24 Nov
2002
24 Nov
'02
9:08 p.m.
Which connector are you referring to? The KA630 and
KA65x both use the
same console bulkhead, and in turn use the same two cables that connect
it. The KA630 and KA65x do of course use different memory boards, but the
ribbon cable that connects them is the same. Those are the only 3
connectors that I can think of offhand, except for the Q/CD bus
connectors...
The over-the-top connector in question is the one used to connect
the memory cards to the CPU; sometimes also called the PMI connector.
The KA630 one and the KA650 one(s) are different. The KA630 one
does have some issue in a KA650 system, but I don't know exactly what
the problem is. IIRC the KA630 one has three connectors (two mem boards
max) so a four connector one (three memory boards) would be a KA65x one.
(I don't have part numbers and a quick google didn't help).
This may, of course, have nothing to do with your actual problem.
Well, *none* of the memory boards are faulty :)
OK - if you know they work, that's different.
For some reason, they seem to not be getting clean
power, so they are not
working properly. I won't know for sure until I get my scope probes, but I
expect to see lots of noise on the power supply output that happens to
power most of the chips on those boards.
Antonio
25 Nov
25 Nov
12:17 p.m.
On Mon, 25 Nov 2002, Antonio Carlini wrote:
Other than the number of connectors on the ribbon, the cable itself is the
same. Both are straight though cables, and I've successfully interchanged
them in another system I have just for grins.
The KA630 and KA65x *do* use different memory boards though, and I think
the connectors don't line up the same if you attempt to mismatch the cpu
and memory boards.
Which
connector are you referring to? The KA630 and KA65x both use the
same console bulkhead, and in turn use the same two cables that
connect it. The KA630 and KA65x do of course use different memory
boards, but the ribbon cable that connects them is the same. Those are
the only 3 connectors that I can think of offhand, except for the Q/CD
bus connectors...
The over-the-top connector in question is the one used to connect the
memory cards to the CPU; sometimes also called the PMI connector.
The KA630 one and the KA650 one(s) are different. The KA630 one does
have some issue in a KA650 system, but I don't know exactly what the
problem is. IIRC the KA630 one has three connectors (two mem boards max)
so a four connector one (three memory boards) would be a KA65x one. (I
don't have part numbers and a quick google didn't help). > For some reason, they seem to not be getting
clean power, so they are
> not working properly. I won't know for sure until I get my scope
> probes, but I expect to see lots of noise on the power supply output
> that happens to power most of the chips on those boards.
And another update... I tried powering the system up again today, this
time with the console cable connected and ready to go the first time. The
system started its diagnostic tests like it did when it would initially go
though them, but hung sometime during test '6'. As a little experiment, I
may put the power supply out in the shop tonight, so it will be cool
tomorrow, and after it warms up just enough, I'll try powering it up again
to see if it will get a little further.
-Toth
12:29 p.m.
New subject: Superb Exidy System on Ebay in Holland
Anybody who is into this system should check it this auction I found on
Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=20…
The guy also has some nice Commodore stuff, a Sony (MSX?) System and some
other cool stuff too.
Curt
29 Nov
29 Nov
7:22 p.m.
Yet another update on the MicroVAX II that seems to prefer dormancy...
The KA630 was still hanging at '9', so after thinking it over, I pulled
the backplane and checked it over again. I really don't like pulling it,
since aligning it is somewhat of a pain. I didn't find any visible
problems with it, but those threaded standoffs used to mount it kept
unscrewing when removing the outer retaining screws. I decided to add a
small bit of Loctite to each of the 8 inside screws to see if that will
solve that problem.
Once I got the backplane back in and aligned with the card cage, the
system would constantly get to '6' and hang, which was further than '9'.
I
then tried cleaning the gold fingers of the card edge connector on the
KA630, since it seemed to be the card at fault. Even though they looked
clean, the amount of crud that came off with some isopropyl alcohol was
startling. After cleaning that board and then the memory board, the system
would reach '6', and error with a '?2' 'Failed.' message. I pulled
the 4MB
memory card and shuffled boards to keep the Q bus happy, and got a chevron
prompt for possibly the first time with the KA630.
So, it looks like I have either a fussy memory board or KA630. I've not
yet tried the KA655 and associated memory cards in the BA123 again, but I
may later.
-Toth
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Antonio.Carlini＠riverstonenet.com -
curt＠atari-history.com -
tothwolf＠concentric.net