#ATOP problems
12 messages in this thread
I just installed the ATOP multi-function card in my A3000 and have a
problem with it. Namely, the fakec partition wont boot anymore. I dont
yep have an IDE hard drive, and have just the one 1.44 meg floppy drive, so
I configured the boards jumper settings as was shown for No hard drive and
no floppy drive support. I inserted the card and booted my the system.
The ram test went fine and a nice clear VGA display came up on my 1950
(just like I had gotten with my old VGA only card) it then gave me all the
janus system messages as always after then ram test, but when it went to
book from the hard drive (a virtual drive fakec) it just hung there. The
system went no farther I tried re-setting the bios set-up but found
everything to be as it should ie: no hard drive 1 1.4 meg floppy speical
for video etc.
Going back to the amiga side, I made sure the both color and mono displays
were turned off and indeed they were/are. I tried re-seeting the card, no
luch. I trired setting the jumpers to turn off various areas of the card,
namely the paraell and serial and bus mouse etc. All of this made no
difference. I then removed the card and booted without any card and fakec
came right up as normal. I then checked to make sure all the settings that
ATOP set for jumpers did not interfear with any of the areas that are
talked about in the BB manual ie: no using IRQ 3 and a couple of Ram
locations and indeed found that it did use one of them, so I switced that
jumper, but once again it would not boot the fakec.
I just recived the board yesterday and will call ATOP in the morning, but I
was wondering if any of you out there have this card, and have gotten it to
work with a vitrual drive?
any input would be most welcomed.
Tim
Well, I finally solved the problem.
The DIP switch that the ATOP people tell you to set J7 and J8 are reversed!
you need to select alt and enable JRQ2 which is just the oppisite of what
they tell you to do……sigh.
I called the ATOP people this afternoon and got only a 'we'll call you
back' line form the lady taking messages, I am still waiting for a call
back from them. When and if they do bother to call me back, i'll be sure
to inform them of there error.
So far im not too impressed by these people.
Tim
Tim, at least you got something that said how those jumpers should be set.
I had to figure them all out. 🙂 I do remember that I had a problem with
those two jumpers too.
Jim
Jim,
Yea, it was a bit of a help. the ATOP did call me back this morning, so
they just went up 1 notch in my book for support. I told the guy about the
J7 jumper problem, and his responce was 'oh my! I had no idea' heh but he
did say they would look into it and add that to thier little sheet with all
the jumper settings.
It's working fine BTW I got a serial cable for it and connected my modem to
it, and am now typing this from q-modem in VGA NICE! I also connected a
IDE 105 meg quantum hard drive to it today and it is working nicely!
I had to get the included software converted to 3 1/2 in format however as
my BB only has a 1.4 meg floppy drive connected at this time, however I do
plan on useing the new floppy connector to add a 1.2 meg 5 1/4 drive
external to my system.
Tim
Tim,
Yeah, those last two jumpers drove me up the wall. I was *sure* they were
set right, according to the manual. So when all else fails, try random
combinations. 🙂 I made it a point to save copies of that configuration!
When I was working on that system a couple of clone fans came into the
store. You should have seen their jaws hit the floor when they was ms-dos
running on one monitor and Amiga DOS on the other!
Jim
Tim,
Does ATOP include anything with the board that isn't standard with the
original accelerator? In other words, if you can get the board cheaper
elsewhere, is there a good reason to go with the ATOP version instead?
Denny:
ATOP can provide AMiga support, if that's important to you. The system they
have up and running in their office is an A3000/25-386/20 <g>
Michael
….from the north coast
You do get the 1 meg version of the board for your $300.00 so thats good
but then you could jut order the 1 meg version from STB also. the only
other thing you get is a sheet with the various jumper settings for use
with the brigeboard, and other then that one J7 J8 jumper error (of which
they are now away of) it's a big help. You also get support from a company
that is using this board themselves with the Amiga.
Thats the multi-function card part of course, as for the accelerator, it's
more or less the same thing, support from a company that knows what an
Amiga is. ie: if you were to call STB with a question about installing it
on your 286-BB running on your Amiga 2000/3000 they might say 'Whats that?'
Tim
Denny,
The only thing you get from ATOP is Amiga/Bridgeboard support. Basically,
all they've done is try out a bunch of PC products and figure out which of
them works best with the BB. They can tell you what jumper settings would
be best for use with the bridgeboard and so on.
If you'd rather save money, I'd get them from a PC mail order company
instead. The ATOP multifunction card is made by STB, the ATOP 386sx
accelerator is made by AOX.
Sunny…
If you buy the accelerator directly from the manuf., you have to shop
around for the slot extenders to lift the daughter to make room for the 386
module.
And of course, you couldn't call ATOP for help if you bought it elsewhere.
There are so few people supporting the Amiga and the Bridgeboards, I'd like
to see people support ATOP.
Marion
CROSSINGS
Newsletter for Amiga/PC compatibility
That's daughter BOARD, of course
Marion
A agree Marion, that the only reason I went with ATOP rather then order the
multi-function card from STB. There suport turned out to be ok, and so I
don't mind paying more for that extra support. Now I think i'll see if I
can get them to find a board that has been proven to work with the 286-BB
and gives you extra AT slots. That is the last thing my BB needs to be a
fully functioning PC in my opinion. On my A3000 those 2 slots just don't
cut it, even with a multi-function card that does just about everything.
The two things it does NOT do, is give you more ram and sound card support.
Those two things would be nice to add to my BB set-up.
Tim