quick easy question

[AAACHIPSET]

as some of you may remember i commented on my amiga wont do a soft reboot ..always hard reset  ...just realized when i do a soft reboot i always get a red screen  ..what does that mean ?? ..by the way when the machine crashes itself it goes red screen then guru ..left click mouse an reboots fine.

[spirantho]

Red screen is an invalid Kickstart ROM.
It can happen if you have strange modules loaded resident (e.g. USB card, that sort of thing, can store themselves so that you can warm boot off them).
Try booting with no Startup-sequence (hold down both mouse button on boot, then click on Boot with No Startup-Sequence), wait for the AmigaDOS window to appear, and then try Ctrl+Amiga+Amiga as usual. If it reboots happily, then it's something you're running that's installing itself and confusing Kickstart, probably.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Or just boot off any old game disk and hit Ctrl-Amiga-Amiga that way, see what happens.  

[AAACHIPSET]

Red screen is an invalid Kickstart ROM.
It can happen if you have strange modules loaded resident (e.g. USB card, that sort of thing, can store themselves so that you can warm boot off them).
Try booting with no Startup-sequence (hold down both mouse button on boot, then click on Boot with No Startup-Sequence), wait for the AmigaDOS window to appear, and then try Ctrl+Amiga+Amiga as usual. If it reboots happily, then it's something you're running that's installing itself and confusing Kickstart, probably.

tried all the boot up bits...hold down mouse button etc  ..boot no startup  etc ..only  a hard turn off turn  on reboots ..otherwise  i just get a flashing red screen forever ..rarely  maybe  if a program crashes i get a red screen that goes to guru an left mouse button will reboot it  ...ive never replaced the kickstart chips  in this machine ..too many things plugged in now an ive actually screwed it back together ..

[spirantho]

tried all the boot up bits...hold down mouse button etc  ..boot no startup  etc ..only  a hard turn off turn  on reboots ..otherwise  i just get a flashing red screen forever ..rarely  maybe  if a program crashes i get a red screen that goes to guru an left mouse button will reboot it  ...ive never replaced the kickstart chips  in this machine ..too many things plugged in now an ive actually screwed it back together ..

I think you're going to need to take it apart.
What you need to do is remove all the cards and drives except the floppy, and just boot up to the insert disk prompt. Then try resetting. If you get a red screen still, try reseating the Kickstart chip (with the power off obviously). If you still get red screens, try another Kickstart Rom. If that doesn't fix it, get your Miggy recapped.

@Oldsmobile_Mike

A floppy disk may install a reset-proof program, or may have a reset-proof virus, especially a game disk. Best to get rid of as many variables as possible when troubleshooting.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

@Oldsmobile_Mike
 
A floppy disk may install a reset-proof program, or may have a reset-proof virus, especially a game disk. Best to get rid of as many variables as possible when troubleshooting.

Possible, sure, but how likely is this? OP still hasn't said if they'd tested this way. I mean, really, how hard is it to put a copy of any old game disk in the drive, Shadow of the Beast or something every Amiga owner has, turn on the power, wait for the game to load, and hit Ctrl+Amiga+Amiga? Does the problem occur, yes or no?
 
Either way I'm sure they'll wind up having to go your route, but the above step only takes about 10 seconds and would rule out any software they have loaded on their hard drive as the source of the problem.