Inherited a Sam460ex-Looks Good-Need Advice [Solved]

[jdupuis]

Hi,

I inherited a Sam460ex from a trade with someone. Let me start with specs. It is built in a Silverstone Case w/front USB and Audio Jack. 550 watt power supply. 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, XFX Ghost R7 250E 1 gb VRAM don't know if it's DDR or GDDR. sli3114 card DVD RW connected to Port Com1 of sli3114 and 1 TB SATA HD connected to Port Com2 of sli3114. U-Boot was updated to 2015. AOS 4.1 FE. Graphic glitches on U-Boot screen on hard resets after boot up periodically. Video Card fan in high speed with no picture after software reset and soft resets. I have DVD RW connected to com1 and set as first boot device, setting remains in U-Boot. Reports in Media Toolbox LUN 0,0. I have SATA HD connected to com2 and set as second boot device, setting in U-Boot defaults to 3x12 HD, yet Device 3 in U-Boot remains as 3114 HD. Reports in Media Toolbox LUN 2,0. I've read in this forum about this and it is a bit cloudy as to why this is.
I completed a full erase on the HD on my Mac and formatted the HD to MBR Partition Table and MS-DOS. Performed a new install of AOS 4.1 FE and Odyssey and finally got Grim Reaper out of the way. It appears this video card has very poor performance. Tried to watch a youtube video. No sound and slow motion video. RunInUAE had very poor performance the game Agony - video slow and jerky screen scrolling.
I oredered a Radeon HD 5450 and a 2 GB stick of DDR2 PC2-5300 SODIMM and a 2 GB stick of DDR2 PC2-6400 SODIMM. Awaiting delivery. Was this Sam a case of trying to make a Rolls Royce out of an Opal? I used on-board video and proved the U-Boot graphic artifacts go away. I proved I have poor video performance in RunInUAE. Here's where advice and someone's knowledge is needed. Am I on the right track?
I, of course, bought and attempted U-Boot update but this is to no avail. I would like to know all the default values for U-Boot nvgetvar. Maybe I'm overlooking something there. I hope The 5450 card and new memory may resolve some of this.

Please advise. I'll try to answer any questions anyone may have.

Cheers!!

[jdupuis]

I eliminated the XFX Ghost R7 250E and went with just the On-Board Video and Audio ( unit has no audio card ). Tried RuninUAE game Agony again. Choppy audio and slow jerky scrolling. Graphic artifacts in U-Boot screen and re-boot issues did go away. Am I missing something that needs installed for Sam? Not familiar enough. I'm beginning to question the condition of this board. I'm hoping that a 5450 card and replacing the 2 GB RAM will rectify. If not, I'll have a case, card, HD and DVD RW ready for an A1222 board.

Cheers!!

[tonyw]

You should not get any "graphics glitches" on the U-Boot screen, since it's only used to display text. I have a 5450 card in my Sam 460 and although I have used the on-board graphics for a lot of the time, I have never seen "glitches" using either the on-board SM502 or the 5450.

I would suggest that you have a hardware problem. It is unlikely to be CPU-based, since it wouldn't run if these were CPU errors. It's more likely to be caused by one of these problems.
Firstly, find an area where you won't be bothered by static buildup. The kitchen, with a smooth floor, is a good place, but anywhere away from carpet. Nylon carpet can kill. You will need a small brush for cleaning.

1. Power supply. Find yourself another power supply and try it. 550 W is nearly ten times what you need. An old 250W PSU is more than sufficient, but you probably won't be able to find one that old with SATA connectors. Leave the old one in the case, just disconnect it and connect the "new" one sitting on a box beside the case. If you don't have and can't borrow another PSU, disconnect all the plugs, one at a time, brush around the contacts and make them clean. Particularly inspect the 20-pin power connector to make sure it is properly plugged in and none of the pins has been overheated.
2. RAM card. Ease the RAM card out of its socket, brush away any dust from the socket area and clean the contacts with a plastic pencil eraser. They should be clean and shiny. Don't touch the contacts with your fingers, you'll leave perspiration and oils on the contacts. Brush the eraser dust away with the brush before replacing the RAM DIMM back in the slot. You could also try replacing the 2 GB RAM card, but I don't know if that type is freely available (IIRC they used printer-type RAM).
3. Brush along the insides of the PCI-e connectors to remove any dust.
4. Is the mobo dusty? Does it have a case fan blowing dust over the board? Give the board a good clean. If it's really bad, take it out and brush it down with methylated spirit, allow to dry in a warm dry spot for several hours.
5. You should be able to run U-Boot with nothing plugged into the PCI-e bus. Is the display then clear of "glitches"?

If that doesn't fix it, we'll have to think of something else, like sending it back to ACube.

[jdupuis]

Hi Tony,

Thank you for the response.
I eliminated the XFX Ghost R7 250E all together. The U-Boot is stable. Obviously I cannot upgrade U-Boot again. I bought the upgrade from Acube and inserted the disc. Verifying that the upgrade was in fact complete. Further investigation led me to put the XFX Ghost in my X1000. It is a faulty card. I also researched the 2GB stick of Crucial RAM and discovered that it may not be of the right type for the SAM460. I am awaiting the arrival of an XFX Radeon 5450 and i ea. stick of DDR2 SODIMM 800 MHz and 1 ea. stick of DDR2 SODIMM 667 MHz, both Crucial brand. When they arrive I'll clean the contacts on the SAM P.C.B. and determine which will provide better results - 667 or 800 MHz.
There is an Antec 550 watt power supply installed. The pins are in good shape. I also replaced the coin cell battery.
Using only on-board video and audio, I am still concerned about the extreme poor performance of RunInUAE. Using the game Agony, it showed extreme scrolling jerkiness and audio glitching during game play. I am hopeful that this is due to the wrong RAM type or just plain - a bad stick of RAM or both. This Sam has been with two owners before I just recieved it.
I should be seeing delivery of these items on the 10th of March. In the meantime I'll go through the motherboard as prescribed. Thanks again.

Cheers!!

[nbache]

What you call "graphic glitches" in UBoot could sound like a well-known issue with specifically the 460.

It has something to do with the endianness conversion between the CPU and the Graphics card, I'm not sure about the exact details, but it does happen now and then on a reboot. If you look closely, it sort of swaps parts of the characters horizontally, so the pixels which should have been in a specific column, are displayed a few columns shifted to one side, and vice versa (not the best explanation, but the best I can come up with). I believe Max (ACube) once stated he had attempted to find a solution to the issue but not succeeded so far.

Apart from being a bit annoying, it is harmless; if you want to, you can simply press the case reset when it happens, and it will be okay on the following bootup. Or you can just let it boot, if you know it will boot the config you want it to by default; once it gets to the splash screen and subsequently into WB, it will be all right.

Best regards,

Niels

[jdupuis]

Thanks Niels,

I guess I'm spoiled rotten silly with the X1000. I'll post here when the graphics card and memory get here and I install. Otherwise, aside from the AOS 4.1 FE install, what more after new install do I have to get to be fully up and running?
I have the original partitons backed up on another HD, however, as with the X1000, I will be attempting a new install so I can learn the Sam as well.

Cheers!!

John

[tonyw]

I forgot about that one, Niels. Of course, my Sam 460 does it too - on reset, it comes up 50% of the time in the wrong endianness.

But as you say, it only lasts until it boots OS4, when everything becomes right again.

[duga]

Make sure your memory is specified as 667 or 800 MHz with CL 6.

http://www.acube-systems.biz/download/S ... l_v1.3.pdf

[jdupuis]

Make sure your memory is specified as 667 or 800 MHz with CL 6.

http://www.acube-systems.biz/download/S ... l_v1.3.pdf

Thank you Duga.
Did just that. I have it coming. The current RAM installed is Crucial 2GB but it is not the spec. Research into the number on the label indicates it came from a 4BG Kit. So I placed an order for Crucial 2GB DDR2 Single 800 MHz CL 6 and a Radeon HD 5450 2GB. When I get it I hope to see some differences.

Note to Tony: One of the Pins on the Main ATX power connector at M.B was pushed slightly and not making good contact. Simply unplugged and snapped connector pin back in place. I inserted the Sam U-Boot Updater disc I created and it read very short and stopped. Ejected disc and powered down. Powered up and things are looking better. Those problems down and out of the way. Awaiting the next batch of problems. - Bring it on!!

[jdupuis]

Next question as I wait for my order to arrive.

Besides installing the SLB, Two partitions 1 = SFS/02 10 GB 512 blocks and 2 = SFS/02 the rest of the 1 TB HD 512 blocks should be sufficient for Sam460ex, correct?

I saw SFS/00 was used on the original HD setup for 4.1. Just clarifying that SFS/02 is suggested for 4.1 FE.

Cheers!!