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Author Topic: A4000D Flashing Yellow  (Read 479 times)

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Offline scuzzb494Topic starter

A4000D Flashing Yellow
« on: November 09, 2015, 07:53:26 PM »
Had a general failure of a 4000D. The machine is an 040 fitted with two hard drives and Picasso IV. At first I thought it was a drive issue but the machine refuses to boot. I removed the Picasso and reseated the 040 card plus what ever else I could seat. The board looks clean and was refurbished when bought a few years ago. There is no battery or damage evident.

Prior to reseating the card I was convinced it wasn't getting warm. Now though I am getting a yellow flashing screen and the board is warming up. I know the standard definition for yellow is..

68000 detected error before software trapped it (software or hardware error)

... but in truth it is pretty meaningless to me. Any ideas what could be causing the problem. I'm a bit stumped at the moment. The hard drives when connected appear to spin up. The floppy on the other hand is not kicking in or clicking.

Thanks in advance.

Offline amigean

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Re: A4000D Flashing Yellow
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2015, 09:35:35 PM »
I had a similar issue on a fully refurbished A4000. In my case it turned out it was one of the memory sticks had was duff. I suggest removing them all, dusting it with compressed air (there are other suggestions online for improving contact but I forget) and reseating them one by one, until you isolate the faulty one.

I assume you have tried removing and/or reseating any other expansions (including the PIV). Try also another processor card if you have one handy. Don't loose your cool, chances are if you have no visible battery/capacitor damage then it's something straightforward to resolve.
 

Offline mechy

Re: A4000D Flashing Yellow
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2015, 10:01:54 PM »
Quote from: scuzzb494;798974
Had a general failure of a 4000D. The machine is an 040 fitted with two hard drives and Picasso IV. At first I thought it was a drive issue but the machine refuses to boot. I removed the Picasso and reseated the 040 card plus what ever else I could seat. The board looks clean and was refurbished when bought a few years ago. There is no battery or damage evident.

Prior to reseating the card I was convinced it wasn't getting warm. Now though I am getting a yellow flashing screen and the board is warming up. I know the standard definition for yellow is..

68000 detected error before software trapped it (software or hardware error)

... but in truth it is pretty meaningless to me. Any ideas what could be causing the problem. I'm a bit stumped at the moment. The hard drives when connected appear to spin up. The floppy on the other hand is not kicking in or clicking.

Thanks in advance.


Try to toggle the keyboard capslock, if it quits responding after 6 or so toggles, its likely the cpu card is not making good contact. you may need to go in with a needle and carefully go behind each contact and spring it out ever so slightly.
If its a A3640 and caps have leaked, it could of eaten a trace near/under the caps which can give the same result.
 

Offline scuzzb494Topic starter

Re: A4000D Flashing Yellow
« Reply #3 on: November 10, 2015, 08:26:51 PM »
Quote from: mechy;798985
Try to toggle the keyboard capslock, if it quits responding after 6 or so toggles, its likely the cpu card is not making good contact. you may need to go in with a needle and carefully go behind each contact and spring it out ever so slightly.
If its a A3640 and caps have leaked, it could of eaten a trace near/under the caps which can give the same result.


Thats my worry to be honest. Was working without fault previously. I got the life out of what was a black screen to yellow flashing after reseating the board. The board also started to get warm, where previously it was stony cold. I have placed the project on hold as I try to find another board which I have. I will have another go at cleaning the connector. It may also be the memory SIMMS which I will strip back to basic and see if that jumps the machine into life.

More things to do. All good fun.

Offline Azryl

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Re: A4000D Flashing Yellow
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2015, 01:53:18 AM »
Try reseating the clock crystal. This fault showed up on my A3000 a few years ago. Working fine then sudden yellow screen.

Az
Completely useless? I can always be used as a bad example  :lol:
 

Offline Motormouth

Re: A4000D Flashing Yellow
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2015, 04:20:23 AM »
Just an addition to what amigean has already said

You might want to check to see if you have battery damage near the simm slots,  Yellow screen is sometimes caused by memory.
« Last Edit: November 11, 2015, 04:53:30 AM by Motormouth »