Will an A4000/040 boot without a keyboard

Starglider 2 · 10 December 2019, 05:36

Hi guys, I have an A4000/040 which only shows a black screen on power-up. The fan whirs, and the hard disks unpark. The HDD light stays lit.

I've done the obvious things like push down on the CPU and check all HDD cable directions, as well as floopy.

Before I dismantle everything, I had heard that the A4000 won't boot without a keyboard. Well, I have no keyboard! Is this true though? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense but you never know...

musashi5150 · 10 December 2019, 08:28

It's been a while, but I'm certain I used to run one headless with AmiVNC with just power & ethernet plugged in - so I'm going for "yes".

TjLaZer · 10 December 2019, 08:29

Yes

Starglider 2 · 10 December 2019, 08:30

Ok thanks guys.

TjLaZer · 10 December 2019, 08:51

The 4000 is known to have a lot of problems with the CPU slot. Remove the CPU, and make sure contacts are clean, use contact cleaner and reseat. Make sure jumpers are correct. Remove all Zorro cards too. Maybe even the daughterboard too. I usually strip it all the way down when this happens. I went through this on a few of mine recently. I updated one of mine with a new 3660 card recently as it was having issues. Not sure if you know but some 3640 cards had caps on backwards and can go bad. Works great now

Starglider 2 · 10 December 2019, 08:56

Nice, thank you!

Is there an easy reference somewhere for the correct jumpers? It's an /040 with a PAR card.

Signman · 10 December 2019, 14:06

Yes without a keyboard. Also TjLaser is right about finicky cpu slot. I can’t count how many times my system wouldn’t start because of cpu card not inserted well enough.

trixster · 10 December 2019, 14:21

This goes for the 3000D too - it is easy for the cpu card to work loose, or lose connection

AmigaHope · 12 December 2019, 11:15

You might have a broken HDD or misconfigured master/slave. The A4000 does not like having a dead IDE device or no IDE device on its bus. If this is the case the firmware will still fire up but you have to wait for a good minute or so of black screen while it madly polling for IDE devices until it proceeds.

TjLaZer · 15 December 2019, 09:55

Funny I was having issues with my Amiga 4000 again this morning. Black screen with 7--8 fast LED blinks. Tore it down to try and fix it. It as the 2MB Chip RAM SIMM. Reseating it brought it back to life. But then later it was doing the same thing. After a few hours I decided to try a different SIMM. A 8MB SIMM. Seems to be doing better. Not sure what is going on.

AmigaHope · 18 December 2019, 08:55

Based on Starglider 2's youtube saga with the system, something on the motherboard is probably fried, but in the future to answer the question -- yes the Amiga will fire up with no keyboard, but it will still blackscreen for 30-60 seconds with no functioning IDE devices. See this thread for the mitigation:

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=25996

10 December 2019, 05:36	#1
Starglider 2 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: California Posts: 1,146	Will an A4000/040 boot without a keyboard Hi guys, I have an A4000/040 which only shows a black screen on power-up. The fan whirs, and the hard disks unpark. The HDD light stays lit. I've done the obvious things like push down on the CPU and check all HDD cable directions, as well as floopy. Before I dismantle everything, I had heard that the A4000 won't boot without a keyboard. Well, I have no keyboard! Is this true though? Doesn't make a whole lot of sense but you never know...

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10 December 2019, 08:28	#2
musashi5150 move.w #$4489,$dff07e Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Norfolk, UK Age: 42 Posts: 2,351	It's been a while, but I'm certain I used to run one headless with AmiVNC with just power & ethernet plugged in - so I'm going for "yes".

10 December 2019, 08:29	#3
TjLaZer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tacoma, WA USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,915	Yes

10 December 2019, 08:30	#4
Starglider 2 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: California Posts: 1,146	Ok thanks guys.

10 December 2019, 08:51	#5
TjLaZer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tacoma, WA USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,915	The 4000 is known to have a lot of problems with the CPU slot. Remove the CPU, and make sure contacts are clean, use contact cleaner and reseat. Make sure jumpers are correct. Remove all Zorro cards too. Maybe even the daughterboard too. I usually strip it all the way down when this happens. I went through this on a few of mine recently. I updated one of mine with a new 3660 card recently as it was having issues. Not sure if you know but some 3640 cards had caps on backwards and can go bad. Works great now

10 December 2019, 08:56	#6
Starglider 2 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: California Posts: 1,146	Nice, thank you! Is there an easy reference somewhere for the correct jumpers? It's an /040 with a PAR card.

10 December 2019, 14:06	#7
Signman Registered User Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Michigan Posts: 384	Yes without a keyboard. Also TjLaser is right about finicky cpu slot. I can’t count how many times my system wouldn’t start because of cpu card not inserted well enough.

10 December 2019, 14:21	#8
trixster Guru Meditating Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: England Posts: 2,337	This goes for the 3000D too - it is easy for the cpu card to work loose, or lose connection

12 December 2019, 11:15	#9
AmigaHope Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: New Sandusky Posts: 942	You might have a broken HDD or misconfigured master/slave. The A4000 does not like having a dead IDE device or no IDE device on its bus. If this is the case the firmware will still fire up but you have to wait for a good minute or so of black screen while it madly polling for IDE devices until it proceeds.

15 December 2019, 09:55	#10
TjLaZer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tacoma, WA USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,915	Funny I was having issues with my Amiga 4000 again this morning. Black screen with 7--8 fast LED blinks. Tore it down to try and fix it. It as the 2MB Chip RAM SIMM. Reseating it brought it back to life. But then later it was doing the same thing. After a few hours I decided to try a different SIMM. A 8MB SIMM. Seems to be doing better. Not sure what is going on.

18 December 2019, 08:55	#11
AmigaHope Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: New Sandusky Posts: 942	Based on Starglider 2's youtube saga with the system, something on the motherboard is probably fried, but in the future to answer the question -- yes the Amiga will fire up with no keyboard, but it will still blackscreen for 30-60 seconds with no functioning IDE devices. See this thread for the mitigation: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=25996

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