#Bad 2620 ROM upgrade?
32 messages in this thread
I just rec'd the ROM upgrade kit for my ancient A2620 board. It had rev
-01 roms in it. It had been working OK in an A2000 until I installed 2.04
rom. I pulled the board until I got the new roms for it. After carefully
installing the roms I installed it and pppppppp. I get nothing but a red
screen. I tried it in a 1.3 2000 and I get a black screen. I pull the roms
and refit the -01 roms. I get no problems in the 1.3 2000. It craps out on
the 2.04 2000 as expected (dumps into the 2620 monitor).
Sound like a bad ROM? Is that what the red screen means? I disabled half
and then all of the ram on the card with no success.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
Mark,
Obviously either bad ROMs, or improperly installed ROMs for the
2620. The new 07 ROMs do work…I've got them in my 2620.
Don
I checked, checked and re-checked my installation of the ROMS. They have
the same part number (except for the suffix) as the old ROMS. I put them in
the same sockets, there are no bent pins, not upside down and not
transposed. I guess they are bad. The dealer had one more set when I was
there Thurs.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
Mark,
I had one bad ROM in my set, too. I'm still waiting for a replacement. My
dealer has not had them available. They did get a few sets in October, but
had sold them all before we discovered that mine were bad. You're lucky
that they are available at your dealer.
Betty
Betty,
Today I found that some 2620 (NOT 2630) boards do not operate with the
new ROM set. C= has not found a solution or decided what to do at this
point. My ROM set is probably not defective. 8^P I hope they come up with
something soon.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
Have you tried the program in the AmigaUser Library 12:
26X0_F.LZH 12 6K 11-06-91 NON-ROM fix for 2620/30 2.0 kickstart
I'm planning to try that one later tonight and see if it will tide me over
until I can get the chips.
I have that file but haven't tried it. I read the docs and I think I know
what to do. It might be a while before something is done about the problem
so it might be time to try it.
IF that doesn't work for you ( it didn't for me ) I can upload or post my
solution.
We would certainly welcome your solution, Bill.
Betty
OK, here goes…
1) First, you need the program found here that creates a file image of the
2.0 ROMs, I believe that it is called 26X0_F.lzh.
2) create a directory in your system partition for old commands. This is
necessary, since several 'c' directory commands will not be found in
the new 2.0 'c' directory ( they are in the ROM!)
Copy the 1.3 'c' directory commands to this new directory.
(mine is called wb1.3)
3) Rename your startup-sequence as startup2 or some such, and create a new
startup-sequence that has the following:
dh0:wb1.3/c/path dh0:wb1.3/c dh0:tools add
failat 20
version > NIL: exec.library 37
if WARN
setcpu KICKROM dh0:kickstart2.04
ELSE
path reset
execute dh0:s/Startup-2.0
ENDIF
What happens here is that the version command will be found, and will fail,
if the 1.3 ROM and 2.0 disk collide. This causes the setcpu command to
execute, copying the correct ROM image to RAM and uses it to reboot!
This is pretty much what the 26X0_F file says to do, but you must have
access to the old 'c' version command. This was not described in the 26X0_F
file.
Also note that the path is reset so that the old commands will not be found
if the 2.0 image is in RAM.
One last comment, you will want to add a line to your user-startup file to
move the ROM image from chip RAM to fast RAM, otherwise you won't have much
chip RAM left!
Hope this helps!
..Bill 😉
Bill,
Thanks for the instructions. If my other methods don't work – and I still
can't find the ROMs, I'll try it out. Sounds as though it is easy enough,
once you get it set up.
Betty
Where did you get your A2620 Rev 07 ROM's? It seems hard enough to get Rev
06 ROM's.
I got mine directly from Commodore thru the developer's program. I
believe that the '07s are all that they're shipping now to anyone.
Is there any major difference between the A2620-06's and the A2620-07's ??
– Using Whap! (from Southern Illinois)
Jim,
I don't know, other than the dates on the 07's are exactly 6 months
past the date on the 06's That's the date burned into the ROM, I presume
it's the version date.
I would guess there was some bug fix or improvement. For example I
am pretty sure the 06 ROMs still had UNIX as one of the boot options while
the07 doesn't have UNIX as a boot option. It's still available from the
monitor though should we ever get a UNIX for the 2500.
Other than that…no idea.
Don
07 will still boot unix – it's just not in the same menu sequence, Don.
–Ben
Ben,
UNIX isn't on the menu, but it's still in the monitor…so I
presume you have to go into the ROM monitor to boot it. You know of a
different way? Not that it matters…don't have (but would love) UNIX on
this beastie anyway.
Don
No – as far as I know, you're correct. But you CAN boot it.
–Ben
Hmm – OK – thanks for the info about the A2620 rev 06 & rev 07 ROMS. I am
still awaiting an order that was originally posted for the rev 06'ers. I
wonder if I will get 07's instead?
– Using Whap! (from Southern Illinois)
Jim,
I think they're only shippping the -07's now….but guess they'll
have to wait and see.
Don
OK – thanks (on the '07's).
– Using Whap! (from Southern Illinois) (Internet: ca0008@siucvmb.siu.edu)
The Unix boot code got reworked to follow the 2.0 rigid disk block
standard. Also, I think -07 is the first version that uses just the right
mouse button to go to the processor select screen, rather than both. This
avoids the traditional "mouse dance" that was required when 2.0 is
installed (both the 2630 roms and 2.0 look for both mouse buttons)
andy
Thanks for the info on the dancing mice (didn't know they DID that) and the
right mouse button (I canNOT stand messy-dos platforms that think they are
SO cute using a ONE button mouse – give me a break!).
– Using Whap! (from Southern Illinois)
I've *never* seen a PC mouse with less than two buttons – a few have three,
or more, but Windows uses two, so most are now two button mice. Of course,
the Mac stumbles along with one.
Right – MOST mice have two buttons, no matter what the hardware platform
they are being used with. My comment was based upon the fact that I have
not seen ANY MS-DOS applications that use BOTH buttons. You mention that
Windows uses two, while I have seen whatever version other people are using
at work using only one. Oh well – it doesn't really matter cuz I canNOT
stand the Microsoft serial mouse. To me, it is not only gross to use, but
even gross to touch.
While the standard Amiga mouse may not win many awards, I will take it ANY
day over the Microsoft "brick" people at work use. I also am continually
amazed at how much MS-DOS fails to provide for in any one particular
version of DOS. Look at ALL of what was available with AmigaDOS and STILL
is (real two button functions and applications, better than VGA and color
graphics, multitasking, etc.). MS-DOS is nothing but an endless stream of
marketing. If IBM is smart, they will put EVERYTHING THEY CAN into OS/2
that can be used for the next 3-5 years so they don't need to continually
re-introduce an incomplete OS!
– Using Whap! (from Southern Illinois) (Internet: ca0008@siucvmb.siu.edu)
Jim–
I think that OS/2 is a bit TOO complete. Last I heard, it takes up 25 megs
of hard drive space…maybe they should license AmigaDOS….
Jonathan
– via Whap!
I have OS/2, Windows 3.0, and Windows 3.1 all on my PC here and I really
can't say that OS/2 is *that* big. The biggest thing to realize is that
just about everything I have run into on the pc uses tons of disk space.
Even the paint package I got for my little girl weighs in over 2 meg.
Speaking of software space requirements, one of my cohorts at work (we are
a fairly good sized big blue shop in a good sized university) imtimated
that several MS-DOS and/or OS/2 products that he was installing were
requiring somewhere around 20-30 megs of "DASD"!!
I look at what I use on my Amiga and though some of them (like AmigaVision)
due require several meg, I don't have or know of ANY single software
application that requires that much disk space on an Amiga!?
– Using Whap! (from Southern Illinois) (Internet: ca0008@siucvmb.siu.edu)
Oh – yeh – not only does OS/2 gobble up disk space like it was going out of
style, but one needs something like 8Mb of RAM just to make it work
reasonably well (at least for OS/2 V2.0)!?
– Using Whap! (from Southern Illinois) (Internet: ca0008@siucvmb.siu.edu)
mark,
what rev. is your a2620? there seems to be some problem with rev. 3
boards and the -07 roms under wb2.04. if your board is rev. 3, there is a
trade in deal going on at software hut, in philadelphia. they advertise in
the back of amiga world, where you'll find their phone number. i sent them
my board and $200, and they sent me a gvp 22mhz. combo board (accel., scsi
and 32bit ram board).
if your a2620 is later than rev. 3, it could just be bad roms.
andrew
—Andrew
Andrew,
It is a rev. 3 2620 board. I will look for the ad. Sounds like a decent
price. The 22mHz GVP board is kinda obsolete but then so is the 2620. I
wonder if C= will do anything about this problem.
Thanks for the tip.
….Mark Sterling 74335,1677
mark,
i had heard previous to my purchase that commodore had some sort of deal
going with this software hut, for the trade in offer. i find it hard to
believe that they (commodore) wouldn't use their own '030 product if they
were going to get into a trade in deal. more rumors…
andrew
—Andrew