I have an A1g3XE-800 Powersystem from Eyetech.

With a 750FX v2.2 processor, and whilst everyone (excluding the SE owners) seem to have stable systems, I realy am having problems.

My A1 freezes, or locks up if you prefer, on a fairly regular basis, and I have to hit the case reset button to reboot the system. The keyboard, mouse, and the display are just frozen. I have noticed that this seems to be when I have two directories of the same name open, or when I have two directories with a very large number of files in them. The lockups tend to occur when I am moving windows around, and as I am dragging one in front of another the whole system locks. Sometimes I have left the A1 idle and when I come back to it it is frozen, but usually when it does happen it is when moving the windows of a directory containing a large number of files.

The other thing is to do with printer.prefs, on booting under update1 I used to get the occasional requester, before the backdrop was loaded, saying "cant find file ENV:printer.prefs, Continue." Once I click ok, the backdrop loads and Amidock is refreshed, and everthing is ok. If I look for the ENV:printer.prefs file it exists.
There are a set of lines in the user-startup file, which copy ENVARC to ENV, etc.
By inserting various Amiga dos commands inbetween these lines it would appear it is just a timing problem. Somewhere the A1 looks for the printer.prefs in ENV: before it is copied there. Once I click the requester, the file has loaded.
As I said under update1 this happened occasionally, and was more of an annoyance rather than a problem. Under update2 it happens every time, a more consistant action but more of a problem.

I wonder if these problems might be a DMA issues, and whether a sil680 card would fix them???

On the other hand is there maybe a different solution, i.e. editing start-ups etc, or whether Hyperion are aware of these problems. If an ide controller will solve the problem, all well and good, but I just thought somebody ought to be made aware of a problem. I have other problems with system crashing but I will post them in another thread when I have printed off the crashlogs.


Thanks in advance for any help.

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Peter Swallow.
A1XEG3-800 [IBM 750FX PowerPC], running OS4.1FE, using ac97 onboard sound.

"There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't."

@Swoop

to quote from intuitionbase.com:

Quote:

4 - Stability ========= We developpers have been trying to help ourselves, then the betatesters, and now the broad community of earlybird owners, to fix stability problems. It very often (more than you can imagine) comes down to those things, in high- to low-occurence order : - incompatible memory stick. Symptom : whatever random behaviour. Solution : change for a memory stick delivered by an approved A1 dealer. Kingston buffered sticks seem to be a common working model. - use of two memory sticks. Symptom : whatever random behaviour. Solution : remove all but the 1st. - wrong VCORE (see above) - bad IDE cabling (see si680ide releasenotes, URL above) - insufficient CPU cooling (see cooling URL Labove) - trying to use an UDMA mode that a drive claims to support but which it does not really. Solution : try the mode just below. - motherboard battery worn out (the CR2032). Symptom : random behaviour as early as in UBoot. Solution : change the battery (it costs 5 Euro). Those sentences are very 'straight to the point', but this is a direct first hand experience return, and every developer ran into at least one of those problems (myself, i had mostly all). For instance, one reason which held the release of UDMA a1ide for months, was that I sometimes had 1 flipped bit, among more than 5 GB transferred. I was *sure* that it was a DMA problem, so I chased it for months. In the end, someone suggested me to swap my RAM, I did, and voilà, it never happened ever since (but you know why i cannot release a1ide UDMA either...) Everything in this mail is stated on my sole behalf, it is in no way an official statement from whoever else, nor Eyetech, nor Hyperion etc. - I take no responsibilty to whatever consequence of whatever you do, those words above are only intended as helpful advices, - raising VCORE up to nominal without adequate cooling can FRY your CPU, - VCORE has nothing to do with overclocking, it has to be set close (but below and never above) to nominal value from Motorola / FreeScale processor specs, - again, I only know the XPC7455RX933PC nominal VCORE value, for other PPC cores, find someone with trustworthy information, - the ONLY way to make sure what PPC core you have is to remove the heatsink and fan, and look at what is written on the G4 die. Every letter and digit matters.

for the full article including how to set your voltage correctly see:

http://www.intuitionbase.com/static.php?section=notes

Lewis

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If you don't know what you need to know by the time you need to know it then its not worth knowing

@Swoop

Quote:

With a 750FX v2.2 processor, and whilst everyone (excluding the SE owners) seem to have stable systems, I realy am having problems.

Actually, other than its problems with PCI devices, the SE is a very stable. Mine regularly runs for days between re-boots.

Quote:

As I said under update1 this happened occasionally, and was more of an annoyance rather than a problem. Under update2 it happens every time, a more consistant action but more of a problem.

Most people who report reduced stability with update 2 seems to have CPU-related issues. Either VCore is too low, or the processor is overheating.

You can eliminate both those possibilities by underclocking the CPU. Change the clock multiplier switches (on the CPU card) from on-off-off-on to on-off-on-off. That will drop the processor's speed from 800MHz to 667MHz.

If you A1 is stable after doing that then you need to check core voltage and cooling. If not, it could a PSU or memory issue.

_________________
Who do you serve, and who do you trust? - Galen

@DrBombcrater

Quote:

You can eliminate both those possibilities by underclocking the CPU. Change the clock multiplier switches (on the CPU card) from on-off-off-on to on-off-on-off. That will drop the processor's speed from 800MHz to 667MHz. If you A1 is stable after doing that then you need to check core voltage and cooling. If not, it could a PSU or memory issue.

Yes, that test should be mandatory before starting to fiddle with VCore

_________________
Site admins are people too..pooff!

@DrBombcrater

Quote:

You can eliminate both those possibilities by underclocking the CPU. Change the clock multiplier switches (on the CPU card) from on-off-off-on to on-off-on-off. That will drop the processor's speed from 800MHz to 667MHz. If you A1 is stable after doing that then you need to check core voltage and cooling. If not, it could a PSU or memory issue.

I will have a look 'under the bonnet' and see whatI can do.

As far as cor voltages, I understood that the ones on intuitionbase were only for G4`s and not G3`s.

If someone can supply the G3 (750FX v2.2) core voltages I would be able to adjust them. I dont have the A1g3dev files, although I was on the list, and I don`t know where else to look.

_________________
Peter Swallow.
A1XEG3-800 [IBM 750FX PowerPC], running OS4.1FE, using ac97 onboard sound.

"There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't."

@Swoop

Eyetech's quickstart guide says the 750FX should be set to 1.55v (off-on-off-off).

I'd strongly recommend underclocking the CPU before doing anything with the voltages, because selecting the wrong clock multiplier won't damage the processor. Getting the voltage wrong can.

_________________
Who do you serve, and who do you trust? - Galen

@Swoop

I would check the Ram before anything. That sounds alot like what my A1G4-XE would do when I tried an less than 100% compatable DIMM.

Luck,
Shadow

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AmigaOne G4-XE OS4.0 Still proud
Amiga 4000T 040
Amiga 4000T 060
and a family of little A500's

@DrBombcrater

Quote:

DrBombcrater wrote: @Swoop Eyetech's quickstart guide says the 750FX should be set to 1.55v (off-on-off-off). I'd strongly recommend underclocking the CPU before doing anything with the voltages, because selecting the wrong clock multiplier won't damage the processor. Getting the voltage wrong can.

On looking at the A!XE-user-manual pdf on the Eyetech installation disk it shows the settings for J17 as off.on,off,off being 1.44v, and not 1.55v. This is the only document I can find, where is the Eyetech quick start guide, and which one is correct.

Also there is a digram of the CPU module, and although each component is numbered there is only a description of a few of the parts.
Would I be correct in assuming that D1, D2, D3, and D4, are the switches concerned with the FSB speed?

ps. (I haven`t taken the cover off my A1 yet, as I thought I would check all the available documentation first.)

_________________
Peter Swallow.
A1XEG3-800 [IBM 750FX PowerPC], running OS4.1FE, using ac97 onboard sound.

"There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't."

@Swoop

I think Eyetech's PDF must be wrong. The quickstart guide shows 1.55v as off-on-off-off and the datasheet for the CS5155 voltage controller that's used on the A1 confirms that.

From the quickstart guide :

JP17 CPU voltage range adjuster - in place (shorting)
J17 CPU voltage (4 x switches near PSU connector on main board) depends on CPU module as follows:
7451/7455 (G4) module 1-on 2-off 3-on 4-off
750Fx (G3) module 1-off 2-on 3-off 4-off

_________________
Who do you serve, and who do you trust? - Galen

@DrBombcrater

The pdf is actually by MAI, but the switch settings are the same so I will check they are correct.

Can you confirm that D1-D4 are the FSB dip switches (or I am I just being stupid by not doing a visual check first!!!).

Last edited by Swoop on 16-Jan-2005 at 01:12 PM.

_________________
Peter Swallow.
A1XEG3-800 [IBM 750FX PowerPC], running OS4.1FE, using ac97 onboard sound.

"There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't."

@Swoop

FSB is set by a single jumper on the motherboard, JP13. You do not need to touch that.

There is a bank of four dip swiches on the CPU module that is used to set the CPU speed, located in one corner of the card. These should be set to on-off-off-on for 800MHz. You need to change them to on-off-on-off, which slows the processor to 667MHz.

_________________
Who do you serve, and who do you trust? - Galen

@DrBombcrater

I've just had the cover off my A1.

1. The core voltage is set as off-onn-off-off.

2. I have reduced the clock speed to 667mhz, as suggested.

3. The power supply is :-
Quote:

Switching power supply - Model LC-B300ATX

4. The ram is:-Quote:

*E5556110* PC133 - 512MB DIMM

on the ram chips it says Quote:

HYNIX 303A HY57V56420BT-H KOREA 7B76730PQ

At the moment I still have the "can`t find ENV:printer.prefs file" requester, but so far I haven`t had a lock up, although I have only tried a couple of things.

My system an A1G3-XE was supplied by Eyetech as a complete system, so I would have assumed that all the components were OK.
If my A1 is stable with the reduced clock rate, and the core voltage is set as above, you indicate that I could have a cooling problem. Is there any way I can check this out? Would one of the Zalliman heatsinks do the job? ( as on the soft3 site)

_________________
Peter Swallow.
A1XEG3-800 [IBM 750FX PowerPC], running OS4.1FE, using ac97 onboard sound.

"There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't."

@Swoop

If your A1 remains stable at 667MHz then it is almost certainly a cooling problem. As for heatsinks, I'd have to pass on that one as I've no idea what ones are good or bad.

Maybe someone who's replaced their heatsink can offer some advice.

_________________
Who do you serve, and who do you trust? - Galen

@DrBombcrater

Seems to be stable, all the things I have tried that I thought had previously crashed my system, refuse to do so. Its only been a couple of hours but it's looking good.

Anyway thanks for your help.

_________________
Peter Swallow.
A1XEG3-800 [IBM 750FX PowerPC], running OS4.1FE, using ac97 onboard sound.

"There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't."

@Swoop

This should be a good soloution for cooling, not as noisy as the Zallman.

http://amigairc.amigarevolution.com/cooling.html

Be sure to get the right version of the cooler (A version IIRC)

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