[comp.sys.amiga.hardware] GVP FaaastROMs <--> 68020 :

rbabel@babylon.rmt.sub.org (Ralph Babel) (05/31/91)

In article <91151.130031LEIF@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU>,
LEIF@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU writes:

> I would get intermittant, but very frequent, failure of
> the OS to recognize the harddrive on boot-up.  After
> several reboots, or after booting from a floppy, I would
> get some (but usually not all) of my partitions up, with
> the remaining partitions comming up bad (eg dh3:bad).

If a hard drive doesn't get recognized after a cold boot,
I'd normally assume that the driver gives up too soon (i.e.
very slow drive). But in this case, it really must be
something else, since it worked on a standard 68000-based
machine (there are no processor-dependent timing loops in
the driver). And partitions showing up as "bad"? Yuck!

FaaastROM has been tested successfully on other '020s (such
as the Hurricane '020, the A2620), not to mention the '030s,
so I'd really assume a hardware problem. Please give us some
more information on your configuration: amount of memory
(32-bit-wide?), brand of '020 board, etc.

> I decided on a hunch to replace the new GVP FaaastROM
> eprom with my old eproms to see if it helped.  Of course
> the problem went away ENTIRELY!

Weird! Please disable the ROMs and try the BindDrivers
version of both the old (pre-FaaastROM) and the new
(FaaastROM) driver software. You might also try a later
version of FaaastROM.

Ralph

LEIF@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (06/01/91)

This may have already been covered...

I have a GVP HC+ 2MB controller in a stock A2000 that has been running
ok for some time.  I recently purchased the FaaastROM upgrade eprom
for this controller, and put it in.  I got wierd results from a speed
check (diskspeed I think) that showed block reads/writes speeded up
tremendously with the new eproms, but claimed that file read/write/open/
create times got slower, I have no idea why???  Regardless, the controller
worked fine for some time therafter...

I *very* recently aquired, and hacked into my A2000, an old circa 1983
68020 adaptor board, which I managed to plug into the 68000 socket on
my rev. 4.2 motherboard.  Most everything worked great with this new
processor board installed, with the glaring exception of my GVP controller!
I would get intermittant, but very frequent, failure of the OS to recognize
the harddrive on boot-up.  After several reboots, or after booting from a
floppy, I would get some (but usually not all) of my partitions up, with
the remaining partitions comming up bad (eg dh3:bad).

I decided on a hunch to replace the new GVP FaaastROM eprom with my old
eproms to see if it helped.  Of course the problem went away ENTIRELY!  I
have had trouble free booting ever since.  My question:  Why????

If anyone has had similar problems, I would be very interested in hearing
about it.  I really liked the FAAASTPREP program that I got with the
FaaastROM kit, but it can't find gvpscsi.device on the old eproms.  I
would really prefer to be running with the FaaastROM (version 3.07 eproms)
if at all possible.  Please leave email if this subject has already been
beaten to death here.  Thanks...

-Leif Johnson                            leif@slacvm.slac.stanford.edu