Glen M
Experienced Member
I decided tonight to have a go at installed the Tekram DC-680T controller that I picked up from ebay a while back.
Its possibly dead though as on boot it gives a looping single flash on the LED and an error message "Controller Failure! ERROR CODE = 1"
Looking at the manual
http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/Tekram/Tekram - Green Cache DC-600C DC-620 DC-680 DC-690.pdf
Page 46 would suggest this means 1 of 4 things
Controller is not functional
No Cache DRAM is installed
TAG SRAM test failure
Parity error on cache DRAM
Ram is installed (it came with 4x 256kb simms but I have also tried others and tried bank 0 only). What does it means by TAG SRAM test failure or Parity error on cache DRAM? Assuming this means a fault with the memory modules I know at least that the simms I tried from my own collection do work fine so its not that.
Sounds awful like its controller is not functional. The fact that its reporting an error code makes me think the bios on the card is fine. There is a lot of 74 logic sitting between the ram and the main IC so I suppose something there might have gone but its hard to test. The card is spotless, no evidence of previous work or bad solder joints etc.
Interestingly if I connect a floppy drive it does the floppy seek at startup but the light on the floppy drive stays on, it sits like this for maybe 5 seconds then the error message appears on screen. The single flashing light is constant from when the machine is powered up.
Any ideas?
Its possibly dead though as on boot it gives a looping single flash on the LED and an error message "Controller Failure! ERROR CODE = 1"
Looking at the manual
http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/Tekram/Tekram - Green Cache DC-600C DC-620 DC-680 DC-690.pdf
Page 46 would suggest this means 1 of 4 things
Controller is not functional
No Cache DRAM is installed
TAG SRAM test failure
Parity error on cache DRAM
Ram is installed (it came with 4x 256kb simms but I have also tried others and tried bank 0 only). What does it means by TAG SRAM test failure or Parity error on cache DRAM? Assuming this means a fault with the memory modules I know at least that the simms I tried from my own collection do work fine so its not that.
Sounds awful like its controller is not functional. The fact that its reporting an error code makes me think the bios on the card is fine. There is a lot of 74 logic sitting between the ram and the main IC so I suppose something there might have gone but its hard to test. The card is spotless, no evidence of previous work or bad solder joints etc.
Interestingly if I connect a floppy drive it does the floppy seek at startup but the light on the floppy drive stays on, it sits like this for maybe 5 seconds then the error message appears on screen. The single flashing light is constant from when the machine is powered up.
Any ideas?