G-Rex 1200 Fun and Games!

Hi All!

Thought I'd share some pics with you guys from todays efforts :cool:

I bought/traded this from CosmiscFrog a week or so ago and finally round to setting it up for the first time.

Its a re-badged G-Rex PCI 1200:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1517.jpg

And the logic board which connects directly to the PCI slot on the BPPC:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1514.jpg

As you can see here:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1515.jpg

And here: :D

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1516.jpg

As usual I'm working outside the case on my Anti-Static mat hooked up to a TV by RGB Scart and VGA with a PeeCee Keyboard running of Elbox PCKey1200, here's a shot with the Busboard in place:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1518.jpg
And with my trusty Voodoo 3:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1519.jpg

It didn't boot first time, in fact it rarely boots from cold (not sure if this is normal) but after a reset it starts booting up, once you have the drivers installed you get this cool boot pic :thumbsup:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1524.jpg

(The image on screen was clear, thats just the camera playing silly buggers)

Here we are with good ol' CWB OS3.9:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1527.jpg

Sadly the nightmare begins here, I tried three different workbench installations, OS3.9/CWB OS3.9 and WB3.1 but I get the same issue.

I can view the test screens and can select a screenmode but as soon as I click anything it crashes :(

I spent the whole day on this and didn't make any further progress. I'm using the correct libs (modified 060 libs for G-Rex) and I'm using CGX4 plus the updater/G-Rex installer.

I disabled all the extra's in CWB in case it was that, but as I say it done the same with OS3.1, I may have damaged the logic board during install as I made slight contact with the PCB whilst fitting the screws, and there is a slight mark accross a track - I need to check it with a multimeter and see if I have done any damage.

Anyway - I'll leave you with a few more pics :thumbsup:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1532.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1530.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1511.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1513.jpg

Thanks for looking! Hopefully I can update some time in the future if I can get it going :whistle:

Steve.

enjoy one of the two best pci busboards ever made for the amiga!!! (the other is the G-Rex4000! LOL)

Hi Steve :)

I noticed your BPPC is from Phase5, not DCE.
I seem to recall the G-Rex only works properly with rev2 BPPC boards, which (AFAIK) came only from DCE.
Did you check your board revision? (there's a tool for that called "boardtype" I think)

---------- Post added at 16:56 ---------- Previous post was at 16:53 ----------

Found the tool: http://grex.amigaworld.de/index.php?lang=de&page=42

---------- Post added at 16:57 ---------- Previous post was at 16:56 ----------

Also see this thread:
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=7542

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by UberFreak

Hi Steve :)

I noticed your BPPC is from Phase5, not DCE.
I seem to recall the G-Rex only works properly with rev2 BPPC boards, which (AFAIK) came only from DCE.
Did you check your board revision? (there's a tool for that called "boardtype" I think)

---------- Post added at 16:56 ---------- Previous post was at 16:53 ----------

Found the tool: http://grex.amigaworld.de/index.php?lang=de&page=42

---------- Post added at 16:57 ---------- Previous post was at 16:56 ----------

Also see this thread:
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=7542

---

Thanks for the info - next time I'll try with my other BPPC which is Rev2. I didn't check this one, I presumed because it booted it would work, which it does to an extent.

I wonder what the outcome of Gullivers G-Rex was?

Steve.

hehehe great I know where gavilan G-rexx is hehehehheheh I`ve just seen it :)

wow I`ve just seen that thread, thats one well traveled bit of ami Hardwhere :)

That looks so awesome Steve! I hope you can get it working. I have heared too that it won't work on Rev 0 BPPC boards. Give it a crack with your Rev 2 :)

That G-Rexx was one huge headache for me.

At that time I had three working BPPC from both Phase5 and DCE (I only have one now, and it rarely gets used), and only managed to get it fully working on only one of them, after banging my head several days, reflashing things and trying different software/hardware setup combinations. It was not an easy to master PCI solution at all. But then, when it finally worked, it was worth its effort.

I am sorry, I dont remember which combination I used back then, it has been sometime now, and too much tweaking with it. :(

I suggest you take note on what you are doing when you test it, so that you know which alternatives dont work, untill you reach the working formula (and that is if the hardware is not by any bad luck, somehow damaged now).

BTW, I had it working with a Voodoo 3 2000 on an old CRT monitor at a nice 4:3 resolution :)

Anyway, good luck :thumbsup:

PS: Remember to visit http://grex.amigaworld.de/index.php?lang=en

PS2: For what it is worth, I had it working on a 3.1 install.

Hey there guys, well I decided to try again today with my other BPPC since I have a D-Box tower to put it all in.

The installation went well, everything fits it the case like a charm:

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1798.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1800.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1802.jpg

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1804.jpg

Sadly though with this BPPC it does not boot at all :Doh:

When you power on the power LED just flashes after it tries to POST and gets stuck in a reset loop. Even with nothing connected to IDE/etc. This BPPC is the upgraded one which was sold to me as a Rev2 BPPC and has the latest FW as I flashed it myself a while back.

So looks like I'm back to the drawing board :coffee:

I might transplant my other A1200T into the D-Box instead, its a lovely case... :bowdown:

Steve.

ps. Thanks for the info Gulliver - I forgot to thank you before.

---------- Post added at 20:40 ---------- Previous post was at 19:59 ----------

Well, I hate being defeated so I'm trying agan with the original PPC...

I'm also using Marios Bench this time, maybe that'll help since he already has CGX, etc setup.

I have it booting, I'm a little surprised since with no drivers installed at all for the G-Rex it displays native Workbench screens out of the Voodoo! Thats Witchcraft I tells ya!

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/m...e/IMG_1809.jpg

Now to try and setup CGX for the Voodoo/G-Rex...

Wish me luck!!!

Steve.

Well then, good luck there mate! Hope it all turns out like you want it to. :thumbsup:

GL bro... it's normal that it outputs the 4 color native resolution :)