4 Meg Memory card help needed

Started by alessiman, August 26, 2023, 05:25:33 PM

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alessiman

Fellow X68000 Users, i am in need of some help with my Model CZ-600C X68000 which i acquired last week

My unit came with 2Meg of RAM installed but today I managed to track down this 4 Meg card locally but when installed I get the following error messages (See photos) at various times during the boot process. 

Also with the card inserted it will not boot from the SASI drive









As I have 2Meg of ram by default so have set the dip switches to all off.  Well i am pretty sure they are the settings for the card

Before ruling the card out as faulty I wanted to ask what other troubleshooting I should be trying? 

Also (and i hope this isn't a dumb question), whilst looking at the back of the unit.  Does the card go in chip side to the left or to the right?

Thanks in advance

alessiman

#1
Update: Went to try again without the SCSI cable plugged in.  Now its giving me the same error messages

After some experimentation. My unit will only give the errors when the SCSI Cable is connected. When its not connected the unit will boot and work for a short period and then freeze/crash

So i suspect its got someone to do with my SASI setup and allocation of address space but have no idea how it was setup initially as the unit was purchased with SASI already setup. Attached is my switch.x screen if something obvious is standing out



incrediblehark

#2
Do you have a floppy of the master V3 boot disk? If so you could try clearing your settings and reinstalling the SxSI drivers. I'm sure others can give you more technical help but if I was in this situation I would disconnect the scsi cable and focus on testing the ram, as you stated. Install the ram board, change ram to 6144kb in switch.x, reboot, then if you can run MTEST. if all that passes then try reinstalling sxsi drivers and see if you can get the drive to boot with ram inserted. it does look like a hardware conflict of some sort.

Edit: not 4096 a 6144 as 3rdman01 stated. Sorry for the mistake!

alessiman

Quote from: incrediblehark on August 28, 2023, 12:30:39 AMDo you have a floppy of the master V3 boot disk? If so you could try clearing your settings and reinstalling the SxSI drivers. I'm sure others can give you more technical help but if I was in this situation I would disconnect the scsi cable and focus on testing the ram, as you stated. Install the ram board, change ram to 4096kb in switch.x, reboot, then if you can run MTEST. if all that passes then try reinstalling sxsi drivers and see if you can get the drive to boot with ram inserted. it does look like a hardware conflict of some sort.

I have Master Boot Disc but pretty sure it's not a V3.  Will try to get one.

X-Col

Mine used to do this and it was to do with corroded traces near the battery. Check everything with a magnifying glass.

alessiman

Quote from: X-Col on August 29, 2023, 04:08:32 AMMine used to do this and it was to do with corroded traces near the battery. Check everything with a magnifying glass.

On the motherboard or the memory card? There doesn't seem to be a battery on the memory card

3rdman01

#6
Quote from: alessiman on August 27, 2023, 06:59:04 PM

From this image, I see a couple of errors...
1. I see that you've upgraded the memory to 2mb. if so, with your 4mb card installed, you should change the mb total to 6144 mb
2. Your boot setting should be set to ROM $ED0100 if you already set the proper bootflags.

If you haven't done so, I suggest you start from scratch and follow the method here.
https://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:installing_scsi2sd_on_x68000_externally

Your machine (like mine) is a SASI device so follow those instructions.

alessiman

Quote from: 3rdman01 on August 29, 2023, 10:32:00 AMFrom this image, I see a couple of errors...
1. I see that you've upgraded the memory to 2mb. if so, with your 4mb card installed, you should change the mb total to 6144 mb
2. Your boot setting should be set to ROM $ED0100 if you already set the proper bootflags.

If you haven't done so, I suggest you start from scratch and follow the method here.
https://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=x68000:installing_scsi2sd_on_x68000_externally

Your machine (like mine) is a SASI device so follow those instructions.

Thanks.  I changed the boot setting to ROM $ED0100 and it works with no issues.  The ram was left at 2048 as i can't get past the bus and address errors

Nonetheless still getting the same errors with the scsi cables connected.

While it would be great to get a SASI setup disc to reinstall i don't have a means to burn one currently but will get someone to do this for me.

I am going to send this card to someone with a known working machine and memory card in my next step to troubleshooting

3rdman01

I just noticed...you didn't specify what you are using for the SCSI device. Are you using an actual hard drive or a SCSI2SD card or similar?

FYI, I had an issue with my SCSI2SD that was misconfigured and caused similar issues. Also, for what its worth, if you have switch.x, I suspect you already have the master disk mentioned here. If not, and you are in the states, I can send you a copy if you need it.

alessiman

Quote from: 3rdman01 on August 30, 2023, 06:57:45 AMI just noticed...you didn't specify what you are using for the SCSI device. Are you using an actual hard drive or a SCSI2SD card or similar?

FYI, I had an issue with my SCSI2SD that was misconfigured and caused similar issues. Also, for what its worth, if you have switch.x, I suspect you already have the master disk mentioned here. If not, and you are in the states, I can send you a copy if you need it.

It's a SCSI2SD Card (V6) but i don't think its the card that is causing the bus and address conflicts as further testing shows i get the same errors whether the SCSI2SD is connected or not.  It just shows up immediately with the SCSI2SD connected

I am running switch.x from the SDCard image I burnt.  The one with the Games1, Games2 and Games3 folders.  I found it in the bin directory there

ps.  thanks for the offer on the master disc.  i should be able to find someone locally to make one up for me

incrediblehark

Quote from: alessiman on August 30, 2023, 08:19:50 AM
Quote from: 3rdman01 on August 30, 2023, 06:57:45 AMI just noticed...you didn't specify what you are using for the SCSI device. Are you using an actual hard drive or a SCSI2SD card or similar?

FYI, I had an issue with my SCSI2SD that was misconfigured and caused similar issues. Also, for what its worth, if you have switch.x, I suspect you already have the master disk mentioned here. If not, and you are in the states, I can send you a copy if you need it.

It's a SCSI2SD Card (V6) but i don't think its the card that is causing the bus and address conflicts as further testing shows i get the same errors whether the SCSI2SD is connected or not.  It just shows up immediately with the SCSI2SD connected

I am running switch.x from the SDCard image I burnt.  The one with the Games1, Games2 and Games3 folders.  I found it in the bin directory there

ps.  thanks for the offer on the master disc.  i should be able to find someone locally to make one up for me

The v4 hdd image may also have the master disk floppy you can write yourself from lhes

alessiman

Quote from: incrediblehark on August 30, 2023, 09:14:36 AMThe v4 hdd image may also have the master disk floppy you can write yourself from lhes

I will have to try to and see it this can be done!