fault Amiga 3000

[toples50]

Hi,I'm from Greece and I bought an A3000 via Germany ebay.The Amiga can't boot.The power led flashes and no picture in monitor.Is there any authorized repair center in Europe to sent the Amiga because here in Greece I don't anyone.Thanks

[X-ray]

Did you try to see if anything is loose inside the computer? Also, if there is a hard-drive inside, did you disconnect it and see if you can get a insert disk display?

If you want to go straight for repairs, check out Amiga Center in France, look in the recommended dealers forum for contact details.

[MrZammler]

Hi, and welcome to a.org.

Before you go on sending your miggy to strange places, there are a few things you can try yourself.

Open it up, and try and press all the chips so they are firmly in place. Make sure that nothing got out of place during transit.

Btw, come by #amigahellas in grnet (irc), that's where we hang out, someone will be able to help you, or maybe set up a meeting for someone else to take a look ;-)

[Brian]

As said already... from a long tripp things can rock loos (or worse). What I would do and in what order:

1) Check for battery leakage and if any any I'd remove battery and clean up the mb (if exposed traces, check that they have connection through).
2) As others, I'd too then start pressing in all chips that are socketed so they are securely in place.
3) Remove all expansion cards from the machine.
4) Remove the harddrive.
5) Remove and clean cpu socket and cpu card and reinsert them.
6) Remove the zip mems.
7) Try another CPU card.
Remove mb and see if I can find any dammaged or dodgy components for easy replacement.

If it still doesn't work I'd put it away for spares, or in you're case, send it off for repair by pros.

[toples50]

I managed to format the hard disk.(the A3000 has Kickstart 3.1 and 68040/25) but have other problems now.I cant install Workbench.I put Workbench Install disk and when asks me to put the Workbench disk to start the installation it cant recognize the disk(reads one disk/time...).Another problem is that the mouse jerks(it is not smooth).

[Lemonty]

Verify if the cables are firmly attached. Maybe use some contact spray.

[toples50]

I disconect the mouse and the problem remains.The screen flashes (like doing decrunch).I suspect it's hardware problem.The worst is that I've paid 330 euros for this from ebay...

[toples50]

Ok with the flashes but now I can't install the Workbench.Reads a disk per time.I think I have to buy a new floppy...

[X-ray]

Wait, Toples..you said it reads the Install Disk, but not the Workbench disk, right? All you need to do is send that original Workbench disk to another user who also has the original, and get him to fix it for you. Maybe there is a user close to you (? MrZammler) who can do it, instead of you buying new disks.
If nobody else offers, I have original 3.1 disks, and if you send your originals to me in London I will try to fix them for you.

Edit: it would be better to find someone with A3000 disks as mine are A4000T and there are slight differences between the two

[TjLaZer]

Yasou!

You said the mouse is jerky and the screen flickers.  Sounds like a battery leakage issue.  Check the battery for leakage.  Also remove the old battery if it is still there and replace with NiMh or Lithium (with hack on aminet)  If there is some corrosion clean it with Isoprepal Alchohol and old toothbrush!  The Amber circuitry is near the battery and it sounds like it has been corroded!

[Skyrunner]

Hey bro! I've an A3000 and I live in Athens.
There probably is one guy doing Amiga and Commodore repairs in Athens. You can try 210-9954855. The place is on Vouligmenis street, near Dafni a bit after Panagiotarakos. You cannot miss it, there's a massive COMMODORE sign on the bulding's front side.

Frank

[TjLaZer]

@skyrunner!

Hey I was there last summer and I saw the sign!  I did not know it was still in business!  I thought it was there from the old times.  So that is a Commodore shop??  Cool!  Does he sell stuff too?

[toples50]

The disks are fine.They work fine on Amiga 1200.When I swap the Install disk with Workbench disk appear the Workbench icon on the desktop.On the A3000 reads only the boot disk.When I swap the Install disk(boot disk) with the Workbench it can't read it.Where is the battery in the motherboard?

[TjLaZer]

toples50

The batt is located to the left of the Zorro backplane.  Here is a pic of my 3000 that I fixed.  The battery leaked and caused flickering.  I removed the battery and placed a Lithium coin cell in:

http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=814

[Skyrunner]

Actually that was/is the last official place where one could get his Amiga repaired.
The place materialized a bit before the Greek Commodore agent (MEMOX) went out of business due to low volume Amiga sales and mismanagement in the early nineties (that happened before Commodore went under). The guy who owned MEMOX offered the ownership of the service department to the last Amiga tech-guy working there; the tech accepted the offer. Some time later the service dept evolved in a new venture that would import Amiga Tech A1200s and A4000Ts (and they did).
We all know what happened next. I did get some of my Amigas repaired ther up until about a year ago but haven't checked with them since as I rarely use the Amigas any more. What they also did was sell and repair mobile phones.

The place was packed with all sorts of Amiga and Commodore hardware - nothing exotic - but lots of bits and pieces from the late seventies/early eighties (PET and Plus4 etc) to late Amiga stuff. Interesting place for an Amiga user who's never seen so much stuff in one place.
A friend of mine told me that a few months ago all that went to the trash can. Had I known earlier...
Another interesting thing about that place were the Amiga posters on the walls (German stuff from 1987 and later-date english stuff) as well as some paintings that depicted well known corporate logos like Mercedes-Benz, Nivea, Campari etc that had been transformed to Commodore logos (imagine a Nivea can with Commodore written on it etc).

Btw there were about 120,000 Amigas sold in Greece through the official channels. A similar amount was sold through inofficial channels (gray imports etc). Greece has always been accounted in Amiga sales figures as part of Commodore UK that's why it has never appeared on the Amiga-sales-map (like the one found on Rainer Benda's site).

If you ever come back to Greece, email me (skyrunnerATfreemailDOTgr) ;-)