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Author Topic: [Solved][A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot  (Read 2615 times)

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Offline GillooTopic starter

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[Solved][A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« on: November 17, 2008, 09:27:26 AM »
Hi all

On my old A2000, from time to time, after one or two hours of work, autoconfig cards are no more detected.
Neither a long reset, or a prolonged stoppage restore the situation.
The boot menu finds no autoconfig card and there is the animation to put a bootable floppy. (My A2000 has a 68000, 2MB of chip, an extension of 4MB fast, a scsi hard disk card, a highway, a bridgeboard, and a kickstart 3.1)
After a good night of sleep then, the miga works again as if nothing had happened.

What is it? the end? the swan song?
It is the first time in 21 years of use I noticed this phenomenon ...

If you have an idea!? tell me what is wrong with my A2000
:-)
« Last Edit: November 08, 2010, 11:27:36 AM by Gilloo »
 

Offline Chain

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #1 on: November 17, 2008, 12:56:21 PM »
did you tried buster chip reseating?
too lazy to use shift key properly...
 

Offline GillooTopic starter

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #2 on: November 17, 2008, 01:13:30 PM »
Quote

Chain wrote:
did you tried buster chip reseating?


I don't see Buster in my A2000 4.4 version, is it 5721 near expansion slots?

Agnus slot (square chip) has a tower for superfat agnus + 2Mo. This part is working when it's hot, because when this phenomenon occurs and I boot on a floppy, I have a workbench with 2Mo chip only.

I will try to reseat all chips and remove dust under the chips.
 

Offline rodney37

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2008, 12:46:21 AM »
Hi Gilloo,

It sounds to me like there are some problems when your A2000 warms up resulting from the raised temperature.

If you feel confident you could carefully try these things, but if unsure better ask someone professional who is very careful by nature with your vintage computer and knowledgeble about electronics:

It might be some chip or transistor overheating(like inside your power supply) or a loose connection somewhere which gets looser over higher temperature.(heat makes everything expand)

Make sure there is not a lot of dust inside your power supply preventing it from cooling properly, and feel with your hand behind the power supply's exit ventilator when it's turned on to make sure there is a reasonable wind coming out of the power supply. An A2000 original power supply has a reasonable airflow coming out, more wind than for example the average PC would blow out. If you see a lot of dust inside the power supply you could use an air compressor to blow it out (somewhere outside, not indoors). If you have to take out some dust make sure not to let too much air pressure go into the power supply, but instead only blow just enough air in to let the dust clear out, and not holding the air blowing tool's nozzle too close to the power supply. Too much pressure can damage a power supply's sensitive components which sometimes reveals itself a few months later. I always blow the air from about 10-15 cm distance into a power supply to make sure it's not too strong.

If that didn't help you could try to pull and replace each IC one by one from your mainboard's IC sockets. Make sure you are very carefully putting them back in their sockets, take your time for this job. By pulling and replacing the ICs which are socketed you can eliminate any problems from loose connections to the IC sockets. Again, especially only do this last procedure if you are confident with this kind of work, otherwise get some help from a professional. [edit: I didn't see that you already are planning this, good idea! :-) ]

If both of these previous points didn't improve anything I would suspect some bad solder joints. It's difficult to localise and you only can do it by resoldering the suspicious pins and testing afterwards. I would start with the bus buffer ICs and then move on with Buster (if any) and the Zorro slot connectors, finishing off with (if present) the small capacitors and resistors which are put in to stabilize the Zorro bus signals.

Use good judgement if you feel you can do something I mentioned yourself or if you might need help. If you do it yourself, just carefully take your time and make sure to use good lighting and the right tools for the job.

By the way, if it's the other way around (only at higher temperature your computer works well) then my suspicion would go to defective elco capacitors.

 

Offline GillooTopic starter

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #4 on: November 19, 2008, 09:24:48 AM »
Thanks for the response. I will try to clean the power supply, the connectors and under the chips.

I have noticed that:
After a good hour of functionning, my usb mouse stops, and if I see my stack activity (ANAIIS), subway and highway don't respond. The harddisk and extra memory still there (I click on the disk, I use avail command). Afterwards, if I reboot I have this phenomenon: no more autoconfig cards.
More later, It starts and function normally.

Is it the end of my A2000 ?

 

Offline Chain

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2008, 09:55:05 AM »
Quote

Gilloo wrote:
Quote

Chain wrote:
did you tried buster chip reseating?


I don't see Buster in my A2000 4.4 version, is it 5721 near expansion slots?



yep, its marked as CBM part 318075-02 or 5721(A)   
too lazy to use shift key properly...
 

Offline rodney37

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #6 on: November 20, 2008, 07:42:30 PM »
Quote
Is it the end of my A2000 ?

I would not say so until you checked all the possible causes because I think the A2000 is very durable. The chips are of good quality, they don't really get that hot to have a limited lifespan because of high operating temperature, and there is a good airflow in the case to keep things cool.

I believe it's either overheating of your power supply causing the voltages to become unstable or a loose connection somewhere. In many cases this can be remedied. When electronics become old they sometimes need some maintenance such as reseating ICs and reflowing(resoldering) some solder contacts. Also remember to check the airflow of your power supply, perhaps the fan needs to be replaced. If it does, don't use a standard PC fan but a fan which makes more RPMs, remember, the power supply fan is also responsible for the airflow inside your A2000 case.

Another thing to check would be your buster chip since it is now identified which one it is and that your A2000 indeed has one. Keep the A2000 on for half an hour with the cover on without the screws, then after half an hour turn it off, take off the cover and try to feel the buster chip with your finger to see if it gets really hot.

I'm curious to know your findings, is there a lot of dust inside the power supply, do you think the dust might cause some overheating when you look inside through the back?
 

Offline Damion

Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2008, 08:07:33 PM »
I agree, sounds like the chips need reseating. Give them a little press until they stop making the crunchy breakfast cereal sound. ;-)



 

Offline CLS2086

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2008, 09:34:05 PM »
Hi,
a bad join or a dying caps...
Keep the Faith !
VG 5000/A1000/500/500+/600/2000/CDTV/1200PPC-GREX/1200PPC -ATEO-BV/4060D/CD32/Aone/Peg 1/Peg2 G4/ various funny machines too  :-) http://www.mo5.com/collection/index.php?pseudo=CLS2086
I also repair drives of our old beloved Amiga
 

Offline GillooTopic starter

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #9 on: July 21, 2009, 03:50:58 PM »
So bad, now it is always: no autoconfig card at bootup, but the computer still boot with floppy disk and have 2Mo chip only.

Is there a tutorial to show how to evaluate/change capacitors and the schematics of a A2000 rev 4.4 (I found 4.3 and 6.2 schematics, but... it sounds not the same in 4.4)
A kind of howtorepair its beloved miga :)

Thanks.
 

Offline GillooTopic starter

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #10 on: February 18, 2010, 01:08:11 PM »
It was the PSU... So I use a ATX PSU on the table with a lot of cable. Not nice
As The PSU is used to rigidify the chassis, is it possible to replace an ATX into the wrecked PSU ?
The interruptor and fan are not at the good place.
 

Offline tone007

Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #11 on: February 18, 2010, 01:41:10 PM »
Quite possible, of course it depends on the size of the components.

I did the same on a 3000T, but the 3000T's power supply is larger than most AT/ATX power supplies. The only way to know for sure if it'll fit is to pop them both open and have a look.
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Offline save2600

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #12 on: February 18, 2010, 04:44:50 PM »
Quote from: Gilloo;543807
It was the PSU... So I use a ATX PSU on the table with a lot of cable. Not nice
As The PSU is used to rigidify the chassis, is it possible to replace an ATX into the wrecked PSU ?
The interruptor and fan are not at the good place.


Before screwing around trying to hack a PC power supply into tan A2000 case I'd (in this order):

a) rebuild or replace your A2000 power supply. Replacing caps is not that tough if you're handy with a soldering iron.

b) remove the PC power supply from its case and transfer the guts into the A2000's power supply case.

c) leave the PC power supply outside of the A2000's case and just run longer wires.
 

Offline JimS

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Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #13 on: February 18, 2010, 06:49:54 PM »
I had one of the 3rd party "Bigfoot" power supplies in one of my 2000s. It appeared to be an AT power supply board mounted in an old 2000 PS frame... with the addition of a small pcb to supply the 'tick' signal.
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Offline motrucker

Re: [A2000] no more autoconfig cards when hot
« Reply #14 on: February 18, 2010, 08:31:21 PM »
The "Bigfoot" replacement/upgrade PSUs are great IF you can find one. I believe they came in 250 and 300 watt varieties. These things are hard to find though.
Good luck getting it going 100%
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