#Installing 3.1 ROMs
24 messages in this thread
Dale:
I just installed the 3.1 ROMs in my A3000, along with a newer buster chip as
well. When I power up the machine nothing happens, no SCSI activity, and just a
black screen. Would this indicate a problem with the buster chip, or the 3.1
ROMs? Also, I think I cracked the buster's chip holder, could that cause this
problem?
-Mike Schiller
Best rule is to do one thing at a time, then you know what the cause of
any problem is…
Given that you've already got a problem, you'll have to troubleshoot it.
It looks like the instructions provided by VillageTronic/Expert Services
may be backwards (see other messages here) — you might try swapping ROMs.
Also check to see that they are oriented correctly. If that doesn't work,
you might go back to the old ROMs to see if you can get that to work.
Busting a socket (I assume that is what you mean by the "buster's chip
holder") could be a big problem. Theoretically, you could crack it
without affecting any contacts, but I'd strongly suspect that you either
have intermitent contact with the Buster or you have harmed the socket's
contact with the MB.
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."
I put chip 0 into the socket labled 1 and chip 1 into socket 0, and mine
works. As for the buster, I know of a person here in mid-mich area that
tried and went back to the old one because of the flakiness/gurus he got.
Matt Straney, 3 hours late, without your luggage
from Grand Ledge — on AutoPilot ——–>
Matt,
I'm just around the corner from you in Grand Rapids. Out of curiosity,
in which machine did you install the 3.1 upgrade? I have an A3000 with
2.05 ROM's and an A4000. I can't make up my mind whether to upgrade one,
none, or both machines. Are you happy with the 3.1 upgrade?
Regards, Marty
Well,
I'd say 4000, because it has AGA display, and an `040(maybe). Though
maybe you don't have a scsi in the 4k. If they both have 040's, then you
have to decide do I want to get a scsi for cd-rom or use 3k w/ cd and no
AGA display.
Yes, I am happy w/ the upgrade, I have had one GURU and that is from
trying a new pd game. It is much more stable.
Matt Straney, 3 hours late, without your luggage
from Grand Ledge — on AutoPilot ——–>
Matt:
I just got the 3.1 ROMS for my A3000, but have not installed them. I noted
your statement of the reversal of the ROMs. Expert Services didn't say
anything about reversing the ROMs. In fact, they said very little except how
to get to that portion of the motherboard. I do remember reversing the ROMs
when I installed the 2.04 ROMs. Do I take it that the same situation still
exists? If this is the case, it would be very good if this were made very
clear to anyone reading this forum.
Regards,
Norm
I installed the 3.1 ROMs in my nearly vanila A3000 yesterday. The ROMs I
took out of the tower were ROM 0 in U181 and ROM 1 in U180. I put in the
new ROMS in the same order of numbers.
Every thing was beautiful and went without a hitch. Even the install
sequence was flawless. I had no trouble seeing that the 3.1 ROMs were
doing their job.
The problem came when, after the install was over, I rebooted as the
instructions directed.
The machine would not boot!!! Nothing I did was of any help. The HD lite
comes on and stays on. I tried booting with the WB floppy – no good.
Finally put back the old ROMs and booted with the 2.04 software Kickstart
which worked and now I am back to square one. (after having replaced
everything in my Sys: partition with the old 2.04 Sys stuff)
Anyone have suggestions for me? Please?
Seems I read something about doing something with RESELECTION in the HD
area – but can't recall the details. HELP!!
Dick:
I will be putting in the 3.1 ROMs before this weekend is through. I will check
the ROM order against what you have said. However, it appears others have done
the reverse. I hope to have this question resolved by the end of the weekend.
Fortunately, they are the same type of ROM so putting them in the sockets in
reverse will not fry anything. If I discover anything useful, I'll get back to
you.
If anyone else has any comments, I think both you and I would appreciate them.
Regards,
Norm
NH>If anyone else has any comments, I think both you and I would
NH>appreciate them.
Amen! I just had a flash of me still standing at attention by my Ami and
the snow is flying outside.
I don't have any immediate suggestions, but I do have a question: Did
your 3.1 ROMs come with a set of three manuals? I just heard that there
are sets of 3.1 ROMs with disks being sold at various dealers that are
actually pirated ROMs. The "legal" ROM sets include three manuals.
Just so you know, I'm not accusing you of anything here… I'm just
saying that if you were unfortunate enough to pick up something like this
from your local dealer, this might be why you're having this problem.
Steve
Steve, I appreciate your concern, but I did get my set from Expert
systems. I have seen their msg and all in the box agrees with their list –
i.e., 3 manuals, etc.
When you say tower what do you mean???
is it a ROM switcher? or just a socket?
according to my sheet you have the order correct. This will sound trite,
but I have had a similar problem in the past, what the problem was, was
that the daughterboard had popped up out of its slot. I never did under
stand who it can tell if the board is in or not, but then again that's the
Z-II/III bus?
Matt Straney, 3 hours late, without your luggage
from Grand Ledge — on AutoPilot ——–>
MS>is it a ROM switcher? or just a socket?
In the A3K, it is a small PC board (2 1/2" X 2 1/2") upon which are
mounted the two ROMs. This board is then turned upside down and plugged
back into the mother board. This has to be a jury rig, but no harm done.
MS>that the daughterboard had popped up out of its slot.
That happened to me, too. Outcome was the arrival of a yellow screen at
which point progress halted. Some heart flutter until discovery of the
daughterboard thing.
Hello from germany, Dick,
I don't know about your HD Problem, I have an A2000.
But I had almost the same problems after intallation.
The installation was easy and flawless. Upon reboot my startup-sequence
would freeze.
After manipulating the startup-sequence, the workbench would show up, but
would freeze soon upon opening windows, screens or inserting floppies.
After restoring my 2.1 workbench I copied all files manualy, and noticed
that the Monitor Files where completely different in size. I decided to
leave the 2.1 Monitor Files, and now it works perfectly.
The system runs more stable and graphics are a noticably faster and
smoother, so its really worth the trouble,
My guess is that the 3.1 Monitor Files are for the AGA chipset…
– yours truly
* Derek *
Derek, thanks for the reply.
It strikes me that this has to be something wierd and you may have hit it
with the monitor files. One thing that bothers me is that I don't see
great numbers of A3000 owners hollering about this particular problem. In
other words, 'Why me?' Ah, Well.
In the process of all this, I did note that I have a PROTOTYPE SCSI chip
and so am getting a new one of those. I will wait for that so as to be
able to put all in at the same time.
I shall keep in mind your suggestion about the monitor files.
Maybe someone can shed some light on the possibility of AGA mismatch???
The only problem I had with 3.1 was an odd colored mouse pointer, but I
got that straightened out…A2000, CSA/MMR 'real' 030/882/8 meg 40mhz,
FFV2, Nec Multisynch 3D, plus a bunch of other stuff.
Robb
Under 2.1, my Quantum 1.8GB drive would work funky in ASYNC SCSI transfer
mode so I switched to SYNC mode and all was fine. When I popped 3.1 in my
3000, the system would sit there during boot with the SCSI LED on. After
a period of time, it'd finally boot. It turned out that the CD-ROM drive
I have was the cause of the freeze as it didn't like SYNC transfers. I
switched back to ASYNC and the system would boot up great and I didn't
have any more problems with the Quantum. I don't know if that'll help you
though but who knows.
Dan
Daniel J. McCoy // CIS – 73742,3072
AP Engaged! \X/ Render 'till ya drop!
DM>I switched back to ASYNC and the system would boot up great and I
Dthe numbers are ok, that is if
putting the lower numbered ROM in the higher numbered socket and vica versa
makes sense. At least, 3.1 is running now. Now if we can figure out why other
people are having the frozen harddisk problem, we might have this WB 3.1
bagged.
Regards,
Norm
Does this mean you need a new rev Buster on the 3000 to install 3.1? Wish
they'd said that when I ordered it. Where did you get yours? Thanks for
any info!
DJ
You don't need to change any hardware to install 3.1 (other than the ROM).
He was just making another upgrade while he had the case open. Which is a
good idea, as long as you make one upgrade, then make sure it worked, then
make the next and make sure it works, etc.
Dale L. Larson Intangible Assets Manufacturing (info@iam.com)
"That's the best part about being crazy. You see things no one else can see."
Pheew! I HAVE been trying to get all the chips upgraded, but haven't had
much luck finding them.
And yes, that's always the way to try things out – one at a time. Nothing
like changing five things then trying to figure out which one (or two)
went wrong! It's the kind of thing you do once <G>.
DJ
DJ:
Nope, a new Buster isn't needed for 3.1, I happened to have one that I got when
a friend got a 4091, and he didn't need it, so I got it. Of course, now I sort
of wish I DIDN'T have it, but oh well, maybe tomorrow I'll get up the courage
to start backtracking and see if I can get the machine working again!
-Mike Schiller
Thanks, Mike. One less thing to worry about for now!
DJ
Mike,
Where did you find the Buster chip?
-Richard