Mega STe 1.44 floppy behaviour and 1772/AJAX

[rubber_jonnie]

Out of curiosity what revision mainboard do you have? If it's B or later then the jumper wire between the GAL (PAL) and the CPU isn't required according to the 1.44MB upgrade manual from Atari.

I desoldered the wire and checked for continuity between the same pins -there was none, so I assume my "revision 4.1" MSTE motherboard means it's earlier than "revision B" (photo of my PCB here).

On a sidenote there's a resistor connecting two pins underneath another GAL chip to be used with a 68881 co-processor upgrade and thanks to a photo on Troed's website (the first photo showing the empty co-processor PLCC socket) I noticed the excellent idea of putting it in a socket on the other side instead (meaning no need to disassemble the entire computer in case a 68881 is to be installed). Thanks Troed!
Apart from these two "solder side modifications" I don't think there's any other need to fiddle with the solder-side again.

Given you have the GAL mod solder side as well, that suggests to me a pre rev B board, as the board in mine simply has a jumper for the FPU, and it came with an Ajax and 1.44MB FDD as factory fit.

That difference when looking at the instructions for both upgrades suggests you have the earlier board.

[Pacman]

I believe you're right.
There's no jumper here for the FPU GAL either, like yours.
I didn't know the MSTE was ever supplied with HD floppy drives and AJAX controller chips as a factory installation!

[rubber_jonnie]

I didn't know the MSTE was ever supplied with HD floppy drives and AJAX controller chips as a factory installation!

The FDD pal is soldered in and the HD drive has an Atari part number and proper bezel, doesn't look upgraded. Can't recall if the Ajax is soldered in or not. I also have an STE that has an Ajax by default.

[DoG]

I also got a MSTe with built in 1.44 support from factory. I got one without as well. I also got TT with and without 1.44 from factory. It depends if it's a early model release.