Last minute advice on my a4000

02 November 2007, 12:37

Well I'm about ready to give up on my a4000.
I've spent so much money on it this year... so I'm really not sure if I want to fork out another ton of money sending to amiga repair centre. Besides, if my luck continues as it has, it will be un-fixable and I'll be left with yet another bill..
(excuse my whining lol.. I'm just really fed up with this..)

If anyone can offer some last minute advice before I either sell the lot, or send it to france it would be much appreciated.

I'm sure some of you remember my previous posts.. I'll try to keep it brief.

- I was having trouble with green screens and SFS.. which magically in time seemed to fix itself.
- Then my new Picasso IV had a few minor flaws.
- After a few months of use the machine suddenly fails to boot. Green and yellow screens everytime, then eventually it would just repeatedly reset.
- I tried reseating/cleaning/etc plenty of times.
- Bought another mainboard off fleabay which turned out to be faulty. (The previous owner emailed me and declared it as dead.. amiga repair centre could not even fix it. It was said to just boot to a grey screen.)
- I hooked up this new 'dead' board, and to my surprise, it produced the same results as my original board! (green/yellow screens/resetting).
- I was convinced at HAD to be the PSU.
- I just recieved a new PSU from Germany which cost me over $100..
- You guessed it... same thing

- It reset itself for a while and now it just results in a grey screen every time. The LED does not even blink. Upon CTRL-A-A caps lock led flashes once briefly, then nothing. After a reset I can switch the caps on and off for about 3 seconds - then it dies.

Sorry about the mess above

coze · 02 November 2007, 14:03

flaky chip ram socket ? did you try booting while pushing the chip ram gently in its place ? dead CPU card ? which board do you have ?

Charlie · 02 November 2007, 14:17

Sorry to hear your woes.

I realise Australia is a very big place but I guess your best bet is to find someone helpful with a known working A4000 & spend an afternoon swaping components until you find the culprit.
Failing that post the main unit to someone with a working 4000 who will do so for you. ( if you can stand to spend any more money on it )

keropi · 02 November 2007, 14:25

yeah, better check chipram and cpu card... also check the int/ext jumpers under the cpu card...

02 November 2007, 15:00

Both boards are revB and I tried pushing the chip ram socket with 2 working simms. The thing is, with the chip ram removed, it still stays at a grey screen, not green!
I've also tried exchanging rom's, buster's, psu's, memory, cpu's and I'm still getting more grey than a retirement village..

Also no difference whatsoever if a cpu is attached or not.. i've tested with both my 040 and 030. My old friend is back -- Mr Grey

The jumpers are set correctly

BinoX · 02 November 2007, 16:42

Just to make sure... you DO have the zorro daughterboard attached while ur testing it? A4000 motherboards don't like booting without it...

coze · 02 November 2007, 18:27

there's a guy in new zealand who does a4000 repairs too, maybe it's cheaper and quicker than to send to france for you.

http://amiga.serveftp.net/

03 November 2007, 01:34

@BinoX:
Yup tried it with and without daughterboard.. same result.

@coze:
ahh really!
Cheers neva knew that

jimbo100 · 03 November 2007, 01:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by VermillioN

@BinoX:
Yup tried it with and without daughterboard.. same result.

@coze:
ahh really!
Cheers neva knew that

Yes I have used the NZ fellow to fix one of my A4000 boards. Very good job, cost about $100NZ to fix.

I'd look at a new mainboard myself!

Calgor · 05 November 2007, 15:55

One thing you could try if you know how is to check all of the voltage levels while the computer is running (e.g. using a multimeter). If you don't know what you're doing, then only on the external ports (although A4000D may not have any live wires outside psu as power switch is push-rod type).

Many voltages can be checked very carefully (not to short pins) at the mouse/serial ports using a multimeter.

Also, maybe the battery voltage has gone low? Can try removing the battery altogether if it is low (although low voltage may only mean the time is not remembered).

The keyboard on my A4000T stopped working when the +5v_user line supplied to it was less than 5volts. Also, I think the number of blinks of the keyboard light may be important.

But best solution of course is find someone with a working A4000D to test with.

EDIT: Here are some links for the screen colours and number of keyboard blinks:
http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/selftest.html
http://aminet.net/docs/hard/errormessages.txt

I also assume your motherboard is empty apart from: chip ram (i.e. no fast ram), empty daughterboard, accelerator card, df0 floppy drive (i.e. no hard drive).

05 November 2007, 22:32

Tnx for the informative post Calgor

Jimbo yeh, I've a bad feeling I'll need yet another mainboard.. but fingers crossed

I've taken both boards to Dwayne at Amiga Innovations to have a look at, so I pray he has some luck..

please o great amiga goddess.. give a guy a break

jabsy · 06 November 2007, 03:03

I also bought a supposedly working A4000 board off of ebay.au. It was dead and no reply from the guy.. Bought an A2000 board that turned out the same too.
Must be an australian thing.

jimbo100 · 06 November 2007, 06:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by jabsy

I also bought a supposedly working A4000 board off of ebay.au. It was dead and no reply from the guy.. Bought an A2000 board that turned out the same too.
Must be an australian thing.

No I got one from a german he just didn't tell me it was dead. I sold it for a fraction of what I paid but that because I said it was dead!

@Ver - always willing to assist if you want to try and find out whats dead!

Chain · 06 November 2007, 08:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by BinoX

Just to make sure... you DO have the zorro daughterboard attached while ur testing it? A4000 motherboards don't like booting without it...

4000 boots fine without it, 3000 needs it

06 November 2007, 10:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbo100

No I got one from a german he just didn't tell me it was dead. I sold it for a fraction of what I paid but that because I said it was dead!

@Ver - always willing to assist if you want to try and find out whats dead!

yeh that one was sold as a "non-booter".. if I had known it was your old board jimbo I would've avoided it like the plague

02 November 2007, 12:37	#1
VermillioN Posts: n/a	Last minute advice on my a4000 Well I'm about ready to give up on my a4000. I've spent so much money on it this year... so I'm really not sure if I want to fork out another ton of money sending to amiga repair centre. Besides, if my luck continues as it has, it will be un-fixable and I'll be left with yet another bill.. (excuse my whining lol.. I'm just really fed up with this..) If anyone can offer some last minute advice before I either sell the lot, or send it to france it would be much appreciated. I'm sure some of you remember my previous posts.. I'll try to keep it brief. - I was having trouble with green screens and SFS.. which magically in time seemed to fix itself. - Then my new Picasso IV had a few minor flaws. - After a few months of use the machine suddenly fails to boot. Green and yellow screens everytime, then eventually it would just repeatedly reset. - I tried reseating/cleaning/etc plenty of times. - Bought another mainboard off fleabay which turned out to be faulty. (The previous owner emailed me and declared it as dead.. amiga repair centre could not even fix it. It was said to just boot to a grey screen.) - I hooked up this new 'dead' board, and to my surprise, it produced the same results as my original board! (green/yellow screens/resetting). - I was convinced at HAD to be the PSU. - I just recieved a new PSU from Germany which cost me over $100.. - You guessed it... same thing - It reset itself for a while and now it just results in a grey screen every time. The LED does not even blink. Upon CTRL-A-A caps lock led flashes once briefly, then nothing. After a reset I can switch the caps on and off for about 3 seconds - then it dies. Sorry about the mess above

02 November 2007, 14:03	#2
coze hastala vista winny vista Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: mt fuji Age: 46 Posts: 1,335	flaky chip ram socket ? did you try booting while pushing the chip ram gently in its place ? dead CPU card ? which board do you have ? Last edited by coze; 02 November 2007 at 14:11.

02 November 2007, 15:00	#5
VermillioN Posts: n/a	Both boards are revB and I tried pushing the chip ram socket with 2 working simms. The thing is, with the chip ram removed, it still stays at a grey screen, not green! I've also tried exchanging rom's, buster's, psu's, memory, cpu's and I'm still getting more grey than a retirement village.. Also no difference whatsoever if a cpu is attached or not.. i've tested with both my 040 and 030. My old friend is back -- Mr Grey The jumpers are set correctly Last edited by VermillioN; 02 November 2007 at 15:07.

05 November 2007, 15:55	#10
Calgor (Amigas && Amigos)++ Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Anrea Posts: 999	One thing you could try if you know how is to check all of the voltage levels while the computer is running (e.g. using a multimeter). If you don't know what you're doing, then only on the external ports (although A4000D may not have any live wires outside psu as power switch is push-rod type). Many voltages can be checked very carefully (not to short pins) at the mouse/serial ports using a multimeter. Also, maybe the battery voltage has gone low? Can try removing the battery altogether if it is low (although low voltage may only mean the time is not remembered). The keyboard on my A4000T stopped working when the +5v_user line supplied to it was less than 5volts. Also, I think the number of blinks of the keyboard light may be important. But best solution of course is find someone with a working A4000D to test with. EDIT: Here are some links for the screen colours and number of keyboard blinks: http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/selftest.html http://aminet.net/docs/hard/errormessages.txt I also assume your motherboard is empty apart from: chip ram (i.e. no fast ram), empty daughterboard, accelerator card, df0 floppy drive (i.e. no hard drive). Last edited by Calgor; 05 November 2007 at 16:06.

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02 November 2007, 14:17	#3
Charlie . . Mouse . . Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Nowhere Age: 55 Posts: 1,792	Sorry to hear your woes. I realise Australia is a very big place but I guess your best bet is to find someone helpful with a known working A4000 & spend an afternoon swaping components until you find the culprit. Failing that post the main unit to someone with a working 4000 who will do so for you. ( if you can stand to spend any more money on it )

02 November 2007, 14:25	#4
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	yeah, better check chipram and cpu card... also check the int/ext jumpers under the cpu card...

02 November 2007, 16:42	#6
BinoX Miggy Man Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Cornwall, United Kingdom Age: 40 Posts: 831	Just to make sure... you DO have the zorro daughterboard attached while ur testing it? A4000 motherboards don't like booting without it...

02 November 2007, 18:27	#7
coze hastala vista winny vista Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: mt fuji Age: 46 Posts: 1,335	there's a guy in new zealand who does a4000 repairs too, maybe it's cheaper and quicker than to send to france for you. http://amiga.serveftp.net/

03 November 2007, 01:34	#8
VermillioN Posts: n/a	@BinoX: Yup tried it with and without daughterboard.. same result. @coze: ahh really! Cheers neva knew that

05 November 2007, 22:32	#11
VermillioN Posts: n/a	Tnx for the informative post Calgor Jimbo yeh, I've a bad feeling I'll need yet another mainboard.. but fingers crossed I've taken both boards to Dwayne at Amiga Innovations to have a look at, so I pray he has some luck.. please o great amiga goddess.. give a guy a break

06 November 2007, 03:03	#12
jabsy Yeah Hup! Join Date: May 2006 Location: Australia Age: 54 Posts: 345	I also bought a supposedly working A4000 board off of ebay.au. It was dead and no reply from the guy.. Bought an A2000 board that turned out the same too. Must be an australian thing.

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