Green screen on A530 boot up

[Tyball]

When I boot up with my A530, all I get is a green screen. I know a green screen means that there is something wrong with chip mem, but when I disconnect the A530, the Amiga boots fine. So does anyone know what this means?

I tried removing the HD and the memory (with adjusted jumper setting), but I get either a green screen or a grey screen.

Could it be that my A530 is broken? And if so, is there some way that I can see this? At first glance the board looks fine.

Any response would be great.

[Tyball]

Thanks for the fast reply!

OK, I'll try that. The connector certainly doesn't look dirty or anything, but it's worth a shot.

As for the power supply. I made one from an ATX PSU and it seems to give adequate readings. I connected the "5V GND" to a ground from the PSU. Is that incorrect? Also, if anything is blown from a bad power connection, would that be visible on the board?

I remember that I once got a green screen because the rom in the A500 wasn't propartly seated.

[Tyball]

@ Tomas: No the HD doesn't power up. In fact, not even the LEDs go on. Only the led on the A500.

[Tyball]

Thanks, it's good to know that the A530 should power up by itself. I'll look into it some more and post my results.

[Tyball]

OK, the only progess I've made so far is that now the fan on the A530 works. Earlier the A530 would remain dead on powering up the system. But after looking closely at the pictures of the print on the Amiga Hardware Database and the Big Book of Amiga Hardware, I noticed one little difference: Jumper cn16 was bridged on one picture. After I did the same, the fan on the A530 powers up when I start the system. The HD, however, remains silent. I tested the HD and it works fine in another controller (A590).

I'll keep on messing about. In the mean time, if anyone has any suggestions, please don't be shy.

[Tyball]

I'm sorry to bother you guys once more, but I'm pretty deparate.

I am pretty sure now that the board shortcircuits, because when I turn it on the PSU clicks softly and I can only power it up again after a while (after diconnecting the A530). Can this be caused by a blown 68030? It looks fine though.

With a ATX PSU connected to my A500 and not to the A530, crossing jumper cn16 makes the board draw 12V from the A500 and powers up the fan. So I'm guessing that the shortcircuit has something to do with the 5V line.

Does anyone has some schematics or something?

[Tyball]

I tried to disable the RAM and disconnecting the drive. If you mean by disabling the '030 the switch on the front of the unit, then I did that also. But how can you disable the SCSI BOOT ROM. If this is done by bridging jumper 8, then I tried that also. I guess there's something eletrically wrong then. That makes me sad.

[Tyball]

@ D: I don't have the a530 book. If you would be so nice to post some info, I would bemost grateful.

@Tenacious: I used the schematics for powering the A500 from here: ianstedman. I used the pinout for the power connector from here. Maybe that's the problem?

I am using the same PSU for both devices and even tried powering the A530 from the ATX PSU (first) and then the A500 from its original power supply. The A500 alone boots up fine from the ATX PSU, but when the A530 is connected nothing happens and I get no power reading from my voltage meter.

When I bridge jumper cn16 the A530 gets 12V from the A500, because the fan spins up and the HD reads 12V, but no 5V.

And yes, figuring out the voltage meter took some time  :-)

[Tyball]

Thank you for writing such an elaborate explanation! As my schooldays are long gone, the little I learned about electricity has eroded somewhat. Blush.

I followed your careful method of elimination and I could only conclude that your remark about the power connector should be taken to heart. It is indeed in reverse. It says "Looking at the back of the unit" and I naturally thought the back of the A530-unit. As English is not my native tongue, I didn't think for a minute that a power connector could also be thought of as a unit.

Therefore, after switching the wires, it suddenly worked! I couldn't be more happy and then to think that I was about to give up. I love you to dead right now and I don't care what you think!

My 500 is on FIRE! (luckily without the smoke...)