4000T won't boot !!!

[billchase]

My 4000T refuses to boot.
1.  Lights and all drives power up
2.  Video signal initializes
3.  Stripped all zorro cards out
4.  Same results with original 040 board
5.  Replaced disk and A/V modules (not 100% that
    the replacement A/V module is good)
6.  None of the start-up pre-boot menus will activate
7.  Will not boot from floppy
8.  None of the troubleshooting codes or the workbench
    disk animation will display.

The machine basically powers up, the monitor kicks in
and everything just sits there. I was in the process
of removing and installing various expansion cards
(of course with power off!).  I must have made some
careless mistake, but not sure what I would have done.
Thanks.
 
Specs:
4000T with Phase5 060/604e 128MB
Picasso IV
OS3.9

Thanks!

C Snyder
 

[Castellen]

See if pressing the caps lock key turns the keyboard LED on and off.  If not, it shows the CPU is totally not doing anything.

With nothing connected to the motherboard other than a 5V supply and a CPU board, it should boot into the purple insert disk screen.

When you put the A3640 CPU card back in, make sure you set the two clock source jumpers to the correct position (I think it's external mode for A3640?).


Could be almost anything at fault, but you can narrow it down by thinking what you did in the time between when it was working and when it wasn't.

[AmigaAbattoir]

You might want to check the floppy cable.  I have had problems with my A4000T not booting because it wasn't properly connected and one time a wire got sliced when I slid the floppy into the bay.

[billchase]

I will check that out, but I am afraid it something
more terminal.  Hopefully I'm wrong.

C Snyder

[WarPiper]

have you checked the battery on the motherboard? if so, then have you also checked on the reverse side of the motherboard under the battery, there should be small ic's (or diodes) check to make sure that none are corroded due to battery leakage, and make sure that all ram chips are properly seated and secure (a4000 has bad history with broken memory clips).  GOOD LUCK!!!

P.S.
if you have never changed your battery, do your self a favor, and get it out, you dont need it to run the A4000.  My A4000 (when I had one) had a battery that looked fine from the top but under the motherboard trashed an ic, I had to replace the motherboard, as soon as I got the new mobo, (wich looked brand spanken new!) I had brought the motherboard to a tv repaire shop for a clean removal, and said screw the battery, I dont need it.
once again, GOOD LUCK!

Warpiper

[Morley]

humm....battery corrosion really shouldn't be an issue on genuine 4000T's, as they have some flat lithium batteries that hardly leaks.

I have the similar problem when I connect a SCSI hdd onto the mobo SCSI chain, cd-roms and tape-streamers work fine, just not HDD's....odd, isn't it?

Anyway, my 4000T also needs a reboot when powering on from a cold-boot, if I use the onboard ide connector.

I guess the 4000T's are temperamental pieces of computers, eh?

[WarPiper]

sorry I was talking from A4000 Destop experience

[WarPiper]

sorry I was talking from A4000 Destop experience

[billchase]

Someone mentioned about the Caps Lock key.
It does light/unlight when pressed.  The battery
is the coin type which has been replaced (mounted
a socket for easy replacement).  All the simms are
mounted on the 060/604e board, none on the motherboard.
Still haven't swapped floppy cables yet.  I was in the
process of swapping various zorro cards around.  Only
thing I can think of is that I left the power cord
connected while doing so.  Thanks for the help!

C Snyder

[Morley]

@bill

Rip out all scsi/ide/floppy cables, and see if the kickstart screen appears. Then insert them one by one and see what happens...

You might also try reseating the cpu-card and the disk and I/O cards, my 4000T arrived at me heavily bashed by the postmen, so a little bit of tearing apart and building up cured a lot of problems...  :admonish:

[Will-i-am]

I had the same kind of problem with my tower and it turned out that I had plugged in the cable to the floppy one pin off. The pin left out was slightly bent, but once I spotted it and plugged the cable in correctly, it booted fine. Just a thought, but if it hadn't been for a tiny scratch I noticed on the side of the plug, I never would have noticed.

[billchase]

I disconnected the scsi and floppy cables, still
no kickstart screen.

C Snyder
 

[alphonsus]

Have you taken all the ram off the motherboard? One of the sticks is the chip ram (probably a 2meg stick) I bet the machine won't do much without it.
Are you using a monitor on graphics card or the video output? Have you tried plugging it into a TV and seeing what colour screens you get? (Red means duff chipram but indicates power supply problems as well)
Are you sure your mouse works? (seeing as you are using it to test for problems)
Try putting a small ram stick in the fastram slots on the motherboard just to see if it works then. (I think the largest you can use is 4meg sticks)

[iamaboringperson]

That sometimes hapennes to me.


The way I fix it is by pushing in the CPU card properly.

Perhaps you could clean the connector?

[billchase]

If I am not mistaken, the chip ram is soldered to the
motherboard.  All the simms sockets are used as fast ram.
I actually haven't used any simms on the motherboard
since I installed my cyberstorm with max ram a few years
ago.  I have seated and reseated the cpu card with no
results.  I am afraid the problem lies in the A/V module
(the machine will not boot without it) or possibly on the
motherboard.  I have a PIV graphics and have also tried
booting the machine using the native display.

C Snyder