GVP 030 Combo red screen issue

[blanghorst]

Hello,
 
This is my first post here, and unfortunately, it is about a problem.  
 
I have an Amiga 2000 (rev 6.2 board) with the following hardware:
 
1.  A2091 with 2 MB of RAM installed and a Quantum 52 MB SCSI drive.  ROM revision is 6.6.
2.  DKB Multistart II with 1.3 and 2.04 ROMs installed (2.04 is the default).
 
I recently purchased a GVP 030 Combo (40 Mhz model) off of eBay and am having difficulty getting it to work.  Installing it and powering the machine on gives me a red screen.  If I CTRL-Amiga-Amiga for 5 seconds to switch the ROM to the 1.3 ROM, it boots fine and I verified with SYSINFO that the 68030 and 68882 were seen.
 
Any idea what might be causing this?  It definitely seems related to booting with the 2.04 ROM but I can't quite figure it out.   As far as I can tell, the board hardware seems fine since I can boot with the 1.3 ROM.
 
Thanks!

[shaf]

It sounds like the GVP ROMs are very old. Try to find out from the seller what revision of t6he A2000 they had it installed in. You might be able to get updated GVP ROMs if they are still available.
GVP's web site is http://www.gvp-m.com. Since it's a combo board what is the Version for the FAST ROM?

[blanghorst]

It sounds like the GVP ROMs are very old. Try to find out from the seller what revision of t6he A2000 they had it installed in. You might be able to get updated GVP ROMs if they are still available.
GVP's web site is www.gvp-m.com. Since it's a combo board what is the Version for the FAST ROM?

How can I tell what the revision is? Is it written on the chip?
 
No luck on the GVP site.
 
EDIT:  The utilities disk I have is dated 1/17/92, so assuming it is the disk that came with the board, you'd think the ROMs would be OK.
 
Thanks

[mechy]

look on the board itself, there will usually be a eprom with a label.. 4.15 is the latest gvp rom.

Which GVP accelerator do you have?

Mike

How can I tell what the revision is? Is it written on the chip?
 
No luck on the GVP site.
 
EDIT:  The utilities disk I have is dated 1/17/92, so assuming it is the disk that came with the board, you'd think the ROMs would be OK.
 
Thanks

[blanghorst]

look on the board itself, there will usually be a eprom with a label.. 4.15 is the latest gvp rom.
 
Which GVP accelerator do you have?
 
Mike

It is a GVP 030 Combo board with the 40 Mhz 68EC030 and 68882 FPU. The ROM label says: V.45/DF24 GVP 1992. Based on the photo here, I am going to assume that the label has a typo and it is supposed to be v4.5.

[blanghorst]

If it isn't a ROM, the only other thing I can think of is that there is a jumper setting that is breaking it with the 2.xx ROM.  But which one?

[shaf]

It sounds like the SCSI Controller on the GVP Card is enabled, Jumper JP4 is open, Close JP4 and the Card should boot properly.

In my experience GVP and CBM SCSI cards have never worked together, it's either one or the other. Another  possibility is to connect the SCSI HDD to the GVP Card and remove the A2091 Controller. (They are both use RDB but the SCSI Device Name will need to changed from HDtoolbox.) Note: I've never tried to do this so others more familiar with GVP Controllers will have better information. (My Expertise was always Comspec SCSI Controllers)

[mongo]

Hello,
 
This is my first post here, and unfortunately, it is about a problem.  
 
I have an Amiga 2000 (rev 6.2 board) with the following hardware:
 
1.  A2091 with 2 MB of RAM installed and a Quantum 52 MB SCSI drive.  ROM revision is 6.6.
2.  DKB Multistart II with 1.3 and 2.04 ROMs installed (2.04 is the default).
 
I recently purchased a GVP 030 Combo (40 Mhz model) off of eBay and am having difficulty getting it to work.  Installing it and powering the machine on gives me a red screen.  If I CTRL-Amiga-Amiga for 5 seconds to switch the ROM to the 1.3 ROM, it boots fine and I verified with SYSINFO that the 68030 and 68882 were seen.
 
Any idea what might be causing this?  It definitely seems related to booting with the 2.04 ROM but I can't quite figure it out.   As far as I can tell, the board hardware seems fine since I can boot with the 1.3 ROM.
 
Thanks!

A red screen usually means a bad kickstart ROM. Make sure that your 2.04 ROM is working properly without the 030 installed first. It's also possible that there is some incompatibility with the Multistart and the 030, so you might want to try without the Multistart.

[blanghorst]

A red screen usually means a bad kickstart ROM. Make sure that your 2.04 ROM is working properly without the 030 installed first. It's also possible that there is some incompatibility with the Multistart and the 030, so you might want to try without the Multistart.

I am thinking it might be the multistart.  The 2.04 ROM is fine -- without the board installed, I can boot right into WB 2.
 
I can't very well return the board because it definitely seems to work in WB 1.3.  If there is an incompatibility with the Multistart, I am not sure what I will do because I have older SW that needs the 1.3 ROM.  Suggestions?  I could sell the board and get a 2630 I suppose.

[blanghorst]

So guys, another question. Given what I've said and written, does anyone think the GVP ROM might still be at fault? It seems there is an inconsistency in version numbers. Some people are saying 4.15 is the latest but based on what I've seen, this version appears to be 4.5 and that also appears to be the version in the screenshot I provided. Can anyone explain this discrepancy? Is 4.5 perhaps a third-party ROM?  Does this ROM just control the SCSI card or is there code in there for the accelerator portion as well?
 
The reason I ask is that I found version 4.15 on eBay and am wondering if it is worth buying it to see if that fixes my issue.
 
EDIT: One thing I think I forgot to mention is that I did try the following scenarios:
 
Scenario #1: Removed A2091 card. Still have a red screen on power up.
Scenario #2: Removed GVP SIMMs (2091 was still removed, IIRC). Still have a red screen on power up.
 
Under 1.3, I ran the GVP utilities and tested the RAM, FPU, etc. and all passed with no issues.

[gertsy]

Hmm?  I was thinking a possible Pwr supply issue.  Adding the extra card might be pushing it enough to freak out.  But seeing youve removed the A2091 and it's fine on KS 1.3 that wouldnt make sense.  Red=Rom problem as identified.
The 2.04 Rom doesn't have a soldered wire across the top of it ?

If you're game enough you could try the 2.04 in the A2000 socket proper.

The updated roms only make the GVP a tad faster.  It should work fine.  Especially seeing it works under 1.3.....

[blanghorst]

Hmm? I was thinking a possible Pwr supply issue. Adding the extra card might be pushing it enough to freak out. But seeing youve removed the A2091 and it's fine on KS 1.3 that wouldnt make sense. Red=Rom problem as identified.
The 2.04 Rom doesn't have a soldered wire across the top of it ?
 
If you're game enough you could try the 2.04 in the A2000 socket proper.
 
The updated roms only make the GVP a tad faster. It should work fine. Especially seeing it works under 1.3.....

That's what I am thinking.  I didn't have time last night to try moving the 2.04 ROM to the socket on the motherboard to see if that makes a difference or not.   If I do that and it fixes the problem, then it is obviously something with the way the multistart works.
 
I have a flickerfixer coming from an Amiga shop so I may email the guy and see if he can throw in another 2.04 ROM, as that would make it easier for me to troubleshoot with.

[alexh]

With the Commodore accelerators of the period (A2620, A2630) you needed a later version of the accelerator's ROM to use anything above Kickstart 1.3 otherwise you got a red screen.

No idea about GVP but it could be the same.

Some people are saying 4.15 is the latest but based on what I've seen, this version appears to be 4.5 and that also appears to be the version in the screenshot I provided. Can anyone explain this discrepancy? Is 4.5 perhaps a third-party ROM?

4.5 (i.e. 4.05) is an earlier version. 4.15 is the latest.

Note 1: Yes, 4.15 really is the latest one. Hint: Which section would you expect to come first in a book: 4.5 or 4.15? — Note 2: O well … seems like the previous one was too subtle for some of you, so let me try again: like section numbers in a book, version numbers are not decimal fractions; dots (yes, there may even be more than one, though not normally on Amiga libraries and devices because of the lib_Version and lib_Revision fields) within version numbers (and, in fact, section numbers) are merely separators between independent integers. Got it now? If not, have a look at page 110 in the User Interface Style Guide. There's also an article on version numbers by Carolyn Scheppner in the March/April 1991 issue of Amiga-Mail. Sheesh … — Note 3: C'mon folks, even if your EPROM burner doesn't handle Intel hex records, it can't be that difficult to convert them to binary, can it?

FYI:

http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/amiga/hardware/DKB_Multistart_II_Manual.pdf

[blanghorst]

With the Commodore accelerators of the period (A2620, A2630) you needed a later version of the accelerator's ROM to use anything above Kickstart 1.3 otherwise you got a red screen.
 
No idea about GVP but it could be the same.
 
4.5 (i.e. 4.05) is an earlier version. 4.15 is the latest.

Ugh -- it is obvious, isn't it? I guess you can chalk that up to a brain cramp. I guess I'll have to decide if it is worth spending $15 on the 4.15 ROM, as it seems pretty iffy to me whether or not it will fix the problem since the 4.05 ROM is dated 1992 and 2.xx was released in 1990.
 

http://www.bombjack.org/commodore/amiga/hardware/DKB_Multistart_II_Manual.pdf

Thanks, I'll take a look.

[Tahoe]

Ugh -- it is obvious, isn't it? I guess you can chalk that up to a brain cramp. I guess I'll have to decide if it is worth spending $15 on the 4.15 ROM, as it seems pretty iffy to me whether or not it will fix the problem since the 4.05 ROM is dated 1992 and 2.xx was released in 1990.

The only thing I can think of is that the ROM is defective. A 4.(0)5 should work fine with Kickstart 2+. If you need a 4.15 (never officially released BTW, the last official ROM from GVP was 4.13) PM me and we'll work something out.

What happens if you take the Multistart out of the equation? I mean, take the 2.04 ROM from the multistart and put it straight in the kickstart socket?

If you want to know if it's the 4.5 ROM that is causing problems, remove J9, it should disable SCSI.

Set a jumper J3 to disable the MMU if you want to know if it's not some kickstart remapping problem (unlikely)

If you have a rev 4 board (GVP) check CN15 and make sure it's set at pins 1-2, not 2-3.