SYBA SD-VIA-1A5E1IR USB2 in MicroA1

amigaonefan · Post by **amigaonefan** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:45 pm

Hi,

I thought I would just start a new thread about this card and my experiences with it rather than clogging up any of the existing threads about the micro and Sirion USB.

I recently purchased a multi function PCI card for the microA1 that has 4 usb2 ports, based
on the VIA VT3104 USB2 controller and a VIA VT6421 IDE/SATA controller on one card. You can
view it here: http://www.sybausa.com/productInfo.php?iid=801

Note - I found that unless I tighten down the card with the slot connector screw, I would get
lots of lockups when I plugged in or unplugged USB devices.

To get this card to "work" with OS4.1 update 5, I do the following:

In startup-sequence I comment out the following:

;If EXISTS S:Network-Startup
; Run >NIL: <NIL: *>NIL: Execute S:Network-Startup
;EndIf

This prevents the 3com ethernet device from being loaded. As pointed out by someone else
in this group, there is a contention between the 3com therent device and the EHCI module
of Sirion....at least, that's how it looks. I guess it could also be a hardware/interrupt level issue
perhaps on the microa1/AmigaOneXE.

I turn off the intenal USB0 and USB1 ports of the micro A1 in uboot.
I then powerup the micro A1.

Yes, all the USB kickstart modules are active, even EHCI.

If I insert any USB1.1 device into any of the four ports of the multicard, I see
the popup showing it has been recognized and installed. It then becomes
accessible - printers, usb mice, even USB to serial converters are recognized
(though the usb to serial converter does not have a driver).

If I plug a 2Gig flash drive into the multicard, I get a few different possible
results as follows (note tht this flash drive works fine on the internal USB1.1 of the micro
under normal operation):

#1 Sometimes, the flash drive is recognized after about 3 to 10 seconds, during
which time the USB attachment window shows blanks for vendor, product and class,
and "locating device" underneath. Then the device is found. It is mounted and can be
used, but is VERY slow, far slower than USB1 speed. It often seems to hang up for
minutes.

Here is a usb.log from when that happens.. I have plugged in a USB mouse and a USB
printer (or serial converter) and then the flash drive is plugged in to port 3:

Hidden Text - Click to Show :

#2 Sometimes the flash drive shows the USB attachment window with all blank entries,
and "locating device" underneath, and after 30 seconds closes. The device is not found.

Here is the usb.log of when that happens:

Hidden Text - Click to Show :

#3 Sometimes I see the flash device on the workbench, after about a minute, showing
usb0:NDOS - (or similar). the device is mounted but not recognized.

If I plug in an Aluratek USB DVD/rw device, which uses 2 USB ports, I get similar
results as with the USB flash card. Sometimes it is seen properly and works VERY
slowly, sometimes it is not seen at all.

Usbctrl RESTART does not help. If I do a usbctrl restart, nothing happens.

If I unplug the USB flash or USB DVD, usbctrl restart still does not fix any issues.

Whether or not any USB devices are plugged into the multicard, when I execute the
network-startup and invoke the eth3com.device, the Amigaone locks up. The
pointer no longer moves, but CTRL-AMIGA-AMIGA still works. Programs running such
as AmigaAMP lock up and the music just stays at whatever tone was playing.

Once in a great while I can run network-startup and it works just fine as long as no USB
devices are plugged into the multicard - not sure why it works one in 10 times or so.

I have tried adding to uboot the environment variable usb_ohci_orphan_checking 1
and this does not seem to help in any way. Is this an implemented function for the microA1?

The USB controller chip, the VIA VT6214L is the 4 port version of the VIA VT6212L that others
on this forum report has been found to work in some cards (in the 2 port version VT6212L).

If I comment out the kickstartlayout line:

;MODULE Kickstart/ehci.usbhcd

and reboot, then I can run the network AND the USB (as 1.1 of course) without any lockups.

If there is any way I can help debug this problem...please let me know! I would love to get this cards
USB2 ports working...and it is soooooo close! If anyone wnats me to test a new ehci kernel module with
this card, please let me know. I'm willing to sign an NDA or whatever to help out.
I have many more log files I can provide....

Thanks!

amigaonefan · Post by **amigaonefan** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:48 pm

....continued

Here is a listing of the pci bus scan on my micro A1 with this card plugged in:

Hidden Text - Click to Show :

Here is the detailed PCI info from OpenPCI:

Hidden Text - Click to Show :

amigaonefan · Post by **amigaonefan** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 12:53 pm

...continued

Here is a usb.log of when the DVD player is plugged in and works, but is slow...far slower than even
USB1.1 speeds.

Hidden Text - Click to Show :

Raziel · Post by **Raziel** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:04 pm

You suffer from the same problems my "hardware fixed" XE does.

I cannot use USB2 (no matter what chip i use) unless i turn off Ethernet, onboard USB and NOT use a HD gfx card.

Sorry to be of so little help, but i have given up trying to ever be able to use USB2 on this machine

btw: The crash logs and USB logs have already been posted to similar threads...as far as i can remember it's a hardware limitation which can't be worked around (That goes for my XE)

amigaonefan · Post by **amigaonefan** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:20 pm

@Raziel

Is it true then that nobody has ever gotten ANY USB2 card to work in a micro A1 with USB2 active? If this is a hardware issue, then that will certainly be the case. If not, then I'd really like to know. I may try installing Linux and see what it does with this card. Interestingly, the card came with the IDE/SATA driver modules (.o files) for various versions of linux. So perhaps I can either confirm or disprove the theory that this is an unsolvable hardware issue.

Raziel · Post by **Raziel** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 4:34 pm

Not sure as i didn't follow the Micro branch of this issue in detail.

I think i'll leave the real Micro users to comment further

amigaonefan · Post by **amigaonefan** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 10:06 pm

I just wonder if something as simple as changing the type for interrupt 9 from level to edge triggered might help, since this card seems to be missing interrupts.

Just a thought.....

amigaonefan · Post by **amigaonefan** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 3:20 pm

interestingly, Geri has helped me get the SATA controller working on my microA1 - in Unix (Debian Lenny), on this SYBA multi card. It is accomplished by setting a uboot variable like this:

setenv VSATA "pci write.l 00.08.03 10 00008000; pci write.l 00.08.03 14 00008020; pci write.l 00.08.03 18 00008040; pci write.l 00.08.03 1c 00008060; pci write.l 00.08.03 20 00008080; pci write.l 00.08.03 24 00008200"
saveenv

and then adding VSATA to my bootcmd to be run so it to "run VSATA; menu; run menuboot_cmd"
saveenv

This causes the SATA portion of the SYBA card to work when the Lenny SATA driver is compiled into the kernel (2.6.18 is the one I was using) and I boot into Lenny.

I have tested reading and writing to a hard drive connected to the SATA controller and it works well.

Can anyone tell me how I might go about implementing a SATA driver for Amiga OS4 to have this SATA controller work in my microA1 under OS4. Are there any working SATA drivers in kickstart for a micro A1 right now?

Is there any sort of SDK or framework for writing a new kickstart SATA driver if I wanted to do so?

Thanks

Post by **tonyw** » Fri Feb 01, 2013 9:45 pm

The easiest way (and probably that most likely to succeed) is to take an existing driver and modify it for the new hardware. That, of course, means having access to the OS4 source repository as a developer. Without the access to the other devs (for advice) and older SW (for examples), you're pushing rocks uphill.

If you are serious about wanting to write OS4 drivers, contact Steven Solie at first.

amigaonefan · Post by **amigaonefan** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 4:21 pm

Okay, with Debian kernel 2.6.31-1 made for PPC, I have been able to get the RAID/PATA port of this Syba card working in Debian Squeeze. Unfortunately, something is not right in the SATA driver of this particular Squeeze build, so although the SATA stuff works in Lenny, it does not work in Squeeze.
I am currently changing PCI I/O using UBOOT pci write.b commands to see if I can come up with a combination of USB2 parameters that will allow the full USB2 support to work in Squeeze.
So as of now, I have gotten (although in two different builds) the Syba card SATA and the Syba card PATA I/O to work. If I get USB2 working on this card, I think it will be a great thing to add to OS4 for all micro A1 owners, since it is a single PCI card that has internal/external SATA, internal RAId/IDE and 4 external USB2 ports on one card. The ultimate micro A1 expansion!

I'll let you know if I have any success with USB2. It may be that my revision of the VIA USB chips (63) is too old to work.

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