A3000 vs a4000 reliability

[dandelion]

Hi all,

I owned an a4000 with an 040 board (fixed to 3.2 standard). I found the reliability of this machine rather poor, to the point where I couldn't really trust it for everyday use. For example, it would randomly crash, sometimes not want to boot, and saw Software Failures far too often (far more than my old a1200). I also found the hardware just felt very cheap (worse than the 1200 strangely). Have other people found this with their 4000 machines or was it peculiar to my (ex) dodgy machine?

Also, how does the a3000 compare? Does it have a better reputation for reliability and quality of the hardware?

Thanks,

Dandelion

[Wayne]

maybe your cpu card is damaged or you have defective memory modules ....replace them...or your 040 is hot...replace fan
check all of this

on the other hand the A3000 was a real expensive computer...around 3000u$ and was designed for profesional use on that times
The A4000 was cheaper and not for profesional use so think that the quality of the A4000 is worst

bye, Laser

[Jose]

Have you considered that it could also be a software problem ? I've found my A4000 rather trusty, even when turned on for huge amounts of time (almost weeks..). It could also be the 3640 (using a WarpEngine here).

[x56h34]

From my experience with an A3000 system, upgraded to all the latest custom chips (rev 9.03 motherboard, dmac 4, ramsey 7, WD-SCSI-08, Buster 11, KS3.1) and an A3640 card in it:

Rock solid performance when using the stock SCSI controller.
SCSI troubles if using the stock SCSI controller for some devices and let's say another SCSI controller such as CSMKIII SCSI for other SCSI devices (i.e. running two SCSI chains), if I take out the A3640 card and use the CSMKIII instead.
Of course, proper libraries are installed for every combination mentioned above and the INT2 fix has been installed on the A3000 mobo.
In other words, A3000 SCSI has never played along nicely for me if I introduce another SCSI chain to the unit, If I only used a single SCSI chain...I've never had a problem, even if the chain were from CSMKIII, but two at the same time gave unreleable operation.

I've never had any grief or complaints about the A4000 operation though. :-D

[orange]

I had problems with PSU connector on mboard, it was bad contact. The A4000 was very unreliable because of it. Old age makes it lose grip.
Also check the CHIP RAM.

[Zac67]

- check RAM
- check CPU card connector
- check electrolytic capacitors for damage/leakage
- especially check/replace the reversed capacitors on nearly all A3640

[dandelion]

I think part of the problem might have been its Buster 9. Oh, and it was surface mounted .

I've sold it now and am left with my caseless a1200. Money trouble has meant i've sold my RAM expansion and four way IDE but when things get a bit more settled i'll stick a Blizzard 030 in it and maybe get SCSI through the blizzard or just use the IDE interface. I've always strongly desired the big box machines, my childhood spent drooling over them (i had a picture of the A4000 on my wall. Framed). Just a little put off after my first a4000 experience. I know the a3000 was a much less...rushed machine, and I was wondering if this had a bearing in terms of reliability and quality. At least the ICs aren't surface mounted!

[EzdineG]

Notice how the 3000's seem to weigh about twice as much as the 4000's?

They sure do feel alot sturdier.

[Amiga4k]

The motherboard SCSI controller chip was the problem with the Buss. Most production machines had WD controller chips with either -04 or Proto stamped on them. They were flawed, and adding a drive on the external SCSI port could cause the SCSI Buss to lock-up. The only cure was the WD -08 chip, or a separate SCSI controller card for the A3000.
I was very successful with 2 hard drives attached to the internal SCSI port, and with a GVP HC8+ SCSI controller controlling four separate SCSI devices.

[Jose]

" I think part of the problem might have been its Buster 9. Oh, and it was surface mounted ."

So ? If you looked around here you'd probably find people with the right skills and equipment to replace it for a teener. I've recently sent my A4000 mobo to Castellen and besides changing a bunch of leaking capacitors he replaced the surface mounted Buster9 with a Buster11. Excellent job.