jwb@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu (Jeff W. Brogden) (03/18/90)
I just had the new super agnus chip installed in my A2000. Since then I have
been experiencing numerous problems. The most severe is that my floppy disk
drives are almost unusable. I am now plagued with read/write errors, bad
disk validations, bad check sums, etc... I can format a disk fine. But if
I use copy, or diskcopy, the disks go crazy.
Second, my screens, requesters, menues, etc. are full of garbage. Moving
windows around, or moving CLI's around, trashes up the screen to an unreadable
state. Text gadgets are filled with garbage when they are first displayed.
And there are numerous other oddities, to many to mention.
Does anyone have any idea what is going on, and more importantly, how to
fix the problem? Send me e-mail with suggestions and fixes.
Thanks in advance,
===============================================================================
Jeff Brogden | Kansas State University
Internet: jwb@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu | Manhattan, KS. 66506
BITNET: jwb@ksuvm | Office phone: (913)532-6350
UUCP: {rutgers,texbell,atanasoff}!ksuvax1!jwb | Home phone: (913)776-5798
===============================================================================jwb@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu (Jeff W. Brogden) (03/19/90)
I write:
=
=I just had the new super agnus chip installed in my A2000. Since then I have
=been experiencing numerous problems. The most severe is that my floppy disk
=drives are almost unusable. I am now plagued with read/write errors, bad
=disk validations, bad check sums, etc... I can format a disk fine. But if
=I use copy, or diskcopy, the disks go crazy.
=
=Second, my screens, requesters, menues, etc. are full of garbage. Moving
=windows around, or moving CLI's around, trashes up the screen to an unreadable
=state. Text gadgets are filled with garbage when they are first displayed.
=And there are numerous other oddities, too many to mention.
=
=Does anyone have any idea what is going on, and more importantly, how to
=fix the problem? Send me e-mail with suggestions and fixes.
=
=Thanks in advance,
I did some further investigation, and here is what I found:
Typing "version" in a CLI produced:
Kickstart Version 34.5. Workbench Version 34.28.
Typing "avail" in a CLI produced:
Type Available In-Use Maximum Largest
chip 953784 86368 1040152 953472
fast 1975088 122032 2097120 1970432
total 2928872 208400 3137272 1970432
Running a program called "ecs" which askes the agnus which type it is produced:
Enhanced Chipset (ECS) Detector Program, June '89
Full Public Domain - Do What You Will
Hardware Present:
Super Agnus Chip (NTCS)
Normal Denise Chip
Operating System is -Unaware- of the Presence of the Super Agnus Chip
Question is, how can "avail" show there is more than 512K chip RAM but the
OS not know that the Super Agnus exists? Is this why I am getting all the
garbage on the screen, etc.?
Again, please e-mail me with any suggestions on fixing the problem. So far
I have had four people asking for copies of the responses I get, but no one
has offered any solutions. Help!
Thanks in advance,
===============================================================================
Jeff Brogden | Kansas State University
Internet: jwb@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu | Manhattan, KS. 66506
BITNET: jwb@ksuvm | Office phone: (913)532-6350
UUCP: {rutgers,texbell,atanasoff}!ksuvax1!jwb | Home phone: (913)776-5798
===============================================================================jbaker@gmu90x.gmu.edu (jbaker) (03/20/90)
In article <260471CC.505F@deimos.cis.ksu.edu> jwb@ksuvax1.cis.ksu.edu (Jeff W. Brogden) writes: >=I just had the new super agnus chip installed in my A2000. Since then I have >=been experiencing numerous problems. The most severe is that my floppy disk >=drives are almost unusable. I am now plagued with read/write errors, bad ... >Question is, how can "avail" show there is more than 512K chip RAM but the >OS not know that the Super Agnus exists? Is this why I am getting all the >garbage on the screen, etc.? It sounds like they did a poor installation job. If you paid to have it done, you should bring it back and make them fix it. However, if you want to risk playing around yourself, I have some suggestions. (For 2000s only!) First, open up the Amiga and remove the power supply/drives assembly. Disconnect cables as necessary and note their orientation. Now examine the super agnus (the square chip). If you see no bent pins, try pushing it in firmly. Hopefully it will be loose and this will correct the problem. While you are in there, push in all the socketed chips. I usually "ground" myself before touching electronic parts by touching a large metal object. Now check the two jumper modifications necessary when installing a "fatter agnus." From what you said, it sounds quite possible one was not done properly. First, look at jumper J101. This jumper consists of three pins and a jumper, which must be on the left two pins for the fatter agnus: Old agnus (512K): o o--o Fatter agnus (1M): o--o o (This is looking from the front of the Amiga.) Now look for jumper J500. This is simply two pads, no wires. In Amiga 2000s with a 512K agnus, there is a trace connecting the two pads. This is cut when installing a fatter agnus. Use a blade to be sure that the trace has indeed been completely cut, but DO NOT slip and cut any other traces. I usually overdo such things, but it is quite possible to not cut it well enough. Now carefully put everything back together, double checking all connections, and be sure that nothing is backwards or forgotten. It is easy to put the disk drive connector back onto the motherboard offset by a pin. Check this. Be sure to push the connectors onto any internal drives. These usually get loose when working inside the computer. Now cross your fingers, and turn on the power. By the way, if anyone is putting in their own fatter agnus, a common trick to get the old agnus out is to super glue a large nut to the top of the chip, wait a few secs, then screw in a bolt just until it makes contact with the chip, and pull the chip out. Try not to rock it (too much). Mine came straight out with steady but firm pressure, while holding the socket down with the other hand. It also doesn't hurt to carefully remove some of that dust. You never know if a little bit of metal might be there somewhere. I use a small plastic vaccum cleaner. WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! If you do anything wrong, make a mistake, or just have bad luck, you could RUIN your amiga. In fact, what I have said above might be all wrong and blow everything up, so don't blame me if anything goes wrong. I suggest that if you do anything I say, double check it with other sources. By the way, if you are looking for a fatter agnus, I got mine from MEMORY WORLD at (215) 741-6225 at AmiExpo in Washington for $89.00; the mail-order price may be different. They also have 1.3 ROMs. John Baker jbaker@gmuvax.gmu.edu (703) 941-6840
cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) (03/27/90)
Since I'm sure everyone else on this thread knows what an Agnes chip is and the associated difference between models, could some kind soul(s) email me the scoop on this issue? I haven't purchase my Amy yet so I have no idea what you guys are talking about. It is some sort of graphics chip, no? Chris ------------------------------+--------------------------- Chris Mauritz |Where there's a BEER, cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu |there's a plan. (c)All rights reserved. | Send flames to /dev/null |Air Warrior is king! ------------------------------+---------------------------