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Offline techhuskyTopic starter

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SCSI controller crashes A2000
« on: October 26, 2025, 03:22:31 AM »
I have an A2000 with GVP 68030 Combo board, 2mb chip & SCSI2SD storage card that started acting up a few weeks ago.  In short, when the system boots the HDD light stays mostly lit, slightly flashing.  It takes a very long time, but Workbench does eventually come up and is somewhat usable.  The HDD LED continues to stay lit until the mouse pointer locks up and then the system crashes.

I have tried a heap of stuff, with no luck.

* Replaced the SCSI cable
* Tried a new SD Card
* Cleaned the board connector and slot
* Swapped the socketed chips, one-by-one from a spare, non-working motherboard
* Purchased an A2091 card with ZuluSCSI drive.  (Yes, I went a little overboard!) Disabled the SCSI controller on the GVP board.  Same behavior using the A2091.
* Removed the GVP card entirely.  Same behavior.
* The battery was just starting to corrode.  I pulled it off the board and there is no visible sign of damage. (I have a button battery replacement on order)

The machine boots and runs fine from floppies.  Some things I've read indicate that it could be capacitors or the power supply.  I don't see any leaking or bulged capacitors.

Has anyone seen anything like this?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

-Jeremy
 

Offline techhuskyTopic starter

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Re: SCSI controller crashes A2000
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2025, 12:45:30 AM »
Thanks for the replies.  The caps are original to the system.  The battery was only slightly corroded.  The corrosion did not reach the board, but I cleaned up the surface just to be safe.  I don't have an oscilloscope, but I tested the output on the power supply under load (loading jpeg's from floppy) with a voltmeter.  +12.03V and +5.04V on the lines so unless there is noise, I think it is OK.

I've tried different media on both SCSI SD card devices.  One SD card has a fresh OS 3.x install.  Unfortunately, I do not have another Amiga to test.  I tried different termination jumpers/switches and that didn't change behavior.

I'll start with bootable test floppies.  Unfortunately, I can't have a SCSI controller up while I test.  Any SCSI access sends it into a tizzy.  If that doesn't turn up any issues, I try recapping since it would be a good idea to replace them anyway.  I've had this machine since 1991, purchased from a family member who bought it new in 1989.  It's been amazingly trouble-free up until now.