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Amstrad Diagnostics ROM

Started by llopis, 17:35, 24 February 21

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Prodatron

I am used to...
- primary 64K ram bank
- secondary 64K ram banks (multiple)
Now Noel has a lot of choices :D

GRAPHICAL Z80 MULTITASKING OPERATING SYSTEM

GUNHED

Quote from: eto on 16:01, 10 November 22How about "Core RAM"? Without the core, nothing will work.
Four letters... already the right size of a word.  ;D

/unserious mode on
However, I brings me to the idea to see if a CPC can work without RAM. Once I had the 6128plus running without firmware+basic. Time to make a rom-only os then...  :laugh:
/unserious mode off
http://futureos.de --> Get the revolutionary FutureOS (Update: 2023.11.30)
http://futureos.cpc-live.com/files/LambdaSpeak_RSX_by_TFM.zip --> Get the RSX-ROM for LambdaSpeak :-) (Updated: 2021.12.26)

eto

Quote from: GUNHED on 13:17, 12 November 22Time to make a rom-only os then...  :laugh:
Fun fact: The amstrad diagnostics is ROM only- at least partially. The lower RAM check works without any RAM being attached. 


f-bone

#103
hi guys! what a great piece of work!.. need to ask a question regarding the M4 board.. I managed to get it to work by adding the upper diagrom in the root of the SD card and then run |diag.

the question is can I somehow set it up that when I power on the CPC6128 the diagrom is booted automatically from M4 so I can troubleshoot machines with corrupt ROM chips or bad ram?

thank you so much!

pelrun

Put the lowerrom version in a high M4 slot and configure the M4 to use that slot as lowerrom. That will boot it on startup.

f-bone

perfect thank you pelrun! I will try that tonigh/tomorrow (need to read first how I set M4 to use it as lowerrom)

WacKEDmaN

#106
Quote from: GUNHED on 15:24, 10 November 22
Quote from: llopis on 12:17, 06 March 22
Quote from: TotO on 10:44, 06 March 22At the meaning of words, Lower RAM and Upper RAM do not exist. ;D
That is correct. Is there a better term to describe the difference between the default 64KB RAM and the RAM can can be swapped into place? Happy to use it as long as it fits in there :-)
For the first 64 KB: Main RAM
For the next 512 KB (via &7Fxx): Expansion RAM
For the next 3,5 MB (via. &78, &79, &7A, &7B, &7C, &7D and &7E): Extension RAM
That's also used by FutureSoft manuals. It describes pretty good I think.

(Annotation: imo the first 64 KB shouldn't be called base ram, since ram byte &FFFF really is not at any base).
looking at these images on grimware site..it would make sense to call it "base ram" and "extended ram"




ikonsgr

Finally,i manage to run diagnostic using my new ULIfAC board (e.g. merge of USIfAC II+ RAM/ROM board):

You cannot view this attachment.

You cannot view this attachment.

What fixed the crashing problem (in ROM test, when it reached usifac's rom number) was to incorporate diagnostic tool into an RSX command (using the binary from dsk image).
 I also tested using upper and lower diagnostic rom too, but with upper rom, it crashed in rom test, and using the lower rom (boots directly into diagnostic tool), it seems to reboot rom (runs again basic 64k ram test and gives initial screen).
 Anyway,i think it would be helpful to have this great dignostic tool as an rsx command for direct usage ;-)

pollito

Just a clarification of what @pelrun said regarding running the diagnostics using an M4 card (I've just done this).

Assuming the OS ROM is in slot 31, upload the Diag Lower ROM to slot 30 (low is high! :D ). Then, scroll up to the top and make sure Lower-rom Enabled is ticked, and Set. Then, change Lower-rom slot to 30, Set it, and do an M4 Reset from the Control page.

Note that once the CPC crashed when I configured the above, after the M4 reset. If this happens, power cycle the CPC, and the diagnostics should run as normal.

Amagni

I bought a 6128 on eBay last year and it generally works well but some demos and newer games either don't run or get these weird graphical glitches:
cpc0.jpg

Running the diagnostic utility via Ulifac it looks like the lower RAM is ok, but on the upper RAM test it either hangs at one square or shows this then hangs:
cpc1.jpg

The screenshots on the wiki look different to this but I guess it means 3 bad chips?

CPC 6128
[th]Bit[/th]
[th]IC[/th]
0119
1120
2121
3122
4123
5124
6125
7126


I have 1 spare 4164 RAM chip and a friend suggested I could just piggyback it on top of a faulty chip to see if it helps but that didn't make a difference.
Is it worth removing all 3 chips and replacing them or is there something else I can try first?

SerErris

I am not sure what upper ram you test. Can you disable the ram expansion of the  Ulifac ?

It might be actually paging in the ULIFAC RAM instead of the original RAM and you are testing the wrong thing. 

This is just a suspect of mine, not knowing how the ULIFAC works, but it might be that the external RAM completely overwrites the internal second 64kb and you actually never use it. 
Proud owner of 2 Schneider CPC 464, 1 Schneider CPC 6128, GT65 and lots of books
Still learning all the details on how things work.

Amagni

Quote from: SerErris on 13:32, 29 May 24I am not sure what upper ram you test. Can you disable the ram expansion of the  Ulifac ?

It might be actually paging in the ULIFAC RAM instead of the original RAM and you are testing the wrong thing.

This is just a suspect of mine, not knowing how the ULIFAC works, but it might be that the external RAM completely overwrites the internal second 64kb and you actually never use it.
I'm using the Ulifac to launch the diagnostic utility and don't have any other ROM board, so I don't know how I could run this same tool without it, but I did try copying some games and demos to a disk and running them without the Ulifac, and it had the same graphical glitches.

I'm actually wondering if I can force it to page in the Ulifac RAM and not use the internal chips!

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