Figuring out the causes of slow disk access on the TF536

[terriblefire]

I tried pretty everything with KS 3.1.4 = no go
I even put my full 030 CPU from blizzard 1230 and installed mmulib with mufastrom = 250kb/s !!!!

@AlenPPC = your CD32 WB does not solve the problem, still 640kb/s
@ 8 Bit Dreams = already done before, does not help

Remove my A2000 KS3.1 and put it in the 500+ then mount my good old WB3.1 = 1.8mb/s (with EC CPU so without fastrom)

On my board, I can comfirm that KS 3.1.4 is not possible.

Most people arent even getting it to boot on A2000.

[CrashMidnick]

I just moved my ks3.1 to my A500+, never tried in my A2k as it has the best card ever made : gvp tekmagic 060

[EzdineG]

Note that using :

Code: Select all

Setpatch NODRIVELEDPATCH

only applies if you're using Workbench 3.1.4.1. It does nothing on 3.1.4, but shaves several seconds off boot for me with the update.

[CrashMidnick]

When I got 1.8mb, I use a patched scsi.device with loadmodule. The one that comes with wb 3.1 is affected by the same problem = 800kb/s !

There is defintely something wrong with scsi.device and TF536.

With the patched scsi.device and CPU fastrom enabled, I cannot get sysinfo to get drive speed. I can notice that some apps take ages to load.

I will try MMUlib fastrom to see what happens but in that state, either my board is defective or this accelerator is not enough mature.

I was quite lucky because I used a WB3.1 from my SX1, scsi.device of CD32 has got a problem with sx1 and more than 4mb. If you built the TF536 base on TF330 maybe it can be linked.

[alenppc]

I am very confused by this. The specific card that I sent you does ~3mb/s according to sysinfo with my CF card setup. Now sysinfo is mostly useless for this but I can assure you that the speed is considerably faster than stock A600/1200.

Yes you need to load the scsi.device in fast ram or at least do cpu fastrom.

This is not a defect. The ROM chip on the A500 is 16-bit so the access is really really slow and it’s normal that scsi.device performance is slow in this condition. You really need a full 68030 on the A500 so that you can use fastrom. This way the rom is accessed at full speed and you get full performance.

[CrashMidnick]

@AlenPPC

Let me sum up :

KS 3.1.4

1) 640kb/s/EC CPU
2) 250kb/s/68030RC50/maprom with mufastrom

KS 3.1

1) 800kb/s/EC CPU (standard scsi.device)
2) 1,8mb/s/EC CPU/patched scsi.device v44.2 from BB3
3) ??????/68030RC50/maprom with fastrom or mufastrom/with or without patched scsi = sysinfo freeze when checking access disk speed, magic menu takes 10s to load at WB startup/wordworth freeze at launch/jano editor takes 20s to load = system unstable

Tried with CF to IDE and SD to IDE adapters, both react the same way.
Some IDE cables do not work : tested in my A1200 they work
With KS3.1.4 = I cannot use my modded ATX PSU so I use original A500 PSU (heavy one)
With KS3.1 = Modded ATX PSU works

[PaulJ_2.0]

I am very confused by this. The specific card that I sent you does ~3mb/s according to sysinfo with my CF card setup.

Yes, I get the same results with your card and 3.1.4
I have tested drive speeds on both mine and Alens images and get consistent speeds on revs 5/6/8a A500's.

[terriblefire]

Have any of of you tried adding IDE buffers?

[8 Bit Dreams]

@CrashMidnick
I have reported this ages ago - FASTROM may decelerate IDE speed in some cases, but this was ignored, found out this may be related to CF Card reader & CF Card itself.. try other CF card

[CrashMidnick]

@8 Bit Dreams

I tried 2 different SD cards and 4 CF (Kingston, Sandisk, Topram and the blue one that supaduper sent me with the TF330) = only the blue one works (probably the cheapest and less reliable one lol) !!

Now I have 4mb/s with PFS3, KS3.1, WB3.9

Thank you !

@AlenPPC

I have 30+ Amiga's at home, they use 90% of Kingston CF cards, never had a single problem, 9% are Sandisk no problem, the rest TopRam and one blue CF card. FYI, the kingston and Sandisk cards work well in the TF330 andNOT in TF536.

Can you please tell me what CF card brand and model you use ? You should defintely provide a CF card with the TF536 or tell which ones are compatible in Amibay thread. You say "most" but this is not really true, this board is really picky about that IMHO.

Anyway, your board is professionaly made. Again, thanks for your time and support.

Cheers.