A1200 wont boot up from Hard Drive

[SteveE]

The machine is getting some serious use through going to Kick Off tournaments and perhaps this has finally took its toll (but what a way to do it eh?!)

It used to work and has been doing so for about 2 years but tonight it wont boot up from the Hard Drive.
It seems to look for it but then shows the purple screen and you then hear the Floppy. When I click both buttons and disable the HD, it boots up quicker because it then goes straight to the floppy - so it seems to be looking for it.

Anyone have any ideas on how to fix it or does it sound like its totally died?
Iv read that perhaps the HD is taking a while to start up and to restart upon the purple screen but this doesent work. Also read about disabling the 1st wire in the cable (one with a red mark) but unsure about this to be honest.

Just to add...

My efforts to try and fix it were a bit calamitous and I actually broke one of the pins off the motherboard (where the IDE Cable fits into) and this pin is still present within the cable...have I wrecked this A1200's capability to ever use a Hard Drive? Or arent all the pins actually used.
This isnt related the problem as this occured before this but I thought id try and disconnect and connect the cables again.

[rkauer]

Pending the snapped pin you can continue to use the HD without problems. Can you post a picture of the connector?

I'm pretty sure you have a dead HD, not a dead motherboard.

[SteveE]

Thanks for your quick reply

Here are the pics:







The Pin which is broke is on the top later and the 2nd one in from the right.
Off to a Retro gaming tournament tommorow night so appreciate your feedback

[cpiac64]

are +5 volt for logic of the hd

[SteveE]

Sorry...what do you mean by this?

[prowler]

Hi Steve,

The broken pin is Pin 42 (see http://pinouts.ru/HD/Ata44Internal_pinout.shtml ).

This is the +5V D.C. supply to the hard drive motor, so it could be the cause of your hard disk failure.

I doubt whether merely removing the ribbon connector from the motherboard header has caused this pin to snap. It is more likely that it was damaged on a previous occasion and has gradually broken loose over time. Then removing the connector has simply lifted the pin away.

It would be possible to desolder the pin from the motherboard and replace it with another taken from a spare pcb. It might also be possible to remove the broken pin from the ribbon cable connector with needle nose pliers.

[SteveE]

So i could really get any pin from elsewhere and solder it onto this bit? I have a soldering iron ready to go - what do you think?

I can actually see the gold connector within the plastic area of the cable :/ kinda difficult to get the bugger out!

well Iv damaged the cable beyond repair :/ but I have spotted those gold connectors within the cable - unsure if one is the one from the amiga though. Appreciate this is very haphazard, but could i put in any of these in that space left by the broken one?

Is this an IDE Cable? As I will need to purchase another one.

[prowler]

Originally Posted by SteveE

So i could really get any pin from elsewhere and solder it onto this bit? I have a soldering iron ready to go - what do you think?

It would be far better to remove the broken pin from the motherboard. This must be done from underneath, since the pins incorporate a small pad underneath to stop them being pulled out altogether.

Apply the soldeing iron to the broken pin's pad underneath the board and when the solder is molten, push the pin out from the top of the board. Make sure the solder is fully molten before you push it out to avoid lifting the track.

If you can't find a complete spare pin from another pcb, you could try replacing it with another pin removed from one of the ground connections on the header (see the pinouts I linked to above).

Originally Posted by SteveE

I can actually see the gold connector within the plastic area of the cable :/ kinda difficult to get the bugger out!

It is good that you can see it. You could try teasing it out with a sharp needle.

Originally Posted by SteveE

Is this an IDE Cable? As I will need to purchase another one.

Yes, it's a 44-pin IDE cable. Get one from AmigaKit on eBay for £2.75 inc p&p (Item #160543008213).

[cpiac64]

pin 20 are NC not used, change with 42.

in alternative you can use a wire from 5 volt floppy drive to harddisk

[SteveE]

Really helpful replies

Do you mean the Pin that refers to the 5 volt from the floppy drive pins? These seem to be a different size. This looks very tricky though in that they'r so close together!

Iv prized away the metal from the motherboard though to get access to it and will look at this in the next few days. Naturally inclined to de-solder the one pin that isnt being used - just wish I hadnt wrecked the lead now although I have ordered another on ebay.

Quick question though guys...could I use the IDE Cable that connects the floppy to the Amiga inplace of the one I have wrecked?

Reason I ask this is because I have a friend who has a working A1200 and so I could simply place my hard drive and Accelerator card in this possibly?

[amigakit.com]

Be careful when you desolder the IDE header pins, that you dont rip any print off the board.

We stock A1200 IDE cables from £1.99 here: http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/...page=1&sort=3a

[SteveE]

cheers amiga kit. I did purchase one from yourself via Ebay.

[prowler]

Originally Posted by SteveE

Quick question though guys...could I use the IDE Cable that connects the floppy to the Amiga inplace of the one I have wrecked?

No. The floppy drive cable has only 34 conductors/pins and they are set on a wider pitch.

[amigakit.com]

Thanks!

You will need 2mm pitch for the IDE interface pins of the A1200, the floppy is 2.54mm pitch unfortunately.

[cosmicfrog]

I would be tempted to try a CF adapter and card solution as these take power from a floppy type connector, so hopefully it won`t need the 5v from the motherboard

be nice if it worked but I`m not 100% it will

[orange]

but 44pin cf adapters probably don't take power from floppy.

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by cosmicfrog

I would be tempted to try a CF adapter and card solution as these take power from a floppy type connector, so hopefully it won`t need the 5v from the motherboard

be nice if it worked but I`m not 100% it will

Originally Posted by orange

but 44pin cf adapters probably don't take power from floppy.

I think it would work if he used a 44-40pin converter and then a 40pin CF-IDE powered off the floppy, at least I think thats what our frog was suggesting

[SteveE]

Going to try and work on this now...interesting about using the a CF card in place of the Hard Drive as I do actually have one of these and would just need the 'cage' (apologies for lack of terminology) to fit the CF card into...but how would I get it to boot up from the floppy?

Is there a way I could essentially create a bootable CF card which would load Workbench along with anything else I have installed on there?

btw, in relation to finding out which Pin is which...Im presuming it goes

1-3-5-7-9-11-13-15-17-19-21-23-25-27-29-31-33-35-37-39-41-43
2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20-22-24-26-28-30-32-34-36-38-40-42-44

[prowler]

Originally Posted by SteveE

btw, in relation to finding out which Pin is which...Im presuming it goes

1-3-5-7-9-11-13-15-17-19-21-23-25-27-29-31-33-35-37-39-41-43
2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20-22-24-26-28-30-32-34-36-38-40-42-44

Yes, that's exactly right.

[SteveE]

shit...hang on, Im not sure it is!

2-4-6-8-10 etc.
1-3-5-7-9 etc.


On this site: http://pinouts.ru/HD/Ata44Internal_pinout.shtml Number 1 starts on the bottom, yet using my example in my previous post I'v switched them round.

Soldering iron is ready to go so appreciate any quick replies!