x86 Card Hints and Tips

Please note that hints and tips on the following areas can be found on the respective pages, not here: This page contains hints and tips on the following: You can also try Aleph One's Information and Technical Support page, which is under construction.

PC Exchange

If PC Exchange doesn't appear to be working properly on your system, do ensure that you have the PC Exchange software loaded on both the PC side and the Acorn side before attempting a transfer.

We've also heard that it may be necessary to run the Acorn side of PC Exchange before starting up Windows or Windows 95.

Timing problems with StrongARM

A great many people have found that their PC card has become unreliable after upgrading to StrongARM, usually when running Windows or (more often) Windows 95. The problem is especially likely to occur in older machines, and those which have two SIMMs fitted (as most of us do...). If the card still seems to work fine when you put your old ARM610 or ARM710, then you can be pretty sure that it is the timing with the StrongARM that is the problem.

This problem can be solved by as simple a modification as swapping your SIMMs round (it's believed by many that allocating the PC card a chunk of memory that spans two dissimilar SIMMs is a common cause of the problem), but both Aleph One and Acorn will modify your processor card(s) - and in extreme cases alter your motherboard or even replace it - to get your machine working, for free. There are simple modifications that Acorn's service company, Reflex Electronics, can make to both the StrongARM card and the x86 card, in an attempt to get them working together properly. (Of course if you only need to send them one of the processor cards, you can keep using your machine in the meantime, which is nice).

We now believe that all machines that are being ordered with x86 cards are tested to ensure that they work properly right from the start, but for those who are worried that their machines might never work properly, bear in mind that Acorn have modified thousands of cards successfully. In addition, here are two case studies of real cases taken from usenet. Let us know of your own experiences of getting timing problems fixed.

StrongARM helpline 01223 577 878
Reflex Electronics 01438 311 299
Reflex Electronics StrongARM Help 0990 168 790

Timing problems solved by Reflex Electronics (Acorn)

I had a RPC 610 Issue 1 motherboard on which I was trying to run a StrongARM and CJE 133Mhz 586. 610/586 OK, SA and old 486 OK, but the combination I wanted to run failed. Reflex modded my SA, no luck, I sent my machine to them but they failed to make it work. I took my machine to them and it still failed. So they tried to fix it by modding the PC card. Then the motherboard was altered. When I got the machine back it failed again. Back I went and the motherboard was replaced with a RPC 700 latest spec motherboard. I gave up my 16 bit sound and mixer but now have a fully working system. (Reflex are gaining expierence in getting machines to fail, all those of you now having problems will be in a better position).

So when Reflex say they will get it working, they will.

Jeff Williams, Phoenix VLSI, Towcester Mill, Towcester, Northants.
Any statements made have no connection to the Phoenix VLSI.

Timing problems solved by Aleph One

A customer experienced similar problems. Through a process of substitution, I pinpointed the problem to the Aleph One 5x86 card, and contacted them about it. I explained that my own card worked in the customer's machine, and his card worked in mine, but his wouldn't work in his own! Over the phone, they asked me to identify a number of components on my card, and the same ones on the customer's card. They then said that they had experienced problems on a number of cards built like mine, but fewer problems on cards built like the customer's: however, Wookey (for it was he) said that he would build a card exactly like mine and send it direct to the customer.

Next day, the customer received two 5x86 cards! One was built like mine, the other built as Wookey thought it ought to be. The accompanying letter told the customer to return the original card and whichever of the two new cards didn't work (assuming one did) at his leisure. As it happened, the one built like mine worked, and he never bothered to try the other, but was mightily impressed with the service! Full marks to Aleph One...

David Coronel
The Data Store - Acorn Centre of Technology in Bromley, Kent, UK
http://www.datstore.demon.co.uk/

Other possible problems with StrongARM and PC card

One problem which has caused a variety of errors is having the wrong version of the "SharedSound" module following the upgrade to RISC OS 3.70.

The correct version of SharedSound is 0.26. This should be installed in !System.Modules. The module can be found as Utilities.Patches.SSound once you have installed the StrongARM upgrade, or alternatively it can be found on the StrongARM CD-ROM.

Once you have the correct version of SharedSound in !System.Modules, it is also important to ensure that you have removed all older versions of the module from your hard disk. This can be accomplished with the "Find" command from a filer window.

Risc PC Serial Port and PC Card

The Risc PC itself has a 16550 UART to control its serial port, but the PC card software only emulates an 8250 UART. However for many applications you can still convince Windows that it is connected to a 16550, and use the higher speeds. The Atomwide Serial Cards in particular have a 16550 emulator which will allow PC cards to access the serial ports properly.

Use of ARMASPI

It appears that the ASPI driver for the PC card written by Andreas Walters, which allows it to work with SCSI PC devices, is a 16-bit driver designed for use under Windows 3.x, so doesn't work perfectly with Windows 95.

Re-flashing on-board modem software using PC card

A number of people have found themselves unable to use the PC card for flashing modems with upgraded firmware. However, in some cases this has worked successfully.

Cumana 300i(A) CD drive and PC card

In March 1997, Tony Spence enquired as follows on comp.sys.acorn.extra-cpu:
If I have the system set up so that RiscOS is happy (CDROMDrives = 0), DOS can't see the drive. If I do what the PCPro documentation advises and set CDROMDrives=1, then when I restart RiscOS I get disc errors on my boot drive (resetting CDROMDrives to zero fixed this).
Mark Gillman responded:
This has been fairly well discussed here, it's to do with incompatabilies between the Cumana IDE software and the newer CDFS in RISC OS 3.7

  1. Move !BootIDECD out of PreDesk
  2. Copy the file !BootIDECD.islcd_2 back into PreDesk
  3. *Unplug CDFSSoftATAPI
  4. Reboot
  5. Run !Boot, choose "Discs" and set number of CDs to 1.
All should then be well with the PC card and RISC OS.

This is the shorthand version for the benefit of those who've seen it all before - mail me if you need more help or explanation.

Checking if a card has 128KB or 512KB cache

Paul Robinson wrote as follows in comp.sys.acorn.extra-cpu in August 1998:
All original Gemini I and Gemini II versions of the PC cards produced for the Acorn Risc PC computer were fitted with a 128KB level 2 cache. Recently the size of the cache has been increased to 512KB on newer PC cards, including those supplied by Aleph One Limited since April 1997. PC Pro is able to take advantage of this increase in the size of cache, but can not automatically detect the size of the cache fitted. This section helps you know how to recognise a PC card fitted with 512KB cache.

Visual recognition by inspecting the PC card

Ensure that your computer system is shut down in the normal way. Switch off and unplug the power lead from the electrical power socket. You can now safely remove the top cover of the Risc PC computer. (See page 87 of your Acorn Risc PC Welcome Guide for instructions). Viewing from the rear of the Risc PC, the PC card is standing upright on the right hand side of the case with the components facing you. To identify if a 512KB cache is fitted, look at the PC card now facing you.

On a Gemini II PC card, 'IC2' & 'IC3' are at the top right hand side of the PC card.

If 'IC2' and 'IC3' are not in these locations, then you have an original PC Gemini I card with 128KB cache.

If these ICs have 28 pins (4 pads left uncovered) then you have a Gemini II PC card with 128KB cache.

If they have 32 pins (no uncovered pads) then you have a Gemini II with 512K cache.

DOS utility

There is a DOS utility to test what cache size is fitted to your card on our Web site at ftp://ftp.aleph1.co.uk/3rdparty/cct386.zip

Upgrading

Gemini II PC cards with 128KB cache can be upgraded to 512KB by First SMT Ltd.

Configuring PC Pro for use with Cards with 512K cache

You should use "!PCconfig Configuration" unless your version of !PCconfig does not support it.

!PCconfig Configuration

Paul Robinson wrote as follows in comp.sys.acorn.extra-cpu in August 1998:
  • Run !PCConfig and Click 'menu' on the icon-bar icon and select 'advanced configuration'.
  • Click 'OK' on the warning message that appears.
  • Then look near the end for the 'Size of External cache fitted to your card' option and select '512'.
  • Then save the settings and Quit !PCconfig. Changed settings will be used the next time you run !PC.

    • Manual Configuration

    Paul Robinson wrote as follows in comp.sys.acorn.extra-cpu in June 1997:
    To benefit from this hardware upgrade you need to configure your PC card to use the new cache size; this was not made clear when cards and upgrades were sent out.

    For PCPro v2.03 this is done as follows:

    If the line is missing, add it and then save the file. The next time you start !PC the full cache will be available.

    What happens if it is set wrong?

    He added in August 1998:
    If you set 128KB on a 512KB card it just goes a bit slower than it should, as the full 512KB is not being used. If you set 512KB on a 128KB card it will give memory test errors immediately on start-up, such as:
    ERROR: ROM failed checksum =001F, and
    ERROR at address 00001000H : Wrote 0001 Read 0000

    AMD CJE cards give an ERROR: ROM failed checksum =00FC error, but the exact addresses vary with CPU type, cache settings and version of !PC.

    Windows 95 icon problems with StrongARM

    If the icons and pointer seem to have a black background in Windows 95 and you have a StrongARM, this is often caused ARMDRV.DRV not being installed correctly. Try re-installing it, following the instructions exactly.

    EMM386 settings in CONFIG.SYS for use with PC Pro

    Device=c:\dos\emm386.exe /NOMOVEXBDA noems ram x=a000-b0ff i=b100-b7ff x=b800-bfff i=c000-dfff x=e000-efff i=f000-f3ff x=f400-f7ff h=64 a=7 d=64

    Remember that EMM386 will still clash with some games and applications, so it's not necessarily recommended...

    Re-starting !PC after a crash

    If you run !PC again after it has crashed, you will often get "!PC is already active". To solve this problem goto the command line (press F12) and type:

    *Rmkill PCSupport [RETURN]
    [RETURN]

    You should now be able to tun !PC again.

    Creating new x86 card partitions with TBAFS

    There are many users who are continually creating new partitions for one of the following reasons.
    1. C: drive partition errors.
    2. Need bigger partition because of changed Risc OS hard drive.
    3. Installing new software has caused a problem that cannot be removed.
    Here I can offer some words of wisdom that others may like to follow:

    Create a new drive_c partition to load the PC operating system, and a drive_d partition to load any application software on. Having two partitions will have the effect of making the CD-ROM drive to be given the letter E:.

    Why? Well, when things go wrong they tend to be related to Windows system and ini files and not the applications themselves. So let your Acorn Risc OS help you maintain the PC card by keeping a copy of your drive C:. Thus, if the partition is backed up regularly, then when disaster strikes or that new PC software has just caused it to go belly up, all you will need to do is delete the current partition and copy the backup. You could then also delete that new directory that could have been created by the new software installation safely.

    What size these partitions can be will be determined upon the size of the harddrive space available. The minimum size of the C: drive partition is 100Mb so if you maintain a backup the disc space needed would increase to 200Mb, then you can look at the available D: drive partition size. Although a big drive C: would be an advantage but still must only contain the PC's OS.

    There is a fairly new application TBAFS that will help you to have bigger partitions than the space on the hard would normally allow. TBAFS compresses files very much the same way as the archive files but files within can be renamed and altered without causing any errors. This allows a PC partition to grow in size on the hard drive as additional PC software is loaded.

    I have created a 2Gb partition (which is the maximum size that can safely be created) on a 405Mb harddrive, although looking from the PC side the amount of software loaded on that partition was small and compacted so it can fit in the available space. This will allow you in the future to get a bigger harddrive and then transfer the partition on to that drive where it will continue to grow.

    For ease of backing up I would not keep both partitions in the same TBAFS directory.

    Main disadvantage: You must keep a watchful eye on the amount of actual Risc OS disc space you have available or the PC partition may try to grow beyond the physical limits. (Future versions may do this for you). There is also a speed trade off for the C: partition because of its heavy use when in a TBAFS file.

    Main advantages:

    TBAFS is available from
    Email: [email protected]
    Web Site: http://www.tba-software.co.uk/

    Paul Robinson
    Aleph One http://www.aleph1.co.uk/
    Havering Acorn Centre http://www.havaccnt.demon.co.uk/

    Using a SCSI Jaz drive

    Jazz gave the following tips on setting up a SCSI Jaz drive with !PC 2.22a, ARM ASPI module 0.07 and ASPI Setup 0.06a:
    Ok, I've done the following..

    Using the Aspi Setup util (from !PCConfig in the Advanced tab), I've set the Jaz drive as Reserved, and my other SCSI drive (used Directly as Drive C) to be ignored (So you may need to do that with your CD).

    I have a Castle Storm 32 SCSI card, and using the setup utils for that, I hide the icons for the Jaz and other SCSI drive (To stop any potential problems).

    On booting the PC card, (if the ASPI miniport is installed properly; check the System Devices tab) you should see a removable drive in My Computer.

    I then installed the Iomega 95 tools, and it found the drive fine.

    I've done this twice now, once with 95, and once with a fresh install of 98, so it should work. It also seems very very stable.

    How much RAM can I use with my PC card?

    The absolute maximum RAM that you can use with your PC card in a Risc PC (with the latest version of PC Pro) is 32MB.

    Should I use a UniVBE driver?

    No - UniVBE fixes various problems with specific PC video cards, but can only be a hindrance to the PC card. Installing it won't fix anything, and may cause problems.

    Monitor configuration in Win95/98

    Paul C. Robinson wrote as follows in December 1998:
    In the past Aleph One support have always told users that they should have no monitor settings set within Windows 95 or 98.

    With the introduction of PCPro3 we have found that their is an advantage to now having a monitor setting as long as you follow the guidelines below.

    In Risc OS, press Select on the Monitor icon on the icon bar to get a monitor config window for the monitor and MDF file you are using. Select the Resolution window menu button and take a note of the highest square pixel resolution at the bottom of the menu. Values above the dotted line are not square and should be ignored.

    Run up Windows 95 or 98's Control Panel display. What you select next depends on the windows version you are using. Basically you want to change the monitor to one of the Super VGA "Standard monitor types" with the same Resolution as noted from RiscOS.

    After you have changed the monitor setting you should find that when in the Display Settings that Desktop Area slider will not allow you to have a pixel resolution that the monitor is incapable of displaying.

    Warning
    There is the possibility of changing the colour higher than the Desktop area should allow. If RiscOS can not cope with the colour of pixel settings then the PC will give an error and default to VGA. You cam always use the RiscOS Monitor config to see what settings should be allowed.

    Do not...
    Do not select a Resolution higher than RiscOS Monitor config shows and do not select any other Windows monitor setting other than that listed in the "Standard monitor types", even if you do have that monitor type fitted.

    The reason is simple. Other monitor settings will have the odd mode that the RiscOS MDF file has not listed and thus will cause error messages. It should default to VGA but sometimes it will bomb out and give some serious problems.

    If you have any hints and tips on using x86 cards, or particular pieces of hardware or software with them, please e-mail [email protected].

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