NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #30/NN_1992_30.iso/spool/comp/sys/amiga/hardware/21453

Text File | 1992-12-14 | 3.8 KB | 74 lines

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!yale!gumby!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!unixg.ubc.ca!kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca!news
From: [e-mail] (Darren Ewaniuk)
Subject: Re: Hurricane '030 incompatible with 2.1 setpatch?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Nntp-Posting-Host: bode.ee.ualberta.ca
Organization: University of Alberta Electrical Engineering
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 09:14:37 GMT
Lines: 61

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Paul Tibbals) writes:
>I had a similar problem with my Hurricane. I finally ended up leaving Setpatch
>out except when booting with 1.3 (Multistart board).
[...]
>I do find that I cannot ever enable the 030's datacache under 2.04
>for some silly reason (instant crash, even if it's Sysinfo dooing its
>performance test).

From what I understand, the Hurricane board does not handle data caching of
the custom chips (or was that chip ram) correctly.  It caches these when it
shouldn't, so when the system changes it from under the processor and it has
this area cached, the processor will use its cache rather than going and
reading the changed addresses.  Under Workbench 2.0 and above, SetPatch
automatically turns these caches on which causes the fireworks.  The nice
people of Commodore have provided a solution for this - use 'setpatch nocache'.
To restore the caches, use 'Enforcer' which fixes in software the problems
with the Hurricane hardware - Enforcer will use the 68030's MMU to map as
non-cacheable the custom chip area and chip ram.  V37 or above of Enforcer
is currently the best solution, but you can use the older one that was
included on the WB2+ install disk until you find V37.  V37 allows you to
use CPU to map the ROM to 32-bit RAM, as it understands CPU's MMU tables.

So to get the system completely up to snuff under 2.0 and above edit your
startup-sequence so the first lines look like the following:

setpatch nocache quiet      ; Setpatch but don't enable datacache
hurricaneconfig >NIL: -r    ; Add Hurricane memory, but don't remap Kickstart
cpu >NIL: fastrom        ; Remap the full 512K of kickstart
run >NIL: enforcer quiet    ; Use Enforcer V37+ to map out noncachable memory
cpu >NIL: cache             ; Now datacaches can be safely turned on
version >NIL:               ; You can now resume normal startup-sequence

Without V37+ enforcer, omit the first cpu line and replace the enforcer
line with 'Enforcer >nil: quiet'.

This makes the system run smoothly (except for the occasional crashes
caused by the bright [$%#@&*!!] idea of overclocking the CPU which NO
software can fix).

Other helpful tips with the Hurricane:

If you have a DMA hard drive, change its mask to 0x5ffffe to prevent DMA
to the non-DMA'able Hurricane memory.  Also don't Addbuffer any buffers
to the HD after HurricaneConfig is active.
(This mask is assuming a 4 meg memory space used by the Hurricane
starting at 600000.)

At least on my 2091, you can't use HDToolBox after HurricaneConfig.  Config
your drive before you run HurricaneConfig.  Don't ask me why - but it
doesn't save the RDB correctly if HurricaneConfig has been running.  Also
run a virus-scanner and tell it to clear the CoolCapture vector (what
HurricaneConfig uses) because when it comes up in a reboot, it prevents
the HD from autobooting.  You have to do this for every reboot.  Virus_Checker
asks this question, so just answer 'clear' whenever your system comes up with
that requester.

I hope this helps you and the other Hurricane victims out there.
--
    //  /|      O  __       __  Amiga C=   Darren Ewaniuk
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