I have received my sam as well as two versions of os4.1 on for the sam and the other for my amiga one xe.

I initially had problems installing to the Amigaone but this was resolved after I used the correct CD however I can no longer access the original drive that I attempted the installation too (installed new drive to install onto). But this is a different issue.

The first problem I am having with the SAM440ep is the display does not always come on, i have tried four different DVI-VGA adaptors, ran it via a kvm and directly to an lcd and crt.

Currently the only way I can ensure it shows everytime is to use a kvm (connected to my PC) and display the PC first switch on the sam and then redirect the kvm to the sam after it is powered, otherwise the display (both crt and two lcd's simply blink). I have had very mixed results connecting directly to an lcd (via various dvi-vga adaptors) but the KVM ensure it always works.

Even once I have it showing the OS4.1 boot screen if I do a warm reset (ctrl + left amiga/win + right amiga/win) the display my disappear again and the monitor will report no signal.

The system appears to be running even though there is no display. I am giving this as a bit of background to see whether something a little more sinister is going on because this is not my major problem.

My major issue (as indicated by the subject) is out of the numerous times I have attempted installation in the tens, I have only ever been able to get to the locale selection screen once and even when that occured I had to restart after creating partition on the drive.

I can get the system to recognise both the DVD-RW and the HDD (I didn't get any manuals with the SAM440ep and it took a lot of trial and error to work out that I can only connect to J20 and J23 on the board - I don't know enough about U-Boot to work out if new env vars need to be set to recognise and use all sata ports) and I can get it to boot from the CD drive by chaning the boot sequence to on-board sata cd-rom.

It find the SLB, loads kickstart and shows the OS4.1 Boot Loader. After that the CD-Drive accesses for a short while and then nothing. I have the left the system on for over an hour. I have also tried a number of Hard Drives as well as swapping the devices on J20 and J23 around to no avail.

I though about the Early Warning screen and decided to hold both the LMB and RMB down at the OS 4.1 Boot loader and boot without runnnig startup-sequence (Only CD0) shows at this stage since it is the onyl device with a valid SLB and Partition.

I systematically went through first startup-sequence in cd0:s and moved onto the second one in cd0:system/s (which was assigned as s: after running the assigns from the first startup-sequence) and on my first attempt I was able to run everything (that was there a few directories don't exist so those assigns fail) but it didn't return from locale (which is in another script fileI did put in the argument but cant recall it atm i think it was showtips=yes). I noticed that from the comments in the script that the argument was supposed to allow the program to run without workbench starting (since loadwb is actually after all of the scripts running).

Well that was my first problem on successive attempts to identify whether locale was or wasnt the culprit it constantly failed to return after I attempted to run iprefs.

I do apologise for the long winded article and assume most wont make it this far but if you do, is there anything I am doing wrong that might assist me or is this perhaps something more sinister like a hardware fault?

@dwayne_jarvis

All I know is that only two of the SATA connectors can be used to boot from think it's J20 and J21, but what do I know I don't even have Sam440ep

As for your monitor problem, check the tooltypes on devs:Monitors/Radeon, maybe the sync values are wrong or to hi

Last edited by NutsAboutAmiga on 30-Oct-2008 at 07:00 AM.

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@dwayne

Showing my ignorance here (Haven't got a Sam yet). Is there a DVI port on the Sam and are you using that to connect to the monitor? Because the video driver should interrogate the monitor and the two should agree on a video mode.

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@dwayne_jarvis

Quote:

The first problem I am having with the SAM440ep is the display does not always come on, i have tried four different DVI-VGA adaptors, ran it via a kvm and directly to an lcd and crt.

About the DVI-VGA converter, are you using the one delivered with the board ?

You can dowload the Sam440ep user manual from here:

http://www.acube-systems.biz/download/sam_manual_0.7.pdf

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Massimiliano Tretene, ACube Systems, Soft3

@NutsAboutAmiga

The video problems are from when the system is started and before kickstart is loaded. This is at the BIOS level.

@tonyw

Sam has DVI or if you are clever enough it has the header for VGA but you need to get a cable to go from that to teh 15pin D Shell VGA adaptor.

@m3x

Didn't get a DVI connector with the board otherwise I would have. I don't know the exact type required but I have used two types of DVI-VGA adaptor thus far and both are not resetting? the video signal correctly when the system is initialised.

Unfortunately I am still in abit of bother. Does anybody have an idea as to why the system is halting presumably when it goes to load iprefs? NOTE: This is from installation CD.

@dwayne_jarvis

The Sam440ep board needs a custom DVI-VGA adapter, this is the reason why we delivery every board with one adapter. It's strange you didn't get the DVI-VGA adapter neither the printed manual...
Try contacting your dealer about the adapter, or, in case he doesn't have any available, send us your shipping address, we'll send one free of charge.
In the meant time you could use a VGA cable for the internal VGA header, borrowed from some ATI cards (the header pin out is compatible with the one used on ATI gfx cards)

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@m3x

I didn't know if anybody was reselling in Australia so I bought it direct from ACube. I will look for a spare card at my office (I own a PC company) I will use that and let you know otherwise I will take you up on the offer for the freebie.

The system was pre-built and everything was in bubble wrap and placed on the inside of the case. with the exception of the Amiga OS 4.1 CD's. They were flatpacked and in the side of the box.

I recall Enrico telling me that the PCI riser that ships with the Zooty Case is not Voltage compatible with the mainboard. One was still packed inside of my case, could this possibly be the original from the Zooty or a voltage compatible one? Would you know?

@dwayne_jarvis

Just checked with Enrico, he is almost sure the DVI adapter was into the package sent your way. Could it be the adapter is hidden somewhere in the bubble wrap?

About the PCI riser card, it's the original one and therefore it isn't suitable for your case.

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Massimiliano Tretene, ACube Systems, Soft3

@m3x

ok thanks for the update.. i will check the bubble wrap but Im not going to hold my breath.. better check before tomorrow when the rubbish from the office gets thrown out..

I will remember to throw out the riser.

@m3x

I am speaking to rigo on the IRC atm. Is the dvi-vga adaptor a DVI-I adaptor?

@dwayne_jarvis

the one shipped with the sam board is a modified DVI-I adaptor

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Massimiliano Tretene, ACube Systems, Soft3

@m3x

Definitely no DVI-adaptor I will need to speak with you to get one shipped.

Have done further tests with my setup and was able to get my AmigaOne upgraded. I then used the SAM CD (after the AmiagOne had booted) installed the SLB and OS onto the SATA HDD I wanted to use for the sam.

It now loads kickstart but again it stops at the OS4.1 Boot Load screen. I editted the startup-sequence and remarked out iprefs and the system boots but is obviously not usable.

My problem seems to stem from IPrefs hanging for some unknown reason. I had done enough tests to determine that this is also where it hangs when booting from the CD.

I really need someone to explain to me why iprefs is not running. I put round brackets around Interrupt=yes and even said Interrupt=no in the radeon info to no avail.

Any suggestions would bevery muc welcome and appreciated.

To get around the display issue I am connecting the monitor directly to a samsung lcd via dvi but this is not my monitor and I don't want to have to use it if i can avoid it.

@dwayne_jarvis

On my A1XE I have a similar problem if in WB prefs I check the small icons in text mode : upon booting, iprefs give a GR (clicking on ignore dsi, it works).
Try to disable small icons and see if it works
(I still have no sam)

Luca

Last edited by lucaricossa on 01-Nov-2008 at 06:38 AM.

@m3x
Why does Sam need a modified DVI-VGA adaptor? (Looking for technical explanation.) it's not ideal, although personally I will be using a DVI monitor.

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@dwayne_jarvis

Quote:

My problem seems to stem from IPrefs hanging for some unknown reason. I had done enough tests to determine that this is also where it hangs when booting from the CD.

I had IPrefs hang up on me once, and found out that the RTC got stuck. You might want to check that. IIRC U-Boot has a command to reset the RTC.

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@Rogue

Quote:

I had IPrefs hang up on me once, and found out that the RTC got stuck. You might want to check that. IIRC U-Boot has a command to reset the RTC.

It happened to me too, a couple of times...

@dwayne_jarvis

enter the UBoot prompt and type:

date reset (enter)
date 110113002008 (enter)

to set for example the date to Nov, 1 2008 13:00

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Massimiliano Tretene, ACube Systems, Soft3

For anyone else worried by dwayne_jarvis's problems, I built my Sam440 & installed OS4.1 at the Mag Bash without any real difficulty. I got a little help from an experienced OS4 user in a couple of places. The only issues I ran into were:

* Initially my Sam would not display anything, not even the BIOS stuff. Turned out that I had not installed the memory DIMM properly.

* OS4 installer crashed in some places when I got too impatient (clicking something several times), and also when I tried screen dragging (!). After being more patient & not messing about it worked fine.

* I don't think the manual explained *exactly* how to load/install the SLB (although I could be wrong, need to check the manual again). Otherwise it gave enough info, you just have to read it slowly & carefully.

* There were no profiles for MediaToolbox to load, so I had to create all the partitions manually. Since OS4 has some limitations on the boot partition, and since SFS has a block-size limitation itself, this required some careful reading of the manual.

* After configuring OS4 a bit I rebooted and OS4 got 'stuck' at the boot screen. Turned out that AddInterfaces was waiting for a response from the non-existent network. Adding Run >NIL: before it fixed that. (I had to hold both mouse buttons after resetting, choose Boot Without Startup-Sequence, then type Ed S:Startup-Sequence to edit it - although if I had waited long enough OS4 would probably have booted without such fiddling, then I could have used EditPad or whatever the OS4 equivalent is.) IMHO Run >NIL: before AddInterfaces should be standard.

Anyway, seems to work great...

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@m3x

this was the solution. Thanks to everyone that helped out with this. You sometimes feel quite remote when you are an Amiga User especially in a country like Australia where there is no real presence from resellers unlike a decade ago.

Luckily there is a great community spirit out there otherwise I would be using my PC exclusively.

Thanks for Simon "riggo" for the taking the time out to talk on the #sam IRC channel to work through a few things as well.

I was starting to think that I had spent all of that money for nothing a little persistence paid off. It's not like where aren't used to that anyway

Many thanks to everyone.