A4000T appears to be dead

[X-ray]

@ Karlos

I also think it is a mobo problem. This morning I tried the 030 again and it worked. I tried the MKII straight after and I got nothing.
So the question is: what is there on the mobo that is likely to affect an 060 but not an 030 card?
Can the Buster do that?


Edit: tried the 030 again straight after the MKII and it doesn't work

 :-?  :-?  :-?

[nex4060]

remember that the A1200/A4000(T) will wait for a VERY long time if it thinks it is missing a HD or no HD!!! had me fooled once.

[StormLord]

I recently (2 days ago) had the same problem but win an amiga 1200.. I bought a new ppc and the same happend .. I realised that its a connector problem try to get a contact cleaner spray WITHOUT OIL and check and if you can re-stretch the pins   of your proccessor slot . Now its working again but it is very unstable in card moving into the slot. I'm even try to fire it up with my old ppc card that I thought it was defective. Amigas has started to getting old.... its not to behave them like before or like a PC.. we must be gentle and leave them as they work.

[X-ray]

Well, folks, I don't know what's going on here but it is all systems green.

I got home today and had given up, because all I could get to work was the 030 and the floppy. I switched off, put the MKII back in, said to myself this is the last thing I wil try before I have the mobo checked by somebody else, and the thing worked. Attached the drives, all okay. Then I tried the PPC: also worked.
I am happy because it all works now, but I'm unhappy because I tried so many things last night and found nothing. I checked connectors, seating of the CPU cards: everything I could. I must have tried each card at least 5 times, with different combinations of floppy and HD drive, barebones etc.

So, this is weird. I gave the MKII ample chance last night to work: left it on for ten minutes (that should be long enough to exclude a SCSI problem) and it didn't boot. It didn't like any drives either. But today, it's all good.

 :-?  :-?

I'm beginning to think this Miggy is definitely female and is doing this for attention. (My ex used the same tactic  :-)  )

[x56h34]

This is surely an issue with bad contacts between the CPU card and the CPU slot. It could be that the CPU slot needs cleaning, like I explained to you in that PM.

[X-ray]

But that's just the thing: I had a look at the connectors on the cards and the CPU slot: all perfectly clean, and the 030 worked. I think something else screwy is going on, and it bugs me that I haven't found it.

[Karlos]

@X-Ray

I know just how you feel. Occasionally my 1200T spits the dummy and sometimes nothing short of strupping it down, cleaning, arseing about with it and slotting it all back together seems to help.

Sometimes I wonder if it is just the age of the hardware?

-edit-

strupping? :lol:

[metalman]

----------------------------------------------------------------
What I want to know is whether any chips can produce intermitent problems
--------------------------------------------------------------

1) Memory
2) PIN & Chip Socketed Connections, pull and then reseat
3) Buster
4) SCSI chip (if devices connected)
5) Any chip above a certain temperature (would do it after its been running a while)

I think the machine would still boot even if the CIA's were dead

You might have a connection thats not making good contact,
pins, chip sockets, or card slot and you got a good connection the time it booted on the 030

The connections all oxidize with age, I suspect one is giving you the problems now.

[X-ray]

But what I don't get is the 030 was the only card that worked, and I tested the cards sequencially. The 030 card went in (and was removed) at least 5 times. And it worked, so I don't think this is a CPU connection problem.

Well, I haven't done anything special with the CPU slot, other than make sure that the cards were in securely, just like I was doing last night.
I actually got a flashlight and peered under the edge of each card I tested to make sure the card connector edge was flush against the CPU connector edge. No dirt or dust inside, I checked that.

Well, thanks for helping, guys, I'll just run this with an open case for a few days and see what happens.

(By the way I still have the strange static sound from the internal speaker. I don't mind about that because I've attached the speaker LED to the drive LED jumper on the PPC board, and turned the internal speaker off for now)

[x56h34]

X-ray wrote:
But that's just the thing: I had a look at the connectors on the cards and the CPU slot: all perfectly clean, and the 030 worked. I think something else screwy is going on, and it bugs me that I haven't found it.

You don't necessarily have to see dirt in order for a contact to be bad. Take a memory simm for example. Clean its contacts with a q-tip dipped in isopropyl alcohol and see how black the q-tip will get after you finish cleaning. The same thing happens to the cpu slot connector due to age and constant usage, however the contact pins in this case are so delicate and fragile that the only way to clean them properly would be with a PCB contact cleaner/degreaser spray.

Don't be hardheaded about all this, trust me. Try it and see.

I'd take out the whole motherboard and spray it with a PCB degreaser, and let it dry, and especially around the area of the CPU slot. I'd even spray the accelerator cards themselves too.

I've had a problem like this in the past with an A3000D. It wouldn't detect my Warp Engine accelerator, and all the jumpering was fine. Finally, I've decided to clean the CPU slot and the card itself and viola...it worked.

[X-ray]

@ X56

Is there a specific brand you recommend?

[x56h34]

I use the "Superwash" from MGM Chemicals.

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/cleandegr.html

It's a Canadian based manufacturer though.

[X-ray]

@ X56

Thanks  :-)

I will look for something similar.
It's all in now, I had several non-boots (without touching the CPU card) and they seem to be related to other HDs on the onboard scsi device. But it's sorted out now. All the devices are there. Just have to sort out software / dosdrivers now (no more MKII cyberSCSI, no more OS3.1, no more CF on IDE)

[T3000]

What a nightmare.   I have found that swapping and over-tinkering with the hardware can and will produce unexpected and frustrating circumstances. My A3000D and A3000T both suffered from almost fatal errors because I had tried to do too much all at once. If it doesn't crackle or smoke, then chances are it's something simple. :-D  

I'll take that MKII 060 off your hands if it'll work in a 3000T.  :hammer:

[PaSha]

NOTE:
The plastic spacers (the white thingys that go between the mobo and the cpu card) that were originally shipped with the Amiga Tech A4000T's are a bit too long, and will cause the cpu card to be in a tilted posistion without proper contact.
This could perhaps be it...

-Paul

[X-ray]

@ PaSha

If you were a woman I would kiss you, mate!!!!

 :banana:  :banana:  :banana:

You nailed the first half of my problem exactly.

For the benefit of any poor sod other than myself, this is what happened:

The PPC card has its own plastic spacers, but the spacers on this card were so loose that they came off very easily. However the spacers on the A4000T motherboard are 'dug in like Alabama ticks'...I didn't have any reason to suspect that the mobo spacers were of a different length, so I installed the card on those spacers. And that is why I had no boot (on most occasions). I will post pictures of this problem, to save some other ignorant SOB the same woes as I have had in the past few days.

I have now pulled the A4KT spacers out (was like pulling the teeth of a granite gorgoyle) and installed the loose PPC board spacers. I'll have to get a special adhesive to (non-permanently) secure these spacers.

Of course, this all makes sense now because the 030 card doesn't rest on any spacers, that's why it worked most of the time. Add to this the other variables of SCSI cables unplugged, IDE cables plugged/unplugged, (insert any variable you like here) and there are quite a few variables and its not surprising I didn't spot the problem. I was doomed to failure because of the spacers. When I checked that the CPU card was properly seated, I checked the alignment of the two connectors, and they were exactly aligned. I didn't look at the case from the other angle to see if the CPU card wasn't parallel to the mobo: after-all, I thought if the spacer ends were secure to the mobo and the CPU card, and the edges of the connectors were flush, it must have been secure, yes??? And from the top, the CPU card looked flush and secure: the focus was on the connector, not the other side of the card.

Ha!!

Seecond problem: (nobody here would have guessed, it was my own fault) when I finally had the CPU card properly seated (just by luck/pressure) I had several no-boot problems if SCSI 2 devices were attached. I had to boot from the PPC UW drive because I didn't have the proper OS installed on the SCSI 2 drives: I had been booting from a CF card that had OS3.1 on it before I got the PPC.
Bottom line: I checked SCSI IDs, boot priorities, and got the machine to boot, but not all drives were visible on the Workbench, although they were seen by HDToolbox. That's when I realised it was a filesystem problem and remembered that the 'problem drives' were SFS.

DOH!!!!

Installed SFS...and all is well.

I think I will entitle this little incident "X-ray's folly"

An amusing tale, now that the facts are known  :-)