A4000 blues.....

Heavyweight7t6 · 05 June 2005, 15:47

I have a RevB A4000 - had the battery leakage and has been cleaned up and battery and the clocks chips changed. Was working (1hr stints) wonderful untill I decided to leave it on for longer and charge the battery up.

Left it on for about 8hrs and now it wont boot at all. I dont get the purple screen - for matter of fact, I get no no video output at all. I've tried all the dead A4000 troubleshootings options off Anthony Hoffmans website and some of them hes emailed me.

Points, Caps lock light works on power up. Caps lock light flickers when ctrl-a-a (manual reboot).

Anyone got any ideas?.

Jope · 06 June 2005, 06:24

Well, at least your keyboard gets power and is working fine.

What's the URL to mr. Hoffman's site? A quick google found the man, but not his site.

This is probably written there, but I can't check, so:

Did you try stripping the machine down to the bare minimum, leaving only the floppy drive, cpu and chip ram plugged in?

manicx · 06 June 2005, 08:45

Anthony's site is at http://amiga.serveftp.net/.

Can you access the Startup Menu by clicking the two mouse buttons?

Heavyweight7t6 · 06 June 2005, 15:02

I've tried all them fixes plus more...must be a failiure within a couple of the custom IC's, thats what Anthony seems to think. All I get is a black screen with everything whirling round but no HDD boot. Just the HDD lite perminately on.

Always wanted an A4000..but not a dead one

manicx · 06 June 2005, 15:59

So, if you disconnect the HD, do you see the picture with the floppy disk at start?

thomas · 06 June 2005, 16:41

The first thing to look at is the power LED. It goes on at power-on and becomes twice as bright half a second later. If the LED does not become brighter, the processor does not work or there is no Kickstart or the CIA is dead. (The first instruction in the Kickstart ROM is to make the LED brighter which is done by setting a bit in one of the CIA's registers). So if the LED does not get brighter, there is no sense in disconnecting the HDD or anything else.

However, I'd just remove everything, just leave the motherboard with chip-RAM, Floppy drive, Kickstart and processor board. Then switch it on and watch the power LED. If it becomes brighter, wait about 30 seconds if the floppy starts to click and the screen shows the floppy animation.

If the LED does not become brigther, things to check first are the processor board, the Kickstart and the CIAs. Especially the processor board is known to have loose contact to the motherboard. Better clean the connections.

Another known point of failure is the connection of the power supply to the motherboard. Or the power supply itself.

Heavyweight7t6 · 06 June 2005, 17:21

Manicx I tried the no hdd, and dont see any bootscreen..just a black screen.

Thomas I will have a go at the clean. Do I need any chemicals for that?.

CIA's?

05 June 2005, 15:47	#1
Heavyweight7t6 Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Cardiff / Wales Age: 47 Posts: 161	A4000 blues..... I have a RevB A4000 - had the battery leakage and has been cleaned up and battery and the clocks chips changed. Was working (1hr stints) wonderful untill I decided to leave it on for longer and charge the battery up. Left it on for about 8hrs and now it wont boot at all. I dont get the purple screen - for matter of fact, I get no no video output at all. I've tried all the dead A4000 troubleshootings options off Anthony Hoffmans website and some of them hes emailed me. Points, Caps lock light works on power up. Caps lock light flickers when ctrl-a-a (manual reboot). Anyone got any ideas?.

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06 June 2005, 06:24	#2
Jope - Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Helsinki / Finland Age: 43 Posts: 9,861	Well, at least your keyboard gets power and is working fine. What's the URL to mr. Hoffman's site? A quick google found the man, but not his site. This is probably written there, but I can't check, so: Did you try stripping the machine down to the bare minimum, leaving only the floppy drive, cpu and chip ram plugged in?

06 June 2005, 08:45	#3
manicx Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Posts: 991	Anthony's site is at http://amiga.serveftp.net/. Can you access the Startup Menu by clicking the two mouse buttons?

06 June 2005, 15:02	#4
Heavyweight7t6 Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Cardiff / Wales Age: 47 Posts: 161	I've tried all them fixes plus more...must be a failiure within a couple of the custom IC's, thats what Anthony seems to think. All I get is a black screen with everything whirling round but no HDD boot. Just the HDD lite perminately on. Always wanted an A4000..but not a dead one

06 June 2005, 15:59	#5
manicx Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Posts: 991	So, if you disconnect the HD, do you see the picture with the floppy disk at start?

06 June 2005, 16:41	#6
thomas Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 6,985	The first thing to look at is the power LED. It goes on at power-on and becomes twice as bright half a second later. If the LED does not become brighter, the processor does not work or there is no Kickstart or the CIA is dead. (The first instruction in the Kickstart ROM is to make the LED brighter which is done by setting a bit in one of the CIA's registers). So if the LED does not get brighter, there is no sense in disconnecting the HDD or anything else. However, I'd just remove everything, just leave the motherboard with chip-RAM, Floppy drive, Kickstart and processor board. Then switch it on and watch the power LED. If it becomes brighter, wait about 30 seconds if the floppy starts to click and the screen shows the floppy animation. If the LED does not become brigther, things to check first are the processor board, the Kickstart and the CIAs. Especially the processor board is known to have loose contact to the motherboard. Better clean the connections. Another known point of failure is the connection of the power supply to the motherboard. Or the power supply itself.

06 June 2005, 17:21	#7
Heavyweight7t6 Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Cardiff / Wales Age: 47 Posts: 161	Manicx I tried the no hdd, and dont see any bootscreen..just a black screen. Thomas I will have a go at the clean. Do I need any chemicals for that?. CIA's?

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