3.1.4 blank screen

[CaptainPlanet]

Hello, so this is my first post on here!
I recently sent my A1200 to get recapped, it had been in my parent's loft for a few years, got it out a couple of years ago, generally worked , but random crashes every now and again, had to put it away. Now I've got more space I've got it out again, sent it off to be recapped and ordered 3.1.4. As soon as I got it back I put the new 3.1.4 roms in (so didn't check it worked after recap on 3.1 roms). Really tough to get the roms out, bottom one was tough but came out, so installed the new ones...
Blank screen, no light flash from floppy or hd, just green power light on.
What do people reckon, roms are faulty? roms not in properly? or something else?

P.S. On the roms, the bottom one was hard to remove, replaced with the new ones, then tried to take them out, got the top one out but bottom one is not wanting to budge, I'm just not confident enough to use force to pull it out without damagingA anything!

I just don't want my beloved A1200 to be bricked.

[TribbleSmasher]

Welcome 

Well, the issue is most likely with the ROMs or the sockets of.

several possibilities:
the ROMs are faulty or of wrong type,
swapped A/B (upper/lower),
wrong by 180 degrees,
wrong position (see picture),
bad contacts,
bent or broken off pins,
sockets broken or dirty contacts,
damaged traces below sockets from your "removal tool",
...

[duga]

You only try to remove the (E)PROMs and not the sockets from the motherboard, right?

[CaptainPlanet]

Sorry for the late reply, yeah it's just the new 3.1.4 roms I've put in. I'm trying to remove them and put them in again in case one of the pins is not in correctly but the bottom one just refuses to budge and I really don't want to put anymore force into it than I am.
The looked to be correctly placed, spare socket on the left, hi and low correct, right way up.

Any tips on getting it out safely without using force? I might just purchase another set as they weren't too expensive in case that is the problem.

[duga]

Sorry for the late reply, yeah it's just the new 3.1.4 roms I've put in. I'm trying to remove them and put them in again in case one of the pins is not in correctly but the bottom one just refuses to budge and I really don't want to put anymore force into it than I am.
The looked to be correctly placed, spare socket on the left, hi and low correct, right way up.

Any tips on getting it out safely without using force? I might just purchase another set as they weren't too expensive in case that is the problem.

And you put your removal tool between the EPROMs and the socket, not between the socket and the motherboard, right?

[CaptainPlanet]

Hi, not quite sure I know what you mean, I just kind of hooked it under the ends of the roms, the tool is the same as the one I have used:   

I'm wondering if one of the pins could have not gone in correctly and it's stuck (I did have to bend the pins inwards a little as they were sticking too far outward. This or the bottom slot is just a lot tighter as when I took the 3.1 roms out the bottom one was not easy to get out. I'm going to give it another go and I'll let you know.

[duga]

This tool is for PLCC chips, not for such chips as DIL.

[AndyFC]

@CaptainPlanet (I remember enjoying the first level of that game on my A500+ but not the later ones).

It'll be helpful to establish the answers to some of the earlier questions. When you took your ROMs out, did the board look like this, with the two sockets in place? https://www.retropassion.co.uk/portfolio/amiga-1200-rom-socket-replacment-2/ . There is concern you might have removed the sockets too.

If we can establish that your ROM sockets are in place (I suspect they are because I don't know why the ROMs would be so hard to remove) try to remove the new ROMs. One piece of advice I remember from Amiga magazines is to use a wide and sharp flat-head screwdriver to remove ROMs from sockets. Gently slide the head in between the ROM and socket one end and twist to prize it up slightly. Stop, do the same at the other end, go back to the first end and keep alternating until it's free. This will help stop the legs breaking.

Would it be possible to post a photo of your ROMs in-situ on the board?

Occasionally my A1200 tower fails to start and the symptoms are similar to yours - the cause is always that I've knocked the Amiga 5-pin square power adapter slightly and it's not making good contact.

[RetroPassion]

HI!

Remove the 3.1.4 roms and put in the 3.1 roms to see if the 1200 board is ok. No need to purchase another 3.1.4 set, if you get stuck send us the board we can test and re-flash the roms if needed :-)

Thanks!!

[CaptainPlanet]

Hi guys, really sorry for the slow response on this, I do appreciate your help!

I had ordered some new roms so managed to get the previous ones out very slowly and gradually, one of the pins was damaged but I suspect that happened when removing (they were physically fine when I got them). I did watch some videos on how to remove them and the top (LOW) one came out OK but was just the bottom one that struggled. Anyway I got the new ones in with no bother, loaded up and still the same, green power light is on but nothing else happens, nothing when i put a disk in either. I've taken the flash hard drive out as well with no difference.

@AndyFC, yep I took out the roms with the two sockets in place on the board as per your picture. Some pictures of the board and the roms in below. From looking at the top one it looks like it isn't in as far as the other but I don't want to push down hard on it as the board below flexes a bit, could it be as simple as it not being in properly?
They are in the correct sockets with the spare on the left (they may look out of line in the picture but that is due to the stickers on them not lining up!)

@RetroPassion I might take you up on that if we can't shed any light in it here :-)













Thanks

[CaptainPlanet]

Sorry not sure why the images won't post, this is the them:

https://ibb.co/mqKnLBP
https://ibb.co/ZmzzNJD
https://ibb.co/SX0vZTs
https://ibb.co/NLF7NzJ
https://ibb.co/c8WL12y

[TribbleSmasher]

Try swap upper and lower ROM, the labels might be wrong.

[CaptainPlanet]

OK so this is rather odd... but encouraging!

After writing my previous post I had left it turned on, not exactly sure how long it was before I went back but I saw a nice 3.1.4. Kickstart screen! I know A1200s can be slow booting and I remember this from when I used it in the 90s but this was something different, would have been at least 10 minutes. So I had taken the flash hard drive out (to see if that was causing a problem) so I promptly turned it off, plugged the drive back in and tried again.
It has been sitting there blank for at least 20 minutes now. I've just tried A keys and CTRL and the caps lock button blinks a few times so something is happening.

@AndyFC  mentioned a similar problem he fixes by moving the power connect around, I've tried this but no luck, however I'm wondering if it is something to do with this? I'm using a PowerBox by Wizard Developments so it's circa 1996 or something, this thing:  https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_august19/scuzzblogdaugust19_0501.htm   
It's powerful enough (I haven't got my 030 board in), ran fine when I tried it out a couple of months ago before getting recapped, so could be failing? I did notice on the motherboard the power socket does move a little so could be getting pushed back and the connectors not connecting but I have given it a decent push and it does fell secure.

I'm going to leave it for 20 minutes or so see if another miracle happens and brings back the kickstart screen and if nothing come back to it tomorrow.

Some progress made at least!

[TribbleSmasher]

This is odd. The Kickstart screen should appear within 40 seconds with no drives attached, maybe even within 10 seconds.

There is something strange going on but at least we can rule out most of the ROM related problems. Wipe them off your list.

And don't keep the machine on for that long without knowing what is possibly burning its ways through the mainboard, just to be sure.

Did we talk about your power supply already? Can't remember.

[CaptainPlanet]

@TribbleSmasher  yeah I was thinking it was the roms but looks like that is off the list! I'll try it again tomorrow without the hard drive attached.
One other thing there is nothing from the floppy drive (I should have tried putting one in when Kickstart showed), it is an Escom 1200 and I know they have issues. could the floppy drive be faulty causing an issue?