Blizzard PPC black screen

[Ati444]

Hi all,

I have an A1200T with PHASE5 Blizzard PPC Accelerator card + SCSI + BVisionPPC (+RBM ONBoard1200 ZorroII busboard).
A few weeks ago it worked well. (since when I bought newly in the 90's)
But, in the christmas holiday i switched on the machine, it didn't boot because the scsi boot HDD did not appear in the early startup menu, only the two IDE drives and df0 appeared.
Power switched off, then on again, and black screen appeared. No early startup screen, no insert disk animation, nothing.
If I remove BPPC card, the mobo is working.
If I put BPPC card without Bvision with and without RAM, black screen appears. No effect when I press & hold '2' or 'S' or 'Esc' key on cold boot more than a minute or two.
I didn't see any damage on the BPPC card, vents (060+PPC+Bvision) are good condition.
I measured the PSU, +5V OK, +12V OK, -12V not OK, only -8,6V present. ( extra +5V, +12V connected on a floppy connector of course)
I bought a new PSU, all voltages are OK now, but the problem is still remain.
The motherboard is rev. 1D4, but I tied it with another mobo (rev. 1D1.), with same effect (black screen, no boot, etc.)
Can somebody help me with this? It's possible to repair?

Thanks in advance,
Attila

Ps.: Sorry for my poor English...

 

[fitzsteve]

Sorry to hear your problems

Stachu100 is a good person to ask he has worked with many of these cards.

You have made all the correct tests so far to rule out the most common problems, now I think it's for an engineer to look at the card, it could be simple cold solder or something more complicated.

Has the card always had good cooling? Fans in good condition for example?

I hope it is not something too bad, I lost CSPPC to dead CPLD which was a sad day indeed.

 

[RichyV]

Sorry to hear your problems

Stachu100 is a good person to ask he has worked with many of these cards.

I hope it is not something too bad, I lost CSPPC to dead CPLD which was a sad day indeed.

That's sad indeed - enough to make you want to give up the retro collecting malarky!

I too will chip in with a vote for Stachu100 - I recently bought a CSPPC from him on which he had upgraded the 060 to 60MHz and the PPC to 400+ and it's a smashing card!

 

[vibros]

Hello Attila,

what version of PPC leave in your card? QFP or the small BGA version? If BGA, you can try to poweron the Amiga with a slight pressure on the PPC, just to see if there is a contact problem ( very hard to discover with this type of package but you can try...).
Can be that your card need to be reflashed and, if it is dead, the chance are very few, but it is not impossible: just try to boot with the card inserted but disabled (i do not remember the key combination):your Amiga will boot into MC68020,then try to reflash the card.

Then read this

https://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?57840-How-to-upgrade-a-BlizzardPPC-(PPC-side)

If you are thinking to desolder the flashrom, if the problem is there, without a flashrom a BPPC do that: with a 68040 it still boot; with a 68060 can't boot but the LED of the A1200 blink; if so, the card is ok but the flashrom is damaged.
I hope this will help a little bit.

Stefano

 

[fitzsteve]

I had to once re-flash my BPPC, I just found the old thread here:

https://www.amibay.com/showthread.p...-BPPC-wont-boot-(&highlight=bppc+black+screen

Damn that was such a long time ago. I think maybe to reflash you need some life?

 

[Ati444]

Sorry to hear your problems

Has the card always had good cooling? Fans in good condition for example?

There are three fans on the card, + extra heatsink on 060 and Bvision. All fans are in good condition.

 

[fitzsteve]

Looking at post #1 you can't boot with the card disabled can you? (That would rule out possibility to reflash)

 

[Ati444]

I can't disable the ppc card. Until I press the '2' key continuously and power on, nothing happens. (nor 'Esc' or 'S', while I hold down for a minute or more)
And no early startup menu with two mouse button.
But I didn't try that with original keyboard, but only a PC PS2 keyboard with adapter.

- - - Updated - - -

Hello Attila,
what version of PPC leave in your card? QFP or the small BGA version? If BGA, you can try to poweron the Amiga with a slight pressure on the PPC, just to see if there is a contact problem ( very hard to discover with this type of package but you can try...).

There is a small BGA version, i will try your suggestion on Sunday.

If you are thinking to desolder the flashrom, if the problem is there, the BPPC with 68040 still boot, the same card with 68060 can't boot but the LED of the A1200 blink; in this case the card is ok but the flashrom is damaged.
I hope this will help a little bit.
Stefano

I don't thinking about desolder the flash, I'm afraid I'm doing more harm than good
Then I'll be experimenting with the card this weekend, if no success with simple methods, I will ask Stachu for repairing possibilities.

 

[fitzsteve]

I can't disable the ppc card. Until I press the '2' key continuously and power on, nothing happens. (nor 'Esc' or 'S', while I hold down for a minute or more)
And no early startup menu with two mouse button.
But I didn't try that with original keyboard, but only a PC PS2 keyboard with adapter.

Are you able to try with a proper keyboard? I'm not sure if these adapters are 100% reliable in early detection

 

[Ati444]

I will try to search my original A1K2 keyboard (with the foil cable) on Sunday, maybe with that...

 

[Ati444]

Hi all,

Thanks for Stan, my BPPC card works like a charm again!
He inspected and repaired very quickly.
I tried the card with full config (SCSI + IDE hdd, Bvision etc.) and it works stable.

Thanks all for helpful suggestions!

Attila

 

[fitzsteve]

Hi all,

Thanks for Stan, my BPPC card works like a charm again!
He inspected and repaired very quickly.
I tried the card with full config (SCSI + IDE hdd, Bvision etc.) and it works stable.

Thanks all for helpful suggestions!

Attila

Fantastic, that's great news. What was the fault in the end?

 

[Ati444]

Fantastic, that's great news. What was the fault in the end?

Sorry for the late reply!

Stan replaced the defective battery on the card (Panasonic VL-2020), installed a new cooling fan (30x30x6mm 5VDC), cleaned the cpu slot adapter with ultrasonic wash, and soldered an extra 5VDC power connector to the BVision graphics card.

I am very happy now, my Amiga is working again flawlessly

 

[fitzsteve]

Fantastic, that's great news. What was the fault in the end?

Sorry for the late reply!

Stan replaced the defective battery on the card (Panasonic VL-2020), installed a new cooling fan (30x30x6mm 5VDC), cleaned the cpu slot adapter with ultrasonic wash, and soldered an extra 5VDC power connector to the BVision graphics card.

I am very happy now, my Amiga is working again flawlessly

Glad to hear that, enjoy