A3000 restart after 10 years having video issues

[alexh]

Switch to NTSC mode if possible to get 60Hz. (Should be default for USA A3000)

Try tweaking the Amber trim pot resistor (tiny screw next to the VGA connector, remember how many turns and what direction to return to beginning)?

[alexh]

Dry capacitors on the motherboard. A component on the motherboard which can fail over time.

Difficult to diagnose. Even more difficult to replace without expert help.

Will probably require sending your Amiga to a repair center. Not sure there is one in the USA... maybe AmigaKit?

Do you have the cable to connect the 1950 to the 23-pin RGB port?  That way you see if it is the AMBER circuit or the Amiga video circuit?

Have you tried the AMBER switch in both positions when the 1950 is connected to the 15-pin VGA connector?

[alexh]

You 100% certainly should see a difference when switching the Enable/Disable switch if connected to a VGA monitor (not the 1950) because when off the monitor should not be able to display the horizontal screen refresh rate of 15KHz

Find the adapter dongle and see if that makes any difference... it could help isolate where the fault is on the motherboard.

[alexh]

there wasn't any difference in my other monitor

Wow, that means your other monitor is also a 15KHz capable (Amiga) monitor. OR it means that your Screen preferences is set to a software scandouble resolution (like double NTSC).... have a go at changing the workbench resolution if you can navigate to it (or at least identify which res it is set to).

and no difference when I toggled the switch

The switch only affects the AMBER (15-pin) output. It switches between 15KHz (off) and 31KHz (on).

Just tried the converter with my 2nd A3000/1950 - the one I couldn't get any picture from - and it worked, but the picture is misaligned and the mouse is showing doubles and triples of it.  Any ideas?

Hmmm I wonder why you get no picture on the AMBER output?? Find out what resolution you're in using screen-prefs. Try to change it to something else? Have a go using the overscan controls to re-center the picture?

[alexh]

Sort-of fixed the problem, I purchased a new working A3000 from ebay! :lol:

Sell the other two as spares/repairs to an enthusiast and make your money back.

My question I guess not is can I get a different graphic card so I don't have to mess with this?

No. All RTG cards take the Denise output as an input to their scandoubler. If it is the Denise at fault and not the AMBER then the video will be messed up on RTG card.

Next question do I have to have Denise back in before I can try an RTG card?

Of course. The A3000 with no denise socket is now useless until it is repaired.

[alexh]

Ok, it should have read :

"RTG cards that can be used as a replacement to the standard Amiga output take the Denise output as an input to their scandoubler."