Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    
    �Also "ByteBack" are a reliable mail order company software (I believe it's 
    �all games)
    
    It's not all games, and they are a very good mail-order company. I've
    only had one problem with them, and that was chasing them up after 2
    weeks, the software ended up arriving in 2 days.
    
    
    				Lewis.

    I have recommended "Byteback" unreservedly since getting my Amiga,
    mainly on account of their quick response to orders etc (at the end of
    the day, that's what you want from a mail-order house).
    
    Unfortunately, I now have reservations. About a year ago, they supplied
    me with a copy of "X-Copy" (at a substantial price) on the basis that
    it "copied most protected disks". well, my copy doesn't. In fact, it
    doesn't seem to copy ANY protected disks. Also, the instructions are
    unreadable.
    
    After writing repeatedly to Byteback over a period of many months, I
    still have no replacement copy, refund, or anything like a satisfactory
    reply. I have to say that, it looks to me like they will take your
    money and "to Hell with you afterwards", just like Ocean et al.
    
    I am very disappointed to have to report this, but I have spent �30 on
    a completely useless product, and Byteback refuse to answer my
    complaints.
    
    -Roger
     

Hi,

To expand upon .0, does anyone know where the realtime clock on the A2000 sits?
I am thinking that I shuld try to fix it myself as sending the motherboard
away will cost big bucks..... 

Or, does anyone have a 'noddy' circuti board diagram ?

Dave

    I seem to recall mention in this file a couple of years back of a
    trim-pot for the clock on the motherboard.  This would probably do it
    for you if its there.
    
    John

    Never mind my last reply, I just re-read .0.  If it were the battery
    clock, I would refer you to note 1721.  But for "current clock," I
    don't have a clue.
    
    Regards,
    
    John

    I think the system time clock function is handled by a timer in one of
    the (two) CIA chips, possibly by generating an interrupt every second.
    Try swapping the CIA chips around and see if the symptoms change...

    I have found an interesting time related problem. If I am in Ncomm or
    VLT and leave them in background the runtime clock looses time - like
    by about 30%.  After a reboot all is fine.
    
    Anyone else seen this one??
    regards
    kevin

Hi,

Ok, I'll give the CIA swapping idea a go. One teeny query though; what (and 
where) are the CIA chips? Are they custom jobs? [I am not a h/w person]. 
Assuming that this solves the problem, am I home-free; can the faulty CIA be 
cheaply replaced?

Thanks.
Dave.

    
    Before you go to the trouble of swapping chips, make sure the timer
    jumper is set for 60hz rather than 50hz. Check the file available
    elsewhere on this conference that describes upreving the motherboard to
    V4.5. That is one of the checks it describes. There is also a utlitiy
    out there that allows you to adjust the clock. The pot is right behind
    the front panel, so only the cover needs to be removed to access it.
    
    As far as other programs altering your clock, they won't touch the time
    that has been saved in the system. Recover the system time entering 
    (I think) TIME OPT LOAD (or something like that).

Thanks, I'll have a look for the jumper. Is it clearly marked?  One question;
if the jumper was set a 50hz and not 60hz, surely the clock would run slow 
and not fast. What am I missing?!?

Thanks, Dave

    If the clock jumper is set for 50 Hz then each tick will add 1/50 of a
    second, or 20 milliseconds, to the current time.  However, if the line
    frequency is actually 60 Hz, then these ticks will come every 1/60 of a
    second, or 16.67 milliseconds.  Thus, every second you would get 60*20
    milliseconds, or 1.2 seconds, added to the current time, making your
    clock run 20% fast.
        John Sauter

Hi,

Yes, that seems to be roughly the speed increase of the clock, but how do I
recognise which jumper to change. Does it say "Dave, this is the clock timer" :-)
Seriously, I assume it will be called 'Jxx' where xx is a number. Any clues
to what the number is???

Cheers, I'm beginning to tear out less hair now.

Dave

    J300.  Page A-3 for a description and page F-12 for the schematic in
    the Amiga 2000 Manual.
    
    

Hi,

Hope you all had a good Christmas, but it's good to be back at work isn't it :-)

I had a look over the motherboard over the holiday and have made some progress; 
when the A2090 hd board is not plugged in, the clock runs perfectly. As soon as
the 2090 is back in, the clock goes awol! A strange incompatibility for 
official CBM products, methinks! 

Would some kind Uk based sole know if CMBM UK offer a motherboard upgrade. Last
time I phoned them they denied all responsibility as did all the 'Official CBM
dealers'. 

Also, I canna find the 'upgrade to rev4.5' article - I've looked for ages but no
joy :-(

One final time I broke a jumper and then resoldered it. I the process of cutting
the jumper I also cut a track, which I have tried to fix. Problem is that
the Ami can no longer find my battery backed clock. Humbug!

Cheers,

Dave.

    re: strange incompatibility
    
    what rev A2090 and what rev motherboard?  Is that with just the A2090
    board plugged in (not connected to a harddisk)?
    
    In theory, it should all work.  You just got to find which
    assumption it's based on that isn't working right on your system :-)
    
    Dave

Hi,

Thanks for the reply; been busy lately so I haven't had time to reply.

The motherboard is a German Rev4.0. I don't know what the A2090 is. The problem
has disappeared as I have 'nuked' my battery backed clock. On boot up it says
'Battery backed up clock not found.'

How do I stand on the issue of two CBM products not compatible? I am currently
writing  a letter of complaint to Commodore UK  about general customer service,
and was going to throw in the facts about incompatibility and we can't
upgrade the motherboard in the UK. How much is a new one in the US?  Is the
US service good, bad or indifferent?  The only way of getting a new board in 
the UK is to buy a new machine.

Any extra points to put in the letter will be appreciated. I was going to send
it to Geoff Shingles.

Cheers, Dave

    Re: -.1

>The motherboard is a German Rev4.0. I don't know what the A2090 is. The problem
>has disappeared as I have 'nuked' my battery backed clock. On boot up it says
>'Battery backed up clock not found.'

    For a solution to this, check out note 2346.

    -Dom

Hi,

I looked at the note suggested in -.1 and voila! my clock is back!!!
It's still running fast, but it's alive!  Thanks a lot!!!!

Dave. (one less problem to solve)