Strange problem with WB 3.1 on A3000Tower

[zimgr5]

Thank for your response!

x56h34 wrote:
If you can see the Kickstart 3.1 insert floppy screen, then your jumper config is ok. At this point try and insert a floppy disk of let's say a game or some known to work (a3000 compatible) auto-booting piece of software and that way you will immediately prove or disprove proper functionality of your Amiga, should that game/software load and work ok.

Floppy games run without problem.

A set of fresh WB3.1 installation disks would be ideal.

I'm in progress of buying original set of OS 3.1, coz today I got a suggestion that my OS 3.1 copy may contain a virus (?). It's kinda unbelievable for me that OS can be virused, but ...who knows ?

Have you also tried booting from your WB3.1 Workbench disk?

Yes. It ends with the same error
SOFTWARE FAILURE
CODE : 8000 0003 0700DEBQ Press left mouse button to continue

Have you tried booting from the Workbench disk or the install disk with your hard drive disconnected from the scsi chain?

Yes of course.
Only SCSI with WB 2.04 from original floppies boots OK.
SCSI with WB 3.1 preinstalled on my another A2000 connected doesn't boot - it shows EXACTLY the same error as floppies with WB 3.1. Strange isn't it ?

How much fast ram and how much chip ram does your A3000 have?

8MB chip & 16MB RAM.

Have you tried removing all the fast memory and booting only with chip?

I wouldn't seek a problem here - memory is OK with WB 2.04 and when A3000T had WarpEngine earlier (previous owner) , everything was smooth. Now I have no WarpEngine and as I mentioned, I tried all combinations of jumpers - with no result. So I assume memory is OK.

[x56h34]

SOFTWARE FAILURE CODE : 8000 0003 0700DEBQ Press left mouse button to continue

Perhaps your A3000's NVRAM is corrupted and it needs a reset? It is the only "cache-type" memory that will survive a complete shutdown. A3000 has it, unlike other Amigas.

You can use SetBatt to reset it or tweak its settings (search for SetBatt on Aminet). It is specifically used to keep settings for the on-board SCSI controller.

If an Amiga virus could hide somewhere, it would be there or on the floppy disk itself. Also, NVRAM in A3000 is known to get into a state of "amnesia" and needs a reset through SetBatt, so it could be another thing to check.

8MB chip & 16MB RAM.

You can only have up to 2MB of chip ram with any Amiga.
It is possible that your memory is faulty too, and as soon as a particular part of the memory banks gets accessed by data you get an error or a crash.
As a last resort type solution, try and pull all of the fast memory out and see if with only 2MB of chip ram you don't get that error message anymore.

Try inspecting those Workbench disks on another amiga (if possible) and see if they carry any library files or similar, that would load on boot and cause this error/crash. Like I mentioned, they could have some needed files for an expansion that is no longer there (e.g. WarpEngine or a GFX card, etc.)

Also keep in mind that I am giving you some ideas as how to troubleshoot this issue and while I may not necessarily be right with any of my suggestions it's just means of isolating some of many possible causes for this error message that you are getting.

I'll let you know if something else comes to mind.

[zimgr5]

Oh what a terrible mistake - of course 2MB CHIP RAM, not 8 !
Thank very much for this information, now I go to this work!