please help: amiga 2000 doesn't want to play

[_pea_]

Hello, thanks for reading.

I was pointed in the direction of amiga.org by a friend who couldn't help me.

I have been given a really dirty old amiga 2000. When I turn it on I get a white screen that goes grey for a short while then back to white for a longer time. Also, the power light seems to dim & go brighter, too. From using other old computers I get the feeling this is some kind of meaningful error message, but only for those who are in the know. I am not.

Can anyone help?

When I opened up the machine there seems to be a hard drive next to the floppy drive & a 5 1/4 drive under both. There are three plug-in boards in some slots on the other side, one of these seems to have what also looks like a hard drive on it. Another is also huge and must have about 60 chips on it. the 3rd is tiny & has a 15pin D connector dangling out of the back of the machine. There's wires everywhere :-? Is it possible that removing these cards could help?

I'd like to get it going as it used to belong to a UK software house & I believe there could be some goodies on the hard drive(s).

[amigakit]

Welcome to Amiga.org - Sounds Interesting!

The light dimming and the screen flashing indicates the computer is crashing.

You may want to disconnect all expansions then switch the Amiga on and see if it shows the hand inserting the disk graphic. If it does, switch off the Amiga again and systematically replace the HDD cables/expansions in order to elmimate the suspect hardware. Don't forget to note the orientations of each expansion/cable etc and antistatically earth yourself.

[_pea_]

Thanks for the speedy reply amigakit, barely had a chance to make a cup of tea

I took the expansions out. When I did this, making room I noticed the two ribon cables from the hard drive near the floppy didn't actually go anywhere & I can't see sockets for them. Any clues?

Anyway, still got the same screen.

BTW, the expansions are a 2mb memory card, one called a hardframe with the hard drive on it & the small one goes with devpac developer.

I'll keep having a look around inside & see what I can see, I'm feeling a bit braver now

[Repo01]

Maybe this will help you:

http://www.nyx.net/~rdavis/AmigaHints2.html#BootColor

I`ve also found this:

SelfTest Output

Whilst the selftest is being carried out information is being displayed. This is shown through the screen changes that are mentioned in points 3, 7, 11, and 13. If all of the tests have been passed, you will see the following colour sequence.

    * Dark Grey: The hardware test has been completed OK, and the registers are readable.
    * Light Grey: The software side has passed.
    * White: The initialisation is correct and the system is ready to boot.

If there is something wrong with your system you may see the following colours.

    * Red: An error was found in the ROM.
    * Green: An error was found in Chip ram.
    * Blue: An error was found in the custom chips.
    * Yellow: The CPU has found an error before the error trapping software (Guru) has been activated.

These problems could be caused by a number of things such as a loose chip or board. The red screen may be caused by a loose Kickstart chip that can be fixed by pressing down on the ROM to check it is fitted correctly. Another cause could be a connection problems between the chip and socket that can be solved by straightening an bent pins. Alternatively, the green screen could be caused by a loose memory board, SIMM, or a loose RAM chip on the memory board. If reattaching these chips do not solve the problem, try them on another Amiga.
Keyboard

The keyboard also has its own processor, RAM, and ROM. It also has a selftest that performed on power up in the following sequence.

   1. Performs a checksum on the ROM.
   2. Checks the 64 bytes of keyboard RAM.
   3. The timer is being tested
   4. Performs a handshake with the computer and gives the result of the selftest.

If the keyboard does not pass the test, it will tell you through the blinking of the caps lock light.

    * One blink: Keyboard ROM check failed.
    * Two blinks: Keyboard RAM check failed.
    * Three blinks: Watch dog timer failure.
    * Four blinks: A short between two lines or the special control keys.

READ THIS (please). Don't panic if your keyboard flashes once when you switch on. THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL. Every Amiga in the entire universe does this.


Repo

[_pea_]

Thanks for the help Repo.

I sat reading from the link you posted & left the A2000 blinking away next to me. Half way through reading I noticed the screen had changed & I was being asked for the date... so maybe I just wasn't being patient enough... oops!  :roll:

I got some kind of command line (said something like GMC. 9.6  and the name Muller) and I couldn't seem to get anywhere...

The bad news is just as I was about to ask if anyone could help out, the power supply gave out a very high pitch Pfffftttssssssss! sound and emitted a smell I can only describe as something in the region of grilled fish! My house stinks of it!

So there ends my evening of exploring the A2000  :cry: