Help with Modified Golden Gate 486 SLC

After digging around in my documentation, the modification I mentioned previously was described in the 'enhancements' section of this document The added chip was a 74F00, and it improved cache flushing specifically for the TI486SXLC2. While the document was specifically for the Commodore 386 bridgeboard, I can see no reason why it can't be applied to other hardware such as the Golden Gate. Check to see if the added chip is a 74F00 (or similar) and that it is wired into the GG in the manner described in the article, if it is, you will have your answer!
 
Interesting. Improved cache flushing. Does that result in faster cache performance?

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Ah, p15 of this:

http://aminet.net/package/misc/emu/BBCpuUpgrde1.0

This document is fascinating. I would love to have this cache upgrade on my GG, a near 20% improvement in performance would be most welcome.

I would also love to see the A2386SX he mentions with the 99mhz evergreen upgrade.

Is it possible to solder on a IBM486SLC3 to an A2386SX or GG? They are pin and voltage compatible? Or it would require a daughterboard? Ah, I see it is the Rev To 486 SX3+ upgrade.
 
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Ok, had to manually install the software. According to snoopdos it has everything.

The card just beeps with a half to quarter chirp every few seconds and nothing.

Tried booting with no SS, turned off the cache...

At this point any ideas? Could this be an issue with 3.1.4?

I had to manually configure the .cfg file in the devs: as well.
 
The install program on disk one should work fine, all it does is move a few files onto your system partition and set up the goldengate directory.

with cpu caches disable can you enter the Goldengate configuration program?

what buster does your machine have?
 
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Was able to get it to install, I kept adding : to the drive :).

Yes it has a buster 11.

The green LED on the card is lit.

Still doesn't work. I tried running golden gate setup and it give the minor chirps about 10 times then DIGGER gives an 8700000E error.

Booted with no SS and ran Digger with the setup parameters with the same error.

I noticed the 486slc2 cpu is not hot. Will the cpu get warm if it isn't activated and running?

My gut tells me it's the card itself, although the owner said it worked just fine. It did sit for a very long period of time,so who know.

I can try another box with 3.1 roms and and 3.9 BB4.
 
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I think the cpu should probably get hot even if the bridgeboard is not in use, but i can't check for sure at the moment

in cli, navigate to the goldengate directory and type:

GG INFO

what does it return?

Mine shows:

Machine-type : A3000/A3000T
Current version: 1.31
GLIB version: 3.02
SCAT-SX version: 1.03
Pylons birthday: 02/03/94 09:11:19W

Frame-base: 200000H
Frame-size: 1024kB
Local-Ram: 16128kB
Ram-expansion disabled

if you have created glib.cnf in DEVS: try removing it - i don't have this set in my A3000
 
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Thanks for the help...

I tried GGInfo and removing the .cnf file. Same issue still exists.

I will try moving to my other box and confirm it isn't 3.1.4...

I think the cpu should probably get hot even if the bridgeboard is not in use, but i can't check for sure at the moment

in cli, navigate to the goldengate directory and type:

GG INFO

what does it return?

Mine shows:

Machine-type : A3000/A3000T
Current version: 1.31
GLIB version: 3.02
SCAT-SX version: 1.03
Pylons birthday: 02/03/94 09:11:19W

Frame-base: 200000H
Frame-size: 1024kB
Local-Ram: 16128kB
Ram-expansion disabled

if you have created glib.cnf in DEVS: try removing it - i don't have this set in my A3000
 
Ok, the card is the problem.

I tried putting in another computer with the same results.

It is in some infinite loop, where it issues a quick chirp and the green led on it flash and it repeats every few seconds. Eventually it will error with a 8000000B and 8700000E.

Where should I get it repaired and perhaps even updated to the TI chip?

Thanks all for the help.
 
some of these cpus are 3.3v some are 5v and some are 3.3v with 5v tolerance... be careful what version you get!
and yes - they get pretty hot!
 


so the G50 chip on the auction above has 5v tolerand inputs but it still expects the core voltage to be 3.3v , that is why there is usually a small voltage regulator on the clip-on upgrades (lower right corner)

 
pretty sure it's the 5v version since I've used in the long past 5v clip-on upgrades (cyrix 486slc2)
 
They sure do run hot, hence the fan :)

I enjoy reading that thread @keropi where you got the diagram from. As Anonymous Coward says, 5V only TI cpus are rare. But several people have used the G50 on GG/A2386SX boards for a while, so I guess they are proven to have some degree of longevity. BlindGerMan is even overclocking his!
 
yeah I was researching this same thing a couple of months ago and found the same thread - wanted to experiment with a 386sx mobo but could not find a 5v-only 486slc cpu and abandoned the idea alltogether in the end since I am not a fan of sending more vcc to a cpu core... but I guess it does work ok since people do it - proper cooling helps in this regard. Maybe with some reverse engineering one can add a 3.3v transformer and make it 100% "by the books"
 
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