4000 hangs when Picasso IV is installed! *help*

[bertambala]

Hello everyone,

I just got a Picasso IV (rev. 1.2) that I bought on eBay, and I followed the installation instructions I found on aminet (http://main.aminet.net/docs/rview/PicassoIV.txt).  However, whenever I boot the machine with the PIV installed it hangs.  More specifically, no video signal is sent to the monitor and the HDD light stays on for about 15 or 20 seconds, though it doesn't sound like it is being accessed.

I've also hooked my external scandoubler/flicker fixer up at the same time and the monitor receives a signal (turns on), but the machine still hangs and no image is ever displayed.  The machine works normally when I remove the PIV.  

Info about my machine:
- A4000D
- 16 MB of Fast RAM
- Socketed Buster 11
- X-Surf 3c
- Kickstart 3.1 ROMs, OS 3.9 (Boing Bag 2 with 3.9 soft ROM)

Is the card hosed, or am I (hopefully) missing something?  Thanks in advance...

[bertambala]

Hi Masta,

The gold plated connectors look to be in pretty good shape, but I cleaned them with a little 91% isopropyl alcohol all the same.  A little bit of dirt came off of them, though not a whole lot.  I also tested each of the PLCC chips, but they were all firmly seated.

After letting everything dry for a good wile, I reinstalled the card and gave it another shot.  Still no go unfortunately.  I've made extra sure to seat the card fully into the daughtercard.  I should note that one of the gold plated connectors looks to be missing some of the gold plating in a very small area in the middle of the pin.  I'd say that it is a circle with a 1 mm diameter, so there's still plenty of area for contact...right?

I found a thread on comp.sys.amiga.misc from 1999 (http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.amiga.misc/browse_thread/thread/64ba7831c62c3c6b/f064f3981523b19d?lnk=st&q=%22Picasso+IV%22+loose+connector&rnum=3&hl=en#f064f3981523b19d) regarding a 4000 that wouldn't boot, and one gentleman replied with:

I've had quite the same problems with my A4k and it all falls back to some loose connector of my Picasso IV board! Now, you havent written anything about some graphicsboard so maybe this wont help you at all! :-)

Not sure if that would have anything to do with my situation though.

MrBill:  Thanks for the offer, but if things don't work out I'll be contacting the seller for a refund, since it was "guaranteed against DOA".  Unless of course you're in the market for a $240 broken PIV.  :-P

[bertambala]

alexh:  It has a stock A3640 (25MHz '040).  Based on what I just read at www.amiga-hardware.com I need to close jumpers 3 and 4 under J400.  I will give it a try.

masta:  I will give that a try as well.  I must admit that I'm not clear on what the FPGA handles, but if it is broken, is it something that can be fixed?

Framiga:  Thanks for the input.  Unfortunately I've already tried booting the machine both with and without the X-Surf and sd/ff.  I was certainly hoping it was a simple conflict, but no such luck.  After lusting for a PIV for the past 10 years, this is quite a disappointment.

I'lll report back my findings.  I think I'll also try hooking the card up to my 3000 if I can't get it working on the 4000.  *fingers crossed*  Thanks for the help everyone...

[bertambala]

Ok, so I first disabled MAPROM on the A3640 - made no difference.  (It turns out that I needed to close pins 2 and 3, as there isn't a 4th pin on J400.)

Removing the two 8 pin chips near the ZIII bus allows the computer to boot with the PIV installed, and display video through the 23 pin RGB port, but not through the PIV (I didn't suspect it would).

My 3000 also hangs when the PIV is installed.

Does this sound like something that can be reasonably fixed, or should I begin the sure to be unpleasant process of getting my money back?  Thanks again...

[bertambala]

C Snyder:  I closed the #2 jumper to force the card into Zoro II mode, but it still behaves the same way.  Blimey.

whiteb:  I saw that card from Australia, but I got mine from a seller in Tennessee in the US.  I actually bought my 4000 and a Super Buster rev. 11 chip from him/her in the past, both of which are great.  Hopefully things get sorted out...

Masta:  That's very tempting and I appreciate the offer.  I've contacted the seller regarding the card, so I'll see what comes of that.  I'll definitely follow up here again though.  

Thanks again for all the help everyone!