CSPPC testing & fault finding...

[fitzsteve]

Hi Folks!

I think I shared it in the 'What did you buy today' thread already but I acquired another CSPPC recently, was keeping my fingers crossed that I have more luck with this time but I think the CSPPC jinx is following me oh:

I had it setup and working in my A4000 Mirage Pro, all seemed well for the first tests, I played some Quake, etc and was running nice. I was even able to run OS4.1 Classic without any issues via the Mediator with a Radeon 9250!

Coming back to it after a couple of weeks it locks up quite soon after running any PPC software and in fact now fails to even boot sometimes

Of course I tried the basics like re-seating the card & Ram, checked that crystals were not loose, etc.

Lockups I usually find are due to Ram or PSU so I decided to swap them both out, I took lots of pics during that so I'll share them with you now!

Here's the CSPPC, it 060 @50mhz and 604e has been replaced with 330mhz unit.

As you can see I have fitted a fan to the 060 as well, it's worth noting neither the 060 or PPC seem to get hot so the fans are doing there job so I think I can rule out heat as a problem.

A quick look at the Motherboard without the PSU & CSPPC in the way, it's a RevD with the built in 030, I wonder if these are known to have issues with the CSPPC?

And the CSPPC installed:

I'm using SCSI-IDE which was working fine with my CSMkIII, correctly terminated of course:

So no need for IDE or FDD, lets terminate those

And a couple of shots of everything installed:

Lots of goodies installed here, PCI: Voodoo 3, FM801 Sound and Realtek Lan. ZorroIII: Deneb USB & 128mb ZorRam

The verdict? Well it's still locking up with 3 different sets of Ram and the new PSU.

I'm going to get the Capacitors replaced on the A4000 Motherboard, they are the original ones since new and maybe this is the cause of the instability.

Out of curiosity I just tested the CSPPC on another A4000 which has been re-capped and it seems to be running fine. I took a short Video:

[m]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46kuyxjE8YY[/m]

So I'm hoping the Re-cap does the job! Fingers crossed

I really hope my CSPPC curse can be lifted

 

[mjnurney]

Recap that bad boy Steve

 

[roy_bates]

yep looks like a recap is in order,nice bit of kit there steve.

that reminds me,i will really have to get the permedia card for mine.
well,one day

thats if i can pry the machine out of my freinds hands.

 

[mjnurney]

I'll have to jump on the classic ppc wagon soon too..

 

[Dragonheart]

Nice machine, nice pictures
I'll never get a PPC though, that's no Amiga for me anymore

 

[fitzsteve]

Thanks guys! I'm going to get the recap done fo' sure. I already pulled the mobo this afternoon (took an age lol)

Glad you enjoyed the pics

 

[roy_bates]

anyway,is that one of those chipset coolers that lights up when its on?

 

[fitzsteve]

anyway,is that one of those chipset coolers that lights up when its on?

Yep

 

[roy_bates]

anyway,is that one of those chipset coolers that lights up when its on?

Yep

excellent,are you going to put another on the ppc side as well?,
go its looks great

 

[fitzsteve]

excellent,are you going to put another on the ppc side as well?,
go its looks great

Yeah possibly if you can buy the fan without the heatsink

 

[roy_bates]

excellent,are you going to put another on the ppc side as well?,
go its looks great

Yeah possibly if you can buy the fan without the heatsink

doesent matter its just screwed on bud,just pop it off and put that sucker on the ppc heatsink

 

[fitzsteve]

You talked me into it, I bought another

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290493651100?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 

[roy_bates]

yesh

 

[User2921]

My csppc worked for a few hours before totally dying. Stachu tried to fix but the card was beyond repair. LOTS of funds wasted on that one. Maybe I have your curse now!

I'm still going to try and get another one. Maybe I'll get rid of one of my a3k's and my a4k towered to do so

 

[fitzsteve]

@esc I read about that, it really sux

I already lost one CSPPC and I don't think if this one dies I'd throw anymore money at the cause.

Maybe one day we will get a replacement A4000 PPC (there was one in the works but I don't think it came to anything)

 

[User2921]

The one that failed on me had faulty scsi from the start. It only booted intermittently. Then it stopped booting completely.

There's really no other way to use the ppc with a big box amiga though, it really sucks. I wish there were another card to use!

 

[fitzsteve]

The one that failed on me had faulty scsi from the start. It only booted intermittently. Then it stopped booting completely.

There's really no other way to use the ppc with a big box amiga though, it really sucks. I wish there were another card to use!

That's interesting, maybe it's my SCSI at fault since I was testing on the A4000D with IDE. When installed in my tower as you can see I was using SCSI. But it only seemed to crash whilst using PPC. Plus I have WarpOS and WarpDT installed so it's using the PPC during booting. I'm really hoping it was just capacitor related issues

Why don't you get yourself a Sam or AmigaOne? I know it's not a 'classic' Amiga but it will give you PPC and wont cost the earth

 

[roy_bates]

do you think its worth re-flashing the firmware?

 

[fitzsteve]

do you think its worth re-flashing the firmware?

Well since it seems to work ok in the other A4000 I'm not so sure. The proof will be in the testing after I get my Motherboard re-capped.

The system I was testing on today has a sale agreed on it so I don't really want to mess with that anymore as I need the money else I'd plumb that into my Mirage Pro Tower

 

[roy_bates]

do you think its worth re-flashing the firmware?

Well since it seems to work ok in the other A4000 I'm not so sure. The proof will be in the testing after I get my Motherboard re-capped.

The system I was testing on today has a sale agreed on it so I don't really want to mess with that anymore as I need the money else I'd plumb that into my Mirage Pro Tower

forgot that part:double