exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Hi guys I have a question.

I've built up two TF328 boards which behave differently when booted up without any sort of hard drive connected.

Board 1: With no HD connected eventually loads CD32 screen after something like 10 second's.

Board 2: With no HD connected stops at a black screen and never loads CD screen.

Both boards boot fine to Workbench in about 4 seconds with a DOM and have a working board status.

I haven't been able to test them properly due to not having yet any suitable CF or SD cards that work with the TF328 (all work properly on an Amiga 600).

So what should happen with no HD connected?

Board 1 has the expected behaviour.

Board 2 has some kind of fault. I’d recommend DiagROM and run drive tests and autoconfig. If they both pass and don’t hang the ram may be duff. DiagROMs ram test or Systest will reveal the issue.

OK, once I get some working M27C800's I'll try DiagROM.

Sounds like number one might just be some cf compatibilty with it not booting , you checked the CD to IDE adpter is good ?, you have the Clock buffer jumper on the two pins closest the IDE port ?

If you can burn an iso I have attached a bootable systest iso so you can boot it and check your ram,I agree with Steve first one is just a minor issue No2 maybe ram/bad solder , that`s if you successfully programmed the two CPLD`s ok

Also, virtually all CF cards should be working now on the V41 firmware. If you still have compatibility issues with CF cards, chances are you are flashing the card with an old firmware.

So either you are using an old firmware or there is dodgy soldering on the CPLD.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

Unfortunately my CD drive wouldn't read burnt CD's anymore even with a new laser so I recapped the controller board which still didn't help. Then the motors shorted out somehow and don't work anymore so I've got new ones coming.

I'm using the newest firmware from the GitHub page.

I'm using the clock buffer jumper and even put on a new Schmidt trigger IC in case the one I used was stuffed.

I was getting a Greenscreen while intially bringing up Board 2 which is a RAM error apparently, so checked my RAM ic's and found some pins which the drag soldering missed and touched up the other pins just in case.

I also checked all the CPLD soldering and put all caps and resistors on as per the BOM, though the boards would boot to WB without them anyway.

I've checked everything under a microscope and can't find any bridges, could still be hidden under the chips though.

Flashed and verified the CPLD's multiple times.

The only CF card I have Transcend 8GB 133X (TS8GCF133) (3.3-5v) which is listed as not compatible on the TF328 GitHub page.
It shows partitions in the CD32 early boot menu but fails to boot to Workbench.

I've only been able to boot with a 128MB DOM that came with the Amiga 600 (bare WB 2.05 install) I bought which plugs directly into the 44pin IDE port (no cable) and I have no 44pin male to male adaptors to plug it in to PC or Amiga via a cable.

I guess I could use a Gotek to get some stuff onto it but haven't flashed mine with any Amiga firmware yet, HXC or Keirs.

I'm starting to suspect the little PSU I have is not powerful enough (something like this except 2.5A).
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/AC-to-12V-5 ... SwfpVZNvcn

I've tried multiple SD cards through the common adapter all over eBay, 3 different types of CF adapters, Sata (SSD and mechanical) to IDE Adapters and multiple 44 and 40 Pin mechanical drives but all were powered through the 2.5A PSU.

So next step will be to try a proper PC PSU.

If that doesn't work I'll just try it with some of the CF cards and other adapters I've ordered.

I started this project as a complete SMD soldering noob so it's been a fun learning experience, might do a writeup on what I've learned.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

A few things to check..

You get product code 41 on the Early Start Menu. Otherwise you don’t have the latest firmware.

Green screen usually means bad chip ram. Can be down to data bus shorts as you noticed on the fast ram.

If you are building without DiagROM you are going to be in a world of pain. Invest in CD32 version. Will only cost you $10 or so. The chip is a 27C800. Until DiagROM boots and a bunch of tests pass the board will not boot to the OS.

Got an adapter for my TL866 and tried burning DiagROM with an adaptor but the M27C800's (ST microelectronics version) I had kept getting corrupted. AM27C400 worked fine (AMD branded) for the 16bit Amiga Roms. Anyway have more AM27C800's coming from a different source in case I got a bag batch and a UV eraser.

Just checked my Firmware version - it's 40 from the master branch. Didn't even think to check if there were other branches - I'll try v41 from dev and slow_ata and let you know how I go.

Always use the binaries from here

https://github.com/terriblefire/terriblefire-binaries

I think I’m gonna wipe the binaries off other repos. They cause too much trouble

Do you by any chance have 2 different types of RAM between the two cards? That would account for the issue with the 40 firmware

YESSSS! v41final firmware works with my CF card, running WHDLoad Frontier now.

I'm using the ISSI Ram IS41LV16105D-50TLI DRAM, 16MBIT, TSOP-II-44 which I bought from Farnell.

I was a dumbass didn't check all the repos on your GitHub.
Thanks for the help terriblefire.

I'll run systest and see how I get on with the dodgy board. Will it help me identify which RAM chip(s) is/are bad or will only DiagROM do that?