A3000 + Deneb problems

[Marcb]

Hi all,

Help!!!

I'm at my wits end with this A3000...

Today I received my Deneb from Amigakit (quick posting as usual, thanks!) and installed it into the 3000.. (ks 3.1).

Power on and nothing! I can hear the scsi HD spinning up etc but it just stops dead, the power LED doesn't even come on...
The led indicators on the Deneb do light up so I assume the card is ok.( Holding down both mouse buttons doesn't work.)

Remove the Deneb and all back to normal, boots fine, power LED comes on.

I bought a Buddha ages ago and had exactly the same problem but at the time I assumed I'd fried the Buddha somewhere along the way so just put it down to my clumsiness. ( Still sitting in its box under the desk)


Any ideas anyone? Is my Daughterboard stuffed or is there something else I'm missing?

Marc

[countzero]

what's the rev of your buster ? did you set the rescue jumper on deneb ? (did you even RTFM ?)

[Marcb]

countzero wrote:
what's the rev of your buster ? did you set the rescue jumper on deneb ? (did you even RTFM ?)

Rev 7 buster, The rescue jumper is set and yes, I rtfm.

[Zac67]

If no Zorro board works you should first check the slots' solder points on the daughter board and those on the motherboard. (I've had a couple lacking solder on my 3000.)

[Marcb]

I've checked the solder points on the daughterboard and all seem fine, I'll have to wait until the weekedn to dismantle the mb and have a good look at it, thanks for the tip!

BTW, it's actually not the POWER LED that doesn't come on, it's the HD LED that won't come on...

[Zac67]

If it's not the solder points it can be just about anything... Any change in screen colors while it gets stuck?

btw: The power LED is hardwired (apart from filter status), if it doesn't turn on the PSU is faulty or there's a short.

[Marcb]

No change in colour, stays on dark grey...

I actually meant to say HD LED, the power is ok.
I can hear the disk spinning up but there is no LED activity at all and then it just hangs...

[Tenacious]

At the risk of repeating myself, the 3000 is an excellent (and repairable) computer.  However, after 17 years of collecting dust, the connectors are notorious for becoming intermittant if disturbed.  

Last week, I disassembled mine to annually blow out all the dust (causes overheating - another form of unreliable operation).  After the first 2 re-assembles, I got the same indications you describe (no HD LED).  After the 3rd attempt and a soft drop from 10mm off the tabletop, everything is back to normal.

This has been going on with my 3000 for 10 years.  I've always wondered how many "dead" 3000s could be rescued with a thorough cleaning and a little patience.

Do you have an accelerator?  I would try again several times.  Maybe test boot with the cover off.

[Marcb]

@ Tenacious,

I'll take it apart today and give it a thorough cleaning, I don't have an accelerator but the thing that gets me is that it works fine without anything on the Zorro slots.

Aside from my 1200 which has loads of sentimental value, the 3000 has to be my favourite Ami so I'm not giving up on it. I've ordered another buster chip and I'm hunting for another daughterboard... even if dissassemble/reassemble works I'll have some spares...

I spoke to a guy a few months ago who used to repair Amigas for a living, he told me the soft drop technique was his favourite, especially if he could do it in front of the customers and watch their horrified faces :-)

[alexh]

You should also keep in mind that you might have a broken Deneb card

[Marcb]

alexh wrote:
You should also keep in mind that you might have a broken Deneb card

That would be too cruel :-)

But altogether possible although I have tried a working Buddha in it with the same results...

[mboehmer_e3b]

You should also keep in mind that you might have a broken Deneb card

Very unlikely.

Each DENEB has been tested in Zorro II and Zorro III mode before shipping. So we can almost exclude a broken card out there - with the possibility that it was damaged during shipment (which we had in two cases up to now, but this damage was of mechanical nature and clearly visible on the parcel, and didn't inhibit the DENEB from working in Zorro).

So best thing would to check if your Amiga is really working to 100% with other Zorro cards, and maybe in parallel to double check if your DENEB is working in another Amiga setup.

As long the "FPGA booted" LED is on, it should react on Zorro accesses and autoconfigure.
Best try with the ROMOFF jumper, and best try also in Zorro II mode in case your Buster has problems on Zorro III.

I can't say more from a distance.

Michael

[countzero]

mboehmer_e3b wrote:

Best try with the ROMOFF jumper, and best try also in Zorro II mode in case your Buster has problems on Zorro III.

He has buster rev 7. So no Zorro3.

[mboehmer_e3b]

He has buster rev 7. So no Zorro3.

Sorry, wrong.
Buster 7 does not allow Zorro III DMA operation at all, but will allow normal Zorro III PIO operation.

Buster 7 does also lack burst support and quick interrupts, which are not vital for DENEB Zorro III operation (both options were never supported to my knowledge on any Zorro III card, as burst is in most cases only possible with 030 cards, and quick interrupts are not supported by phase5 060 cards).

Just read the Definitive Buster text from Dave Haynie.

Nevertheless, the DENEB will always autoconfigure in Zorro III mode as two logical cards, one Zorro II card (64k) for the embedded FlashROM, and one Zorro III card for USB operation.

So at least the Zorro II card must be visible, though I think it could be a real problem in case you have an Amiga system which tells the DENEB to support Zorro III operation (by /SENSEZ3 pin of the Zorro slot), as the DENEB will activate the Zorro III logic in this case and not finish autoconfiguration before the Zorro III USB card has been successfully autoconfigured (or shutup, in case).

Michael

[tonyyeb]

What is the easiest way of checking what Buster version you have?

Cheers