Rastergraf Topaz, User Manual

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Rastergraf
Troubleshooting 6-3
6.2 Dealing with the PCI Bus
Because of the nature of the PCI protocol and the way support has been
implemented in the Operating Systems for PCI bus devices such as the
graphics board , it is not possible to follow the same debugging strategies.
In fact, there are no address jumpers for these boards. Everything is
configured in software through a set of on-board registers, which control
the characteristics of the board as required by the PCI Specification.
The information used to program these registers is supplied to Operating
System (OS) specific functions by Rastergraf’ software. Ordinarily,
several address map translations occur, including the CPU physical and
virtual address maps and the CPU to PCI bridge address map.
While x86 systems generally follow the standards required to meet PC
compatibility and mask these details, PowerPC systems do not. Among
PowerPC vendors, there are no standards which ensure interoperability
among CPU boards, even when they use the same CPU and PCI bridge.
Therefore, if you plan to use a graphics board in a PowerPC based system,
it is vital to ensure that Rastergraf can vouch for the board’s operation
before you order the board. Otherwise, you may go crazy trying to figure
out why it doesn’t work. Please contact us (
support@rastergraf.com or at
(541) 923-5530 if you have problems.
6.3 Maintenance, Warranty, and Service
Maintenance
The graphics board requires no regular service, but if used in a particularly
dirty environment, periodic cleaning with dry compressed air is
recommended.
Because of the heat generated by normal operation of the graphics board
and other boards in the system, forced crossflow ventilation
is required
. If
forced ventilation is not used, IC temperatures can rise to 60 degrees C or
higher, which can cause premature product failure. With proper forced air-
cooling IC temperatures will be less than 35 degrees C.