Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Does any have a good Commadore technical service phone number for
    Amigas? or is that privilaged  number for dealers only?
    
    ...Rich

    I was having random visits from the Guru for several months after
    adding RAM to my system.  I finally noticed a recurring pattern in
    the address portion of the meditation message and isolated the cause
    to a flakey SIMM.  It 'tested' OK using typical RAM test programs,
    but failed (I presume) during DMA operations, i.e. when accessed
    twice as often.  Maybe you could run DiskPerf and a RAM test at the
    same time...?

    What's a SIMM?
    ...Rich

    A SIMM is a small card with RAM chips mounted on it.  Some memory
    boards use SIMMs instead of individual chips.

Re: .0

>I'm using the 100ns chips.  The recommendations are for 120ns or 100ns
>chips. I wonder if the 100ns chip are too fast and causing a timing problems.

No, there is no chance of the chips being too fast.

It is reasonable to suspect the memory of being flaky.  I believe that the
2091 has a jumper on it to disable the memory expansion.  Try disabling
the memory and seeing if the system becomes more stable.

If the system does become more stable, re-enable the memory, but set the
jumpers so that the 2091 configure as only a 512K memory expansion instead
of a 1M memory expansion.  That might allow you to figure out which bank
the bad chip(s) are in.

Try leaving your Amiga up and running for several hours: the problem
might be temperature related.

The most common errors due to bad memory are Guru 3 and Guru 4.

If the problem persists, take the system back to your dealer.  You
have a warranty on everything except the extra ram chips you bought.

    I tried running the memory test while doing disk acesses (ie typing
    a long file.  I disabled SNIPIT from running on boot up. So far
    ProPage seems to run better.  But that doesn't explain the Guru's
    in the floppy based games.  I'll have to wait and see.
    
    Re. -1: I did bring the system back to the dealer. He says he ran
    if for many hours and found not problems.
    
    I'll have to try the jumper trick. The problem is the only consistant
    software problem is with ProPage that really needs 2Meg. Maybe I
    can get along with 1.5 Meg for ProPage.
    
    
    ... Rich

    
�    I've got a new A2000HD, Rev 6.2 motherboard, and extra meg of chips
�    added to the hard disk card (2 meg total).  Most of the time it works

    That is, two meg *total*, system wide? As in, one meg on the A2091? If
    so, I believe there is a problem with that configuration and the A2091.
    I was having problems booting certain applications (okay, okay, certain
    games) on my A2000HD (w/ no fast RAM at the time). I called OmniTek and
    spoke with the service guy (Paul?) and he read from a tech bulletin
    from CBM regarding A2091. If memory serves, it had to do mainly with
    the location zero problem (fixed with a new version of the firmware)
    and some problem with having less than two meg (512K, 1M) on board.
    I can't remember what the fix was if any. Steve at System Eyes should
    have the tech bulletins on hand (they're an authorized dealer) if not,
    try OmniTek.

    Hope this helps,

    Pete

    re: -1
    
    Yes, 1 meg in the A2000 main frame(FatAgnus) and 1 meg on the A2091.
    Does it work any better with 2 meg on the A2091?
    
    Thanks for the reply.  I was dead ended.  I almost never get the guru
    (except for PPage), but my family keeps telling me there's something
    'wrong.'  The kid's  and my wif use the A2000 all the time. I find it
    hard to get time on my toy.
    
    ...rich 

�   Does it work any better with 2 meg on the A2091?

    More is always better ;^). Seriously, I can't recall what the exact
    problem was. I thought it went something like "put the jumper in the
    2Mb position for any configuration other than 0Mb (512K,1M,2M)" but
    don't take my word for it. That was back in early April and I've had
    several dual addressing problems with my brain since then.
    If I remember, I'll give OmniTek a call on Monday. If you beat me to
    it, ask for "Joe" not whomever I mentioned back a few. He's the service
    guy there (the only "Joe" there also) and he told me of it originally.
    I may be all wet, but it's worth a shot.

    Just FYI, most of my problems went away when I got some fast RAM (2Mb
    on the A2091), but I suspect that the software wasn't written with 1Mb
    of chip RAM/0Mb fast RAM in mind. "Barney Bear Goes To School" will now
    load and run without a guru (usually, although I still have to stand by
    my original review - thumbs down). "Ghostbusters II" wouldn't load at
    all until I put a switch in place of enable/disable autoboot ROM(s)
    jumper. If I remember correctly, it will now load in autoboot mode
    since adding the fast RAM. The only trouble I'm having lately is with
    either MemGuard or VirusX. I was getting random gurus just booting, and
    VirusX was always the task being held. At first I was neglecting the -r
    switch for use with SetPatch. But even after that, I'd get a guru once
    in a while. MemGuard would usually show it's requestor just previous
    and I wouldn't be able to close VirusX. The scary part is that even a
    warm reboot would result in an instant guru. I'd have to power down
    completely and then all would be well. I've since removed VirusX from
    my startup and haven't had any problems since. Perhaps I've caught a
    nasty infection...

    Pete

Re: last few

Any problems with the 2091 and location zero that I'm aware of are caused
by the interaction of a FastFileSystem with enabled Debug option and broken
software (like VirusX 4.0, TurboSilver  and numerous other ones, mostly games).

Now one thing I would do is to disable the 2091's automount feature before
booting some of your now "broken" games. If this fixes your problem, see
several other notes in this and the comp.*amiga* conferences that describe 
how to replace your FFS with a new one.

I'm not aware of any PPage 1.3 and location zero interactions, so it might
very well be a memory problem after all.

Regards,

<CB>

    Well, I went'n ordered another meg ($81 including Fedex charges).
    I installed them on the A2091 card. I now have 1 meg in fast memory and
    2 meg worth of chips installed on the A2091 (3 meg total). I haven't
    had a chance to play with the system alot yet, but... the flakey
    problems that I had that caused GURU's went away.  I really won't
    know for sure till the kids run the systems through its paces. They
    seem to find all the flakey problems.
    
    But if my suspicions are correct and based on pervious notes:
    
    The A2091 card does NOT work properly with only 1 meg installed.
    

    Sorry to get back to you so late on this but, I completely spaced it.
    I called OmniTek and spoke with Joe and he read to me from the bulletin
    mentioned previously.

    Tech Bulletin (or whatever they call them) issue 28 section 3 item 5.1
    mentions a problem with memory not configuring correctly on an A2091
    with 512Kb and 1Mb configurations (0, 2Mb work correctly). The problem
    is most noticable when the A2091 is used with other cards and/or not
    installed in the first slot.

    FYI, section 10.1 on the same bulletin mentions new A590/A2091 ROMs to
    fix the location zero "problem". There will, however, be no warranty
    coverage for this upgrade.

    Hope your problems have since vanished,

    Pete