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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: N3vpd on December 10, 2009, 04:19:43 PM

Title: Amiga 500 Won't boot from hard drive
Post by: N3vpd on December 10, 2009, 04:19:43 PM

Good day All, Six months ago my 500 was running normally. We moved and now it won't boot from the external hard drive (mtec)  Does anyone have any ideas. I have two hard drives and tried both , so its not the hard drive. I have not yet checked the battery on the rom board yet but please correct me if im wrong, it should still boot without the board in there. It does boot correctly from the floppy Drive. Thanks Much   Any Ideas??

Title: Re: Amiga 500 Won't boot from hard drive
Post by: sim085 on December 10, 2009, 04:30:12 PM

Does the hard disk start to spin when you turn everything on? If not then maybe it is a power supply problem.

Title: Re: Amiga 500 Won't boot from hard drive
Post by: ognix on December 10, 2009, 04:33:29 PM

Well, try to describe the situation better: if you disconnect the Mtec hard drive controller, does the Amiga come up with the boot screen? (violet is OS2.x/3.x or white with disk in hand in 1.x)

By placing the controller by side, what's happening?
Not booting and getting the startup screen?

You changed the hard drive: with this you mean the hard disk itself, or the whole controller + hard disk?

Is your Amiga 500 a normal or Plus model (with battery directly on the motherboard).

...ahhh, sorry: I noticed you said your Amiga boots from floppy drive correctly.

Anyway, let us know!
Ciao,
  Luca "OgniX"   \8^)

Title: Re: Amiga 500 Won't boot from hard drive
Post by: N3vpd on December 10, 2009, 04:39:50 PM

Thanks for the reply,  I am under the impression that the standard 500 does not have a battery on the motherboard, just on the expantion board and yes it boots and runs a floppy normally. I have swapped out the ps and the hardrives.  Thanks

Ps  I have not switched out the controller

Title: Re: Amiga 500 Won't boot from hard drive
Post by: ognix on December 10, 2009, 04:58:00 PM

Well, if you swapped two hard disks in the controller and you got the same behaviour, maybe the fault is in the Mtec controller.

I had a similar problem with my A500+ and an Oktagon 508 SCSI controller: after some months of unusing, I starup the system again, and I got a bad red screen, reporting serious problems.
Without controller everything was fine; disconnecting the hard disk gave me same results.
But by pushing the controller/moving it a bit, the behaviour changed (always no boot, but no red screen).
I investigated and I discovered that the problem was related to some oxidation on pins of some ICs inside the controller (that are socketed); all of this despite I kept my Amiga and controller in a good environment (no moisture, strong humidity, dust, etc).

Hope you can solve!
Ciao,
  Luca "OgniX"   \8^)

Title: Re: Amiga 500 Won't boot from hard drive
Post by: N3vpd on December 10, 2009, 05:01:13 PM

Thats what Im thinking. I use this maching For sstv and Enjoy it Much. There is not much in the controller though? I will let you know. Do you Play with emulation and can you emulat hardware as well Take care my friends