Re: TWGS Lockup

[ab616@chebucto.ns.ca (Tony Cianfaglione)]

Phil Abel (TTSH35A@prodigy.com) wrote:
> It seems that my TWGS will occasionally freeze my GS.  I figure it is the 
> TWGS because I installed it a couple months ago and I never had this 
> problem before.  Is this heat related?  I think I vaguely remember 
> reading a thread a year or so ago by someone with the same problem.  I 
> think the answer was the heat that the TWGS put off.

   My TWGS running at 13.75 on a 55 oscillator hangs after 20 minutes
without the System Saver GS, 45 minutes with the System Saver, 30 minutes
if I'm running other gizmos using the power bar and no crashes if nothing
else (save the GS and monitor) is running. 

> Well, I do have a system saver GS fan.  However, I do have a couple other 
> big cards in there, and an internal Vulcan HD which may be blocking the 
> air flow?  I have run it a few times with the case off and it doesn't 
> seem to lock up then.  The fact that I have a Vulcan I/O card, Vulcan HD, 
> SCSI Rev C, SuperSonic w/ Digitizer, and TWGS in the machine probably 
> isn't helping either.  Would like to replace the SCSI Rev C with a 
> smaller RAMFast and ditch the Vulcan altogether once I migrate a few more 
> programs off the Vulcan.  That would help both heat and power supply load.

   I had problems with the RamFAST and the TWGS.  You need a revision chip
on the TWGS (from 2A to 2B) according to the RamFAST manual.  I have one
with and one without the revision and found that you definitely need the
revision for stable connection with the RamFAST.  You may also need
Revision D on the RamFAST like I have or it may not work.  If you are
running a GSRam+ card, I believe you have to disable DMA as well.  The
manual has all of the things you need to do.

> The only other thing that I can think of is age.  I bought the TWGS about 
> 2 months ago.  I bought it at an auction NEW in shrinkwrapped box (for a 
> whopping $5... heh heh, beat that).  It is the newer version with the DMA 
> compatibility, probably circa 1989?  So it's basically sat dormant in a 
> box for 8 years.  I dunno if that might have anything to do with it?

   Not sure if they made an upgrade for it or not.

Tony