A4000 Tower Won't Start

[Managarm]

Hi Guys,

I got around to taking my Towerised Amiga 4000 out with a view to selling it on eBAY: It powered on fine and loaded workbench. But thn I then turned it on a week later, nothing. There's power to the fan, cd drive and the two hard drives spin (an ide drive and a scsi Apple hard drive that Shapeshifter uses.) Nothing is showing on the monitor however, it's a normal PC monitor plugged into the Picasso board.

I've tried reseating the RAM on the zorro card, removing and replacing the Picasso board, removing the Apple hard drive, removing the cd drive but no luck. I've ordered an Amiga to scart lead so I can take the Picasso out and test the native video but other than that I'm stumped. I've read around and heard that the caps may need to be replaced on the motherboard and I'm pretty sure that the battery had been removed before I bought it, but I will double check.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Pat the Cat]

Check for battery leakage (real time clock battery is NiCad, can corrode and damage motherboard).

It's VERY unlikely to have happened in a week, but if there was some leaky fluid already and it travelled due to movement, could explain it.

Check the monitor hasn't died. Also, I would try removing the Picasso card and running from onboard video - the A4000 could be fine, just a problem with the card.

It sounds very much like a loose connection, but it's especially difficult to find on a bulky, enclosed tower system.

[scuzzb494]

Know the feeling. I have an Ateo Concepts with the same issue. I have to say I did leave it a touch longer before trying to get the computer working given that it was working previously. The A4000T was the same to be honest. It can get very frustrating. I would always start with the processor board connector to the mobo. It may appear properly seated but the chances it aint. Mine was a pig to get going especially on the 4000T. I kinda dread trying to get the thing working again ... something just isn't connecting sadly and you gotta just take it all the way back and steadily build back up.

I tried various monitors thinking it was that. Also,worth looking at are connectors/ribbons to hard drives. I had an A1200 recently in a tower that had a faulty ribbon connector where the pins had come away and that locked the computer up also. You can forget all the usual tests on these towers sadly.... you have to check and or replace everything one at a time to get to the problem. It'll be a faulty ribbon, connector, SIMM, drive and or a seating issue of the processor. Press down on all the chips you can and even check the seating of the mobo, I had a 4000 with a badly seated board and that stopped the machine working.

Think back if you can to what you were doing when you last were checking the computer over to sell. Were you cleaning anything, reseating anything, removing anything. Think back.

The first row on the SIMM is a pig. I have a 4000 that needs that first one fully seated. Take em all out, check that the connectors are not broken. We have to do all kinds of things with Superglu to get those SIMMS mended. Normally you would get a flashing power light with this issue. Well I did. Could be memory.

Good luck.. PS mine is still dormant here with the cover off. I'll get back to it one day. I'm sure I'll get it working.

http://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz383.htm

[Managarm]

Success! The daughterboard was loose and when I thought I'd clipped it in properly, I'd stupidly just made the other end loose.

Now that it's working I wonder if someone can give me a rough idea of how much I might get for it on eBay please? I haven't run sysinfo to get the full stats, but roughly it is...

An A4000 in a PowerTower,
16mb fast RAM,
1/2 gig hard drive,
320mb Apple hard drive that the Mac emulator ShapeShifter uses,
A Picasso 4 graphics card,
A Zorro Card,
CD drive,
Kickstart 3.0,
Workbench 3.0,

A load of installed software such as Deluxe Paint IV, Wordsworth,
A set of 3.1 ROMs and instruction manual,
WHDLoad and some games,
Instruction manuals and install disks for most software installed,
Various Amiga Format CDs,
Various Amiga Format guides,
Random loose CDs and floppies.

[Acill]

Success! The daughterboard was loose and when I thought I'd clipped it in properly, I'd stupidly just made the other end loose.

Now that it's working I wonder if someone can give me a rough idea of how much I might get for it on eBay please? I haven't run sysinfo to get the full stats, but roughly it is...

An A4000 in a PowerTower,
16mb fast RAM,
1/2 gig hard drive,
320mb Apple hard drive that the Mac emulator ShapeShifter uses,
A Picasso 4 graphics card,
A Zorro Card,
CD drive,
Kickstart 3.0,
Workbench 3.0,

A load of installed software such as Deluxe Paint IV, Wordsworth,
A set of 3.1 ROMs and instruction manual,
WHDLoad and some games,
Instruction manuals and install disks for most software installed,
Various Amiga Format CDs,
Various Amiga Format guides,
Random loose CDs and floppies.

If you are willing to ship it to the US I think you will get considerable more cash for it. Also pulling out the Picasso 4 and selling it separately will get you more than leaving it in.

A4000 machine if an 040 model will net you $600 easily.
Picasso 4 card will net you another $300-400

Together I would ask for $850

[Managarm]

Brilliant, thanks for your help!

[AltRN8]

If you are willing to ship to the US and part out the Picasso 4 I'd be interested. PM if you would consider it.