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7. Hardware related questions
-----------------------------
Here come some typical questions and answers concerning the 1040
STE's hardware, not seen by the programmer but for upgrades and
installations.
? I want to upgrade my STE to 4 MB. What shall i do ?
! The 1040 STE uses 30 pin SIMMs and the 1040 STE is not really
picky about the SIMMs you use. By using 4 x 1 MB SIMM you
will achieve 4 MB in total.
? I only have 2 1 MB SIMMs. Can i use them ?
! All 4 SIMM-slots (2 banks) need to be filled by SIMMs, otherwise
the STE won't boot at all. You might try to replace 2 of the
SIMMs in your 1040 STE to have either 2.5 MB (2 x 256KB +
2 x 1 MB) or 3 MB (2 x 512 KB + 2 x 1 MB), but unfortunately,
both only work with restrictions: There is a program that
"reserves 1.5 MB" while booting which are exactly those 1.5MB
that a 2.5 MB STE lacks to the 4 MB. The STE then "believes"
to have 4 MB with 1.5 MB permanently used.
This is not a wise choice however since it will require you
to always run this program. Most games will crash.
? I want to upgrade my STE to TOS 2.06. Do i need a TOS-card ?
! No, you don't. The 1040 STE has 2 EPROM-sockets for 2 128KB
EPROMs, exactly the size of TOS 2.0x. Simply purchase the
TOS-ROMs, open your 1040 STE and replace chip by chip. They
are marked "E" for "Even" and "O" for "Odd".
Make sure the "O" chip you take out is replaced by the "O"
chip of your TOS 2.06. The same goes for the "E" chips.
TOS-cards were only necessary for ST computers that had
6 x 32 KB EPROMs and could not handle 2 x 128KB.
? Is it possible to have an internal IDE harddisk in the 1040
STE ?
! Yes, it definetly is. There is room for a 2.5" IDE-harddisk
just above the memory on the metal shielding and it is even
easy to mount the harddisk there. The PSU of the STE is also
powerful enough to drive a 2.5" IDE harddisk usually.
Then you need an IDE interface and a cable.
? The IDE interface i bought doesn't fit anywhere. Help!
! Well, the 1040 STE uses a PLCC-socketed 68000 while all ST
computers had a DIL-version of the 68000. IDE interfaces
either connect to the Megabus of the Mega ST series directly
or to the CPU and usually that implies a DIL CPU.
Mario Becroft, T.U.S. and Gellermann & Felmuth produced IDE
interfaces especially for the 1040 STE. So before you order,
make sure the IDE interface can be used on a PLCC 68000.
GE Soft produced a simple adapter called "speed-bridge",
which connected to the PLCC-socket of the STE and had a
DIL-like socket on the top. This allowed to use ST expansions
on the STE, too, but please note that this means additional
space being occupied by the adapter - Speed bridge + IDE
interface might not fit anymore into your 1040 STE.
? The IDE interface is mounted, it works and the IDE harddisk
is identified correctly and installed by my software. Yet
my STE can't boot from it.
! A common problem. To boot from an IDE device, you need
TOS 2.06 in your STE. Otherwise, you will need a boot-disk
that features your harddisk driver.
? Help! I just removed my IDE interface and now my 1040 STE
doesn't work anymore at all, i only get a black screen!
! The pins of the socket and the 68000 have been bent a little
when you had the IDE interface mounted. Now that you removed
it, the pins of the socket do not connect 100% anymore to the
pins of your CPU. Now all you need is patience and a needle.
Open the STE, carefully pull out the CPU by using the needle
as a lever. Now carefully bent the pins on the socket towards
the middle. Do not push them hard since they break relatively
easily. When done with this, carefully bend the pins of the
68000 a little to the outside. Then push the CPU in gently
and try to switch on your STE.
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