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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Pastor on January 14, 2004, 03:49:25 PM

Title: A4000 Dead Amiga Problem
Post by: Pastor on January 14, 2004, 03:49:25 PM

Hi
 
My A4000 has the "dead machine peoblem", My A4000, powers up, led light comes on and gets brighter, keyboard light comes on, hard drive spins up but there is no floppy drive access and the screen stays black. I have checked that the processor is seated properly (both a cyberstorm 060 and the stock 030).

The A4000 is housed in a Mirage tower. I have tried the board in and out of the tower to no avail.

Any ideas or help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Paul
 

Title: Re: A4000 Dead Amiga Problem
Post by: patrik on January 14, 2004, 03:52:05 PM

@Pastor:

Reseat the connectors for the diskdrive, that might help.


/Patrik

Title: Re: A4000 Dead Amiga Problem
Post by: Dr.Bongo on January 14, 2004, 04:39:13 PM

You haven`t replaced the kickstart chips recently have you? Just a thought.

Title: Re: A4000 Dead Amiga Problem
Post by: logicalheart on January 14, 2004, 04:59:05 PM

It may be the processor board.  Narrow it down by unplugging the hard drive and floppy cables.  Also, a used 3640 or 3630 processor board is cheap and a handy thing to keep around for testing or failure scenarios.

Title: Re: A4000 Dead Amiga Problem
Post by: Doobrey on January 14, 2004, 05:10:42 PM

Quote

logicalheart wrote:
Narrow it down by unplugging the hard drive and floppy cables.

I`d double check the floppy cable, but leave it plugged in. My A4000 wouldn`t boot without a floppy connected. Maybe it was just a very long delay looking for the floppy, but after a minute there was still no sign of life.

Title: Re: A4000 Dead Amiga Problem
Post by: Pastor on January 15, 2004, 11:01:24 PM

I have also noticed that when I power the A4000 the keyboard light comes on and pauses and then switchess off, I presume that this is an error indicator? From checking on the net one flash is a ROM checksum error?

Is there any way to confirm if the ROM chips are bad?

Thanks

Paul

Title: Re: A4000 Dead Amiga Problem
Post by: patrik on January 15, 2004, 11:55:04 PM

@Pastor:

One flash with the keyboard led only, indicates that everything is fine with the keyboard.

If I were you I would remove as much of the expansions as possible. Try running it with only the 030-card, only chipmem, no Zorro-cards, no harddrive, just the floppy.

Just remember that it will take atleast 20 seconds if no harddrive is attached until it shows the bootscreen.

(edit): If the Kickstart ROMs are faulty it should flash a red screen when you start it.

Check this (http://mysite.freeserve.com/blobrana/database/startup.html) link for information about what the Amiga do when you power it up. NOTE that the ROM in the keyboard has a checksum error only if the caps-led stays lit for several seconds, not if it flashes briefly once, that is perfectly normal.

(edit2): The A4000 motherboard should be fastened firmly to the metal base of the tower with screws in every hole as it uses the screwholes, screws and the chassis to make its groundplane complete afaik.

Good luck!


/Patrik

Title: Re: A4000 Dead Amiga Problem
Post by: Pastor on January 16, 2004, 02:23:14 PM

Hi

Thanks for your reply, I realised after I had posted the message that the codes referred to the keybard and not the Kickstart ROMS!!!!

I put the board back in my Mirage tower and it worked with the cyberstorm. Now I just need to get the SCSI module working on the Cyberstorm. My A4000 stopped working after installing the card on the Cyberstorm. I think that it is a jumper issue. The pictures of the SCSI module always show three jumpers on the card, mine only came with one and if I am reading the ino on the net correctly for default use I only require one jumper to be closed on the board.

If anyone has any thoughts on the SCSI module I would be glad to hear. Thank you so much for your replies. I really appreciate it.


Paul