the board, I had a similar problem a while ago and Jens. S. told me to do this and it worked.



Regards,

Dragster

[Matt_H]

Yeah, the Z4 has standard AT power connectors. I recommend finding an AT power supply, as you won't have to deal with the "always kinda on" issue with an ATX supply w/ AT converter

My Z4 bus is currently at the bottom of a box in my closet. I could never get it to work properly with my Blizzard1260, though the XSurf cleaning technique may help. Strange that the XSurf works in my Micronik bus without problems...

[Zadoc]

I have a power tower and a ZIV busboard and the A1200 gets power via the power connector of the floppy directly on the motherboard and the p8p9

Not on my Z4 board it doesn't....My board supplies power to the A1200 via the trap door slot (with a passthrough adapter for the accelerator)

If you want a printed manual I can send you a copy of mine, I made a copy for another user on Amiga.Org about a year ago and it's still sitting here on my harddrive if you need it.

[Eco]

Zadoc, I sent you a private message.

I hope powering the Z4 through the p8p9 will make the X-surf work. The connectors appear squeaky clean, but better get some IPA then..

I have already tried the X-surf with my Mikronik Z2 board, but it was a no-go. Jens suggested that I get myself a Z4, so I did  :-D

On the Micronik, the xsurftest would complete successfully without my BPPC attached, but that does not happen with my Z4 currently. That's why I think it could be a power issue.

For the record, my A1200 is rev 1.d4.  I took it out of the box to do the timing fix, but to my surprise it did not have the 123C and 125C resistors; just clean solder points with nothing attached. Too clean for anyone to have already done the fix; they were not there to begin with.

[JaXanim]

I've also got a Power Tower/Z4 bus setup and at one stage I had all sorts of problems with it.

Apart from the possibility of the Z4 connector shorting on its support screw, which I insulated, I started getting random crashes. It took a while to recognise that the problems were due to the poor quality of the P8/P9 connectors from the power supply.

I noticed that the white plastic was showing heat staining (brown) on several of the leads. It turned out that the flat brass springy gizzmos inside the sockets were fatigued and not making positive contact with the Z4 pins.

I dismantled the P8/P9 sockets and reset the connectors properly. I've not had any problems since.

Cheers,

JaX

[Doobrey]

@Eco
 Does the Xsurf show up in the list of boards returned by ShowConfig or the exansion list in the early start up menu??
 
  I spent an evening playing with a Z4 board last week, and found that nothing on the busboard was recognised until I played with the jumpers ( the joys of buying second hand without manuals  :roll: )
 I also found that some jumper settings caused both the accelerator and the first Zorro II board to get autoconfig at the same time.. and that the boards ID was the result of both card IDs OR`d together ..which meant the driver couldn`t find the board.

[Eco]

@ Doobrey

Adding the  board adds one line to the expansion list and does not change the existing one. Both expansions are reported as working, so I take it that it's not the autoconfig then.

Thanks to Zadoc, I have the manual now, and the jumpers are correctly set for my BPPC accelerator. In addition to the xsurftest not completing successfully, I also noticed that when I have the xsurf installed I get corrupted pixels and lines on my display. I don't get them if the card in not installed.

I'll get an AT power supply with the plugs intact very soon, I guess my problems could very well be solved by powering the thing up propely  :-D

[Eco]

Follow-up: X-Surf sent back to shop, will be getting a new one.  Jens Schönfeld was very helpful and prompt in corresponding with me and helping me find out the problem. Seems very much like a faulty data line in the card; could be a solder point, or something to do with the realtek chip.

The card has a two year warranty, which is nice.

[Eco]

Some more follow-up: I finally got the card back, and it tested fine in Jens' lab. Jens did some cleaning on its connectors though, and now the card consistently passes the xsurftest if I disable my BPPC by holding down "2" during boot. This happens both with my ZIV and Micronik busboards.

So the problem has something to do with my BPPC then. It's the 040/25mhz & 603e/200mhz model. Any ideas?

[ID4]

Hi, If you give me your Email, I can send to you the scaned manual .

[Eco]

Thanks but I already have the manual, courtesy of Zadoc. Maybe I should make a new "fix my xsurf" thread out of this..