| Amiga 2000 Vampire V2+ Rev 2.2 Fails to Start | |
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Steve Sim
Posts 5
23 Jun 2019 10:39
| Hi, I'm trying to get a V2+ running in my Amiga 2000 (Rev 6). When installed and powered on, the RGB output shows a screen with blue diagonal lines flashing across (similar to a decompressing graphic). There is no output on the DIGITAL-VIDEO (so no Vampire splash screen at all). I've spent the last couple of weeks working on the power supply, testing and recapping and it now appears stable. When I remove the vampire and install the CPU it boots reliably. I've tried the Vampire in the CPU socket and on a Kipper2K accelerator socket riser. Both behave exactly the same. What to try next? I'm afraid the Vampire may be fried. Is there any tests I can do (without having access to another Amiga)?
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Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6214
23 Jun 2019 11:41
| What core is in your Vampire?
Did you use the Vampire before in another AMIGA?
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Steve Sim
Posts 5
23 Jun 2019 23:43
| Thanks for responding Gunnar. I believe the Vampire core is 2.11. Given that it doesn't show a splash screen I'm not sure how to confirm, but it was bought only in the last couple of months from Amedia in France. (I'm in NZ, hence hoping I don't need to send it back) I've not used it in another Amiga. Amedia may have configured and tested it before sending it out, but I've not.
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Pedro Cotter
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 308
24 Jun 2019 05:58
| Hi Steve,
No missing pins? the gold ones that connects to the cpu socketdo you have an USB Blaster to flash cores?
If so that would be the next step...
EXTERNAL LINK
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Steve Sim
Posts 5
24 Jun 2019 06:29
| Thanks Pedro for chipping in. No, the pins all look good (I have to say I'm impressed with the quality of the board - it all looks very tidy) I don't have a USB Blaster, so will have to have a look for one. Is there anything else to try in the meantime?
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Chris Edwards
Posts 43
24 Jun 2019 11:46
| what lights go on the vampire, blue/red ? any ? yes as Pedro stated, you may have to re flash the core with the usb blaster programmer, I've done it a few times on my "working" Vampire, now all seems to be groovy. you have to get some fpga software from intel, which requires registration on their site to download. but its fast and works well.
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Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 6214
24 Jun 2019 12:49
| Steve Sim wrote:
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Thanks for responding Gunnar.I believe the Vampire core is 2.11. Given that it doesn't show a splash screen I'm not sure how to confirm, but it was bought only in the last couple of months from Amedia in France. nfigured and tested it before sending it out, but I've not.
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Blue bars means that the card failed an internal Fastmem/Rom check.
* This could be caused by flash corrupt.
Unlikely if you fresh bought it.
* This could be caused by bad contact to mobo.
Make sure the card is NOT bend. E.g remove Kickroms chips on Mainboard if needed.
* This could be caused by bad power connection. Weak caps on Mobo.
Can you test card in another AMIGA?
* This could be caused by a card fail.
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Steve Sim
Posts 5
25 Jun 2019 22:03
| Thanks again for all the responses. The blue LED comes on. No red LED, but I haven't connected anything yet to the IDE controller so wasn't expecting anything here. That will come after I can get it as far as the kickstart screen. Great to have a definitive diagnosis of the blue bars.
* If it was a corrupt flash then I would assume using a USB blaster would be the fix for this?
* I don't think it's the mobo contacts. I've tried both the CPU socket and the accelerator slot with the adapter board and get the same results. I did notice that in the accelerator slot a wobble of the board created artifacts on the screen, so have filed down the board near the edge connectors to give a less square edge, matching the shape of my old A2630 board. This seems to have fixed that and now the connection is solid.
* The power supply was my first focus, and I've spent quite a bit of time with an engineer friend to clean up and test it, including replacing some of the capacitors there. We haven't replaced any caps on the mobo itself, but checking the voltage across the components appears to all be very stable and consistent. The good news is I have found one of my friends has an old A500 which he thinks is in working order, so I'll try that over the weekend. I doubt he's fired this up for some years, so if it doesn't work on that it may still not be the board. Thanks again for all your suggestions. I'll check back in after the weekend once I've tried this other machine. Cheers
Steve
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Documentation about the Vampire hardware