[comp.sys.apple] gs finder and ROM upgrade questions

jockc@killer.UUCP (11/04/87)

I just got my upgraded (from //e) //gs yesterday.  When I tried to run
the finder, I got a $0201 error.  My system disk version is 3.1.  The numbers
on the ROM chip are (not sure which are relevant so i'm listing them all):

646VM E350
231024-1039
342-0077-A

I haven't got my mem expansion card yet so i just have 256K.  Can someone
tell me what the $201 error is , and do I need a ROM upgrade?

thanks in advance...

Jock Cooper

ihnp4!killer!jockc

lwv@n8emr.UUCP (Larry W. Virden) (11/06/87)

I dont know what $0201 is , but I DO know what your problem is.  Finder
requires a MINIMUM of 512k to start up.  For that matter, so does most other
GS software - some requires a minimum of 768k.  So may I suggest that you run,
not walk, to your nearest dealer, buy a minimally populated GS ram card (
any suggestions out there?  I use the AE GSRam and it is passible - I just need
to expand to more memory) and then contact MicroProcessors, Inc to purchase
the additional memory chips at about 50% of the Apple/AE price listed!

For about $200-$300 you can be set up with 1+ meg of memory and everything
will run happily!

-- 
Larry W. Virden	 75046,606 (CIS)
674 Falls Place, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 (614) 864-8817
cbosgd!n8emr!lwv HAM/SWL BBS (HBBS) 614-457-4227.. 300/1200 bps
We haven't inherited the world from our parents, but borrowed it from our children.

keith@apple.UUCP (Keith Rollin) (11/08/87)

In article <1993@killer.UUCP> jockc@killer.UUCP (Jock Cooper) writes:
>I just got my upgraded (from //e) //gs yesterday.  When I tried to run
>the finder, I got a $0201 error.  My system disk version is 3.1.  The numbers
>on the ROM chip are (not sure which are relevant so i'm listing them all):
>
>646VM E350
>231024-1039
>342-0077-A
>
>I haven't got my mem expansion card yet so i just have 256K.  Can someone
>tell me what the $201 error is , and do I need a ROM upgrade?
>

Error $201 is an "Unable to allocate block" error. So what you need is not a
ROM upgrade, but a RAM upgrade; the GS Finder needs at least 512K.

-- 

Keith Rollin                                               amdahl\
Sales Technical Support                               pyramid!sun !apple!keith
Apple Computer                                             decwrl/

Disclaimer: I read this board for fun, not profit. Anything I say is from the
            result of reading magazines, hacking, and soaking my head in acid.

jockc@killer.UUCP (11/09/87)

In article <324@n8emr.UUCP> lwv@n8emr.UUCP (Larry W. Virden) writes:
>
>GS software - some requires a minimum of 768k.  So may I suggest that you run,
>not walk, to your nearest dealer, buy a minimally populated GS ram card (
>any suggestions out there?  I use the AE GSRam and it is passible - I just need
>to expand to more memory) and then contact MicroProcessors, Inc to purchase
>the additional memory chips at about 50% of the Apple/AE price listed!
>
This is exactly what I did with my old Ramworks //... I bought it with 256k
and bought 768k from MicroProcessors, Inc.  I thought I could just move 
those chips from the ramworks // to the gsRam.  It only worked partially...
The Hitachi chips that came on the Ramworks // worked on the gsRam, but the
768k of Toshiba chips I had previously purchased from Micro... inc. were
reported by the ae memory test as being bad (every one). 

So instead of having 1.5 megs in my machine i have to settle for 768k until
I can figure out why those Toshiba chips dont work on the gsRam, or buy more...

Jock Cooper
Information Systems -- CCT
Hospital Corporation of America

ihnp4!killer!jockc

lwv@n8emr.UUCP (11/11/87)

I just want to post the standard reminder - Not all 256k chips are equal.
The GS takes special memory refresh features (cas before ras?) and thus one
cannot just plug any kind of 256k chip into your board.  Likewise, there is
at least one brand of the right refresh which doesn work just right - 
unfortunately I dont have that info with me right now.  So, read the doc
that comes with your GS memory card and use ONLY the brand chips it refers
to .  Tell MicroProcessors, INC that you have a brand X memory board for an
Apple II gs and they can help you get the right chips.  Sell the other
chips to someother poor sucker...

Antedote: I went into the local apple dealer to buy my memory card a few
months ago.  I asked for an Appl. Eng. GS ram card.  The price was reasonable
for a 256k card so I then asked how much the extra chips would be.  This was
BEFORE I knew about MPI.  The price sounded good (it wasnt) so I asked for the
dealer to put the chips in for me.  Now I told them what kind of chips that
I wanted, showed them the literature fromthe board etc.  I KNEW that the wrong
kind of chips wouldnt work.  This is a big time, more than one store in a chain
type place - with supposedly technically knowledgable folks doing the work.
The salesman says "no problem, I do this all the time".  So off he goes.  I
watch as the chips go on the board.  I notice that the chips are NOT the
kind approved by AE or Apple, etc.  So I "innocently" ask, "Can we check out
the board using this ram testing software before I take it home?"  "Sure",
says the saleman, "but it will be okay, I do this all the time."  We set up
the board in the store's GS and run the diagnostic, and ALL additional chips
flag as bad!  "Oh my", I say, "there must be something wrong." <snicker, snicker>

"No problem", the salesman says.  "It is probably just one bad chip."  So
for two hours we replace a chip or two at  a time, using the RIGHT kind of
chips.  Amazingly enough ;-) the board works fine when the salesman puts in
the chips that I suggested that he use in the first place.  Total time spent -
more than 3 hours!  He was going to send me off home to fight with this sucker
by myself.

Moral: DONT take hardware that the dealer 'enhances' out the door without
verifying that it indeed works as you expect.

-- 
Larry W. Virden	 75046,606 (CIS)
674 Falls Place, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 (614) 864-8817
cbosgd!n8emr!lwv HAM/SWL BBS (HBBS) 614-457-4227.. 300/1200 bps
We haven't inherited the world from our parents, but borrowed it from our children.

dr@ski.UUCP (11/12/87)

In article <> jockc@killer.UUCP (Jock Cooper) writes:
>This is exactly what I did with my old Ramworks //... I bought it with 256k
>and bought 768k from MicroProcessors, Inc.  I thought I could just move 
>those chips from the ramworks // to the gsRam.  It only worked partially...
>The Hitachi chips that came on the Ramworks // worked on the gsRam, but the
>768k of Toshiba chips I had previously purchased from Micro... inc. were
>reported by the ae memory test as being bad (every one). 
>
>So instead of having 1.5 megs in my machine i have to settle for 768k until
>I can figure out why those Toshiba chips dont work on the gsRam, or buy more...

gsRAM requires "CAS before RAS" refresh chips.  AE supplies Hitachi
50256-15, which are CAS-before-RAS.  However, the RAMWORKS cards can
use chips that are not of this type, such as the common 41256's.  The
RAMFACTOR cards require CAS-before-RAS also.  I assume the Toshiba
chips are not CAS-before-RAS.  You must specify that when you order
chips.  The gsRAM manual has a list of manufacturers and part numbers
fore CAS-before-RAS chips.  I know the Hitachiis, as well as
Mitsubishi, NEC, and Fujitsu.  However, these companies may make both
types, and one company's numbering scheme may not match.  For example,
the NEC is "41256", yet it is CAS-before-RAS.  

The refresh types are not interchangeable.

Note that Toshiba makes 1-Meg DRAMs that include CAS-before-RAS, but I
guess the 256K one's mentioned above were not.

I bought from Jameco Electronics, in Belmont, CA, recently.  I talked
to their tech person first and found out what they had.  They sold me
NEC 41256-15, CAS-before-RAS, for $3.25 each.
-- 
====================================================================
David Robins, M.D. 
Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Foundation
(previously known as: Smith-Kettlewell Institute of Visual Sciences)
2232 Webster St; San Francisco CA 94115
415/561-1705 (voice)
			{ihnp4,qantel,dual}!ptsfa!ski!dr

The opinions expressed herein do not reflect the opinion of the Institute!