Weird A4000 and Prometheus issue

[HammerD]

Recently I had taken apart my A4000 to test some of the parts in a different A4000.  I put everything back in and after that I started to have some weird issues.

It's an A4000D with Cyberstorm MK3-060, Cybervision PPC and a Prometheus PCI board with a 8029 PCI network card - had been working fine for several years.

However, now when I go online - either with Miami or the TCP/IP stack from OS 3.9, the mouse pointer will freeze every 1-2 seconds.  It's like the entire machine just freezes for a split second, then continues.  This happens every 1-2 seconds.  

If I do NOT go online the machine is fine and performance is as normal, however I still get sometimes the random crashes as noted in the next paragraph.

I have also started to get random #8000000B and #80000004 and ramlib crashes.  I re-seated everything, and even installed a clean copy of OS 3.9 BB2, verified I have the latest prometheus library and network driver, but the problem is still there.

Does anyone have any ideas what is wrong?  I suspect it may be some hardware issue because it happens with different tcp/ip stacks and in different installations of OS 3.9.

[McVenco]

Do you also have this problem with a clean system - e.g. no expansion cards installed? If so, there might be slight possibility that the PSU is failing (which can cause random errors to begin with).

[HammerD]

Not sure about the ramlib crashes and #8000004 crashes and I've seen a few #8000000B crashes....but those not so much.

The real problem with the mouse pointer freezing every 1-2 seconds, then going back to normal, only happens when I go "online" with a tcp/ip stack.  In which case, you are right, the PCI card would be requiring more power at that point.  I will check into the power connector to the Prometheus because I think one of the little pronges might be loose.  Thanks for the tip.  I HOPE it is as easy as that.  I do have a spare power supply I could use to test.

Darren

[Matt_H]

My father's 4000D had a problem not identical, but similar, to this. It wasn't crash-happy, but it did have the 1-second freeze symptom. Turned out the problem was caused by a flaky Microsoft PS/2 mouse running through an Amiga->PS/2 interface. Swapped it for a different mouse (a different PS/2) and all was well.

VERY strange. Might be worth trying if your other solution doesn't help.

[Bazzaq]

Apparently the power connector to the prometheus sometimes does not make good enough contact.. Mine has had a new connector modified by the previous owner due to this as far as i know.

[HammerD]

Bazzaq wrote:
Apparently the power connector to the prometheus sometimes does not make good enough contact.. Mine has had a new connector modified by the previous owner due to this as far as i know.

So he was having the same kind of weird freezing or crashing problem that I am ?

[Bazzaq]

I don't know exactly what problems, i just wondered when i was buying it why the cable had been modded..

running off a 650W psu with voodoo and lan on the prometheus.

[HammerD]

@ All

Well I tried a spare known good power supply and the problem is still there.

System will freeze/pause every 1 second or so for a split second. Then continue as normal.  Nothing "weird" shows up in snoopdos when this happens, in fact nothing at all prints out when the machine pauses.  

And this freeze ONLY happens when I go "online".  As soon as I go "offline" system returns back to normal...

Clean OS 3.9 install.  Didn't happen prior to my disassembling my machine...  I'm stumped.

[HammerD]

BTW, I did also try a second realtek 8029 based network card - problem was still there.  So...it's not the NIC, it's not the Power Supply.  

I'm going to test now by putting a C= 2065 network card in a zorro slot to rule out a problem with the riser card.

[HammerD]

@All

Well a C= 2065 network card in a zorro slot works totally fine...no problems.  So it must be the prometheus board itself...

Darren

[spirantho]

Check the Prometheus' power cable very carefully. I found once that my A4000 was very unstable and I put it down to it being a dodgy Zorro backplane. However, one time messing around inside, one of the wires came out completely from the plug that attaches to the Prometheus! That is, it fell out - it didn't need persuasion. Fixing it back in correctly meant it all worked a lot smoother, so make sure all connections are good and strong.

[HammerD]

spirantho wrote:
Check the Prometheus' power cable very carefully. I found once that my A4000 was very unstable and I put it down to it being a dodgy Zorro backplane. However, one time messing around inside, one of the wires came out completely from the plug that attaches to the Prometheus! That is, it fell out - it didn't need persuasion. Fixing it back in correctly meant it all worked a lot smoother, so make sure all connections are good and strong.

I will check that..but it appeared to be fine.  I can also try the Prometheus in my A4000T and report back... to see if it exhibits the same behaviour...that way I will know for sure.

Darren