Dead CyberStorm MKII....... :(

[Ilwrath]

Well, I guess it had to happen eventually.  My A4000 had been acting a little flakey lately.  I don't use it very much anymore, but the last few times I powered it up, it would take a little longer than normal, and often would guru once (8004-000B) before starting properly.  I just attributed it to the age of the machine, and the possiblity that things weren't powering up in the proper order.  Well, a few weeks ago, I was using it and both my SCSI drives went unvalidated, and a few minutes later the machine locked hard.  I gave it a three-key reset, and it just went to the first black screen, and nothing more.  No CyberStorm flashing colors, no further self-test colors, nothing.

Searching on what could possibly cause the early startup gurus, I found a thread on here about CyberStorm RAM errors causing the 8004-000B guru on startup.  Hoping that was the case, I pulled the card, cleaned all the contacts, and installed some different (tested good) RAM on it.  No go.  Same problems.  Machine powers up and generates the first black screen, and no more.  (No CyberStorm flashing colors.)

So came the moment I was dreading.  I pulled the Cyberstorm MKII again, and installed my old test 68030 card.  The machine booted cleanly up to the Kickstart 3.1 screen.  For completeness sake, I tried the CyberStorm 060 card on my backup A4000.  Same symptoms as on my primary.  Bummer.

The Cyberstorm, itself, looks ok to visual inspection (there is nothing obviously wrong with it).  

So enough with the backstory... I have some questions.

1a) I know the Cyberstorm cards used a Flash ROM for firmware updates...  Might the Flash ROM data have degraded of old age?  (Could also explain the gurus on startup...)

1b) Is there any way to reflash it when the card isn't working?  (The chip is not socketed...)  

2) Does anyone have any better ideas what might be wrong with it?

3) Anyone know of any reputable places to get it serviced?  I hear Amiga Center France are good with MK3's, do they also do MK2?  Any places on my side of the pond, though?

4) Anyone want to give me a CyberStorm?  ;-)

[Ilwrath]

if you have CybSCSI module attached, did you try without it?

Yeah, my CyberStorm normally runs the CyberSCSI module (which is what the two SCSI HDs that went unvalidated were attached to).  I have tested both with and without the CyberSCSI module, and really no change.  (Without the CyberSCSI, the system did boot to a guru once, but then locked hard before getting anywhere on the reset.)  

Another interesting thing is that the computer still responds to CTRL-Amiga-Amiga.  Even when stuck on the black screen, it'll flash the Caps Lock once and quickly dim/re-brighten the power LED.  Then, instead of displaying the CyberStorm color flash and continuing the self test, it just sits on the black screen.

Also I did wait out the 30 seconds to clear past there being no IDE HD present, as well.  The system boots normally (with the delay) on the 68030 board, but still nothing on the CyberStorm.  :-(

[Ilwrath]

@x-

Try booting with different SIMMs installed on the Cyberstorm, or if you don't have any, remove a pair and see if by any chance one (or more) of the SIMM modules have died.

Hmm... I think I mentioned doing just that in the original post...  With tested good RAM socketted on it, no change (the RAM that was originally on it also tested good later).  I don't think the board will initialize with no RAM, so I didn't try that configuration.

@TJ-

The Amiga 4000 series seems to be very unstable with so may problems.

Of course, as I said in the original post, it's the CyberStorm that's dead and not the A4000, though.  The A4000 still works fine, albeit now with only a 68030 and no SCSI.

Besides, we all know the ultimate durable Amiga is the [military spec|german engineered] A2000.  :roll:

@all-

I greatly appreciate all the condolences and help with question #2.... Any thoughts on #1, #3, or preferably, #4?  I'm not above begging.   :lol:

[Ilwrath]

Well, thanks for all the suggestions, guys.  

I had a chance to pull out the A4000 and work on it a bit more tonight.  Pretty much the only thing off the list I hadn't tried was reseated the 060.  So I did that...  Still no go.  Mostly the same problem.  No CyberStorm colorflash screen.  Just powers up to an Amiga-generated black screen.  Three key salute will reset and flash capslock but no further.  Sometimes the machine will try to restart on it's own, and sometimes the power light will cycle bright/dim a few times like a guru on cold power up.  I can usually cycle capslock for a few seconds before it locks up.

The problem is certainly on the 060 card somewhere, as the machine behaves well with the 030 card.  As this is the only thing I don't have a spare of, I guess it'll be a while before I have my 4000 in top working order again.  :-(  I put it all back together, and I think it'll be off to the closet with it for the time being.

[Ilwrath]

is your A4K in its original case/PSU?

Case Yep / PSU nope.  It isn't very much of an upgrade from the stock PSU, though.  I'd be interested in going larger, but I don't think that's the problem, as I tried two different PSUs (heck, two entire different A4000s!) with the same result.

If you have a bigger PSU, buy some casefans to cool your A4000.

Actually, I've found that several smaller fans work (and fit) better than a couple large case fans.  My A4000 has always been one of the cooler ones around, despite all the stuff I have crammed in the desktop case.  

I have two small slot-style fans routing air in the Zorro card section, an 040 style HSF on the 060, and an intake fan in the front 5.25 bay, with some small pieces of cut cardboard to make sure some of the fresh air gets routed back to the 060 area.  

Back when this computer was a workhorse, it would run for days on end rendering things in Lightwave without a single glitch.  Heck, it had better uptime than my BBS!

This machine was bullet-proof until a X-Surf blew up in it a couple years ago.  I've had nothing but problems since then.   This is just the latest (and most severe).