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Cold Boot Issue
Posted: Fri May 14, 2021 9:42 am
by CFTech
There seems to be a problem with a (ST/E) hardware init during coldboot in the current Atari ST core. It usually won't start at first try (black screen) and does not react to either reset or cold start from OSD. I have to cycle between (ST/STE/MegaSTE/STEROIDS) modes randomly and use reset or cold start from OSD multiple times in order to make a proper boot. Once booted it is rock stable, so it is clearly not an SDRAM issue. Soft reset from keyboard (TOS2.6 or EmuTOS1.0.1) or OSD is not problem at all. It can literaly run for hours.
I have exactly the same issue with my TG68k/020 modded core.
Re: Cold Boot Issue
Posted: Fri May 14, 2021 10:41 am
by grizzly
Why can it not be an SDRAM issue?
It sounds like you could be having bad connections/bad solder joint/cracked board/chip/component somewhere that wants some heat before it will work fine.
And SDRAM do have chips/boards/connector that can if your unlucky (OR lucky that it´s not the DE-10) have that kind of problem.
Try unplugging and re-seat SDRAM and then the next thing and the next until you have found what causes it or gone through everything.
Re: Cold Boot Issue
Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 10:24 am
by CFTech
The SDRAM is definitely fine. A 4MB mode does work. I found this undocumented info in the mister FW source code st_tos.h:
Code: Select all
// (currently 4MB are fixed and cannot be changed)
#define TOS_MEMCONFIG_512K (0<<1) // not yet supported
#define TOS_MEMCONFIG_1M (1<<1) // not yet supported
#define TOS_MEMCONFIG_2M (2<<1) // not yet supported
#define TOS_MEMCONFIG_4M (3<<1) // not yet supported
#define TOS_MEMCONFIG_8M (4<<1)
#define TOS_MEMCONFIG_14M (5<<1)
#define TOS_MEMCONFIG_RES0 (6<<1) // reserved
#define TOS_MEMCONFIG_RES1 (7<<1) // reserved
So now it is make a sense as I always tend set RAM to maximum possible size (14MB).