A4000 040 & PPC 060 issues

[Kin-Hell]

I have an A4000T 040 Rev 4 mobo with 2Mb Chip, 16Mb Fast, Elbox Mediator, Spider USB, Realtek 10/100 NIC, Voodoo 5500.
There is also a Z3 Fastlane SCSI card with 64Mb & a Catweasel ZII Class IDE Controller.

When running with the 040, I can do anything with my miggy, but when I swap the 040 card for a CSPPC card, things are not at all right.

Before the 040 card is pulled, the 68040.library is deleted and the 68040.library, 68040new.library & 68060.library are copied to the Bootable partitions "Libs:" dir. Miggy is shut down, cards are swapped miggy boots up after it's obligitory Cold Boot Re-set, et voila...le desk-top!

I can do most things with the miggy with the CSPPC card...the usual rubbish like certain DMS-gui based programs not liking the 060 but generally, everything runs great & is much faster,.....Until I go on the Web that is! :-?

Miami connects fine, I can ping my router but as soon as I try to ping ANY Web address, the miggy Locks solid & with no GURU even after 3 finger saluting!
It does the same as soon as I try to access a Web page via a browser. The browser can load it's own default homepage from the hard drive without crashing the miggy.
SnoopDos doesn't appear to be doing much snooping with regard to what just might be causing the lockup. I have seen the Plextor Drive come on at the point it locks & hear the Plextor spin up whilst locked solid, but even without the Catweasel ZII S Class or the Plextor on the System, it'll still lock solid. Dropping the 128Mb Ram on the PPC to 70ns makes NO difference either.

At this point, I can easily revert back to 040 mode by deleting the 060 libs , restoring the original 040 Library & swapping the hardware.

Miami stack or Genesis both work to connect to the router & the Web with the 040 card, but whilst they will connect on the PPC 060 card, the slightest attempt to connect beyond my Router locks me solid.

The PPC side of things also appears okay with several demos running just fine. I wonder now if this PPC card is not quite 100% - my wallet emptied itself for this item & i cant use it if I want to Surf the Net?
Hmmm......I'll be......... :cry:

I'm still conducting further tests & configurations but am fast running out of options. I thought I'd ask you folks in preperation of being stumped forever at the rate im currently going. This is really strange!!

[amiga92570]

What version rom is your fastlane using, the fastlane had issues with the 060 cards if you did not have the newest rom version.
Big Book amiga:

The Z3 FastLane is a Zorro III Fast SCSI-II DMA controller for the A3000 or A4000 with transfer rates of approximately 7MB/sec Asynchronous and 10MB/sec synchronous operation. It provides you with an internal 50pin SCSI connector, and an external 50pin Centronics style SCSI connector. It will support devices with SCSI, SCSI-2 and Fast SCSI-2 interfaces. It also has provision for up to 64MB memory or 256MB with an optional upgrade, in the form of standard 30-pin SIMM modules. RAM speeds supported are 60, 80 or 100ns. The 256MB RAM upgrade option consists of replacing the ROM with a version that supports 256MB and also some of the memory (GAL) addressing chips. After the memory upgrade it will no longer accept 1MB SIMMs and 4MB or 16MB SIMMS must be used. Unfortunately, even at the time the Fastlane was released, 16MB 30pin SIMMs were extremely expensive and nearly impossible to get hold of. This probably holds true today.

It is compatible with Buster revisions -09, -10 or -11, however as with all Zorro III devices, buster Rev 11 is highly recommended to due it's increased reliability and suffers less from bugs which plague earlier versions.

Note: In order to use the Fastlane in machines with an 060 processor, the card requires at least Version 8 of the firmware (8.5 is the latest). V2.4 cards should already have the appropriate firmware on the card, however V2.1 and V2.2 cards require the firmware to be upgraded. Unfortunately, the only way to do this is by burning a new EPROM and replacing the existing one on the card. You can still however use RAM on the card, regardless of the firmware version, even if you have an 060.

For fitting inside the A4000/040 with version 3.0 68040 processor boards, a 74FCT240 clock driver chip is also provided. This replaces the original 74FCT244 chip at position U103 on the motherboard, directly under the processor daughter-board.

For fitting inside the A3000, the Buster revision level MUST be -09 or higher.

Software is also provided, on a single floppy, in the form of Workbench and CLI utilities for configuration and control of SCSI devices, a CDROM filesystem and a memory cache utility.

[Kin-Hell]

Okay...starting over...i can strip the Miggy completely of all Zorro cards leaving the Mediator & PCI cards in as above.

It all works Flawlesly with the V3.2 C= A3640 card but it locks hard everytime I ping an External IP address or try to browse the Web with the CS PPC 060 card.

My only other options are to reduce CSPPC Ram to 64Mb & try a 256Mb Jumper setting on the Mediator. I am set at 512Mb on the Mediator as required by the Voodoo 5500 Card.

[Crumb]

Why do you keep the FastLaneZ3 connected when you use the CSPPC? CSPPC's UWSCSI controller is the best scsi controller you can fit to a classic amiga.

Remove the FastLane, it's a card that can produce lots of problems.

[alexh]

You can of course sell your fastlane to someone like... erm? Let me think now....

ME :-)

[Kin-Hell]

Crumb wrote:
Why do you keep the FastLaneZ3 connected when you use the CSPPC? CSPPC's UWSCSI controller is the best scsi controller you can fit to a classic amiga.

For the Extra 64Mb ram

Remove the FastLane, it's a card that can produce lots of problems.

The Miggy Still falls over WITHOUT the Z3 in it!

I said this already! :roll:

[amiga92570]

I assume you are using the newest mediator drivers, and have run mediator config, right. If you do not have newer drivers for mediator(including voodoo 5500 support) get them from elbox. I had some issues until I got the new version drivers. Now everything works great. Also make sure you have the newest Cyberstorm drivers. get them here:
http://phase5.a1k.org/index.php?id=0

[tonyvdb]

This goes back to the basics but do you have good airflow through the case and is the cooling fan on the CSPPC working properly. Keeping the Cyberstorm cool is a must and can cause all sorts of problem if it is not particularly the PPC chip.

[Kin-Hell]

amiga92570 wrote:
I assume you are using the newest mediator drivers, and have run mediator config, right. If you do not have newer drivers for mediator(including voodoo 5500 support) get them from elbox. I had some issues until I got the new version drivers. Now everything works great. Also make sure you have the newest Cyberstorm drivers. get them here:
http://phase5.a1k.org/index.php?id=0

3.10 Mediator drivers
Also tried all variants of 060 Library

[Kin-Hell]

tonyvdb wrote:
This goes back to the basics but do you have good airflow through the case and is the cooling fan on the CSPPC working properly. Keeping the Cyberstorm cool is a must and can cause all sorts of problem if it is not particularly the PPC chip.

Tbqh Tony, this is what I'm wondering, but Air flow isn't a problem. I've lashed this A4KT into a Lian Li PC75 Windowed Aluminium case but my concern is the PPC card. The seller said he had to fit a larger heatsink but then he thought something else was causing the random crashing. Thing is, I can leave it there Rendering in Imagine ALL DAY. She's Rock Stable...untill I try to surf the Web!?
Maybe I need to get licenced with MUI or summat...this is doing my head in! :-?

[X-ray]

@ All

The A4000T has the latest buster chip.

@ Kin-Hell

If you get this PPC card working nicely, and you decide to sell that 040 card please let me have first dibs on it.

As far as your problem is concerned, I can't offer an explanation, sorry.

[alexh]

Have you tried a fresh install?

Just install AmigaOS3.9 + Cyberstorm Drivers + Mediator Drivers + PCI Drivers + Web browser.

Nothing else.

Perhaps it is something you've installed over the years?

[alewis]

Tis an odd one, indeed. The problem appears to be localised to 060 and Miami, and only this.

It isn't airflow, else the box would lock up at other times. It isn't [necessarily] Miami, as it works under 040.

And Miami works fine here on my - and others' - 060 setup.

So maybe 060, Miami, and Mediator.

Have you tried a.n.other ethernet card? I'd suggest a NIC based on a different chipset ie NOT Realtek. Such NICs are inexpensive to buy.

[Kin-Hell]

okay folks...right now, its the friggin Catweasel S Class.
I can surf without the card in the Miggy.

Gunno delve some more...bb l8rz :-?

[Kin-Hell]

Ho Ho Ho...we have the answer! :-)

Cutting a Long story Short, Dont upgrade too much in one go! :crazy:

Originally, I had a Voodoo 3 PCI card. The Mediator Board setting was at 256Mb. Having all the hassle with the Catweasel prompted me to chuck my Z3 Fastlane in...it was DEAD?? Here's the Answer.....

Having Fitted a Voodoo 5500 Card, I noticed when installing the Drivers it said to be sure to Set Mediators Memory Window to 512Mb. So I did this whilst doing the rebuild. Okay, if you're all still with me so far, Putting it back to 256Mb, the Catweasel Card works fine, I can Surf WITHOUT locking solid, the Z3 works fine & I still have Voodoo Graphics!?

All this was tied in with swapping from an A4KD board to an A4KT board as well.

The Mediators 256/512Mb Jumper now causes me some concern!
Why say on the Driver Installation for a Voodoo 5500, to set at 512Mb if it appears to be fine on 256Mb!?
Anyone? :-?

*Edit*
Oh cr4p...after 5 minutes of surfing....She's locking up again!! :cry:
Spect its summat with the Catweasel...Miggys & IDE just wern't meant to be!

[Kin-Hell]

Just stuck a SCSI Writer on the Z3 & a SCSI ROM on the A4KT SCSI.

Everything is now quiet in the camp.

Anyone wanna buy a Zorro Catweasel Mk II S Class? :-D

[Aminicle]

can that be connected to a clokcport ?

[Kin-Hell]

Aminicle wrote:
can that be connected to a clokcport ?

I dont think so. It has a 26Pin Connector for Expansion.
Other than that, it requires Zorro to interface but can be used in an A1200 with a Busboard.

Buddha ZII S Class (http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/catweaselz2s)