Sorry, but i do get rather confused with this thing from time to time :o) I'm getting a "R/W Error @ F800 BTS 08" when trying to test the ram on one of these MCR boards. Am i right in saying that i need to be tracking down a problem on the data bus, bit 4, bit 3 if you prefer your numbers to be 0 based (1000 = 8, therefore, that's bit 0, 1, 2, then 3 or 1, 2, 3, then 4). And if it were a decode error then that would be the address bus? I'm assuming all is well with chip selects and r/w signals since it's only complaining about bit 08 and not FF? As an aside, i burnt a set of home burnt roms but the 9010 still can't read the things reliably in the MCR sets. It doesn't seem to like anything that's in close relation to the CTC i don't think. It's happy enough troubleshooting the video staging ram and the background ram, just not the program ram or rom :( I'm using a normal Z80 pod with a Z80A processor in it. I'm guessing from reading previous posts that there would be no benefit in trying to blag or borrow a Z80AA since someone else was saying that couldn't cope with MCR hardware either. Martin. _______________________________________________ Techtoolslist mailing list Techtoolslist@flippers.com http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/techtoolslist
How about trying to test RAM in a different IC? If you have three banks of RAM, try testing each bank to see if you get the problem in one bank or all. One bank is obviously the sick RAM chip, ALL banks would be some interface or timing issue, but if all banks show the same error then pretty safe to be an interface IC issue. John :-#)# At 1:39 AM +0100 7/6/05, Martin White wrote:
Sorry, but i do get rather confused with this thing from time to time :o)
I'm getting a "R/W Error @ F800 BTS 08" when trying to test the ram on one of these MCR boards. Am i right in saying that i need to be tracking down a problem on the data bus, bit 4, bit 3 if you prefer your numbers to be 0 based (1000 = 8, therefore, that's bit 0, 1, 2, then 3 or 1, 2, 3, then 4).
And if it were a decode error then that would be the address bus?
I'm assuming all is well with chip selects and r/w signals since it's only complaining about bit 08 and not FF?
As an aside, i burnt a set of home burnt roms but the 9010 still can't read the things reliably in the MCR sets. It doesn't seem to like anything that's in close relation to the CTC i don't think. It's happy enough troubleshooting the video staging ram and the background ram, just not the program ram or rom :(
I'm using a normal Z80 pod with a Z80A processor in it. I'm guessing from reading previous posts that there would be no benefit in trying to blag or borrow a Z80AA since someone else was saying that couldn't cope with MCR hardware either.
Martin.
_______________________________________________ Techtoolslist mailing list Techtoolslist@flippers.com http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/techtoolslist
Program ram (a single 6116 on the SCPU board) can't be tested at all. It simply can't talk to it properly, nor the roms (so it would seem anyway - wander if that's anything to do with the CTC?). It comes up with BTS FF error for any address in program ram - a single 6116. This is not a fault though, it's just the way it is. It does it on all 15 boardsets i'm working on, even the ones where the game works fine and there are just issues with the SSIO board! The staging ram (2 x 2114 on the vid gen board) have the BTS 08 error, however, the problem doesn't lie with anything on the vid gen board since you can disconnect that board completely and still get the BTS 08 error when you try to do the test on the background ram. I haven't tried removing all the roms to see if they're fouling the busses at all, but they shouldn't be since they're known good roms. Could be sockets i guess? So you see, i'm pretty sure i'm looking at a buffer / interface problem, just wanting to confirm if it's the address lines or the data lines for the particular Fluke error message. I'm pretty sure it's the data lines. However, i'm not seeing any bit tied high or low, so maybe i'll just replace the 245 anyway for the fun of it, and maybe the cpu socket, and i guess i can always try removing the pull-up resistor pack on the data lines and see if the problem goes away before putting them back of course! Cheers all... Martin. On Wednesday 06 July 2005 01:50, John Robertson wrote:
How about trying to test RAM in a different IC?
If you have three banks of RAM, try testing each bank to see if you get the problem in one bank or all. One bank is obviously the sick RAM chip, ALL banks would be some interface or timing issue, but if all banks show the same error then pretty safe to be an interface IC issue.
John :-#)#
At 1:39 AM +0100 7/6/05, Martin White wrote:
Sorry, but i do get rather confused with this thing from time to time :o)
I'm getting a "R/W Error @ F800 BTS 08" when trying to test the ram on one of these MCR boards. Am i right in saying that i need to be tracking down a problem on the data bus, bit 4, bit 3 if you prefer your numbers to be 0 based (1000 = 8, therefore, that's bit 0, 1, 2, then 3 or 1, 2, 3, then 4).
And if it were a decode error then that would be the address bus?
I'm assuming all is well with chip selects and r/w signals since it's only complaining about bit 08 and not FF?
As an aside, i burnt a set of home burnt roms but the 9010 still can't read the things reliably in the MCR sets. It doesn't seem to like anything that's in close relation to the CTC i don't think. It's happy enough troubleshooting the video staging ram and the background ram, just not the program ram or rom :(
I'm using a normal Z80 pod with a Z80A processor in it. I'm guessing from reading previous posts that there would be no benefit in trying to blag or borrow a Z80AA since someone else was saying that couldn't cope with MCR hardware either.
Martin.
_______________________________________________ Techtoolslist mailing list Techtoolslist@flippers.com http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/techtoolslist
Techtoolslist mailing list Techtoolslist@flippers.com http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/techtoolslist
Found me "BTS 08" problem, a broken track underneath the 245 at B3. Now onto a decode error! On Wednesday 06 July 2005 12:00, Martin White wrote:
Program ram (a single 6116 on the SCPU board) can't be tested at all. It simply can't talk to it properly, nor the roms (so it would seem anyway - wander if that's anything to do with the CTC?). It comes up with BTS FF error for any address in program ram - a single 6116. This is not a fault though, it's just the way it is. It does it on all 15 boardsets i'm working on, even the ones where the game works fine and there are just issues with the SSIO board!
The staging ram (2 x 2114 on the vid gen board) have the BTS 08 error, however, the problem doesn't lie with anything on the vid gen board since you can disconnect that board completely and still get the BTS 08 error when you try to do the test on the background ram.
I haven't tried removing all the roms to see if they're fouling the busses at all, but they shouldn't be since they're known good roms. Could be sockets i guess?
So you see, i'm pretty sure i'm looking at a buffer / interface problem, just wanting to confirm if it's the address lines or the data lines for the particular Fluke error message. I'm pretty sure it's the data lines.
However, i'm not seeing any bit tied high or low, so maybe i'll just replace the 245 anyway for the fun of it, and maybe the cpu socket, and i guess i can always try removing the pull-up resistor pack on the data lines and see if the problem goes away before putting them back of course!
Cheers all...
Martin.
On Wednesday 06 July 2005 01:50, John Robertson wrote:
How about trying to test RAM in a different IC?
If you have three banks of RAM, try testing each bank to see if you get the problem in one bank or all. One bank is obviously the sick RAM chip, ALL banks would be some interface or timing issue, but if all banks show the same error then pretty safe to be an interface IC issue.
John :-#)#
At 1:39 AM +0100 7/6/05, Martin White wrote:
Sorry, but i do get rather confused with this thing from time to time :o)
I'm getting a "R/W Error @ F800 BTS 08" when trying to test the ram on one of these MCR boards. Am i right in saying that i need to be tracking down a problem on the data bus, bit 4, bit 3 if you prefer your numbers to be 0 based (1000 = 8, therefore, that's bit 0, 1, 2, then 3 or 1, 2, 3, then 4).
And if it were a decode error then that would be the address bus?
I'm assuming all is well with chip selects and r/w signals since it's only complaining about bit 08 and not FF?
As an aside, i burnt a set of home burnt roms but the 9010 still can't read the things reliably in the MCR sets. It doesn't seem to like anything that's in close relation to the CTC i don't think. It's happy enough troubleshooting the video staging ram and the background ram, just not the program ram or rom :(
I'm using a normal Z80 pod with a Z80A processor in it. I'm guessing from reading previous posts that there would be no benefit in trying to blag or borrow a Z80AA since someone else was saying that couldn't cope with MCR hardware either.
Martin.
_______________________________________________ Techtoolslist mailing list Techtoolslist@flippers.com http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/techtoolslist
_______________________________________________ Techtoolslist mailing list Techtoolslist@flippers.com http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/techtoolslist
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participants (2)
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John Robertson -
Martin White