Genlock preventing bootup- what gives?

[RedWarrior]

Hey all- I just scored an Electronic-Design genlock, in good condition off ebay- however, when I tested it on both my a500 and a600, it stops the machines from booting... I don't even get the 4 greys when I power-on. From the a600 I just get jumpy black signal... the a500 seems just plain black. When I disconnect it, the systems are fine (thankfully!!)- just wondering what would cause such a severe hardware lockup like that? I opened the genlock case- a bunch of circuits etc, looks clean, and the RGB cable is firmly connected.

found some info here about the model: http://www.knightnet.org.uk/IT/OpalFAQ.htm
I'll attach a pic of the guts in here.



Hope I can get this puppy working! S-video would look so much nicer!

Cheers,
=)

[RedWarrior]

sorry about that massive pic above. I also found there's more circuitry in the plug itself... these photos are before I cleaned the terminals (like brushing teeth!) - there was some gunk between the pins, but removing it hasn't helped...

maybe someone sees something which they recognise?

=)



Hope you can help. =)

[CLS2086]

Why don't you power it properly by its 12v PSU ??
RGB is nicer than S-Video  :rtfm:

[cpfuture]

Not sure if this will help, but have you tried booting while a video signal is being fed to the genlock? Also, is your genlock PAL compatible like your Amiga or is it NTSC? (I'm just guessing your Amiga is PAL, since you're in Australia).

[RedWarrior]

CLS2086 wrote:
Why don't you power it properly by its 12v PSU ??
RGB is nicer than S-Video  :rtfm:

I am powering it, 12v 300ma- as best as I can. It's not a power issue, I'm certain.

Thanks for pointing out RGB as well- though if you can give me a list of devices which will actually connect to that ancient port which are still available for sale, I'd greatly appreciate it... smartarse.

It's a PAL amiga... I will try turning it on with some video signal going in, but I doubt that will make a difference...

[RedWarrior]

Yeah tried feeding a video signal through it- it's still not booting properly. When disconnecting the power from it, the black static changes to warped jumpy blackness... I did manage to get some video signal going through it, but not in colour. How do I tell if it's a PAL or NTSC genlock? It would be unusual for an NTSC one to turn up in Australia... just won it on ebay locally.

I could try connecting the unit after the machine has booted, but don't want to risk frying my motherboard. Is there some protection thing on the RGB port when you power on?

I don't get why it's affecting the video-out either... it's not connected to the composite out at all.

:S

[CLS2086]

If you have the special OpalVision Edition, then you need an OpalVision card to plug it !

Does it look like that :
http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=407

don't plug/unplug it while your amiga PSU is on.

http://www.amiga-hardware.com/showhardware.cgi?HARDID=485

Here, all TV since 1981 got an RGB Peritel/Scart/Euroconnector... even 63" plasma...