Old AudioMedia Nubus and Mac IIfx install problem

[Wally212]

I am trying to install an old AudioMedia (Rev B-1) Nubus card into my Mac IIfx OS7.5.5 and need clues. Currently when I put the card into a slot the Mac starts to boot as normal until it looks to see what cards are installed and then halts with a terminal error message about a bus error. It advises to switch off the extentions and reboot, alas when doing so the problem remains.

So.. what do I need to get, install or do to get the old Mac IIfx to talk with this old card? I only want to use it with Alchemy 3 and maybe look at Sound Designer.

thanks in advance.

oh yes almost forget, the AudioMedia board has a funky white Motorola chip XSP5600IZL20 which looks like a DSP, how do I get access to its features? (once the install problem is sorted that is).

[John_Toolbox]

I've never run an audiomedia nubus card, but if I'm reading this right, the mac boots fine without the card, but not with the card installed, even if you boot without extensions?

If that's the case I'd guess you have a bad card. I don't think the system would simply not boot even if there weren't drivers installed for the card, but I could be wrong. I don't have a lot of experience with pre-OS9 macs, but I do know that most of those systems had specific OS install disks for each machine type. The other possibilty is that the OS disks you installed with weren't the exact ones needed for that particular computer.

[Wally212]

Thanks for your suggestions John, I've done more testing and it's looking gloomy.
With the AudioMedia card fitted the Mac chimes OK, happy Mac, then "Welcome Macintosh" (all good so far) then the error dialogue "Sorry a system error ocurred - bus error" and a restart button.

OK my guess is the Mac has problems reading the identity of the AudioMedia card. The good news is I found and installed the drivers from AVID (thanks guys) which seem to work well - until I put the card back into the Mac.

I've done some component testing, the RAM chips test OK and so does the ROM. Interestingly the Mac boots OK if I remove the big white XSP chip which suggests the logic chips (PALs) are OK so the XSP might be faulty. This is my next route of investigation.