Yet another Apollo 1240 problem

[DC33]

Hi all,

having just looked around for any similar problems, I have failed to sort my problem out. I have just received my second 1240/40 board which I bought off eBay. Although the add stated sold as is, the board worked for about 5 minutes. It booted up into WB just likje the other board I have, so I thought to run it through Sysinfo to see if there were any issues. I ran it through different speed tests turning the Iburst on/off etc when all of a sudden, the screen froze..... No guru or anything. So I rebooted, warm boot at first followed by a cold boot and to my dissapointment, it seems to have suffered a heat-attack !!!

So far, I have...:
* Removed the board and rebooted the ami fine.
* Replaced the board minus the ram - no joy.
* Removed the battery just in case - no joy.
* Tried the other board using the same jumper settings - all OK
* Used the LMB/RMB boot up option with the working board and it bots up ok to the initial boot-up options screen
* Tried the LMB/RMB boot up option with the new (dud) board and it doesn't even get anywhere. Only a beautiful BLACK screen.
* I have also swapped the oscillators formone board to the other - no change.
* Also swaped the boot-up roms from one board to the other - no joy
* Unplugged all other periferals blah blah !!!

So as far as I can work out, the 1200 is fine but the new board has decided to sh*t itself only after a few minutes... What have I done to desreve this ???

My questions:

1. Has anyone been through this before and managed to fix the problem ? and how ?
2. If the board has gone to the other side, what is the most likely problem ? I am pretty good with a soldering iron, so I am not affraid to give anything a go as long as the work is withihnreason.

Any input/advise/ help etc will be most appreciated.

Thanks to all in advance

DC33

[Secret Vampire]

Are you using the stock A1200 PSU? it isn't really enough for an 040 of any kind, but I'd expect 40MHz ones to be particularly bad.

[DC33]

I am running a 3A Brick which has been running the other identical board plus a CD rom and other stuff without any problems. I do not suspect theat it is a PSU issue. This is why I diconnected all other peripherals in order to confirm.

Cheers,
DC33

[BippyM]

Originally Posted by DC33

What have I done to desreve this ???

You purchased a board that was sold as-is!

I'm no expert i'm afraid.

Are you 100% certain it is an IDENTICAL board to the other in every respect?

[commie1974]

Try with a 66 or 50 MHz oscillator, instead of the 80 MHz (is yours a 80 MHz one???) given originally with these boards! Perhaps the 040 is living its last moments of life! This 'downgrade' will probably be the solution... Also check and clean very well the contacts on your 72pin SIMM used with the card! If it persists, try it without RAM at all, and/or with another SIMM! Apollos don't like every SIMM around, I had problems with these in the past!

[DC33]

Originally Posted by bippym

You purchased a board that was sold as-is!

Are you 100% certain it is an IDENTICAL board to the other in every respect?

I agree, but it did work and it wasn't DOA as such.
Absolutely. The only diference is the Serial number

[DC33]

Originally Posted by commie1974

is yours a 80 MHz one???

Yeah it is. Same as the other board I have. I had already tried your suggestions but to no avail.

It just beats me as to why it would suddenly stop working, and the worst thing is I can't even get to the boot-up menu to see if it is recognaised or not.

Thanks anyway.

[utri007]

Apollo is quite different than other accelerators.

1d4 mobo it works fine with 3.0 rom and refuses to boot with 3.1 roms

What kind of heatsink you have ?

[DC33]

Originally Posted by utri007

Apollo is quite different than other accelerators.

1d4 mobo it works fine with 3.0 rom and refuses to boot with 3.1 roms

What kind of heatsink you have ?

Both 1200 I have are rev 10.4. Both worked fine under 3.1 with the other 1240 I have so I don't really think that the mobo version has much to do with it. I have also gone through the effort of re-fitting the old 3.0 chips whichwas, I must say... a let down.

So, all in all I guess that the 1240 is dead !!!

[DDNI]

check very carefully that circuit tracks around the area that you hold it when inserting and removing.

I was given an Apollo 1240 and it had three tracks that had worn away just where you would hold it.

Amiga repair centre France (JJ Boulett) repaired it for me

[Zetr0]

howmuch did that cost DDNI? (if you dont mind me asking?)

[DDNI]

It was pricey, about £60 for 3 track repairs a new 16mb simm and a new oscillator (insured p&p included).... however I got the card free so it was an ok price to me.

[Zetr0]

cheers for the Info DDNI,

i have a micronik busboard, rev686, a couple of A12 mobos and an Apollo060 for them to have a look at.

I got to my storage over the weekend, and believe me it was painfull.. there had been a leak from the roof... unfortuntaly i have lost a lot of stuff

*had no choice but to throw away nearly 300 floppy disks, magazines, manuals, game boxes... lots... hence now I Have 2 mobos that dont fire up*

on the plus side, I did get the keyboard for Bippym, all i gotta do is get time to the post office...

On an off topic note... my MC1489P's arrived today... project KorgXG is almost complete....

[DDNI]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

On an off topic note... my MC1489P's arrived today... project KorgXG is almost complete....

good man! I aint forgot about the software, but am in Scotland at the mo, so no CUamiga cds....

[altcomputing]

I'd suggest that you carefully remove the big MACH chip and put some paper into the socket so that the MACH becomes raised just a bit when replaced back into the socket. It did help for me, even when any contact cleaning and other things did not.

But be extremely careful not to break the socket or the chip! Both are very delicate! You have been warned!


EDIT! Lame me! I just found it's a very old topic....

Anyway, this solution helped at least two supposedly dead Apollos get back to life!

[clauddio]

Originally Posted by DC33

Both 1200 I have are rev 10.4. Both worked fine under 3.1 with the other 1240 I have so I don't really think that the mobo version has much to do with it. I have also gone through the effort of re-fitting the old 3.0 chips whichwas, I must say... a let down.

So, all in all I guess that the 1240 is dead !!!

it is not dead
the 1240 and 1260 apollo boards have buggy bronze contacts
the bronze is buggy and become dark and rusty...then the electrical contact with the A1200 motherboard is not good as should be
that's why sometimes boots and sometimes blackscreen

clean the contacts of the apollo board using alcohol or a commercial contact cleaner
to be safe do idem clean on the A1200 cpu slot
will work I guarantee