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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: TjLaZer on May 31, 2004, 06:16:50 PM

Title: Dead A600
Post by: TjLaZer on May 31, 2004, 06:16:50 PM
I have a A600 here that is not working.  Upon power up, the caps light and HD stay lit.  I reseated the ROM and disconnected the A601 card and HD, but nothing helps.  Any ideas?  Bet these buggers are hard to repair.
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: Matt_H on May 31, 2004, 06:19:39 PM
Getting any crazy colors on the video output?
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: TjLaZer on May 31, 2004, 06:23:13 PM
Mostly black screen the whole time.  But once it came up red.
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: Jamie_S on May 31, 2004, 09:03:50 PM
Sorry to TjLaZer, for jumping in here ;-), only I've got a dead 600 too, and I do get crazy colours... any ideas ? Sometimes blue, sometimes brown... othertimes just fast scrolling brown fuzz :-?

Cheers :-)
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: Markus_Bieler on May 31, 2004, 09:04:26 PM
Red screen = broken kickrom or wrong way installed.

Pull out the kickrom and push it in again.

Markus
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: x56h34 on May 31, 2004, 09:13:42 PM
Well, the red screen problem at boot happened to my A2000 just a few days ago (http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9124), or so, and I've solved it be replacing the Denise chip. The red colour code indicated a rom checksum error, but in my case it wasn't the rom itself that caused it. I realized this only after replacing custom chips, one by one, and when I got to Denise, my red screen at boot problem dissapeared. ;-)

Too bad that A600 has surface mounted chips. :-(
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: Matt_H on May 31, 2004, 10:08:12 PM
I wonder how much it would cost a specialist to de-solder and socket the chips on the A600?

@ TjLaZer

Is the Kickstart chip known to be working (IE, can you test it in another Amiga)? And is it properly connected to the socket? I think the spare pins should be to the left of the chip.

What revision motherboard is it?
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: x56h34 on May 31, 2004, 10:12:53 PM
Quote

Matt_H wrote:
I wonder how much it would cost a specialist to de-solder and socket the chips on the A600?

Probably you could get like 5 spare motherbaords for the price of that job. :-)
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: gizz72 on June 01, 2004, 12:55:25 AM
Hi everyone,
  About an A600 ROM test, If you have a spare A500, it's best to test your A600 ROM on the A500 or vice versa. Hope that helps.

Good day to all Amigans! :-D
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: HopperJF on June 01, 2004, 01:00:41 AM
/doommaster ON

A600s are rubbish! Get an A2000, they are much better built machines, military spec too, made out of proper metal. any Amiga which uses surface mount chips should be avoided. seriously, get an A2000. you will never look back

/doommaster OFF

seriously though i had this same problem once with my A600, and it never really got resolved, so it would be interesting to see how this pans out..
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: TjLaZer on June 01, 2004, 01:05:03 AM
I have a spare Kick 1.2 chip!  I will try to install this in my A600 and report back! ;)
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: HopperJF on June 01, 2004, 01:05:47 AM
1.2? ouch!!  :lol:
but good luck, i will look forward to hearing how you get on
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: gizz72 on June 01, 2004, 01:09:52 AM
Quote
by HopperJF on 2004/6/1 9:05:47
1.2? ouch!!
but good luck, i will look forward to hearing how you get on


Hmm interesting.  :-) good luck. :-D

Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: TjLaZer on June 01, 2004, 05:03:27 AM
OK my ROM is sitting at the right of the socket.  So the chip has 2 less pins.  Is that correct?  ie if looking at the ROM the notch is on the left and there are two empty sockets on this side, and the rom is sitting to the right of the socket lined up.  So the ROM is smaller than the socket.  I am looking up pics of 600 MBs to see how other ROMs are situated.
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: gizz72 on June 01, 2004, 05:33:12 AM
Hello again,

 You may find an etch on the Mobo which indicates pin 1, usually near the ROM socket printed '1'. On the chip, either a small inner curve where pin 1 is left from it. or a small dot(creater like) which is just besides pin 1.

Anyway, If you need to upgrade it further, THIS (http://www.amiga600.de/index.htm) web site would suits it nicely. Read carefully. Mistakes are fatal(to a600)!
Hope this helps.

Good day to all Amigans! :-D
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: TjLaZer on June 01, 2004, 06:41:04 AM
OK I got the ROM in the right way.  Swapped in my 1.2 and still no powerup, just black screen and power/HD leds on.  I wonder if I can get a new MB for a good price?  This 600 looks brand new...
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: Stedy on June 01, 2004, 09:43:52 PM
Hello,

Just a quick question, have you unplugged the floppy and if fitted, the hard drive and tried again?

Ian
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: TjLaZer on June 02, 2004, 04:06:53 AM
Yes I tried that too. :(
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: gizz72 on June 02, 2004, 05:52:28 AM
Hello,
  It seems like you're in a dead end. But, just to be sure, try swapping PSU's. If that STILL did not work, your mobo really needs to be checked. Good luck. :-)

Good day Tj.
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: TjLaZer on June 02, 2004, 07:22:45 AM
Yes I tried another PS and still no go. Yes this poor little A600 is dead. Tis a shame as the little thing is in such fine shape.  Looks brand new!  I will look for a NEW motherboard for it I think to bring it back to life...
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: spirantho on June 02, 2004, 09:20:35 AM
Ah, yes, that sounds like my 'dead' A600.

I'd given it up for dead, poor little thing. It would power up the screen (which would stay black), the disk drive would give one very small gronk as power was applied to it, the Caps Lock light would come on, and it would sit there.

And sit there....

And sit there....

I took out all the expansions, HD, FDD, RAM etc.

It sat there.

Nothing on the mobo to be fixed, I gave up and put it all back together.

A few weeks later, I felt like trying it again, as sometimes these things sort themselves out, so I fired it up. No change. It sat there.  So I left it there to sort itself out. It just sat there.

About 5 hours later I rememebered I'd left my A600 doing absolutely nothing on its own so I went to turn it off... but wait! There was gronking! The Caps Lock light had gone off!  Quickly connecting to the TV, there it was - Kickstart 2.05 ready to boot! Joy! Quick, get the HDD and RAM expansion back!  Everything back in.. and it worked! It booted straight into WorkBench, 2MB RAM and all.

The next time I went to use it, it just sat there.  And sat there.. until an hour later, it fired up! From then on it was fine and normal...  at least until the next time I went to use it....

To this day it takes an absolute age to fire up the first time each session, though I think the time is getting smaller as I swear it was up and running just 15 minutes after applying power last time!

So that's my experience. Maybe you'll find something useful in there, maybe not, but the moral of the story is that patience can be rewarded with A600s, I guess.... :)
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: Stedy on June 02, 2004, 09:38:05 PM
Hiya,

A long shot here based on a recent repair.

Have you examined the electrolytic capacitors on the PCB for any leaking black goo?

In this picture (http://www.amiga-hardware.com/a600mb2b_big.jpg) look in the top right corner. I recently had to replace the silver electrolytic capacitors as they were burning out.

I'm assuming you know what an electrolytic capacitor looks like?
Title: Re: Dead A600
Post by: fred9000uk on June 16, 2004, 10:38:22 PM
I have fully working A600 base unit not required if you want it send address and sort out P&P you can have it, no software,power supply etc: tested with A1200 power supply boots straight up to insert workbenck screen ,let me know if interested Fred