Ultimate1MB preorder starts

[+Larry]

Probably been asked before (sorry about that), but I went through about 10 pages of this thread... Is there a link to ALL of the installation guides for the Ultimate 1 MB? Or barring that, links to all the guides generated thus far? Maybe should be posted in a separate thread for ease of finding?

Thanks,

Larry

[candle]

the latter case i'm afride

once finnished, they will be directly accessible on spiflash.org

[+rdemming]

Finally I got some time to install my Ultimate 1MB in my 800XL. I've put the two resistors in the cable so I didn't have to modify the 800XL motherboard. Installation went fine but the Ultimate1MB has strange problems.

 

First, in the Ultimate Setup the screen is most of the time garbled but I can still select the options and save the settings:

 

The regular OS, QMeg-OS and the MemDiag OS seem to work but when I have SDX enabled, it will hang after the brrrrrr sound. So I disabled SDX and I can go to Basic. But when I go the the Atari Self-Test, I can't choose any of the tests. All options have the same color (the chosen option is thus not highlighted) and the <select> key does not select another test. I can only start the memory test but that returns all green blocks so the memory seems to work as well.

 

Then I tried a few carts. BombJake has a few glitches in the title pictures and hangs before entering the title screen. Rescue on Fratalus also has graphics glitches while playing.

 

Then I tried to load some games from my SDrive. The SDrive menu is loaded, but it does not display the cart listing and has question marks in the settings:

 

Then I tried the SIDE cart FAT 32 loader. The screen is blue instead of black and also does not show any files on the cart. One time the listing contained only garbage characters:

 

 

Then I removed the Ultimate1MB and put back the original OS and MMU chip and everything works correctly as before.

My 800XL has a MegaHz stereo upgrade so I removed that to see if that made any difference but it gave the same result.

Then I remembered something about Mexican CPU chips that caused problems in some situations. Since mine has a Mexican CPU chip I replaced it with another (non Mexican) one but it still gave the same problems.

 

So what could be the problem? It this one of the famous PHI2 problems or is there something with the Ultimate1MB?

 

Robert

[flashjazzcat]

Looks like the narrow playfield isn't properly enabled on that menu... very careful continuity testing of ribbon cables might be in order here.

 

My problems were all caused by dodgy connections on the dupont header, however.

 

Anyway - over to Candle on this one.

[candle]

seems like one address line open

[Marius]

That (Ultimate Setup is how my screen looked when I hooked up my BlackBox.

 

Perhaps too simple... but check your PSU.

[+rdemming]

seems like one address line open

 

I've tested all connections of the ribbon cables with a multi-meter and they appear all good. Also testing the auxiliary connections from the dupont header till the origin of the signal on the chip appear all good. Also replacing the ANTIC, CPU or GTIA makes no differences.

 

I also tested the memory with XRAM. Most of the time it does not detect all banks. Banks are missing randomly giving strange memory sizes. But testing the memory does not give any errors.

 

 

That (Ultimate Setup is how my screen looked when I hooked up my BlackBox.

 

Perhaps too simple... but check your PSU.

 

First I replaced the PSU with another one from the XL series. Same problem.

Then I tried a big PSU from unknown origin (maybe from an 130XE) and most problem disappeared. No graphics glitches in Rescue on Fratalus and Ultimate Setup, self-test works correctly, SDX boots and XRAM detects all memory banks correctly.

SDrive now displays the directory but some entries are garbled. SIDE FAT loader now displays an all garbled directory listing. So not all problems are solved.

 

So it seems my XL has stability problems in combination with the Ulitmate1MB. The connection are probably OK else replacing the PSU would not make any difference. I still have another XL and XE so I will try to test the board in there. But I still have to desolder the OS and MMU chips of those.

To be continued...

 

Robert

[Marius]

@rdemming

 

This looks like the same issue some people have with their MyIDE's. Your bigger PSU provides probably also a better mass. And... a better mass reduces (in some cases) noise on the lines. Don't ask me why or how, but it is working that way.

 

Then I add to my non-working MyIDE a giant amount of mass, it suddenly works perfectly.

 

There is a chance that your capacitors (especially the ones around the power switch of the atari) are not that good anymore. They reduce PSU noise. I remember adding giant capacitors to my PSU that was powering my HAM-Radio Transceiver. In fact the little ones in the Atari do the same thing.

 

Candle wrote somewhere in this thread that you could try hooking up the Ph2 wire to Ph0 in stead. Is worth a try, altough I don't except much improvement in your case.

 

Do you have a 7 pin DIN connector left (from another PSU)? Try hooking up your Atari to a GOOD PC-PSU. That gives most of the time the best result.

[+rdemming]

Yes, it could be that the power is not stable enough. Replacing the electrolyte capacitors can help since over time these can become bad.

I really need an oscilloscope to see how stable the signals are but those are so expensive

 

Robert

[Marius]

@rdemming Have you already fixed the problem?

 

Today I hooked up again my BlackBox to my Ultimate 1MB computer. And as far as I can see (besides the "BASIC" is not working issue) is that the Ultimate Setup menu is crashing here (like your pictures show!). But when I am quick and make the changes I want and then leave the menu the atari works perfect again (Except for the BASIC).

 

I can run NUMEN from BlackBox.

 

As soon as I enter the Ultimate Menu the menu acts weird, and after a few changes it crashes and freezes. As soon as I reboot the atari, the atari works fine.

[+rdemming]

@rdemming Have you already fixed the problem?

 

That is a long story

 

As mentioned, I have a 130XE and another 800XL where I could try the Ultimate1Mb board in.

First I took the 130XE, took out the MMU & ROM, soldered in the sockets. Everything was still working and inserted the Ultimate1Mb board. And hurray, it was working perfectly.

So I was hopeful it would also work in the other 800XL. I really want this board in an XL because I like those more than XEs.

 

Thus next, I took the other 800XL, desoldered the MMU and OS, soldered in the sockets. Everything was still working thus I plugged in the Ultimate1Mb board. The 800XL booted but it had the same problems as the first 800XL. Scrambled graphics in Rescue on Fractalus and the self-test. And no file listing with SIDE and S-Drive.

Hhhmmm, since it worked in a 130XE there must be a problem with the 800XL/Ultimate1Mb combination.

 

The problem with the self-test is that in the menu, all the options have the same color and you can't select another option. But when checking the connections, I noticed that the menu went OK if I hold the MMU band-cable in a certain way. At first I thought that the band-cable was not good. But with closer examination, the menu went OK when I pinched the cable in the center with force while my other hand touched the connector on the board. It didn't matter where I pinched the cable so the cable is good, else you would expect it to happen at just a certain point.

 

With further examination it turned out the self-test menu went OK if I attach a wire to the A14, A15 or CI line on the Ultimate1Mb connector and leave the other end floating. Also attaching a wire on CI on the motherboard made the self-test OK. And also SIDE, S-Drive and Rescue on Fractalus worked OK this way. Since a floating wire is not so nice, I then soldered 3K resistors between A14/A15 and +5V acting like a terminator resistor (as with SCSI). And this solved the problem

 

In the band cable A14, CI and A15 are next to each other. On an 800XL CI goes to the PBI bus and its end is thus floating when no PBI device is attached. I think this somehow causes some reflections or noise on the CI, A14 and A15 lines. On an 130XE the CI signal goes only to Freddy and maybe this is why on a 130XE I did not have signal problems.

 

Anyway,I solved it by soldering resistors between A14/A15 and 5V. Maybe not a nice way but it works. I still need to try it on the first 800XL to see if it works there now too. Also I want to test if PBI devices (TurboFreezer & IDE+2) are still working now.

 

Robert

 

 

 

Edit:

BTW, replacing the electrolyte capacitors near the power supply did not help.

Edited February 24, 2012 by rdemming

[candle]

here is current status

as you can see, some folks are waiting for something

[Ransom]

Nevermind.

[Roydea6]

Nevermind.

Ditto... wrong thread...

[+rdemming]

OK, I hope someone of you can test the Ultimate1MB in combination with the Turbo Freezer PBI device.

 

After having the signal difficulties with the Ultimate1MB in my two 800XLs I found out that soldering a 3K resistor between 5V and A15 on the board solves the problems on both my 800XLs. Everything works. SIDE works now OK, SDRIVE now works OK, no corrupted graphics so it was time to test my PBI devices.

 

First I tried IDE2+ and it works like a charm. SDX loads and via the IDE2+ BIOS I can load .xex files.

 

But then I tried my original 1986 Turbo Freezer XL and that was a fail, at least partially. The Turbo Freezer XL has a switch to map in the 800 OS for the odd software that does not work with the XL OS. When this switch is ON, the Turbo Freezer overrides the Ultimate1MB OS and the Turbo Freezer works without problem but the complete Ultimate1MB is disabled. So no Ultimate1MB OS and BIOS but also no extended memory. This is normal because the Ultimate1MB bios is not run and thus the memory mode will not be set (which is probably by default off). So this is OK and expected.

 

But when the Turbo Freezer switch is on the regular OS, things get haywire. When turning on the machine, the Ultimate1MB bios comes up with corrupted character set and does not respond. When I push the Freezer button, I get into the Turbo Freezer but the character set is corrupted. Flicking the OS switch to 800 OS makes the character set good. Sometimes after pressing reset, I got into the Ultimate1MB memory test OS instead of the selected normal OS.

This is the same behaviour as before the "resistor mod" but then I thought is was because of the signal instability.

 

It seems like the Turbo Freezer and Ultimate1MB conflict with each other. The Turbo Freezer also maps in his own data in the OS region. But I thought that the Turbo Freezer was "invisible" until you pressed the button but even with the Turbo Freezer inactive (no button pressed), it affects the Ultimate1MB.

 

To know if it a general Turbo Freezer/Ultimate1MB problem or if this is still a problem of my 800XL signal instability I hope someone can test the Ultimate1MB with a Turbo Freezer. I'm interested in different combinations. Thus 800XL with the Original Turbo Freezer or Hias' Turbo Freezer 2005 and XEs with the Turbo Freezer XEs.

 

Thanks.

 

Robert

[candle]

turbo freezer uses a hack to work, and its not compatible with ultimate1mb

[+rdemming]

turbo freezer uses a hack to work, and its not compatible with ultimate1mb

 

OK, thanks. Glad it is not related to my signal stability problems. Luckily I still have a non "Ultimate 1MB" XL for the freezer :-p

Is this something that can be solved in the new upcoming version of Hias' Turbo Freezer or is it just the only way to make the Turbo Freezer to work?

 

Robert

[candle]

hopefully yes,

turbo freezer uses output only signal (from atari) as its own input because of nmos technology and depletion mode transistors used there

it simply pushes REF line low, forcing MMU to turn off any mappings - this includes ultimate1mb, but since its not aware of ultimate, it can't return to ultimate startup routine

[HiassofT]

Hi Robert!

 

Which version of the original TurboFreezer do you have? The larger one with 3 GALs (and the possibility to add a 256k RAM upgrade) or the later, smaller one with a 28-pin PLD (with the markings removed)?

 

The GAL version had several compatibility / stability problems which were solved in the later PLD version.

 

If you have the PLD version it could be that it has gone (slightly) bad. This version uses a selected 74HCT132 (also, markings removed) together with an analog R-C network to act as a clock-quadrupler. When the 74HCT132 (or one of the Rs or Cs) ages the oscillation frequency might drift and lead to timing issues.

 

so long,

 

Hias

[+rdemming]

I have the later version without the ability to add ram:

 

 

It is working without problems in an XL with a regular 256KB upgrade.

That it is not working together with the Ulitmate1MB is not a big deal to me as I also have a TF2005 for an XE, but I was wondering if the TF2011 (of which I preordered one with XL and XE adapter) could have similar issues.

 

Thanks

 

Robert

[+videofx]

So how do I get the 1MB upgrade for my XEGS? Will the 128k XE games work with the upgrade? And should I get the socketed MMU?

 

Thanks!

[+videofx]

Does anyone have install instructions for installing the 1mb upgrade in an XEGS?

[spookt]

Just wanted to say that I finally got around to installing one of mine in my 600XL tonight. No Sebastian, you're right I didn't order cables for a 600XL but since I'm using the 600XL as my main machine since the RAM in my 800XL died I figured go for it. I obviously now need to do some cable trimming (I used the long cables).

 

I must say I'm blown away. I just watched Numen from start to finish on a 600XL and what's even better is that I can now use my MIO with the machine. I guess the Ultimate sorts out PHI2 because I have never been able to use the MIO with this machine before. A superb upgrade, easy install (I used one of Dropcheck's MMU adapters) and fabulous features.

 

Oh, if it hasn't been asked before, what device do I need in my Sparta setup to enable the Ultimate clock? If I boot with D1: unassigned I get the driver installed but as soon as I use my own config.sys I loose it (obviously).

 

Thanks for all the work that went into this

[candle]

glad you like it

it's ultimate.sys or ds1305.sys

[candle]

i've been able to contact some of my "missing, presumed dead" u1mb owners and ship their boards, so small status update

i got all it needs to ship to another two people, and i'll do that tomorrow, but last one - van seems to unreachable

i also wanted to than Bill Cornish here, for helping me out with those lost souls

 

Sebastian