Mega STe stability issues.

[Dbug]

So I tried a few more things with the machine "stock" (other than the low power 68000 instead of original one), and the machine was stable, everything I ran did work as expected.

Then I tried the exxos DIAG-CART: When selecting the "YAART" configuration, no problem, but when selection either the "GemBench 6" or "Mega STe diagnostic", then all I get is a black screen with "invalid frequency" on the screen.

I tried the NetUSBee with uIP tools, no problems.

That one is probably for Troed, the resident fullscreen demo expert!: I also tried a recent demo from DHS/SMFX (The Art of Profanity) which was always failing after the first screen, now I've been able to run it twice in a row from start to finish, there are some occasional top-border fullscreen fails, but at least it ran completely without crashing.

[Dbug]

Well, found out why I had the invalid frequency problem... looks like the diagnostic cartridge starts in 60hz, and for some reason the screen I used did not like that.

Anyway, managed to run the diagnostic cartridge, did not find anything, and since none of the tests I ran on the machine failed when the graphic card was not connected, I'm wondering if the problem could be the Mach32 (and/or the drivers for it).

I tried the VME test in the diagnostic cartridge, and the RAM test did not pass:

WIN_20220502_17_10_27_Pro.jpg

Are these actual errors, or is this AF0000 to AF0026 an area with registers that are not actually RAM locations that can be freely written to?

[frank.lukas]

For the VME Test from the Diagnostic Cartridge you need a spezial VME Ramboard that Atari use ...

Read the Service Manual ...

[Steve]

I still think your next logical step is having another Mste owner test your Nova for compatibility/stability. Just to rule that out as being an issue.

[frank.lukas]

Test the Computer with Photoline and a large JPEG color image. It should use almost of all free memory. If there are problems with that, it has nothing to do with the VME bus.

The VME Bus has its own bus driver chips. Two PAL chips take control of it. See the schematics ...

[Dbug]

Test the Computer with Photoline and a large JPEG color image. It should use almost of all free memory. If there are problems with that, it has nothing to do with the VME bus.

The VME Bus has its own bus driver chips. Two PAL chips take control of it. See the schematics ...

Seems to be working (found a version 2.30 on the Atari Coldfire Project page)

image_2022-05-02_191831016.png

I still think your next logical step is having another Mste owner test your Nova for compatibility/stability. Just to rule that out as being an issue.

I thought about it, but I'm in Norway, I don't know anyone here with a Mega STe, and customs tend to be super annoying on every single package, the probability they actual want me to pay custom fees on the way back is definitely a thing that could happen :-/

Regarding the Nova, there are two things: The Mach32 ISA card, and the actual Nova adapter, are the new adapters any different from the original "legacy" ones from Computerinsel?

[frank.lukas]

The Nova VME Adapter is original I think but the MACH32 not. The adapter from me have the universal OFGA GAL for all supported Graphiccards and all patches to use the Lightning VME USB Controller together with the Nova. And it is possible to use the MACH64 in a Mega STE Computer with the new driver.

Have you the right GAL in the Nova VME Adapter for the MACH32?

I have never ever problems with the Nova Adapter ...

[Dbug]

The Nova VME Adapter is original I think but the MACH32 not. The adapter from me have the universal OFGA GAL for all supported Graphiccards and all patches to use the Lightning VME USB Controller together with the Nova. And it is possible to use the MACH64 in a Mega STE Computer with the new driver.

Have you the right GAL in the Nova VME Adapter for the MACH32?

I have never ever problems with the Nova Adapter ...

I don't know, it's a card I bought a long time ago from someone, and at the time I did not use it because I had a Spektrum 1 card which fit nicely inside the machine. Then when I was doing some fixing I realized that the Spektrum did not work anymore, remembered I had this ugly black box in a cabinet, plugged it, installed the drivers, and it worked.

Now about the GAL, no idea, is it one of these chips?

image_2022-05-02_213610783.png

If not, where should I look?

[frank.lukas]

Have you a GAL Prommer?

[Dbug]

Have you a GAL Prommer?

I do have a "TL866II plus", I know that works for eproms, but no idea if that can do GAL.

EDIT, the manual mentions that "GAL programmable logic device programming" are supported, so I guess it should be possible to read the content and dump it to a file, then use that to find out which cards it supports?