Daystar 33Mhz Turbo 040 issues

[TimHD]

Hi,

Have been trying to get a Daystar Digital 33Mhz Turbo 040 CPU Accelerator I got off the net working in my Mac SE/30. The card looks in fine shape and the SE/30 it went into (1 of 2 tested in) already works fine (solid, regular chime) with it's current configuration (listed below), However once I pop in the 040/Adapter card, the screen goes haywire (see image in gallery) and it powers up with what seems to be a slightly louder, slightly longer and sometimes a little delayed startup chime.

Any ideas? (other than sending off the A/B or power supply for reworking - will do that soon if nothing else is apparent.

Configuration:

Computer: SE/30 (recapped)

Mem: 64MB

HDD: SCSI2SD (working fine, with 8GB card and <2GB partition from codesrc)

System: 7.5.3 installed.

Artemis' Stratos TwinSpark Adapter for SE/30

Daystar Digital 33MH Turbo 040.

Here are some images of my hardware (and some instruction booklet pictures).

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/gallery/album/146-daystar-digital-33mhz-turbo-040/?view_style=large

 

[Elfen]

Wait. You are not using the adapter it came with, but the Artemis' Stratos TwinSpark adapter?

Lets take this a few steps back... The Turbo 040 was meant to fit to fit a IIci's PDS Slot. But there were adapters made for it to fit inside other machines, like the IIsi/SE\30, IIci and Mac II's. But it came with a very specific adapter for those Mac Logic Boards.

Using the wrong adapter with the board will cause problems. So, question: Do you have the correct adapter that puts this card onto the SE\30? If not, then this is your problem.

Solution/Test: Find/Get a Mac IIci and put the Turbo in it to see if it still works at all.

 

[Bunsen]

That is exactly what the Artmix Twinspark is for.

 

[Elfen]

OK, I spoke too soon about the Stratos Adapter. It is compatible with the Turbo 040 and other IIci PDS cards.

So in researching it, what slot are you putting the Turbo 040 onto? According from what I read, it belongs on the lower "Cache" slot.

Hope you can read Japanese:

http://www.artmix.com/ts_adapter.html

EDIT:  Could not edit the previous post so I had to make this second post.

But TimHD should find a IIci to test the Turbo 040 on it.

 

[olePigeon]

Weird.  Why would it go in the Cache slot instead of the PDS slot?  I've never used a Stratos before.

 

[Bunsen]

"Cache" is what the IIci PDS slot is marked, for some reason - hence TurboCache, PowerCache being some of the names for upgrades.

 

[TimHD]

Responding to a few threads at once:

- Yes, had put the Turbo into the Cache slot (the PDS is pass thru for say an Ethernet Card);

- Had reviewed Artmix' instructions for the Twin Spark Adapter (jumper settings appear to be right).

- The TwinSpark board is pretty straight forward, no traces or ICs etc issues seen (board looks pristine)

- The Turbo 040 board visually looks fine, no visible damage, only missing the small daughterboard that sits behind it and adds 128k or something to it (per what I have read, this board is NOT needed to make it work). 

- Have checked all the PDS slots pins for breakages etc

As I don't have a IIci to test it on (and IIsi won't take this card) was hoping someone might have had some luck with this in the past or knows why Sisiamac (?) screen comes up (NB:this is a Uniserver recapped Mac SE/30, so it's not the capacitors).

Was thinking it's possibly a power issue, but it could just be a dead card someone put into the wrong slot somewhere along the line. Not sure how you can check it - other than as Elfen suggests, putting it into a IIci to confirm whether the card is the issue (and not the adapter). 

 

[Elfen]

You got an IIsi?

Its that the IIsi wont take the TwinSpark Card, its that it wont be able to close the case with the card inside. Thus you should be able to test the card on the IIsi with the cover off.

 

[TimHD]

The Daystar Digital Turbo 040 box says it works with 'the SE/30, Macintosh II, IIx and IIcx, with appropriate adapter'. I was wondering why it does not list either the IIci (isn't that the same as the IIcx, just a slower CPU?) or the IIsi (even SE/30 radius '030' video boards work in IIsi with a special right angle adapter, Asante network adapter too). Would've thought the Artemix Twin Spark adapter was a II or IIcx to SE/30 only adapter (maybe that's a physical not electrical thing)

 

[Elfen]

The IIcx and IIci are basically the same except the IIci has PDS Slot and built in video (which drives me up a wall at times). Of course there is the faster CPU and better ROMs (which I'm  not too sure about).

Except for 1 pin, the PDS Slot on the SE\30 and the IIsi are the same. The problems there is the cases and how things will fit inside. As for the TwinSpark Adapter going into the IIsi, it should work but the case will not be able to close on it and the accelerator will hang so you need to physically support it. With Ethernet cards, people have figured out how to the card that came from a IIsi fit inside an SE\30 and visa versa.

Plus there's that experiment somebody here tried - putting a Radius Color Video card from a IIsi into the SE\30 and ended up cutting up part of the back of the case to make it fit in. Yes, the card does work in the SE\30 but it does not fit in it.

 

[Bunsen]

The Daystar Digital Turbo 040 box says it works with 'the SE/30, Macintosh II, IIx and IIcx, with appropriate adapter'. I was wondering why it does not list either the IIci / or the IIsi

Perhaps the IIsi hadn't been made yet. It will work in the IIci without an adapter, which might explain why that machine was left off that list.

Would've thought the Artemix Twin Spark adapter was a II or IIcx to SE/30 only adapter (maybe that's a physical not electrical thing)

It's IIci to SE/30 (with an extra passive SE/30 passthrough).  And it's both physical and electrical, in that the signal arrangement (pinout) between the two types of PDS is different.

 

[TimHD]

While the System Requirements listing on the box says that only the "SE/30, Mac II, IIx and IIcx" are supported "ALL" with an adapter, other models debuted after these models would not have got a mention (e.g. IIcx Sep 20 1989, IIsi Oct 15 1990). 

See: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/timeline/4ad0dff076856f40ed20a583fc31073f.png

That puts this box as circa 1987-88 but interestingly my Turbo 040 board has 'Copyright 1992' on it! Hmmm

In any event, I found this page on Lowendmac that lists all models that are supported: http://lowendmac.com/1993/daystar-turbo-040-processor-upgrade/.  Hence I presume my SE/30 TwinSpark adapter should therefore work (instead of  A31S2-000) for both the SE/30 and IIsi (as you note), whereas, none appear to be needed for IIci, IIvx, IIvi, and Performa 600.

 

[olePigeon]

Has anyone ever heard of an older model Turbo 040 requiring an adapter regardless in which machine it's installed?

 

[Unknown_K]

The mac II, IIx, and IIcx don't have PDS slots so the Daystar cards needed adapters with pin that go into the CPU slot. Since the CPU layouts on the boards are different you need  adapters for them.

There are adapters for the LC series as well (have one) not listed above.

SE30 and IIsi have the same PDS slot but need an adapter because of wiring.

IIci is of course a direct plug in.

Performa 600 and IIvx are pretty close to the same machine which are a slower IIci and have the same PDS slots as a IIci hence no adapters.

The older model Turbo 040's used more chips and had the cache module as a separate part that hung off the back (extra cost), newer models had cache onboard and used less chips so were cheaper to make.

Daystars SE30 adapter has a couple chips on it (doing who knows what) along with the PDS connector on top (rotated 180 degrees from the look of it so the heatsink is facing in). Just google daystar turbo 040 se30 adapter and you will find a picture of it.

I think there is a IIsi version of the Turbo 040 but that won't work in a SE30 because of orientation of the heatsink hitting the metal shield.

As far as the twinsparc adapter is concerned the manual states that with the adapter plugged in WITHOUT a working CPU  card the machine won't work, so double check the accelerator on a working IIci to make sure it isn't dead.

 

[omidimo]

Does the older aka fatter version of the Turbo 040 work with the Twinspark without hitting the HD cage? I been trying to figure that out and am coming up with nothing.

 

[thewap]

Hi, yes it does fit without hitting the HD cage.

 

[off]

Hm, reminds me of my journey with this card. Maybe you could have a look at this thread where I've run into what seems the very same problem: https://mac68k.info/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=281 TimHD.

I could partially fix it by using the stock rom and only 8mb of RAM, then it would at least boot at all.

Maybe my adapter (seen in the thread's first post) is somewhat similar to the Twinspark one?

PS: The firmware version of the Turbo 040 is really important here, mine wasn't able to boot at all until I've upgraded the ROM to 4.11 by swapping the removable EEPROM on the board. And from the looks of it, yours is at 2.x right now (2926 label).

 

[BadGoldEagle]

off is right, ROMs are very important. I was able to fix my Powercache with a simple recap, but I'm now having problems with a Radius Pivot SE/30 card. I think my ROMs are too old to work on 7.5. Since you're running 7.5.3, I'd say we have the same problem.

 

[TimHD]

So, I managed to get my hands on a Mac IIci to test the Daystar digital Turbo 040 card, but alas still no go...

First boot got a grey screen and mouse cursor top left, but all locked up. Subsequent boots less success, with the IIci even failing to kick on power after pressing the power key on the keyboard sometimes or power on and just black screen.

The IIci had a SCSI2SD, 12mb and a replacement refurbished power supply. IIci board is immaculate and has been working well with cache card a maccon ethernet card and 2nd video cards in previously, so I presume had enough power to drive the 040. The turbo 040 has a v1.00 ROM (’2434') but given how little progress in the boot, I don't think 7.6.1 or 7.5.3 os on hdd mattered.

As per earlier pics, the turbo 040 looks fine, no leaky round caps etc. (BadGoldEagle which caps did you replace?)

Any final thoughts (or someone in Aus who wants to give it a try)?