TF536 on A2000

[Gotang]

thanks guys

[edolnx]

Yes, indeed, rev.1 TF536 works flawlessly on rev.4 & rev.6 A2K boards, was able to test with all Zorro ll Cards i have, RTG card included

Unfortunately, as Stephen already said, different revision firmwares are not interchangeable (some pins one cpld was rerouted/swapped)...

The IDE won't work but you can boot from floppy... You should try it so we can narrow this down. I still have the two original rev1s which I suppose I can send to @ericgla and @edolnx as replacement... if they want.

Sorry for not checking back on this thread. I'm happy to stick with the board I have for now. I shelved my A2000 project for a little while as I have other things I need to attend to. I figured it would be a while before terriblefire got a chance to take a peek at A2000 problems again. So I'm content waiting for a potential fix down the road. I don't need the ATA interface as I have a GVP SCSI card in my A2000 anyway.

[edolnx]

@Gotang @GadgetUK164 Paul R. makes them, you can email him at info (at) acill.com.

I also had a hard time finding them, and most of the sellers I could find were in Europe and shipping to the US was prohibitively expensive. Instead I dug up the gerbers from SukkoPera and got 5 made at PCBway. I gave two to a friend locally, and used one. If @Gotang is in North America, happy to ship you one or two of my spares.

[remi.jakobsen]

I've got a rev 6 A2000/A2500. My TF536 fitted directly into the CPU socket. Without using the IDE, it's 100% stable in my machine.

A2000 specs: VA2000 rtg, GVP SCSI with SCSI-SD, A2286AT Bridgeboard, ECS Denise, Kick 3.1 ROM.

I had some problems with the IDE, first adapter and CF card, I could setup a partition but not boot, not auto mount and it was unreliable in several other ways as well. I've tested with a 2.4" to 3-5" IDE cable and a SD card adapter. I then got auto boot and very good speed (3.6 MB/sec raw read), but ... machine seems to freeze up at random when using this. I thought it was due to the specific adapter or card not being 100% compatible, but maybe its related to the A2000 rev.6 problems? I've now got a 8 GB CF card to test that is a brand proven compatible with PCMCIA adapters and everything elsewhere. I'm going to test this as well.

[alenppc]

I've got a rev 6 A2000/A2500. My TF536 fitted directly into the CPU socket. Without using the IDE, it's 100% stable in my machine.

A2000 specs: VA2000 rtg, GVP SCSI with SCSI-SD, A2286AT Bridgeboard, ECS Denise, Kick 3.1 ROM.

I had some problems with the IDE, first adapter and CF card, I could setup a partition but not boot, not auto mount and it was unreliable in several other ways as well. I've tested with a 2.4" to 3-5" IDE cable and a SD card adapter. I then got auto boot and very good speed (3.6 MB/sec raw read), but ... machine seems to freeze up at random when using this. I thought it was due to the specific adapter or card not being 100% compatible, but maybe its related to the A2000 rev.6 problems? I've now got a 8 GB CF card to test that is a brand proven compatible with PCMCIA adapters and everything elsewhere. I'm going to test this as well.

This is what I find very puzzling... It works great on SOME (very few) A2000s and fails on others. What the hell could be the cause of this?

[terriblefire]

I've got a rev 6 A2000/A2500. My TF536 fitted directly into the CPU socket. Without using the IDE, it's 100% stable in my machine.

A2000 specs: VA2000 rtg, GVP SCSI with SCSI-SD, A2286AT Bridgeboard, ECS Denise, Kick 3.1 ROM.

I had some problems with the IDE, first adapter and CF card, I could setup a partition but not boot, not auto mount and it was unreliable in several other ways as well. I've tested with a 2.4" to 3-5" IDE cable and a SD card adapter. I then got auto boot and very good speed (3.6 MB/sec raw read), but ... machine seems to freeze up at random when using this. I thought it was due to the specific adapter or card not being 100% compatible, but maybe its related to the A2000 rev.6 problems? I've now got a 8 GB CF card to test that is a brand proven compatible with PCMCIA adapters and everything elsewhere. I'm going to test this as well.

This is what I find very puzzling... It works great on SOME (very few) A2000s and fails on others. What the hell could be the cause of this?

Agnus.

Try freeze spray on it and maybe get the ones with working Agnuses to list the chip numbers.

[remi.jakobsen]

Sorted out the IDE issue, my first CF card was incompatible as suspected. The new CF card works well. The sudden freezing of the machine when using the IDE was caused by incompatible default settings in drive setup in HDInstall, unchecked a couple of attributes there as 'last ID' and 'async'.

Issue: When booting from TF536 IDE, my keyboard gets stuck/locked up. This could be related to A2286AT Bridgeboard and 'Janus-handler'. Maybe worth testing without GVP SCSI as well. If I boot from GVP SCSI partition, keyboard doesnt get stuck and I can use TF536 Ide partitions without issues.

[matt020]

Sorted out the IDE issue, my first CF card was incompatible as suspected. The new CF card works well. The sudden freezing of the machine when using the IDE was caused by incompatible default settings in drive setup in HDInstall, unchecked a couple of attributes there as 'last ID' and 'async'.

Issue: When booting from TF536 IDE, my keyboard gets stuck/locked up. This could be related to A2286AT Bridgeboard and 'Janus-handler'. Maybe worth testing without GVP SCSI as well. If I boot from GVP SCSI partition, keyboard doesnt get stuck and I can use TF536 Ide partitions without issues.

I'd say you're one of the rare ones that has a working combination, and you're very lucky!! :D . With respect, there's certainly nothing you're doing that I can copy/mimic that will have my TF536 work on the A2000.... it simply doesn't get past the flashy-flashy screen, with or without CF cards plugged in, end of story.

[alenppc]

As @terriblefire suggested, can you guys post your Agnus revision numbers?

[matt020]

As @terriblefire suggested, can you guys post your Agnus revision numbers?

Yep, can do. To note: I have a 2mb megachip clone that uses an A600 Agnus, and then tried the standard A2000 Rev6 Agnus, and both failed.

But yes, I'll post that info over the weekend...