Click Here
home features news forums classifieds faqs links search
6071 members 
Amiga Q&A /  Free for All /  Emulation /  Gaming / (Latest Posts)
Login

Nickname

Password

Lost Password?

Don't have an account yet?
Register now!

Support Amigaworld.net
Your support is needed and is appreciated as Amigaworld.net is primarily dependent upon the support of its users.
Donate

Menu
Main sections
» Home
» Features
» News
» Forums
» Classifieds
» Links
» Downloads
Extras
» OS4 Zone
» IRC Network
» AmigaWorld Radio
» Newsfeed
» Top Members
» Amiga Dealers
Information
» About Us
» FAQs
» Advertise
» Polls
» Terms of Service
» Search

IRC Channel
Server: irc.amigaworld.net
Ports: 1024,5555, 6665-6669
SSL port: 6697
Channel: #Amigaworld
Channel Policy and Guidelines

Who's Online
16 crawler(s) on-line.
 123 guest(s) on-line.
 2 member(s) on-line.


 BigD,  OlafS25

You are an anonymous user.
Register Now!
 BigD:  9 secs ago
 OlafS25:  38 secs ago
 zErec:  7 mins ago
 amigakit:  10 mins ago
 retrofaza:  39 mins ago
 kolla:  53 mins ago
 edwardsjethro:  1 hr 45 mins ago
 joeyunderwood:  1 hr 46 mins ago
 Sikharubel:  1 hr 49 mins ago
 Musashi5150:  2 hrs 11 mins ago

/  Forum Index
   /  Amiga News & Events
      /  Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Register To Post

Goto page ( Previous Page 1 | 2 | 3 Next Page )
PosterThread
gadgetgaz 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 15-Oct-2004 18:41:05
#21 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 31-Jul-2003
Posts: 203
From: Yorkshire, UK

@sg2

Thanks again for this very useful info Stephane, my A1 is now flying!

On an unrelated note, are you porting your excellent amiVNC to OS4?

With the OS4PR update VVA is as fast on my A1 as winVNC on my 1.5GHz centrino laptop but I
sorely need a VNC server for my A1.

Cheers.

_________________
AmigaONE XE G4
____________________

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Niolator 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 1:19:26
#22 ]
Super Member
Joined: 3-May-2003
Posts: 1420
From: Unknown

My AmigaOne has been a little unstable, especially when I have tried to clock it to 866 Mhz. I have heard a lot about that VCORE is set to low on all the AmigaONE G4XE´s so I thought that the instability had something to do with that. But I have been a little anxious about raising the VCORE voltage as I have heard that the CPU might get fried without appropriate cooling.

As I am getting my Sil0680 card any day now I thought I should check the VCORE setting on my AmigaOne and imagine my surprise when I see that the VCORE is set to 1.84V. I don´t have the original fan, I have a slightly better one, but the VCORE should be set to 1.79V the most according to every instruction I have seen. I haven´t touched the DIP switch before so it must have been set by Eyetech.

So the problem might have been caused by not to low VCORE setting but by to high. I have set it down to 1.79V now and my AmigaOne seems to run smoothly (I haven´t tested it that long yet though). I might try to set it at 866 Mhz later to see if it´s more stable at that speed than before.


Last edited by Niolator on 27-Oct-2004 at 01:36 AM.
Last edited by Niolator on 27-Oct-2004 at 01:21 AM.
Last edited by Niolator on 27-Oct-2004 at 01:20 AM.

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
tomazkid 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 1:20:23
#23 ]
Team Member
Joined: 31-Jul-2003
Posts: 11694
From: Kristianstad, Sweden

@Niolator

You had a 7450/51 too ?

_________________
Site admins are people too..pooff!

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Ryu 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 1:23:50
#24 ]
Super Member
Joined: 5-Mar-2003
Posts: 1092
From: Scunthorpe

Just for reference sake Ive put the information up on IntuitionBase.com as an article.

_________________
Regards
Darren 'Ryu' Glenn
----------------------------
www.IntuitionBase.com - Your Guide to Amiga OS4.x and the AmigaOne
www.Bambi-Amiga.co.uk - My A1200 webserver, running 24/7/365

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Niolator 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 1:24:46
#25 ]
Super Member
Joined: 3-May-2003
Posts: 1420
From: Unknown

@tomazkid

No I have a 7455 933Mhz, If it was a 7450/51 I think it would have been fried by now. (Don´t they have lower optimum VCORE requierments?).

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
tomazkid 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 1:25:03
#26 ]
Team Member
Joined: 31-Jul-2003
Posts: 11694
From: Kristianstad, Sweden

@Ryu

A good thing, propably easier to find it there, than search for this thread six months from now

_________________
Site admins are people too..pooff!

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
tomazkid 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 1:27:41
#27 ]
Team Member
Joined: 31-Jul-2003
Posts: 11694
From: Kristianstad, Sweden

@Niolator

Actually 1.8volts seem to be standard for 7450/51 @800mhz, judging from Freescale documents.
But no need to run that high if the system is stable, mine runs fine at 1,59

Does the network work ok now btw ?

_________________
Site admins are people too..pooff!

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Niolator 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 1:28:31
#28 ]
Super Member
Joined: 3-May-2003
Posts: 1420
From: Unknown

@Ryu

Yes, it was thanks to that article I found out how to set the DIP switch. Thanks for that.

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Niolator 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 1:32:27
#29 ]
Super Member
Joined: 3-May-2003
Posts: 1420
From: Unknown

@tomazkid

Yepp, the network runs fine. I am glad you helped me, I just hope that everything goes as good with the sil0680 card. Or it maybe goes so well that I don´t even need any help at all.

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
tonyw 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 3:47:33
#30 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 8-Mar-2003
Posts: 3240
From: Sydney (of course)

Stephane mentioned this at the start of this thread, but just to emphasise:

The SII680 is described differently in U-Boot and OS4, due to a slight misunderstanding. The ide_xxxx and sil_xxxx env variables are written into the EEPROM and read there by a library function once OS4 has booted up (and U-Boot has been vapourised). So all the stored variables for si680ide.device must be spelt "sil_xxxx" - that's "ESS-EYE-ELL".

In U-Boot, however, we must set the env var "ide" to "sii" to boot from the sii680 card, so use the command "setenv ide sii" - that's "ESS-EYE-EYE".

Once U-Boot has the "ide = sii" env var, it takes it as a macro, and when you type "ide reset", it actually does an "sii reset".

tony

_________________
cheers
tony

Hyperion Support Forum: http://forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz/index.php

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
syrtran 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 4:43:47
#31 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 27-Apr-2003
Posts: 835
From: Farther upstate than Upstate NY

@tomazkid

I've downloaded every single hardware document I could find at Moto/Freescale's site, and I get these revs/voltages:

MPC7451EC (600, 667MHz) 1.6V
MPC7451RXxxxPG (xxx=733, 800, 867MHz) 1.8v
XPC7451RX800SG 1.75V

However, my 7451 has MPC7451RX800RE on it, and exists nowhere in Moto's documents. It runs fine at 1.59V.


@thread

Take the warnings about overheating seriously! Before I sorted out the overheating problems with my very tight Silverstone LC-02 case (the PSU actually pumped hot air into the case!) I accidentally let the CPU get to 70C! It still works, luckily, but it no longer runs reliably at 800MHz. I run it at 733MHz with no problems. I got -very- lucky.

_________________
Tony T.

People who generalize are always wrong.


1989 - 500 / 1991 - 3000 / 1997 - Genesis Flyer 1200T / 2003 - A1XE

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
tomazkid 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 6:09:58
#32 ]
Team Member
Joined: 31-Jul-2003
Posts: 11694
From: Kristianstad, Sweden

@syrtran

Here is a general MPC7450-51 FACT, it says 1,8volts.



_________________
Site admins are people too..pooff!

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
AlexC 
Some words of advice
Posted on 27-Oct-2004 6:32:11
#33 ]
Super Member
Joined: 22-Jan-2004
Posts: 1300
From: City of Lost Angels, California.

Hi. Here's a few words of advice before some poor souls fry their CPU:


  1. First and foremost: Ground yourself!

    • A lot of CPUs have been destroyed instantly by touching the module while holding an electrostatic charge on the body.
    • Don't stand on synthetic carpet, nor wear shoes or synthetic clothing.
    • Merely rubbing your bottom on a synthetic chair can create a charge.
    • Dry air allows static electicity to build-up very easily.
    • Wear an antistatic wristband that's connected to a grounded object or metallic water pipe.

  2. If you remove the heatsink to read the CPU part number...

    • Take that opportunity to put a better heatsink and fan.
    • Clean the die (small square in the center of CPU) and bottom of the heatsink.
    • Don't even think about reusing whatever material was there.
    • Use some high quality thermal compound like 'ArcticSilver' to bind the heatsink to the CPU, not adhesive thermal pads as they create too much resistivity.
    • Put a really small amount of compound, just enough to create an even film, and don't let any spread beyond the die.
    • Make absolutely sure there is no compound or aluminum dust shorting the legs of those tiny chips around the die.
    • If you use a new heatsink, make sure it doesn't touch the other components around the die and on the CPU module.
    • If possible use plastic spacers to make sure the heatsink lays flat on the CPU when mounted.
    • The more fins it has and thus cm2 of heat exchange area the better the cooling.
    • Eventually the CPU fan could die, and your CPU would fry... Unless the heatsink can diffuse enough heat and the airflow around the CPU is sufficient to keep it below 65 degrees Celsius.
    • If your case allows it, add a case intake fan (with a dust filter) near where the joystick port is located.
    • Copper heatsinks are more efficient than aluminum ones, but they're heavier too. Don't use one that's too heavy as it may damage the module when transporting the A1.

  3. If you have a "PC" type CPU and raise the voltage to 1.79 Volts...

    • The temperature of the CPU will rise dramatically. Don't even try with the original "TT" (ThermalTake) cooler, it was designed for 200MHz gfx chips.
    • There is only one way to be sure your CPU isn't overheating: Monitor the temperature with a sensor.
    • Considering the price of a replacement CPU module, I'd strongly suggest that you get a decent fan controller with digital temperature monitor. The kind that goes in the 3.5" or 5.25" drive bay.
    • I use a Power Flower Fan Master. It comes with 4 sensors to monitor the temperature of the CPU, GFX, HDD and PSU, and control the speed of up to 4 fans. It has an alarm in case a fan stops or anything overheats. $25 from Directron.com

  4. Accurately measuring the temperature...

    • The best place for the temperature sensor is behind the heatsink, 1 or 2mm above where the CPU die meets the heatsink. That's the hottest spot you can measure. It's easier to put the sensor there before mounting the heatsink.
    • To make sure you have proper cooling, the temperature could be measured with dnetc running, (the distributed.net RC5 client) with AltiVec enabled as this will make the CPU as hot as it can get.
    • Room temperature has an exponential impact on cooling too. For your measurements make the room as warm as it would be in summer, or your CPU might just fry next summer when you're not around to hear the temperature alarm go off.

  5. Hack: Automatic shutdown in case of fan failure or overheating...
    If you have enough electronics skills, you can use the alarm buzzer of the temperature monitor to make the A1 turn itself off automatically.
    Simply put, tap the current going to the buzzer to drive a relay, and use the activated "on" pins to close the circuit going from the motherboard to the front power switch.
    Don't forget to add a kill switch between the buzzer tap and the relay to be able to test and adjust the alarm temperature and fan speed without interferences.
    That way you can leave the machine unattended and don't have to worry about failure. There's always a chance it may be turned off while it was writing to the drive, but saving the integrity of the machine is worth the small risk of having to validate a partition.

  6. If it's not broken, don't fix it...
    In closing I'd like to add that unless you experience stability problems, you might be better off leaving your CPU voltage alone, especially if you aren't 100% sure you know what you're doing. In any case don't be stingy, at a bare minimum buy and install a temperature monitor.
    65C isn't much of a margin of error, you know?
    And use a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to protect your machine from spikes and power failures.

    Happy computing!

    Last edited by AmigAlex on 03-Nov-2004 at 12:42 AM.

    _________________
    AlexC's free OS4 software collection

    AmigaOne XE/X1000/X5000/UAE-PPC OS4 laptop/X-10 Home Automation

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
dimmck 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 8-Nov-2004 2:13:32
#34 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 3-Sep-2003
Posts: 415
From: Cheney, WA

@tomazkid

Quote:


Actually 1.8volts seem to be standard for 7450/51 @800mhz, judging from Freescale documents.
But no need to run that high if the system is stable, mine runs fine at 1,59.



Actually mine has always seemed to run okay at 1.59 as well. And the 1.8 V is higher than the one reference outside of here that I can find.

So I'm slowly raising my voltage up toward 1.79. I've got it up to 1.74 V now.

Just how warm should the heat sink get? Anybody know? As it is, mine is warm to the touch (I think it was practically room temperature when I had it at 1.59 V), but not hot enough that I'm afraid to keep my fingers against it.

Dave M.


 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Anonymous 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 8-Nov-2004 17:23:02
# ]

0
0

@dimmck

Quote:

dimmck wrote:
@tomazkid

Quote:


Actually 1.8volts seem to be standard for 7450/51 @800mhz, judging from Freescale documents.
But no need to run that high if the system is stable, mine runs fine at 1,59.



Actually mine has always seemed to run okay at 1.59 as well. And the 1.8 V is higher than the one reference outside of here that I can find.

So I'm slowly raising my voltage up toward 1.79. I've got it up to 1.74 V now.

Don't mess around with the VCORE if you dont't know what you are doing, if you have a
MPC7451RX800RE you may already have damaged it and had a lot of luck that you didn't
kill it completely (yet). It needs 1.6V +- 50mV. Only if you have a MPC7451RXxxxPG, which
is AFAIK not used in any AmigaOne, 1.8V would be correct.

 
     Report this post  
Anonymous 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 8-Nov-2004 17:41:36
# ]

0
0

@sg2

Spendig! Very interesting and promising read! I especially had to know about the voltage of the 750FX G3 CPU, and it was mentioned here! Great relief!

I have just copied the texts and posted them to my IT-friend, so that he can help me correcting this. I hope to still be able to have my G3 at 933Mhz, but with CORRECT jumpers and voltage set

Thanks, buddy! You've saved my day!

 
     Report this post  
Amigo1 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 12-Nov-2004 12:24:12
#37 ]
Super Member
Joined: 24-Jun-2004
Posts: 1582
From: the Clouds

@sg2

Great thread!!

Got my sil680 controller yesterday. thanx to the info's took me 34 min to
install hardware (damn't, had to put in the contoller twice and swap the
PCI port due to the short ide cable! :-/ ), set up the wars, format WB
partition (2048 block size) and install OS4 again.
even linux tooks only 47 sec to boot up..(ok it's on an old 8GB HD, that
supports only Mode 66 [33MB/sec][by the way: does it slow down even my primary
slave that supports mode 69?they're both on the primary bus) but huh!

it's faaast!

thx for the thread and thx to Hyperion of course!!! )))

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
AmiDog 
Re: Some words of advice
Posted on 12-Nov-2004 12:45:12
#38 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 1-Jun-2004
Posts: 917
From: Kumla, Sweden

@AmigAlex

Quote:
Wear an antistatic wristband that's connected to a grounded object or metallic water pipe.

Wearing an antistatic wristband, good! Grounding it this way, bad! It's very (VERY) important to ensure both you and the CPU has the same potential which means you need to be connected to the same ground (or to each other). If your CPU is inside an assembled computer, you really should connect the wristband to the case. If not, the computer may be connected to a grounded power outlet but that ground may well be very far from that of another power outlet in the house, not to mention a water pipe. The difference in potential is what makes up current.

I've even seen example where people have the computer and monitor connected to different power outlets and who have been able to measue a potential difference of several hundred volts between them (not nice). So, don't do that either.

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Anonymous 
Re: Notes about si680ide, idetool, VCORE and stability
Posted on 12-Nov-2004 13:54:05
# ]

0
0

A1G4XE is not the only one that has the VCORE set wrong. It's with the A1G3XE, too Even that my system COULD safely run stable at overclocked 933Mhz (running the IBM PPC 750FX CPU), the voltage would still be too low, as
most people here seem to have realized...

I had quite a numbers of unstability with my system. In almost every tasks, my system caused a lockup and freezed. I quickly realized my system was becoming unstable...All i could do, was to clock it back to the original 800Mhz and installing everything from scratch. Now i have installed just about everything, and my system is now happily running 100% stable at the original 800Mhz (as long as the voltage-issuse is not yet solved..)...

When i get to know more about the voltage-issue and can adjust the right voltage when wanting to run either on 933Mhz or 1Ghz, then i might considering the overclocking thing again, but for now, i better keep to 800Mhz



 
     Report this post  
AlexC 
Re: Some words of advice
Posted on 12-Nov-2004 15:40:41
#40 ]
Super Member
Joined: 22-Jan-2004
Posts: 1300
From: City of Lost Angels, California.

@AmiDog

I agree about potential, but one should really unplug all the cords before performing hardware modifications so the case won't be grounded anymore.
It might have enough mass to drain static electricity from the body, but where do the ions go?

Alex.

_________________
AlexC's free OS4 software collection

AmigaOne XE/X1000/X5000/UAE-PPC OS4 laptop/X-10 Home Automation

 Status: Offline
Profile     Report this post  
Goto page ( Previous Page 1 | 2 | 3 Next Page )

[ home ][ about us ][ privacy ] [ forums ][ classifieds ] [ links ][ news archive ] [ link to us ][ user account ]
Copyright (C) 2000 - 2019 Amigaworld.net.
Amigaworld.net was originally founded by David Doyle