A1230 Tower issue

[Amigator]

Hello,

Before I tell you my problem, I should give you some info about my hardware:

A1200 in Infinitiv tower
Elbox Z4 busboard
Blizzard 1230 + FPU + 32MB
Catweasel MK II
Retina ZII 1 MB
CD-Rom drive
some external drives

Well then,

The first issue I have, is that the system gives me many randomly different error messages when using a 128MB ram module, when I use a 32 MB ram module it is working fine.
The 128 MB Ram module was working fine before, when the whole system was a normal A1230 Desktop. Does anybody have a clue what is going wrong?

The second issue is that the RTG card, meaning a retina ZII is not recognized after installing the driver. After a system start, it tells me "Retina hardware not found". In the early startup screen, under "expansion boards" the retina is listed, as far as I can see. I also tried this card in all Z-II skots, since the Retina ZII is not depending on the video slot. Any help here?

Thank You

[doctorq]

IIRC there are some timing settings you can set with the ELBOX busboard. Have you tried playing with the jumpers on the board according to the online available information?

Have you tried setting the jumper on the Blizzard 1230 board to make it go at 60 ns instead of 70 ns?

As for the Retina board, it is possible that it is not supported. Because you have a Zorro busboard installed doesn't mean that you can use every zorro 2 boards in it. Can't figure out why the board is in the expansion list though. There are some zorro slot jumpers as well, try to play with them aswell.

Which OS are you using? Retina doesn't work with OS3.5/3.9 IIRC. Try it with OS3.0 if you aren't already using this.

However, I have used a GyberVision 64/3D and a X-Surf ethernet card in a Elbox Z4 busboard without any problems.

[Amigator]

Hi,

Yes, I hav changed some jumper settings according to the information that was available, but nothing helps, once i treid the zorro boards jumper setting to support an apollo card, and that caused my HD to be NonDOS.

I also tried to change the jumper setting of the Blizzard, but also without succes.

As for the retina board, I am indeed using Amiga OS 3.9, so i guess that i should try os 3.0 or 3.1 to see if that works.

If I cannot manage to make the Retina ZII work at all, I might try getting a cybervision 64/3D instead.

X-Surf and catweasel are working very smoothly...

[doctorq]

I would ditch the Retina Z2 anyway, as the CV64/3D boards are far better, and has 4 MB instead of the 1 MB you have on the Retina now. Furthermore, CV64/3D is working with OS3.9 :-)

[Effy]

The thing is that he hasn´t got a CV64/3D yet ...

But how come the board refuses to work with 128 Mb when the Zorro4 is connected but worked fine when it was in the desktop ??? :-?

[Lemmink]

The Retina ZII is not supported by a modern RTG-system like CGX or P96, so you are stuck with the original software that is helplessly outdated. The graphicsram is added to the system in little 64k segmets and not in one big block. That's why no modern RTG system can support the card without bein rewritten from scratch or a driver that is dead slow. The segmentes RAM could also be the reason why the card does not work in the Zorroboard.

@ doctorq

There is a 4MB Version of the Retina Z2. The mainreason for buing such a card is indeed the RAM, as you can pull the ZIPs off and stuff it in an A3000 or to an Oktagon.
After stipping it just throw the retina away :-D

[doctorq]

@ doctorq

There is a 4MB Version of the Retina Z2. The mainreason for buing such a card is indeed the RAM, as you can pull the ZIPs off and stuff it in an A3000 or to an Oktagon.
After stipping it just throw the retina away :-D

I know, I had one myself, that is why I suggest him to get rid of it and use a CV64/3D instead. Anyway, even if he is lucky enough to have the correct video chip, or whatever it needs in order to upgrade to 4 MB, there is no point in upgrading the board anyway.

[Effy]

The thing is that the Retina2 does show up at the early startup menu as working, so how come that Workbench tells "no hardware found" ??? :-? Has this got to do with the Zorro4 busboard itself ?? Would it work in an RBM Towerhawk Ex2 with OnBoard Zorro2 slots ???
And how come the 128 Mb module works fine without Zorro4 connected but gives strange software and hardware problems when you plug in the Zorro4 busboard with all the cards ??? Is there a specific Ram area that is used by two hardware pieces or what ??? :-?