Author: Johan Klockars (as28-3-8.va.g.bonet.se)
Date: 07-10-2002 18:02
> > but without direct access to the hardware there are, unfortunately, limits to what can reasonably be done to figure out what the problem is.
> Sometimes direct access to hardware doesn't help.
Well, obviousy you do need to know what you are doing - and actually be doing it.
> So what's the matter when pci bios reports bad device & vendor id?(i hope you remember me).
You had one of the bits apparently stuck at '1' (or was it '0', perhaps), right?
That is most definitely some kind of hardware problem, but it could be with the installation as well as the Eclipse board or the RageII card itself.
- If the Eclipse/RageII works in some other Falcon (easy to test if you have one), the problem would be with your installation.
- Testing the RageII card is simple enough (put it in a PC), but that is most likely not the problem, anyway.
- Checking the connections to/from the Eclipse hardware takes some simple equipment and some patience. IMO, this is the most likely place of your problem (bad solder joint or cable). Actually doing anything about this is not easy (well a cable problem might not be too hard, but that is probably not it, anyway), though.
- Checking all the solder joints on the Eclipse cards. Not that easy to find problems, and worse to fix them.
- Reprogramming the PLD that does the actual PCI<->Falcon bus conversion needs some special equipment (nothing strange). I'd not recommend that anyone try that themselves (unless they really know what they are doing), and they'd need to ask for the programming file first.
- Checking the various other components on the Eclipse boards. Not easy, and harder to do anything about.
I would not expect even David to try all of these things, but a couple of them would be quick.
Of course, even if he can confirm that a card is not working, it is not necessarily obvious that he should replace it (after all, the customer might have left the hardware out in the rain or something ;-).
If it had been me, I'd have tried to make sure that every card I sent out had been verified to actually work. I have no idea if David does that.
Unfortunately, if you do these things for a living, you need to charge for the time you spend doing it. That can quickly amount to a lot of money (and a very large fraction of the production cost (or more than it, for that matter) for stuff this cheap).
> Someone told me(the guy behind Tempest) that he discovered some bugs in Eclipse.
I don't know what Sven might have been referring to in this case, but everything has bugs...
> > Also, I would suggest not sending anything back until you have verified that the vendor is OK with this and how you do it.
> What does it mean OK?
It is a good idea to confirm with the vendor that he is prepared to receive what you send.
Some companies apparently refuse to accept anything unless it is accompanied by for example some kind of code you should have received from their support people.
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