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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: frl9lk on November 03, 2009, 08:26:08 PM
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I have a 4000 that was working fine for years. It began to have problems and they've only gotten worse. I'm down to this. All boards removed, brand new (from AmigaKit) memory. Yesterday I could get to the point that it would ask for the install disk and read it properly. However, attaching an HD kept the FD from working. Black screen, nothing more. Today the FD won't even light. PS? Motherboard?
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It sounds like your A4000 has given up the ghost, most likely due to faulty capacitors on the motherboard. These are easily repaired. However, you haven't mentioned the battery condition. This would be the other component that would kill your computer. Also, how is the power supply? Do you have a spare you could test with?
I had my A4000 refurbed by Amiga France a few years ago, my problems weren't quite as severe as yours. Given the age of our computers they do need to have a bit of care to keep going.
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Tear it down to the bare minimum. No cards, no HD, just the CPU Card, some Chipram and maybe some fast. Make sure the kickstart ROMs are in place, firmly press down. Do you get a kickstart screen? If you do, then try booting off a floppy.. then start adding back hardware, HD, some cards, etc if you are successful.
It could be a faulty PS like you suggested.
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If you have a Cyberstorm 060 card, a common fault is a BGA solder joint losing connection. See if squeezing the 060 into the accelerator with your finger and thumb while powering up gives you significantly more reliable boot-ups. If it does, this is the problem. The bad news is that i don't think it can be fixed. My old CS MkIII had this problem.
If you don't have a Cyberstorm 060, ignore this :)
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It CAN be fixed, but it will cost.. mine was repaired for $230USD... Amigacentre in France.. but yeah.. Ignore it if you dont have it.. Do you have a way of testing the output on the power supply?
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Are all A4000's suspectable to capacitor failiure ? And is there a way to prevent these problems ? ... I had removed the battery on mine (It was perfect , no leaks) .
My A4000 works perfectly and i will do anything to prevent damages because i'm not preperared to spend 100s of euro to fix it if it breaks .
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yes, all Amigas with SMD capacitors (actually all hardware) is suspect to caps damage in time. It will happen, no matter if you use it or not, so have your caps replaced before it's too late. it's not expensive and you don't need to visit a amiga specific repair center. Any electronic repair shop should be able to replace caps for a small price (much less than 100 euro for certain). But make sure to mention them it is very valuable hardware, cause some of them think amiga is just junk so behave carelessly (and lift pads as a result). make them be careful.
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You can also replace caps yourself, if you are brave enough. There arequite few guides to be found on the web for this.
such as http://joj.home.texas.net/amiga/amiga06.html
Anthony Hoffman's website has got lots of info on how replace caps and repair the most common hardware faults including a leaky battery.
http://amiga.serveftp.net/
Weed