Amiga 3000 with jerky mouse and icons switching to monochrome green

[WeiXing3D]

I just took possession of an Amiga 3000 with an A3640 and SCSI external box (side car) with CD-ROM drive and 3rd HDD.

The machine boots fine and fast, but mouse is jerky and erratic, to the point that I can't control it to select or close anything.

After a few random clicks of the mouse, because that is all I can do, the icons start switching to green.

Has anyone seen this before. How to fix?

Does anyone know of someone who repairs Amigas in the U.S.? Just in case, since I am not a hardware guy.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Two thoughts right off the bat:

- I don't think the jerky mouse pointer and green screen are related.  You're looking at two, or possibly more, separate problems.

- Have you tried with both the 23-pin video output and the HD15 VGA output?  Is the problem the same on both?  Any difference?

- Open it up and check for battery damage, stat.

Okay, that's three things.  But I'll repeat that last one again - check for battery damage, if it's a barrel battery, remove it asap.  

[WeiXing3D]

Two thoughts right off the bat:

- I don't think the jerky mouse pointer and green screen are related.  You're looking at two, or possibly more, separate problems.

- Have you tried with both the 23-pin video output and the HD15 VGA output?  Is the problem the same on both?  Any difference?

- Open it up and check for battery damage, stat.

Okay, that's three things.  But I'll repeat that last one again - check for battery damage, if it's a barrel battery, remove it asap.  

I have only tried the VGA port and the switch in the "Enable" position. I don't have means to test with a 23-pin video output. I don't even know what I'd need to do so. I've tried with a NEC Multisycv Monitor 1770VX and 2 others with VGA ports and low freq range. But the same. Where can I find a 23-pin video output cable?

The previous owner checked for battery damage and reported that everything was fine. He sent me a picture and it looked fine. To remove, do I just pull it off and leave the empty holes?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Where can I find a 23-pin video output cable?

This is the standard video output of every other model of Amiga.  The 3000 is unique in that only it contains the native circuitry for 31KHz "VGA" video output (the 15-pin connector).  I just assumed you must have a few old Amiga monitors kicking around, most of us do.  

The previous owner checked for battery damage and reported that everything was fine. He sent me a picture and it looked fine. To remove, do I just pull it off and leave the empty holes?

There are some settings that are unique to an A3000, these links might help you:

http://www.amiga.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-15710.html

http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/overclock/batt.html

Personally I'd just pull it off, replace it with a better one.  Barrel batteries kill 3000's worse than just about any other system, due to their location on the motherboard.  I'm sure some folks will say go ahead and leave it if it ain't leaking yet, but since you never know if it might start leaking tomorrow... an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and all that, right?  

Are you able to boot off a Workbench floppy disk?  Do the same problems occur then?

[WeiXing3D]

This is the standard video output of every other model of Amiga.  The 3000 is unique in that only it contains the native circuitry for 31KHz "VGA" video output (the 15-pin connector).  I just assumed you must have a few old Amiga monitors kicking around, most of us do.  



There are some settings that are unique to an A3000, these links might help you:

http://www.amiga.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-15710.html

http://members.iinet.net.au/~davem2/overclock/batt.html

Personally I'd just pull it off, replace it with a better one.  Barrel batteries kill 3000's worse than just about any other system, due to their location on the motherboard.  I'm sure some folks will say go ahead and leave it if it ain't leaking yet, but since you never know if it might start leaking tomorrow... an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and all that, right?  

Are you able to boot off a Workbench floppy disk?  Do the same problems occur then?

I will order a 23-pin video cable and try that. Tomorrow, I will open the unit and check things by myself.

I tried booting with my WB 3.1 disk and the jerky mouse issue is less noticeable but still there.

Worse case scenario, do you know of anyone repairing old school Amigas here in the good old U.S.A.?

[SACC-guy]

See the info at...
http://amiga.serveftp.net/JumpyMouse.html

Anthony's site also has info on battery replacement

[jltursan]

Sounds pretty obvious; but it's worth to mention...

Have you thoroughly cleaned the mouse?, do you have any other to test? :-)

As for the A3000, if you don't find yourself comfortable with a soldering iron, simply cut the battery before it leaks. They can do it pretty fast, in less than a year you can get a nice corrosion.
Also, if the mouse itself seems to work fine, the video & movement problems could be related to drying capacitors. If they haven't been changed yet maybe it's time to do it.

[gertsy]

Sounds pretty obvious; but it's worth to mention...

Have you thoroughly cleaned the mouse?, do you have any other to test? :-)

As for the A3000, if you don't find yourself comfortable with a soldering iron, simply cut the battery before it leaks. They can do it pretty fast, in less than a year you can get a nice corrosion.
Also, if the mouse itself seems to work fine, the video & movement problems could be related to drying capacitors. If they haven't been changed yet maybe it's time to do it.

Was thinking the same thing. Dirty mouse rollers.

[WeiXing3D]

Sounds pretty obvious; but it's worth to mention...

Have you thoroughly cleaned the mouse?, do you have any other to test? :-)

As for the A3000, if you don't find yourself comfortable with a soldering iron, simply cut the battery before it leaks. They can do it pretty fast, in less than a year you can get a nice corrosion.
Also, if the mouse itself seems to work fine, the video & movement problems could be related to drying capacitors. If they haven't been changed yet maybe it's time to do it.

I want to do this, but post that I have read warn of losing the SCSI setting values stored in memory.

Any suggestions to this regard?

[WeiXing3D]

See the info at...
http://amiga.serveftp.net/JumpyMouse.html

Anthony's site also has info on battery replacement

Hi, I'll be sending an Email to the rest of my fellow SACC members to see if anyone would be available to schedule a technical session during one of our upcoming meetings. As you know I do not feel comfortable soldering, nor I have the tools to do so.

So, the most important question now is can I just remove the battery, clean the area (BTW I don't see any signs of leaking yet) without the risk of losing my SCSI settings? I have 2 internal SCSI HDDs and a side car with one more HDD and a CD-ROM reader.

Please advise.

[SACC-guy]

Easy enough...replace the battery with a coin type!

[tonyvdb]

And as mentioned above, clean the mouse by removing the ball and taking a q-tip and some rubbing alcohol and clean the rollers inside. Also wash the ball with some warm water and soap.

[jltursan]

So, the most important question now is can I just remove the battery, clean the area (BTW I don't see any signs of leaking yet) without the risk of losing my SCSI settings? I have 2 internal SCSI HDDs and a side car with one more HDD and a CD-ROM reader.

Please advise.

I'm not totally sure about what kind of settings you can loose by cutting the battery but indeed, there're threads like http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15710 that mostly states the opposite.

In my own experience, some years ago I replaced the battery, the motherboard was cleaned of some severe corrosion, repaired damaged RTC tracks and installed a new battery in a new place...and I didn't have the slightest problem with SCSI, it booted fine back again and didn't noticed data loss. The A3000 back then was a KS1.4 one, maybe the KS has anything to do?
I suppose that if you're going for a clean installation you can be safe about loosing anything, just let HDInstTool do the job :-)

[mechy]

Generally when the battery is removed the scsi settings go back to safe defaults. I have never seen it cause trouble. If you ever put a coin cell+diode back,you can get a utility called setbatt off aminet to reset the scsi settings to your liking. To remove the barrel battery, you can wiggle it lengthwise back and forth and the tabs will snap off clean. later they can be desoldered,but hurt nothing if left as is.

[matt3k]

Welcome to the 3000 club, it is a great box!

Definitely remove the battery and replace with a more reliable coin type.  I like the ones on Ebay the most.  

I would also recommend you replace the PALS with a good set of GALS, this is the only real failure area that I have seen with the box.  If you plan on using the zorro bus extensively pickup a Buster 11.

If your bored sometime checkout:
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?59870-Amiga-3000-buyers-guide-myth-buster-and-Refit&highlight=mythbuster

As far as the green icons, I would try a different video out if you have a compatible monitor.  Try reseating and cleaning amber.

Good luck!