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Author Topic: Amiga 3000T won't boot  (Read 13194 times)

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Offline mvansickleTopic starter

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Amiga 3000T won't boot
« on: April 14, 2007, 09:48:04 PM »
I have a beloved 3000T that has soldiered on through a lot of hardships (relocations) but this last house move finally did it in.  After unpacking it and setting it up, it refuses to display a video signal or (from what I can tell) boot at all.  It powers up, fan is on, and the hard drive spins up but then - nothing.  I've tried attaching a 1084 and VGA monitor, neither give a signal although booting the Amiga DOES bring the VGA display out of powersave mode so there is some kind of signal there.  I have tried reseating ZIP ram (that was fun) and also booting without the hard drive attached.

There really is nothing broken that I can see, the MB is in mint condition, the only thing is that the SCSI terminator on the back of the machine is a bit bent.  Could that cause this kind of problem?

Any ideas what else I can look at before I try to find a place to repair it?  Gotta have this baby working again!  I miss it!

Matt
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Offline Tahoe

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2007, 09:55:44 PM »
Just to be sure- Is the key switched to the ON position? Without the key the machine won't boot.
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Offline mvansickleTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #2 on: April 14, 2007, 10:00:26 PM »
Yes, the key is in it and I've tried it in both positions.  I wonder if perhaps the wiring has come loose for that piece.  Is there a way to disable the key lock?
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Offline Tahoe

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2007, 10:16:24 PM »
No; in that case you should short the two wires.
Have you had a look inside the machine? Maybe you are running an accelerator board which has come loose during transit?

Or; worse; it could be the dreaded leaking battery. They usually do lots of damage...
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Offline amiga92570

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2007, 11:11:05 PM »
Quote

mvansickle wrote:
I have a beloved 3000T that has soldiered on through a lot of hardships (relocations) but this last house move finally did it in.  After unpacking it and setting it up, it refuses to display a video signal or (from what I can tell) boot at all.  It powers up, fan is on, and the hard drive spins up but then - nothing.  I've tried attaching a 1084 and VGA monitor, neither give a signal although booting the Amiga DOES bring the VGA display out of powersave mode so there is some kind of signal there.  I have tried reseating ZIP ram (that was fun) and also booting without the hard drive attached.

There really is nothing broken that I can see, the MB is in mint condition, the only thing is that the SCSI terminator on the back of the machine is a bit bent.  Could that cause this kind of problem?

Any ideas what else I can look at before I try to find a place to repair it?  Gotta have this baby working again!  I miss it!

Matt


Where are you located, I may be of some assistance. If you are not close to me, check all wiring connections, and if necessary remove harddrive cable and try booting off floppy.  Also check to be sure all socketed chips and crystals are secure. If that doesn't work, you might need someone to diagnose it for you which is hard to do online. One last thing is to try to hold the two mouse buttons down and see if you get the early startup menu. Most important, don't give up, 3000t's are terrific.   :-)
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Amiga92570
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Offline amiga92570

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #5 on: April 14, 2007, 11:17:32 PM »
Quote

Tahoe wrote:
No; in that case you should short the two wires.
Have you had a look inside the machine? Maybe you are running an accelerator board which has come loose during transit?

Or; worse; it could be the dreaded leaking battery. They usually do lots of damage...


Hey I like your site! I hope you finish it, manuals etc.
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Amiga92570
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(1) 4000T/040 (2)3000t CS 060/233ppc Picasso IV video, (2)D-box 1200 blizzard 060/200ppc Mediator fastATA, (1)amiga 1200 Power tower, (1)amiga 1200 EZ tower with mediator,1200/030/50mhz, (3) amiga 500 with CSA Mega Midget Racer and Trump card AT, (2) amiga 600 one with M-tec 030, (3) CD32 one sx32, two sx32-pro, More accessories and parts than I want to admit to
 

Offline mvansickleTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2007, 08:54:22 PM »
I am in Castle Rock, Colorado.  I am terrible with electronics (at least at the level of checking wiring, etc) so I'm at a loss what to do next.  It may be something as simple as this keylock not functioning anymore, I can't remember if you are supposed to see a video image when it is in the locked position.  What I am seeing is the monitor turns on from powersave mode but I get no picture.

It has been so long since I had to do any troubleshooting on an Amiga I'm really lost.  If I boot the machine without the hard drive connected I am assuming I should see SOMETHING prompting me to insert a disk or something but maybe not.  I haven't actually tried booting it with a kickstart disk in the floppy drive.

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Offline rkauer

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2007, 11:22:01 PM »
If you disconect the SCSI cable from the controller, you'll have the screen asking for a floppy on boot.

If the terminator behind the case is bented, they could be broke. Put it out and send to any electronics near you to check, the SCSI chain could not run without proper termination.
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Offline mvansickleTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2007, 12:04:35 AM »
What would it do if the termination wasn't working?  Would it just not boot at all or would it show up on screen asking for a floppy?
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Offline mvansickleTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2007, 12:08:37 AM »
Also another update - I know the drive is not dead because I bought an Amiga 2000HD from a local guy today and plugged my A3000T drive into it, it worked just fine and booted up to my old system.  Awesome!  I don't like how slow it is compared to my 3000T though.  ;)
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Offline Jeff

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2007, 12:17:14 AM »
It might show the symptoms that you describe (IE no Video)

I remember SCSI/Termination issues with my A3000T many years ago. Thing is, the A3000T can take FOREVER to go to the default "Kickstart Floppy" video screen when the SCSI isn't correct. You may not be waiting long enough to see it. Pull the SCSI cable from the motherboard and give it a good 5 or 10 minutes before you decide there isn't any video.

Another time I was using the A3000 Batmem utility for something once and changed a SCSI bit. It took SO LONG to boot up after that I thought I killed the machine but it eventually came back up.

I think the power light should go Bright-Dim-Bright when the machine first powers up, is yours doing that? Also check and see if you can access the early startup screen by holding down both mouse buttons at power up.

Keep us posted and don't give up on it.

Jeff
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Offline alexh

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2007, 12:25:36 AM »
I thought that you could repeatedly press a key (Caps lock?) and if after a while it never stops blinking then the 680x0 isnt working?

Not sure the exact details but worth looking into.
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Offline mvansickleTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2007, 01:05:17 AM »
The power light stays on continuously, it never flashes.

Holding both mouse buttons during boot didn't do anything.

I actually left it powered on for a couple of hours once (before I took the drive out) and it never booted.  I have it on now with the SCSI cable disconnected and will leave it on for a few hours to see if anything changes.

One thing I noticed the last time it worked was that the hard drive seemed to be going bad - i.e. sometimes it would not boot properly or would freeze when loading the system.  I have not been able to repro that since I put the drive in the A2000 so now I'm thinking it's something to do with the SCSI controller that was going bad.

Anyone know if there's a way to disable the onboard SCSI controller?  If so I could put the SCSI card + hard drive from the A2000 into it and see if it boots.

I guess first I need to get it to boot to the kickstart screen before I start worrying about getting the drive working in it though!

I have a feeling that finding a replacement motherboard for this guy is going to be damn near impossible.  :(

Can anyone give me step by step instructions for bypassing the keylock, just in case that turns out to be the problem?
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Offline mvansickleTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2007, 01:06:29 AM »
Quote

alexh wrote:
I thought that you could repeatedly press a key (Caps lock?) and if after a while it never stops blinking then the 680x0 isnt working?

Not sure the exact details but worth looking into.


I tried this and indeed, after pressing Caps Lock a few times it stops blinking.

Anyone know exactly what this means?  Fried CPU?
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Offline rkauer

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Re: Amiga 3000T won't boot
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2007, 06:14:13 AM »
Or fried Agnus.
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