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Documentation about the Vampire hardware

Problems With ENC28J60 On Expansion Port

David Eriksson

Posts 8
31 May 2018 00:12


Hi,

I have a Vampire 500 2+ and I have some issues with the stability of my network. I have connected the ENC28J60 after the instructions on EXTERNAL LINK and it kinda works, but after a while everything just stops working and I have to reboot to get the network working again - the machine usually doesn't crash but all network activity is frozen. I have tried with both the latest Roadshow (registred) and MiamiDX and they both behave about the same (Roadshow works a little better).

I have tried setting a few different options in ENVARC:sana2/v2expeth.config but nothing really makes a difference, and I tried using shorter cables between the ENC28J60 and the vampire. I've even had a friend help me add 50k pullup resistors on the pins with 50k pullup remarks on the Wiki because I was unsure if that was needed - but it made no difference. Does anyone have any more suggestions what I could try?

I'm using Workbench 3.9 and the latest core and have updated to the latest SAGA drivers. I'm not using any specific patches or such. Any ideas what could be the issue here?


Martin Soerensen

Posts 232
31 May 2018 09:55


I had similar issues which were resolved when I replaced the ~10m UTP cable with a 20cm one (wifi router sitting next to the Amiga). I am supplying the Ethernet module from the Vampire, so it is not really capable of driving UTP cables very far. It should improve if you supply it directly from the PSU instead (as suggested in the documentation).


Henryk Richter
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 128/ 1
02 Jun 2018 21:52


David Eriksson wrote:

  I have a Vampire 500 2+ and I have some issues with the stability of my network. I have connected the ENC28J60 after the instructions on EXTERNAL LINK and it kinda works, but after a while everything just stops working and I have to reboot to get the network working again - the machine usually doesn't crash but all network activity is frozen. I have tried with both the latest Roadshow (registred) and MiamiDX and they both behave about the same (Roadshow works a little better).

The Ethernet chip on these modules has an unfortunate property: It's reset command is a single byte. I've put some work into detecting erratic behavior of the module but I cannot guarantee that my failsafe measures cover all situations.


  I have tried setting a few different options in ENVARC:sana2/v2expeth.config but nothing really makes a difference, and I tried using shorter cables between the ENC28J60 and the vampire.

SPISPEED=3 is the only option I'd recommend for initial testing when potential cabling related issues are encountered.


  I've even had a friend help me add 50k pullup resistors on the pins with 50k pullup remarks on the Wiki because I was unsure if that was needed - but it made no difference. Does anyone have any more suggestions what I could try?

You don't need additional pullups. The 50k are internal in the FPGA.
Please ensure that all wires are of exactly the same length (no more than 20cm or 8 inch).

Also, a cap (22 uF or 47 uF) between VCC and GND on the module might help to stabilize it.
 


posts 3