Problem with Viper 030@28mhz accelerator board

[Audun]

I just recently walked past a dump, where in the corner of my eye I spotted something that looked like a huge keyboard. I went to take a closer look, and found out that it was an Amiga 1200 with a 030 accellerator board and scala dongle. Jackpot!

So anyway; I dried it, cleaned it, it works, but the floppy was not powering on and same with the harddrive. I am using an old Amiga 1200 PSU that was making some strange high pitch noise when I tried to boot the amiga with the harddrive installed in it. I removed the harddrive and it booted fine with the PSU not emitting any detectable noise. However, when I have the 030 installed it sometimes reboots and shows a red "Software Error" screen. I tried removing the memory on the board, same effect. Sometimes it does not boot at all, just gives a black screen. Someone suggested the card had problems with 3.1 roms, but this amiga has only 3.0 roms installed.

Does anyone have any apparent theories as to why it seems unstable? I don't have any other Amiga parts to cross-swap with to test a lot of things, so I'd really appreciate some sound input here so I'd know what to look for in order to try fix it.

And merry Christmas everyone :]

[utri007]

Easy, problem is that psu is too weak, try to get Amiga 500 psu

[Audun]

I am not convinced, I know several folks running 030s AND harddrives on vanilla A1200s, and this 030 is only running at 28mhz. However, valid point, something to try. Any other suggestions though while I look for a new psu?

[Franko]

I'd say utri007 was correct, I've just popped my old Blizzard060 board into an A1200 with 3.0 Roms and with an old PSU that made the same whining sound as you describe. Guess what same problems you report with random results.

Then I powered up the same machine using an old converted PC power supply and the problems are gone, boots up fine every time with no random crashes...

I'd known about this problem before and thought I'd just check to make sure, your best bet is to buy a PC power supply and make your own one up then you'll have plenty of power to add whatever you want in future to you miggie....

Just a shame Mechy's sold out of his neat compact PSUs or that would have done the trick for you...

[Audun]

Ah, thank you Franko. Brilliant that you could reproduce the problem. I am definitely more convinced now. Will find a psu solution somehow.

[utri007]

I did run excatly same conficuration as you have now, about 10 years ago It depends your harddrive, does it work or not.

A500 PSU is enough for your configuration and it is not ugly

[Audun]

Well it doesnt boot when the harddrive is plugged in, so I'd assume not. On the other hand, it seems the root issue could be the psu. I'll give it a go with a 500 one if I can get my hands on one.

[Cammy]

The random crashes could be caused by a loose expansion connector on the accelerator, which can be fixed by carefully bending each of the wire "teeth" inwards toward each other so the accelerator "bites" down on the edge better. In any case you should throw away the hard drive and install an IDE-CF or SD card adapter and have a silent, solid state drive that won't draw power the way the noisy hard drive does. If you want to use a PC PSU instead of hunting down an A500 one, you could buy very cheap PC PSU adapters from http://www.amigamaniac.com but he seems to have temporarily sold out, so email him and ask if he is planning on making more if you want one. He also sells the right SD and CF card adapters.

[utri007]

Yes, but A500 PSU is enough for him and it looks like Amiga PSU

It is easy find second hand a500 PSU and it is not expensive. Girls hate those home made amiga PSU solutions, just because they are so ugly

SO my solution gives enough power to his amiga and peace with girls:D

[Cammy]

Sure, an A500 PSU would be ideal but they're not always so easy to come by, which is why those PC ones are a handy option to have. I've used a stinking ugly PC PSU with my CD32 for years and don't care too much about what it looks like as long as it's hidden behind the cabinet. :p

At least even without a replacement PSU the A1200 will be useful if the hard drive is replaced with a solid state drive and maybe disconnect the floppy too. My main A1200 is the same as this setup and I use it every day for most of my computing.