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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: nasty on December 29, 2007, 12:25:51 PM

Title: A1200 Problem
Post by: nasty on December 29, 2007, 12:25:51 PM
My Amiga has developed a small problem with booting!

Right where to start,  I switch the Amiga on (sig) and the HDD light comes on and stays on and i just get a black screen or the insert floppy screen. so I stripped the amiga bit by bit first removing the bppc and working back to a bare system. So even with nothing connected the HDD light stays on and i get the insert floppy screen, I've changed:

2 x Motherboard
1 x 3.5 HDD
2 x PSU
3 x Buffer interace
2 x IDE cable
1X 3.1 ROMS

Also tryed a 2.5 Hdd but the light still stays on and refuses to boot. what you guys think? Sometimes the system runs perfect and most of the time i just get this carry on so any thoughts would be great :-D

EDIT:
POST UPDATED!
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: wurzel on December 29, 2007, 11:52:50 PM
When I had (loads of!) troubles, I found I fixed it by:

pushing the ROM chips in, and
double & triple checking all the connections in the Amiga (disk drives, power connections and so on).
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: pault1 on December 30, 2007, 01:45:51 AM
Wow, quite a system there if that is the one giving problems.  As was mentioned on another thread check the PSU for proper voltages.  Press in chips that are socketed, not many on a 1200 IIRC.  Remove accelerator see if it just boots on the original CPU.  (check it on a television through video cable if your rig uses a computer monitor only.)

Quoted: Right where to start, I switch the Amiga on (sig) and the HDD light comes on and stays on and i just get a black screen or the insert floppy screen. so I stripped the amiga bit by bit first removing the bppc and working back to a bare system. So even with nothing connected the HDD light stays on and i get the insert floppy screen, I've changed:

2 x Motherboard
1 x 3.5 HDD
2 x PSU
3 x Buffer interace
2 x IDE cable
1X 3.1 ROMS

Specs:
A1200PT,BPPC 060@50 PPC@240 144meg ram, mediator c/w voodoo 3 2000, sb128, 60G HDD,OS3.9,LITEON CDR, nec 4x4 changer,External Scan Doubler,Cocolino adapter,PS2 keyboard adaptor.
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: actung_bab on December 30, 2007, 08:00:44 AM
umm not being smart here but u do relize u have to soft boot
most blizzrd ppc cards to get them to the hard drive to spin up and load.

also u need to be using a pc power supply or at least a 500 one.

have you cehcked the setting in your ppc startup screen

by holding escape when booting my ppc card refused to work with my orginal 1 D 1200 motherboard so l got second hand one.

id check your memory sims on your blizzard card are seated right and metal clips secure

hope u sort it soon.

 :-)
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: motorollin on December 30, 2007, 08:23:13 AM
The machine in nasty's sig is in a Power Tower, so if it is that machine that is causing the problem then it will be using an AT(X?) PSU. So I don't think wattage is the problem unless the PSU is faulty. Nasty, when you say you have stripped it right back, did you remove all IDE devices too? So it's just a bare motherboard?

--
moto
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: nasty on December 30, 2007, 12:43:17 PM
Quote
Nasty, when you say you have stripped it right back, did you remove all IDE devices too? So it's just a bare motherboard?


Yip all thats left connected was the power tower light connection. So i'm kind of thinking that it is the psu at fault!

my psu specs:
rated 250 watt
peak 300 watt

+12v 15a
+5v 25a
+3.3v 18a
-12v 0.8a
+5v/sb 2.0a

I'm thinking its a psu issue, as i noticed that the fan in the psu does'nt rotate. So I replaced the fan (works) and still nothing on the amiga side. The amiga will sometimes boot with the BPPC removed and im back to noticing that the green light on the powertower is alot brighter without the card inserted hence reason 2 for thinking of some psu related problem. Over the last few days the machine has booted with everything in it and it runs find for hours then when i turn it off then try and get the thing to boot again I get all this hassle:-?


   
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: pjhutch on December 30, 2007, 12:55:49 PM
What is the power rating of the PSU? A low powered one may not be able to cope with all that stuff connected to it. A more powerful PSU would work better.
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: glitch on December 30, 2007, 01:02:20 PM
You have tried to hold down the mouse buttons to see what boot devices are available?

I know this sounds odd, but this fix has worked for me in the past.  Have you tried cutting the pin 1 wire on the ide cable?  It's the red one usually.  This has worked with the on-board ide controller, I'm not sure about on any other ide interface.

Good luck!
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: nasty on December 30, 2007, 01:09:12 PM
updated my post above  :-)

havent tryed cutting pin 1 but its something else to give a shot if its doesnt seem psu related  :-D

(it's funny cause if this was my PC giving me this hassle it would be made into a micro cube with a big big hammer 8-) )
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: Homer on December 30, 2007, 01:24:40 PM
nasty:
Are you able to verify the psu output voltages with a meter, or slave in a spare psu ? I would also suspect the psu, as those things are full of feedback protection loops. The failure of the fan could well have triggered something else that hasn't reset. Without the psu diagrams you are flummoxed, so again, a spare psu would be an easy test option  :-D

Edit: Oh you have already tried 2 psu  :-?
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: nasty on December 30, 2007, 01:35:44 PM
Quote
Are you able to verify the psu output voltages with a meter


Not at this time as it took me 2 hrs to buy some screws from maplin yesterday, all these bloody holiday shoppers :-o

Quote
Oh you have already tried 2 psu


I dont think the other psu's where upto the job. I'll run out into the back garden and see if i can find where i throw the bigger one (it was higher watts but i think lower amps)
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: Homer on December 30, 2007, 01:46:25 PM
Maybe a trip to PC World for a new one, return it if it doesn't work  :lol:
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: nasty on December 30, 2007, 05:26:22 PM
Second PSU specs:
Q-tec psu 400wp,dual fan gold (st-400ATXP4).
rated 400 watt

+12v 16a
+5v 30a
+3.3v 20a
-12v 1.0a
-5v 1.0a

So im guessing this should of been plenty to run the system?
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: rkauer on December 30, 2007, 05:52:52 PM
 Amigas don't use 3.3V and -5V rails.

 Any PSU with more than 200W are enough to run it!

 If you want to be on the safest side, buy a 300W one. Heavy PSUs are prone to failure sooner than weaker ones.
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: nasty on December 30, 2007, 11:15:49 PM
Ok after messing about all day i managed to get the system to boot up and run pretty good. But now i have a new problem the amiga refuses to boot from floppy disks in df0 or df1. all i get is the amigados window :madashell:  so does anyone have an idea what could be causing this?
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: Homer on December 30, 2007, 11:18:33 PM
You certainly live in interesting times  :lol:
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: nasty on December 30, 2007, 11:22:04 PM
Quote
You certainly live in interesting times


indeed i do :-P, but you gotta love your amiga :-D  

Quote
Ok after messing about all day i managed to get the system to boot up and run pretty good. But now i have a new problem the amiga refuses to boot from floppy disks in df0 or df1. all i get is the amigados window  so does anyone have an idea what could be causing this?


i forgot to add that df1 will read the floppy from workbench [hdd] but not booting
Title: Re: A1200 Problem
Post by: rkauer on December 31, 2007, 01:15:51 AM
 Verify the floppy cable!