STE Annoyance!!!

[Nev (Orbital Software)]

I own a real STE machine, now i've always thought it was a TOS 1.62 machine, however I get funny vertical lines down the screen everytime the Blitter chip is being accessed.

My questions:

1. I thought the Blitter "Bug" was only in TOS 1.6 and was fixed for TOS revision 1.62. Can someone clarify this?

2. Are there any utilities that "correctly" identify the correct TOS version of an ST/STE, as some utilities give different readings?!?!

3. The Blitter bug is a real pain in the ass as it ruins some fantastic STE demo/programs due to the vertical lines on the screen. Is there anyway of changing the TOS in software so that I can do a warm reset and load the relevent STE software without problems?

Thanks folks.



Peace...

[unseenmenace]

Is this happening only when using the Blitter in GEM? I believe that with any program that accesses the blitter directly the TOS version you have would be irrelevant? In which case could it be a hardware fault?

[Nev (Orbital Software)]

Is this happening only when using the Blitter in GEM? I believe that with any program that accesses the blitter directly the TOS version you have would be irrelevant? In which case could it be a hardware fault?

I've had this problem since 1992. It does happen in GEM(unless I select the option to turn the Blitter off in GEM's dropdown menu), but it also happens on a few STE demos too(Sedma - Blittermania is one, and it also happens on Omega's Grotesque demo(happens whether the demo is Autobooted or not).

This has always happend, it's not a major problem, and my machine runs just as perfectly now as it did back in '92, it's just irritating sometimes.

Peace...

[Nev (Orbital Software)]

Oh and as for it being a hardware fault, i'm not sure, i'm no Hardware engineer, but the Blitter does work correctly, it just displays 1 vertical line every 16 lines.



Peace...

[tobe]

Both my 1.06 and 1.62 STEs works without any blitter bug.

[Frank]

Have you tried limiting the memory to 512k? See if the problem goes away?
I had RAM that was bad in an old STE and it caused a similar problem.

Frank

[Nev (Orbital Software)]

Have you tried limiting the memory to 512k? See if the problem goes away?
I had RAM that was bad in an old STE and it caused a similar problem.

Frank

Same thing occurs with 512k, 1Meg, 2Meg & 4Meg. Very bizzare. The Blitter chip does function correctly as far as functionality goes(i.e. It works). Damn those vertical bars. I'll capture a screenshot when I get a few minutes so you can see what I mean.



Peace...

[Frank]

One thing that could be causing it is the halftone RAM on the chip being bad.
That might account for wierd vertical patterns appearing.