Overview Features Coding ApolloOS Performance Forum Downloads Products Order Contact

Welcome to the Apollo Forum

This forum is for people interested in the APOLLO CPU.
Please read the forum usage manual.
Please visit our Apollo-Discord Server for support.



All TopicsNewsPerformanceGamesDemosApolloVampireAROSWorkbenchATARIReleases
Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Weird V1200 Boot Error

Smartroad 78

Posts 116
17 Jul 2020 22:37


EXTERNAL LINK 
The above video shows an issue I am having with my V1200. It had been working fine. I had to finish playing and shut it down. A few hours later I went back and this is what greated me when I turned it back on.

I have tried reseating the card. Taking the card out allows for normal boot. Replacing it with my aca1221ec boots normally as well.

Its a 1D.4 board with the two caps removed for timing (C123/125 I think). The V1200 is running on 2.12. The video is from the composite output.

It happened when on 2.11 but re-seating the card seemed to fix it. Now I am not so sure what to do! Help!


Igor Majstorovic
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 406
19 Jul 2020 08:49


This is memory test who is performed by accelerator on every boot, but first.
  Like I said number of times here the fact that some other accelerator works says us nothing. What I would do is to try another power supply and check capacitors on you Amiga 1200 motherboard. On the other hand if everything there is fine then we have problem with FastRam and we will have to replace the card.


Smartroad 78

Posts 116
21 Jul 2020 15:53


I have been trying different things over the weekend. My desktop A1200 uses a PicoPSU for power. I also tried using it in my tower A1200 (on an ATX PSU) and the issue still occurred. In case it was an issue with using a modern(ish) power supply I used my bench supply to provide smooth power the Amiga, same problem.

I had left it over night and came back to it the following morning, intending to try some other things. I started the desktop A1200 back up and the error appeared. However my partner called for me and I accidently left the machine switched on. I came back to notice this and power cycled the machine. It booted and loaded into CoffinOS. From then on it was able to reset, both soft and hard-resets and seemed to be running fine.

After a while playing I had to turn it off and it was left until the following morning. When I turned it on it again came up with the error. This time I left it running for about 2 minutes, power cycled and it booted with no problems.

It seems that the card is fine once it has had a chance to warm up. It will boot and run fine (mostly, there is the occasional hang or crash), however once it has been left for an extended period (at least several hours or overnight) it struggles to boot until it has been given a little time to get "warm".

I apologise if that is a lot of unnecessary information but I wanted to go through everything I had tried.


Renaud Schweingruber
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 378
21 Jul 2020 17:22


Cleaning A1200 connector with appropriate material is also a must to make proper contact. I had to do it on mine quickly even if he wasn't physicaly dirty.


Cego 1200

Posts 44
21 Jul 2020 17:37


how is it handled when a card is broken and has to be repaired or replaced? Do I have to wait again 6-8 month until I got into line or is it handled faster?

I really like my V1200 but I can't deny the fact that sometimes I'm thinking about a worst case scenario.


Smartroad 78

Posts 116
22 Jul 2020 12:08


Renaud Schweingruber wrote:

Cleaning A1200 connector with appropriate material is also a must to make proper contact. I had to do it on mine quickly even if he wasn't physicaly dirty.

Used IPA to give it a gentle rubbing over and unfortunately didn't change anything :(


Herbert Markart

Posts 45
22 Jul 2020 14:00


It seems like a component has an thermal problem.
It wont work correctly until it reaches a certain heat.
You can use ice-spray for example to see where it comes from.

It also could be directly Mainboard related.
Also a bad solder joint which connects after warming up.

In short, everything which changes it's state when warmed up (chips and connectors included)


Igor Majstorovic
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 406
22 Jul 2020 19:06


@Cego 1200 no I always leave some cards aside for this purpose.
@Smartroad 78 will send you the mail now.
Edit: Can't find your mail based on this nick, please contact me on my mail.


Smartroad 78

Posts 116
22 Jul 2020 19:12


Thanks Igor, I have sent an email to you just now.


Smartroad 78

Posts 116
22 Jul 2020 19:16


Just as an aside, when I could get the card running I have to say it is an amazing experience. I plan to make a video about it, have some footage of the Amiga running a few games like Frontier and comparing the frame rate between the stock A1200, my Blizzard 68040(25MHz)/PPC card and the Vampire. Slight preview, the Vampire was the smoothest of them. The 68040 was very close but it still skipped frames here and there. Wait until you see the difference from the stock config though! I was amazed that I was ever able to play Frontier with only the stock config!!


Igor Majstorovic
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 406
25 Aug 2020 21:19


OK, just to report that problem is solved by replacing the card.
I hope that now everything will be ok for you.



Smartroad 78

Posts 116
26 Aug 2020 12:22


igor majstorovic wrote:

OK, just to report that problem is solved by replacing the card.
  I hope that now everything will be ok for you.
 

Hi Igor,

Yes the new card is working great thanks!

posts 12