Reflashing the TF536

[ErinW]

I attempted to flash my TF536 this afternoon. And it was going so well...

My TF board is a 2B revision, and I used the latest RC2 binaries downloaded from GitHub. I also used the same commands @Stormbringer used (using the same .jed file revision):

sudo xc3sprog -c sysfsgpio_creator

and

sudo xc3sprog -v -c sysfsgpio_creator -p 0 tf536r2_main_top_AMIGA_FULL_PHASE_7.jed:w

I double checked my pins to my RB Pi, and it flashed & verified successfully. I also flashed the board outside of the Amiga and connected 5v power & ground to the separate headers (as marked).

Re-installing the board in my A500 6a, I get the usual flash of colour on the screen when its first turned on. The floppy drive does an initial poll & seek (but only one), and there's brief activity on the CF card, and then it reboots. The same behaviour is repeated once more and then nothing. Other than the initial colour screen flash, the screen remains black otherwise.

Any tips?

Thanks,
-Erin

[alenppc]

Since the card was working on the previous firmware I think the issue is probably connection with the CPU socket.

You can always try flashing it back and seeing if anything changes.

Also you can try booting into diagrom if you have it and see what happens.

[ErinW]

Thanks.

I've re-seated the card & checked for bent pins - everything looks fine. I did discover that if the CF card is removed, and no floppy in the drive, it will go straight to the Kickstart 3.1.4 screen as expected. I'm also able to hold down both mouse buttons to get to the boot options screen.

So then I thought my CF card might have been corrupted some how, so I swapped it for another known working basic Workbench 3.1.4 card but it had the same partial boot/reboot issue. So I then swapped the CF card reader & cable for another that I know works, and the same behaviour again. If I remove the CF card from the reader (instead of removing the reader & cable all together), it will go to the Kickstart screen - so there doesn't seem to be an issue with the card reader itself.

I then tried booting from several known working boot floppies, and it had the same issue as when attempting to boot from the CF card. It boots to a point, then reboots.

Edit: Unfortunately I don't have a diagrom, so perhaps I will try flashing it back to an earlier version.

[alenppc]

This makes me think it’s a ram issue. In this case it will present itself even with the firmware I originally flashed the card with, you can try and confirm.

[terriblefire]

This is pretty typical of a ram issue.

[ErinW]

Thank you both!

Presuming it is a RAM issue, what are my options for sourcing replacement RAM? I've been practising my soldering skills, but this will be a first attempt with small SMT soldering.

[alenppc]

Send it back to me for a fix. You bought it from me so I will fix it.

[ErinW]

That's very generous of you @alenppc, thank you!

[alenppc]

Just make sure that the behaviour is consistent with the original firmware so that we can rule out everything else. Let me know if you can’t find it and I can email it to you.

[ErinW]

Thank you @alenppc. Is the original firmware the "tf536r2_2020_04_22" version found in the current binaries master?