Finally got around to giving my A2000 some TLC, afters some unfortunate events I've finally made some good progress
you may be wondering what I mean by triple processors well I mean this system is equipped with the 68K,030 and a 060
So lets start with the build and then I will go through the issues I have faced whiles trying to piece this amazing system together.
The build so far:
A2000 CR rev 6 motherboard
CSA Delringer 030 with FPU and 68K installed and 32mb Ram
Tekmagic 2060 with 128mb ram (This One)
Tuxbar81 Custom made Megachip soldered Directly to the motherboard to keep its profile low (allowing it to fit under the CSA)
Scandoubler with Bmon Switch
Buddha IDE
Prisma Megamix Music card
Zorro Amtari Emulator
GBAP++ RTG card
What's still to come:
Looking for a switching system to manually switch to the required processor I wish to use
Kickstart Switcher
Adding a Single board computer which will work with the Bmon Switch to allow for easy monitor switch between the SBC and the Amiga
Adding a 2 slim CD-ROMs with a custom 3d printed 5.25" bay, one which can be accessed by the Amiga and one for the SBC
I will add pictures of where I am now and the continuing upgrades has I go when I have time to do this
Now for the issues I faced with the Tekmagic.
The hardest part for me was acquiring a 060 A2000 Accelerator, but luckily one came up in Switzerland from Miru and after the second round of COVID lockdowns he was finally able to pass this onto my friend who managed to get this to me
Unfortunately for me when I installed the Tekmagic I received a System Error Now (I didn't blame Miru for this because he showed it working via videos before he passed it onto my friend, I believe it may have been the drop it had from my letterbox because it was packaged small enough to fit through my letter box and there is quite a drop from there.)
Every time I clicked resume the error would pop up with a new unit number until I got through them all which lead me to believe it was SCSI problem.
This error also popped up before allowing me to enter the Kickstart boot screen, I could only access this after getting passed all the errors and once there the card stated it was working
I tested the card in 3 different A2000 and they all display the same error (All the A2000 were tested with no other Zorro cards attached but still I got the same errors get the same error).
I also set the SCSI terminator jumper to on and off but same error whatever way it was set.
I managed to get the card to run along side my Buddha which allowed me to get into an OS after getting through all the errors and the card seems to be working in all other aspects i.e. CPU FPU & MMU detected Ram displayed it's just the SCSI side which is not working It was really frustrating because has ran rock solid with everything else.
Scouring the internet for any info on this error came up with nothing well only one hit with a user experiencing this issue every so often but not all the time and there was no mention of a fix.
So I Asked within the forum for any suggestions and came up with a plan to fix it which was:
1. One of my pals is sending me a SCSI terminator to "Clean" the SCSI Bus has he put it. (This had no effect on the error I was receiving)
2. Ordered some 27C512 EPROM's to make some new boot ROMs to rule them out. (This had no effect on the error I was receiving)
3. If all of the above didn't work, replace the onboard SCSI Controller NCR 53C710 IC this is what I initially thought the issue lied and it was also mentioned by Buzzfuzz when I asked for any suggestions. (ordered one from eBay, suggest you avoid this seller (Click Me) which I will explain in a bit)
So focusing on the SCSI I sent this to someone with more skills than me in removing and fitting the new SCSI IC ( scrappysphinx )
On receipt, he was concerned by what looked like flux/corrosion around the NCR SCSI chip. I asked if he would be able to remove the IC without damaging it to which he replied not a problem. I will add pictures of this soon.
Sadly he doesn't own an A2000 so he had to send the card back to me to for me to test
When I received the card with the new SCSI IC fitted the card did absolutely nothing I check it all over insuring the Boot IC were fitted correctly but still a no go the 060 wasn't even warming up.
Suspecting the worst, thinking that we may have killed the Tekmagic 2060 I asked Scrappy if we could replace the original SCSI Chip to see if the card returns to the way it was
So I sent it back to him with some other tech which needed repairs/recapping and to my horror he contacted me saying the package has been posted to the wrong address and the courier is not sure of the exact address only a GPS location I was like FFS can anything else go wrong.
Luckily a few days later the courier contacted me stating they have located the package and it now back on route to its destination.
Scrappy got to work in removing the "new" SCSI IC and replacing the old one and sent it back to me.
Amazingly this restored the cards to a fully functional state, the errors were gone and the SCSI system was working and detecting SCSI HDD's
int::drinkin::arms so it looks like the IC from eBay was a fake or it was just faulty and the original fault was maybe a cold solder joint. I am so happy that this card has been restored.
Mokry I noticed you commented in Miru's For Sale thread, I am not getting them errors but maybe its your memory I've read a lot that the Tekmagic is very fussy about the Simms used with it. also have you tried contacting the guy who runs the unofficial GVP website he gave me a lot of helpful suggestions even though he had not seen my error before.
hopefully this may help someone in the future if they experience this error
Pictures coming soon
here is the MegaChip installed
and then the CSA
The Tekmagic 2060
The BMon Switch
The Scandoubler
The Buddha Flash
The Prisma Megamix
The GBAP++
The Amtari
Other projects of mine you maybe interested in:
A500+:
you may be wondering what I mean by triple processors well I mean this system is equipped with the 68K,030 and a 060
So lets start with the build and then I will go through the issues I have faced whiles trying to piece this amazing system together.
The build so far:
A2000 CR rev 6 motherboard
CSA Delringer 030 with FPU and 68K installed and 32mb Ram
Tekmagic 2060 with 128mb ram (This One)
Tuxbar81 Custom made Megachip soldered Directly to the motherboard to keep its profile low (allowing it to fit under the CSA)
Scandoubler with Bmon Switch
Buddha IDE
Prisma Megamix Music card
Zorro Amtari Emulator
GBAP++ RTG card
What's still to come:
Looking for a switching system to manually switch to the required processor I wish to use
Kickstart Switcher
Adding a Single board computer which will work with the Bmon Switch to allow for easy monitor switch between the SBC and the Amiga
Adding a 2 slim CD-ROMs with a custom 3d printed 5.25" bay, one which can be accessed by the Amiga and one for the SBC
I will add pictures of where I am now and the continuing upgrades has I go when I have time to do this
Now for the issues I faced with the Tekmagic.
The hardest part for me was acquiring a 060 A2000 Accelerator, but luckily one came up in Switzerland from Miru and after the second round of COVID lockdowns he was finally able to pass this onto my friend who managed to get this to me
Unfortunately for me when I installed the Tekmagic I received a System Error Now (I didn't blame Miru for this because he showed it working via videos before he passed it onto my friend, I believe it may have been the drop it had from my letterbox because it was packaged small enough to fit through my letter box and there is quite a drop from there.)
Every time I clicked resume the error would pop up with a new unit number until I got through them all which lead me to believe it was SCSI problem.
This error also popped up before allowing me to enter the Kickstart boot screen, I could only access this after getting passed all the errors and once there the card stated it was working
I tested the card in 3 different A2000 and they all display the same error (All the A2000 were tested with no other Zorro cards attached but still I got the same errors get the same error).
I also set the SCSI terminator jumper to on and off but same error whatever way it was set.
I managed to get the card to run along side my Buddha which allowed me to get into an OS after getting through all the errors and the card seems to be working in all other aspects i.e. CPU FPU & MMU detected Ram displayed it's just the SCSI side which is not working It was really frustrating because has ran rock solid with everything else.
Scouring the internet for any info on this error came up with nothing well only one hit with a user experiencing this issue every so often but not all the time and there was no mention of a fix.
So I Asked within the forum for any suggestions and came up with a plan to fix it which was:
1. One of my pals is sending me a SCSI terminator to "Clean" the SCSI Bus has he put it. (This had no effect on the error I was receiving)
2. Ordered some 27C512 EPROM's to make some new boot ROMs to rule them out. (This had no effect on the error I was receiving)
3. If all of the above didn't work, replace the onboard SCSI Controller NCR 53C710 IC this is what I initially thought the issue lied and it was also mentioned by Buzzfuzz when I asked for any suggestions. (ordered one from eBay, suggest you avoid this seller (Click Me) which I will explain in a bit)
So focusing on the SCSI I sent this to someone with more skills than me in removing and fitting the new SCSI IC ( scrappysphinx )
On receipt, he was concerned by what looked like flux/corrosion around the NCR SCSI chip. I asked if he would be able to remove the IC without damaging it to which he replied not a problem. I will add pictures of this soon.
Sadly he doesn't own an A2000 so he had to send the card back to me to for me to test
When I received the card with the new SCSI IC fitted the card did absolutely nothing I check it all over insuring the Boot IC were fitted correctly but still a no go the 060 wasn't even warming up.
Suspecting the worst, thinking that we may have killed the Tekmagic 2060 I asked Scrappy if we could replace the original SCSI Chip to see if the card returns to the way it was
So I sent it back to him with some other tech which needed repairs/recapping and to my horror he contacted me saying the package has been posted to the wrong address and the courier is not sure of the exact address only a GPS location I was like FFS can anything else go wrong.
Luckily a few days later the courier contacted me stating they have located the package and it now back on route to its destination.
Scrappy got to work in removing the "new" SCSI IC and replacing the old one and sent it back to me.
Amazingly this restored the cards to a fully functional state, the errors were gone and the SCSI system was working and detecting SCSI HDD's
int::drinkin::arms so it looks like the IC from eBay was a fake or it was just faulty and the original fault was maybe a cold solder joint. I am so happy that this card has been restored.Mokry I noticed you commented in Miru's For Sale thread, I am not getting them errors but maybe its your memory I've read a lot that the Tekmagic is very fussy about the Simms used with it. also have you tried contacting the guy who runs the unofficial GVP website he gave me a lot of helpful suggestions even though he had not seen my error before.
hopefully this may help someone in the future if they experience this error
Pictures coming soon
here is the MegaChip installed
and then the CSA
The Tekmagic 2060
The BMon Switch
The Scandoubler
The Buddha Flash
The Prisma Megamix
The GBAP++
The Amtari
Other projects of mine you maybe interested in:
A500+:
Timtheloon's A500+ with A570 CD-ROM and TF536 Build
A600:Timtheloon's A600HD PiStorm Build
A2000:Timtheloon's A2000 Triple Processor Project
A1200:Timtheloon's Checkmate A1500 Plus (A1200 Build)
CD32:Timtheloon's CD32 SX32 Pro Setup with Cosmos Kickstart Mod
Timtheloon's CD32 TF360 Plus ProModule Build
A4KD & A4KTTimtheloon’s A4000cr Alice project
Timtheloon's A4000T Project
Acorn RiscPC:Timtheloon's RiscPC 600 build
RetroPCTimtheloon's Retro High-End AGP (HD3850) PC (Dual Boot WinXP & Win7)
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