I got ripped off on a dead Amiga 4000

[wawrzon]

colors on boot: white: cpu failure
grey: could indicate different contact problems or hw failures, basically the machine went through checking hardware but couldnt start the system anyway if i recall right
green: basically faulty chip ram but could be something else too.

the guy says it has been refurbished: good. i tend to believe that the fotos of the unit are fresh so i dont think the motherboard has been chemically damaged and they do not break in transport. i beleve you really have component contact problems.

you say you are getting green when pressing on buster. it could be that buster legs are bent. it might happen if it has been removed before and carlessly reseated. it isnt that difficult to pull this chip but normally pushing it deeper into the socket is enough. i think applyin pressure to buster you bent the whole board a little and the flaky contact should be sought elsewhere.

to eliminate further possible failure sources i would pull the daughterboard and the fast ram. examine the cpu card contacts, assure the jumpers under cpu board are seated correctly (they could got loose or lost, lol), check the roms. reseat the card.

now try to power on again. also you could take the chip ram out to assure that you get green screen on boot, then reseat it.

edit:reason: the seller might have exchanged ram without checking, and a4k are sometimes quite picky about the modules.

[wawrzon]

after you spent the money to sent your miggy to any repair center (if only for them to check that it is working ok) it might not be working again when you get it back because something got loose again in transport.

said that i replaced busters dozens of times with no problem, you have to be careful though not to break the socket. you have to look if all legs look even, not bend to the side. the chip itself is not likely to take any damage even if it looks scratched or something.

in most of cases i had problems to get a4ks running (especially them from 96AY) was due to ram. do the banks look good? do they have been replaced too?
as i said take all ram out except chip and remove the daughterboard. a4k can really boot without it. if you are sure it has 3.0 roms it should boot pretty quickly. i dont recall if floppy has to be connected. but if yes it has to be connected right and supplied with current. check if you havnt shifted the connector to a side.

on the other hand if your kickstart roms are 3.1 by any chance, know that then the system waits for some 30 sec for a boot media.

patience is half a way too succeed. keep cool. it will work...

[wawrzon]

@ceaser: just to content you i have always got the 4000s i bought to work except one that was clearly stated to be non working. they not always turned out to be in a physical condition i expected them to be and quite a few didnt fire up on the first try, so i was frequently already blaming the seller, but eventually all of them are in service by now.

[wawrzon]

the cpu card should go all the way in. sometimes i hear the contacts oxydate and should be cleaned otherwise causing problems like that. never did it myself and do not think that it is frequent.

it is a very strange box you got there, looks a little homemade so the technical solution might not be perfect. why dont you diconnect all that second psu stuff in the first place. i really dont get what this is for anyway.

[wawrzon]

@ceaser: the first clip you talking of is chip ram. if you already reseated it the other thing is you could try to replace it with some other 2meg module. now and then i had too look really hard for one that works.

otherwise just give it back then and get a regular a4k. from my experience they are very dependable.

[wawrzon]

have you tried to run the system only with the 4zorro slot daughterboard? this is the original one. the other is pretty much useless anyway (i dont think there is much need for isa slots in amiga except for par dps or pc bridgeboards)

also check the mb jumpers (especially these):


J100: CLK90 Clock Source
          1-2 Closed: Internal (68020/68030)
          2-3 Closed: External (68040)

J104: CPU Clock Source
          1-2 Closed: Internal
          2-3 Closed: External
both have to be external for 040 i believe.
for reference:
http://www.wonkity.com/~wblock/a4000hard/main.html

in the end it could be faulty kickstart rom too, alltough quite unbelievable, i had once or twice such an issue. if everything else fails you could try to replace these.

[wawrzon]

now this is beyond me. while i believe to recall issue like that i know no solution anymore. hope it is not a motherboard failure in the end. but good to hear it is booting.

[wawrzon]

ceaser, leander bight be right, clean your mouse but since you have tested two of them i am a little troubled. mouse not working can be a consequence of electrolyte corrosion of the motherboard. the question is if electrolytic caps have been exchanged too while rework and if the board has been cleaned.

[wawrzon]

Use the key to unlock it or disconnect it from the motherboard.

disconnect_the_lock_from_the_motherboard!! in other words: pull the cable. omg..

edit: oh i see others were faster:D
yes, none thought of that cause none has that jey anymore. only recently i replaced the lock witha  new one to be able to switch denebs flash manually.

[wawrzon]

barely any of my a4ks (and i have a few) has the wire from the lock even attached to motherboard. i cant recall mouse not working in such a case.

[wawrzon]

@ceaser: what a lame excuse of him (the seller)

[wawrzon]

from what was discussed over and over on german a1k.org forum by aware people *all* a4ks will need cap replacement session some time soon. there even is a video instruction how to do it, unfortunately in german as well. just to admit, i have had one flaky board refurbished but for the rest i still didnt move my a**. since all is working for the time being. my bad.