A1-XE halts during boot after loading kickstart files

I'd like to ask for help.
I got an A1-XE a while ago, so bought an original OS4.1 CD to make it perfect with no issues.
Now I still have a problem as the machine stops during bootup. The kickstart files are loading but then the reset and switch to Amiga screen just doesn't happen.
The config is an A1-XE (G4@800 MHz, 512 mb ram, a Radeon PCI gfx card an an SB128 for audio.
Anything I should try? 🤔

@Reynolds

Make sure configure IDE/ATA as best PIO mode, try booting from CD, without HD connected.

Pressing Scroll Lock, should bring you to the kickstart screen, I think likely something is not configure correct in UBOOT.

you need configure a1ide_conf,
you like 0 is not conncted, 1 and 2 is HD and CDROM.
Master,Slave,Secodary Master,Secodary Slave

a1ide_conf = 1200

should be cdrom and hd, and nothing connected to second cable.

you also a1ide_xfer that define speed, AmigaONE XE does not support DMA modes, and can result in none booting system.

Seting a1ide_xfer to 1111 or something low, might help. best PIO mode is 6666 i think.


you find some info about uboot here:

http://www.intuitionbase.com/static.php?section=uboot

When was the last time it had a new battery?

@Reynolds

Quote:Which model?

Best regards,

Niels

@Hypex

A week ago. That was one of the first thing I did.
I can set everything in prefs, also can start boot from the install cd although I had to try several drives and ribbon cables.

@LiveForIt

Thanks a lot, I will go and check all these.
Will refer either it is working or not.

@nbache

Honestly I don't know, it does not have any label but pruduct number(s). It is a low profile red pcb with vga, dv-i and hdmi output. Gpu and ram chips are under a heatsink which covers roughly the 3/4th length of the card. Will check it later if I can identify somehow.

@Reynolds

Okay. Good start. The ram may have gone stale. My XE stopped booting years ago. It turned out to the ram had gone stale somehow and must have had a micro grime build up. I confirmed it on serial debug as I saw trouble with ram when it stopped and it also had VGA issues and that needs ram. I literally pulled the ram out and put it back in. Then it worked!

@ReynoldsQuote:

pls, I cannot understand exactly - the stop during boot occurs only with HDD, or also with boot from CD?

so some ideas:
- if U-boot recognized the disk and start to load kickstart modules it means, that a1ide_conf is properly configured. Otherwise you receive "no SLB found " error.
- try PIO mode ( a1ide_xfer ) as LiveForIt recommend.
- remove all PCI cards and leave only AGP grapgics card. XE have also magic with cards. If it works without card, try to add one-to-one and check in different slots.
- for sure I recommend to use ECC Reg RAM, is much much beter and stable, you can buy cheap 2x1GB on ebay.
- and for sure, set os4_cmdline to "debuglevel=7 serial" and check the debug from other serial connected computer.


I plays with XE a lot, there are sometimes a big magic here, but she can be finally put on good mood.

Here is my article about playing with XE and some magic is mentioned. Yu need goole to translate from Czech.

On this site are also two more articles, more deep, about XE.

When the install cd is in the drive, the machine recognises the hdd and odd then starts to load the kickstart. After loading all modules it remains on that screen instead of starting the AOS boot process itself. The current memory module is an 512 mb one, formerly it had 256 mb only.

I know I know far less to progress well but where canI set A1ide_conf andother stuff?

Thanks a lot...

Will going to read the links too.

When install cd is in:

https://youtu.be/-56yg2VttII

When no cd inserted:

https://youtu.be/TlK3VYcR0XE

@Reynolds
on first video it loads all modules from CD, and not boot from disk. It looks like AmigaOS not see the booting device.
Try this: before all modules loads and kickstart start to load, press both mouse buttons and hold, until you see early startup menu. Here you see all devices visible to AmigaOS before OS boots. Also you can check the priorities, etc.

The second video - no SLB found teel us improper a1ide_conf ( most probably ), or problem with cables, master/slave jumpers, IDE-SATA adapters, wrong filesystem, etc...

And I see on both videos, that you have this config:
primary master: DVD, slave none
secondary master: HDD, slave none

so a1ide_conf should be 2010, not 1200

i.e. type in u-boot commandline:

setenv a1ide_conf 2010
saveenv

Shouldn't SLB have to be installed during preparation of installing the os?

Changed envs but still no joy. :(

After loading the Kickstart the machine just stops. No reaction for any inputs.

@ReynoldsQuote:

Yes, it should be installed automatically. And if you boot to system, you can check it in HDtoolbox. But this message not say "HDD have no SLB", but "no SLB found" and it occurs also with improper config of a1ide.

It is strange. So you should use serial debug with other computer.

Or last thing try with u-boot menu reset to factory defaults, and then again set a1ide_conf.
Diasconnect all unnecessary devices, incl. HDD, disable all HW you not need - USB, paralel, second serial,...
And try to boot at first AmigaOS CD only.

@Reynolds

SLB is something you install in media toolbox,
thats after you have booted, from the CDROM.

@Reynolds

Maybe is some issue with VGA.

Can you post some photo of fron/back of your gfx card?

Radeon7000 should work ok, if it's a readeon 9xxx maybe you can have problems.

What CD/DVD boot are you using? AOS4.0, AOS4.1FE,...

@Reynolds

You are right about SLB. It's installed as part of partitioning the drive for OS4. Is the drive supposed to have OS4 installed? Because here it looks blank. There is no bootblock found on it.

I agree with sailor about serial debug. Unfortunately these machines aren't very user friendly at times and require you to act like a hardware engineer if the hardware develops a fault. If there is an issue like unsupported video card it won't give you an error.

One thing to check is the date in UBoot with date command. It may need resetting. You can also use the help command to give info on other commands while in UBoot.

I think all the talk about IDE settings is confusing the issue. Which may have been set correctly in the beginning. You can use the UBoot menu and avoid the command line. Typing "menu" to bring it up is what I like to do. You may need to quickly press return as it likes to attempt booting. You can then check out the settings including IDE and change them in a more easier way. Why this isn't suggested more I don't know.

Also checking the IDE cables is a good idea. Despite transfer mode UDMA cables should be used with IDE socket and device in proper place. And in this case master only set. UBoot reads the devices fine so that should be good. If you see it hunting and printing dots on screen looking for IDE devices then it is suspect.

Is the RAM installed known to be working before? If it has been changed it needs to be compatible. Unfortunately locating the correct ram may be rare these days. Technically these are server boards in design so need server ram. It should be ECC and registered if you can find it. They can take up to the full 2GB in 2x 1GB sticks. But that is a rare working example.

You can also test this I released years ago. BootMemTester. In case it detects some ram issues. Can write to a DVDRW or USB stick as examples. But USB needs formatting as Amiga first.

http://os4depot.net/?function=showfil ... ardware/bootmemtester.lha

You can also use the Linux net installer I compiled for a quick memory test as well. Why I suggest this is that the Linux kernel is good at detecting memory faults. You can write this directly to CD/DVD or USB. If you have a spare USB key around you can erase for testing then easiest may be using any program to write the image directly to USB key. Insert in a working USB port, reboot to Uboot if needed, then type:


https://sourceforge.net/projects/amiga ... x/files/debian-installer/

@sailor

I will do the reset then, with removing all devices and cards except the CDRom drive.
The Radeon card I have is the one which was in it before, so practically only the formerly used HDD was removed from the case.

@LiveForIt

So that is still happens as I remember from the past. thanks.