Blizzard 1220 4mb

[Snoozy]

Hi ppl,
 
I have this card which i bought to fit to my 2nd a1200 (mobo 1d4) and despite flush fitting i get a yellow screen, which then turns black. If i count the blinks of the green power light there are 9 or 10.
 
I've checked all the usual suspects like keeping the card away from metal shielding when fitted and i've cleaned the contacts on both the mobo and the blizzard 1220. There are no jumpers fitted on the card and i see there are options A,B,C,D although C,D look blocked off. Do i need to fit a jumper over A or B?
 
Is there any thing else i am missing?
 
(I've been assured the card works ok and seen a screen with it working)
 
Argh! :cry:

[Gazbonk]

Hi - does the Amiga boot normally without the card, if it does then try the steps below.
Switch off and remove card then reseat it back in the trapdoor slot or look here for card & jumper settings  http://www.amiga-hardware.com/   (Phase 5: Blizzard 1220/4) or maybe its bad memory on the card. The  reason I say this is because I fried the memory chips on my A500  trapdoor expansion and blew the chip that controlled the disk drive  & I had the same errors (dodgy wiring on a copy dongle).

Just try the first two options & good luck.

or this http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=58607 or this

http://boardreader.com/thread/A1200_yellow_screen_after_reset_1jo99X1409.html

[Snoozy]

Hi thanks, but i'm already familiar with those other postings from my previous google search.
 
The 1200 powers up fine without the blizzard and i am using a 500 psu.
 
I'm guessing i am having either connectivity probs between the blizzard and the mobo, or there are ram probs on the blizzard. If i look at some of the trace tracks on the back of the blizzard there are a couple i can't convince myself look ok..
 
Is there any way to clean up the tracks on the back of a expansion board? alcohol wipes? :confused:

[actung_bab]

Try taking out the ram and seeing if shows in the early startup menu both mouse buttons
also try another ram simm Id sugguest trying another mb but i think from exp
that just be black screen or grey on boot in that case
Hmm after reading that again pity you dont have another power brick wonder if
you disconted as much that drains power it whould boot up eg  floppy hd etc

[Cammy]

Unfortunately the Blizzard 1220/4 has surface mounted DRAM chips instead of a SIMM socket so if the RAM is busted it can't be swapped over easily.

It's a shame, I hope you can work out what's wrong and get it working. Good luck.

[Snoozy]

Hey, thanks for ur replies.  Incidentally i am on kick 3.0 roms.
 
Does anybody else own this card and have found it tempermental on initial setup? :confused:
 
What is the best way of cleaning the contacts inside the card and ensuring the grippers are gripping on the mobo?
 
Is there a crystal somewhere on the card that i need to check is properly seated?

[Snoozy]

I think i am having some success with getting this card to work via using a Jumper over option B of the card.
 
Is this something to do with running between 14mhz or 28mhz?
 
Would this make sense to ppl?

[Daedalus]

A quick look at the Amiga Hardware site shows that jumper B is for switching between internal and external oscillators. That being the case, unless you have an external oscillator on the board (usually a square or rectangular shiny metal block with the frequency written on it) then it won't work with that setting.

The Amiga-Hardware website is a great resource, but it uses frames which make it tricky to link to information. Looking at the photo though, it appears there's an empty socket in the centre of the board for the crystal, just above and to the left of the clock battery. Does your board have this too?

[Snoozy]

hi, yes it does have the empty socket but for some reason this board is only working if i have the jumper cover over B.
 
I can't explain this.

[Daedalus]

But that makes sense when you think about it. With the cover over B it's using the motherboard clock to run the CPU, with the jumper open, it's trying to use the oscillator on the card - but there's none there, just an empty socket. With no oscillator clock signal the CPU simply cannot run, giving you the errors you're seeing. You could buy a crystal from an electronics supplier and use it, but I doubt it's worth your while...

[Snoozy]

ahh ok thanks daedalus i understand this now...so if i'm using the jumper over B does this mean i'm only using the ram on the card and not the cpu on the card??
 
Would there be any benefit for me to get the crystal ie. using the blizzard cpu?? (is the crystal aka fpu??)
 
ah, i see jacks legacy (ebay) are selling them in germany for £8, i think i'll buy one - should make better use of the blizzard?

[bbond007]

pencil eraser works

[Snoozy]

Can somebody tells me how this fpu fits in the socket on the pic above, when this chip
 
http://www.ebay.de/itm/68882-CoPro-PLCC-FPU-Commodore-Amiga-Blizzard-Atari-/220846013303?pt=Klassische_Computer&hash=item336b72bb77
 
has many legs and the socket on the blizzard has just 4 holes?

[paul1981]

Can somebody tells me how this fpu fits in the socket on the pic above, when this chip
 
http://www.ebay.de/itm/68882-CoPro-PLCC-FPU-Commodore-Amiga-Blizzard-Atari-/220846013303?pt=Klassische_Computer&hash=item336b72bb77
 
has many legs and the socket on the blizzard has just 4 holes?

The socket with the 4 holes is for fitting an oscillator for the FPU (for clocking the FPU at frequencies other than 14 or 28MHz). The socket above the oscillator is the FPU socket, and the PLCC FPU just slots into there (has many pins as you can see).

So for instance, the FPU you have linked to is rated at 25MHz, so you would use the jumper on the card to set the config to 28MHz.  If you wanted to push the FPU a little faster, you would have to buy a 33MHz oscillator, fit it, and jumper the card to use the oscillator you have fitted instead.

Your card should work anyway, even without the oscillator and FPU, so it's not looking good from my perspective unfortunately.
Hopefully though you will.

[Snoozy]

Hi yep got it, thanks for clearing that up paul.
 
So i look at my card i have an fpu m888.. 33, so i suppose that's 33mhz. If i can get hold of an oscillator it needs to be between 33-40mhz and it will have 4 legs to fit in that socket ? The crystal is within the oscillator? (does more crystals mean more time in the crystal dome :roflmao:)
 
I am asking jacks legacy to see if they can source me one, as all they have is 50mhz, i suppose my next option would be farnell?