A3000 doesn't boot

The problem is an A3000 with kickstart 3.1

When powered on, the power-LED goes from dim to bright, as it's supposed to.
But it doesn't start to read from neither floppy nor harddisk.

I don't have any spare chips left, so I need some hints before I start ordering parts.

I haven't had much problems with this machine for many years, so I have almost forgotten how to troubleshoot it.

[alexh]

When connected to a monitor, does the kickstart screen appear??

Either a HAND (KS1.3)


or the purple animated disk screen (KS2+)



If you have KS1.4 BOOT-ROM's you MAY get this screen



If you get no screens at all... then it's time to check the JUMPER settings. If you have had an accelerator and removed it, the jumpers may be in the wrong setting.

No boot screens or boot-menu.
The machine is fitted with a 060-card.

[alexh]

Which 060 card?

Try holding down both mouse buttons on powerup/reset to enter Kickstart early startup menu.

Try to enter the Accelerator early startup menu of the 060 card if it has one (hold down ESC during powerup/reset)

Apollo 3060.

I cannot get any startup-menu.
The card doesn't have it's own menu.

[alexh]

Do you want to remove the card and revert back to the on-board 030 in an attempt to get it running?

Make sure you return the A3000 jumpers to their original positions.

J100 QUADCLK = (Depends on 16MHz or 25MHz base A3000, you may need to change back to 16MHz)
J102 BRDCLK 2-3
J104 CPUCLK 1-2

Are you using the on board SCSI or the SCSI on the Apollo card?

[RetroGeek]

Originally Posted by Pilsener

No boot screens or boot-menu.
The machine is fitted with a 060-card.

It sounds like the 68060 board was not installed properly. Make sure that the metal stand-offs are not shorting out on the 060 board. You may have to use fiber washers or nylon washers between the metal stand-offs and the 060 board.

[alexh]

Metal standoffs? All the CPU-Slot cards I've had came with plastic standoffs.

[RetroGeek]

Originally Posted by alexh

Metal standoffs? All the CPU-Slot cards I've had came with plastic standoffs.

Hi alexh, I have always admired your knowledge on Amiga computers.

The Amiga 3000 computers usually have metal stand-offs, the Amiga 4000 computers have nylon stand-offs. If he is using nylon stand-offs in his Amiga 3000, then that is the problem. The A3000's metal stand-offs and the A4000's nylon stand-offs are not the same length.

Every Amiga 3000 computer that I have worked on or repaired have metal stand-offs. Because of this, they will sometimes short out on the traces of a processor board. That happened to me when I installed a GVP 040 board into my Amiga 3000. I had to place fiber washers between the board and the stand-off screws where they were touching the board traces.

[alexh]

I don't think I ever had an accelerator with my A3000.

If it was working for a long time before being put into storage I am sure with a bit of fiddling inside, re-seating etc. You can get this to work.

Assuming the battery hasn't leaked and killed the board.

The problem is not caused by shorts, and very unlikely by intermittent contact. I have experienced intermittent contact on some chips during the years, but this doesn't seem to be the problem this time.

When I bought the 060-card in 1996, I found that the ZIP-RAM made a perfect support for the rear end of the card. The card have been held up by the ZIP-chips without problems all this time. And the metal standoffs that's mounted on the mainboard, is too short to touch the 060-card.

[alexh]

Make sure the daughter card (with the zorro slots) is fully inserted?

Have you checked the battery has been removed from the motherboard Or is not leaking?

Take absolutely everything out except CHIP RAM, switch the jumpers back to internal 030 (if necessary). If you don't get a kickstart screen then... you know it's something fundamental with the main motherboard board.

If it works, add things back one at a time.