Dead Falcon/CT63 ? I can't believe it !

[yungjoon]

Hi,

Yesterday, my Falcon/CT63 did some strange artifacts or lines on the screen.

I shut it down and after, It didn't boot, black screen but disk spinning.

I tried to boot it in 030 mode and got a messed screen (see picture) with crash. I tried several reboots and got crashes at different level (ex.:when loading hddriver, NVDI, when mounting cdrom, ...)

When I try to boot in 060 mode, I allways get black screen.

I suspect it is nvram problem but I am not sure. What is the best way to reset it ?
I tried free030 (boot from floppy I created with my 1040 STe) but It didn't solve the problem.

Any idea ?

[Dal]

Reseat all your RAM (Falcon and fast RAM) and check the CT60 itself is well seated before we start to panic.

Most of the time, graphic defects are due to RAM issues - most likely the onboard Falcon RAM.

[wongck]

I think your CT63 is not sitting properly on the motherboard. Just make sure the board is sitting squarely on the motherboard.

Which batch did your CT63 come from?
When I had my CT63 from batch #8, it was disastrous. There was some manufacturing residue on it, so as it was used it get worst and worst.
I had to return it to Rodolphe twice and it did not fix the problem. The 3rd return, it came back one from another batch and it was great then.

[yungjoon]

Thanks for your replies.

I don't know which batch the CT63 belongs. When I got some problems with the one I received on 2006, Rodolphe replaced it with another one.

Dal, how do you reset all RAM ? I tried the CONTROL / ALTERNATE / RIGHT SHIFT / UNDO at boot, with no success.

The CT is well seated.

[Dal]

Reseat not reset. i.e. physically remove and re-seat it back onto the motherboard. Some Falcon upgrades consist of a small daughter board with a SIMM slot on it - for these make sure you re-seat the SIMM as well as the actual daughter board.

[wongck]

OK, your's not from batch #8. Batch #8 was end 2009.
Good luck.

[wongck]

BTW, when you go to 030 mode, does it do the same display corruption?

[yungjoon]

The corrupted display screenshot I joined in this thread was in 030 mode. In 060 mode I get a black screen.

[wongck]

The corrupted display screenshot I joined in this thread was in 030 mode. In 060 mode I get a black screen.

Ok, I asked because the picture shows some exceptions information which is only available in ct63/060 mode.
I take it then that on 030 mode, it will show the vertical lines corruption.

Do you have 14MB on your system?
If the 14MB board allows it, try to jumper it to 1MB only. ( mine allows 1,4 & 14MB)
Or plug in your original 4MB Atari ram board.

[christos]

Yes, I'd go with the ST RAM giving problems too but I'd also check the psu. If you have another one handy check that out as well.

[Rodolphe]

Hi,

Yesterday, my Falcon/CT63 did some strange artifacts or lines on the screen.

I shut it down and after, It didn't boot, black screen but disk spinning.

I tried to boot it in 030 mode and got a messed screen (see picture) with crash. I tried several reboots and got crashes at different level (ex.:when loading hddriver, NVDI, when mounting cdrom, ...)

When I try to boot in 060 mode, I allways get black screen.

I suspect it is nvram problem but I am not sure. What is the best way to reset it ?
I tried free030 (boot from floppy I created with my 1040 STe) but It didn't solve the problem.

Any idea ?

This is a ST-RAM problem because Videl is loading into STRAM to do the screen !
By the way the pointers of the crash are inside ST-RAM, so this means that STRAM has some defect bits and that impacts not only for videl data but for CPu data too !
Check ST-RAM board and chip on it (all solders)...
Check COMBEL pins (all !).

The regular spaced vertical lines on Screen is always a STRAM bit(s) problem !
It is easy to nderstand !
And I'm a bit surprised to read some commentaries about NVRAM !
Eh guys, you should read some technical docs about Faclon architecture and know that NVRAZM is only here to give Clock, date, time, and small memory to save some settings !! Nothing in NVRAM can do that on the screen !!!!!!!!
By the way, you should get the same vertical lines on 030 mode !
If not this means that the ABE DATA link between CT and MB is defect and some bit lines are corrupted.
Check ABE pins and CT60 welle plugged.

Regards

[Dal]

Who said anything about NVRAM??

[Dal]

OH - OP did!

[DarkLord]

Its good to see you on here Rodolphe.

[yungjoon]

Thanks Rodolphe for your support.

I hope It is not ST-RAM issue, because I have no spare ram ...

I will check this as soon as I will have spare time.

[paul92706]

Its good to see you on here Rodolphe.

Yes, Its so great to see rodolphe on here chimming in with us!

[yungjoon]

Hi all,

This week-end, I reseated CT board, ST-RAM board, cleaned ram pins, checked PSU voltage.

In 030 mode: no more display artifacts, I have to perform more tests to check system stability.

In 060 mode: After the ram check, the system always crashes when loading /auto programs (something like what I see on the picture I joined here), I need to stop ram checking at boot and there is no problem, It passes /auto programs loading. I tried to load cubase, ace midi, It seems to be ok, but I need also to perform more tests.

Something strange, in 060 mode, the CT does not boot at power up. I need to do a reset.

I did some test at boot (CNTRL+ALT+SHIFT R+SHIFT L): dsp, os, ram, display ... many of them failed. Is something dying ?

[Rodolphe]

Hi all,

This week-end, I reseated CT board, ST-RAM board, cleaned ram pins, checked PSU voltage.

In 030 mode: no more display artifacts, I have to perform more tests to check system stability.

In 060 mode: After the ram check, the system always crashes when loading /auto programs (something like what I see on the picture I joined here), I need to stop ram checking at boot and there is no problem, It passes /auto programs loading. I tried to load cubase, ace midi, It seems to be ok, but I need also to perform more tests.

Something strange, in 060 mode, the CT does not boot at power up. I need to do a reset.

I did some test at boot (CNTRL+ALT+SHIFT R+SHIFT L): dsp, os, ram, display ... many of them failed. Is something dying ?

Where is the picture ?
If it crashed before boot of AUTO folder, this is a problem with SDRAM module or bad contact between SDRAM and socket...
You can boot without SDRAM (press SHIFT or CONTROL : see the .HYP keys doc).

[yungjoon]

Ah, sorry. here are the pictures.

[Rodolphe]

PC is in the SDRAM !

Again check SDRAM and try to boot without SDRAM.

[yungjoon]

Hi,

I tried to boot without sdram, no boot (fan turns but no display).
I installed a new sdram stick and performed CT on board ram test, TT and ST ram are OK.

I tried to flash the CT with the last firmware (2013), but the problem is not solved (same error message, same rom checksum/ CRC test error).

Yesterday, when I powered up the falcon I got a display frequency error (15.6KHz, black screen) in CT mode, F030 is ok.
How can I reset the display parameters ? Is there a key combination ?

Thanks ...

[alanh]

Flash 1.03c in 030 mode.

[yungjoon]

Thanks for your reply alanh.
I am a bit noob, what is 1.03c ?
I thought CT60 flashtool was only for CT60 mode. Which software should I use in 030 mode ?
When I try falshtool in 030 mode, I get a "wrong flash number" error...