strange picasso IV mediator dependancy

[dschallock]

Hello,
My name is Dan and I am new to the Forum.  I have an Amiga 3000 armed with a Warpengine 040, a mediator, and housed in a mirage 3000D tower conversion.
I ran into problems configuring my system several years back and I didn't seek help really, I became frustrated, and let it sit.
Now years later I am trying to resurrect the system and get the help and advice to make it happen.
I have several problems, but I don't want to overly confuse all at once, so I will try to keep this initial post about a very strange dependency issue I am having.

Prior to this Amiga having a mediator, I enjoyed a Picasso IV card.  After installing the mediator I still used the Picasso IV card.  At some point in my quest to install a pci Ethernet card into this set up (which really drove the whole mediator acquisition to begin with) I realized I had to have a voodoo card installed for reasons that Elbox designed into the need for its memory (I believe).
I decided that if I *had* to have a voodoo installed, I might as well use that card as my video card, and remove the Picasso IV card to free up the slot.
Here is the problem.
When I remove the Picasso IV card from the system my Amiga will not boot.  Instead I get a yellow, then black, then yellow, etc... flashing screen from the standard Amiga video output.
A google search told me that a flashing yellow screen on the Amiga is usually an indication of: "yellow screen means that the CPU detected an error before the GURU (error trapping software-sequence was set)".
I checked my ram chips, my warpengine plugs, etc. Everything "seemed" fine.
Still it would not boot.
When I plug the Picasso IV back in, the Amiga will boot no problem.
With the Picasso IV plugged in (so I can boot up) I formatted the SYS drive and re-installed OS 3.9 from the CD. I re-installed picasso96 from the OS 3.9 CD also (which is the beginning of the voodoo installation instructions from elbox, but I will save that tale for another post).
Still, on a fresh install, the Amiga will not boot with the Picasso IV removed, and will boot fine with it plugged back in.
Thank you ahead of time, for any thoughts, advice, or tips.
-Dan

[J-Golden]

Does it boot with everything but the Warpengine pulled?  The best bet is to start with everything out and add one card at a time.

[dschallock]

Good idea.  Only problem I see with that, is I don't think I have any more of the original zip ram chips.  All my ram is on my Warpengine.
Will my Amiga boot with only Chip Ram if the Warp and its fast Ram is unplugged?
Thanks,
Dan

[J-Golden]

HEh, I seem to have a problem lately saying what I mean.
 
You'll need the Warpengine instaled because w/o it you'll have no CPU!  I was talking more about removing the Mediator board and any other items you have installed.  This includes unplugging hard drives and CD-ROMs.
 
If you can get the "Insert WB Disk" to come up with JUST the Warpengine, then you have a base to build off of.  If not, then it is time to look somewhere else...
 
Good Luck!

[dschallock]

ok, I get it.
I will try that tonight and report back tomorrow (or late tonight).
Thanks for the idea.
-Dan

[dschallock]

I couldn't find my stock a3000 daughter board last night so I couldn't try booting the machine with the mediator removed from the system completely.  I did try it with all the cards removed from the mediator though, and I still get the flashing yellow screen unless I plug in that Picasso IV card.
-Dan

[tone007]

Do you have any other, erm, cheaper Zorro cards lying around to substitute for the PIV?

I could write off a nice old 2MB RAM card as a bus terminator.

[dschallock]

Yeah I am sure I have something... although it may not be something that utilizes the video slot like the Picasso IV does (not sure if that part of the equation is important).  Are suggesting that in the zorro(and or pci stack) of the a3000's daughter board (or in this case the mediator) is like a scsi chain and needs a terminator at the end?... interesting.
-Dan

[tone007]

Yes, the A3000's daughterboard needs to be installed for the A3000 to work, perhaps your busboard isn't doing a good job of pretending to be a daughterboard, or is missing a resistor or something.

I wouldn't think the video slot would be an issue, but it's possible.