Amiga 3000...kickstart problem?

[qq1975b]

Hi everyone,

I recently got an Amiga 3000 8.9 with an A3640 processor board and 3.1 40.68 kickstart roms (sockets U180 and U181, no roms tower).

I noticed some issues:


When I start the computer, it does the following (randomly an most usual in first place). Keyboard ,scsi disk, and floppy disk were plugged.

1. Shows a red screen for some seconds, Software Failure message (8000 0004) and then starts loading Workbench and seems it works fine.
2. Shows two red screens for few seconds, Software Failure message and then starts loading Workbench and seems it works fine.
3. Black screen for some seconds, software failure message and then starts workbench and seems it works fine.
4. Software failure message in yellow color and then starts workbench and seems it works fine (seen only once this error).

At first place I thought it was the kickstart roms (3.1 40.68) but I am not sure. Looking around to burn new ones (I have the 3.1 original ones) I don't find the 40.68 versions for an A3000; only for an A500/2000/600/1200/4000. Is one of this 40.68 versions A3000 (and SCSI) compatible? For an A3000 I only found the 40.62 version.

Do you think that the problem is about Kickstart roms?
I checked the jumpers of the mainboard and are set as it is told for an A3000+A3640.

What else can I do?


Another thing is that the front LED PCB is broken...can it cause this problem? if unplugged it seems it does the same...red screen+error.

Where can I find a new LED PCB? or build it?


thanks for your help.

[SpeedGeek]

The first thing to do is to remove the A3640. This is to verify that everything is (or will) be working OK with the motherboard 68030. The jumpers are set to INTERNAL for this. The LED PCB usually has broken PCB traces and is easily repaired with a soldering iron and short jumper wire.

[qq1975b]

The Jumpers with the A3640 were in this position:
J100: 3-4
J102:2-3
J103:1-2
J104:2-3
J151:1-2
J152:1-2
J851:2-3
Red Screen+Error message

Without the A3640:
J100:1-2
J102:2-3
J103:2-3
J104:1-2
J151:1-2
J152:1-2
J851:2-3

it works perfectly

So...I think the problem is with the A3640...:-S

what should I do now?

The LED PCB is totally broken (in 3 pieces and I only have 2...)

[AndyLandy]

Can you double-check your ROM revisions? For Kickstart 3.1, I'm fairly certain that all 16-bit Amigas are 40.063 and 32-bit Amigas are 40.068 (Except the A4000T with 40.070). Certainly my A3000 has 40.068 ROMs.

Can you get your Amiga to boot at all? i.e. are these errors intermittent or are they permanent?

[qq1975b]

ROMs are 40.68 .
Without A3640...it works fine.
With A3640 (and jumper settings I wrote) it usually starts with a Red Screen for some seconds (5-6), then Software failure message (8000 0004 usually) and then boots to workbench and seems not to work bad.

[AndyLandy]

What have you got in the way of FastRAM installed? In honesty, I doubt it's the problem, but it's probably worth at least checking. The A3640 will only work with page mode ram, so you might have issues with static column.

Also, what revision A3640 do you have? Those things are a pest to make work on an A3000 by all accounts. Ideally, you'll want a rev3.2 card.

Oh, and I don't think the LED board is anything too complicated, it's just a couple of LEDs, if you're reasonably capable with an iron, you should be able to knock something together.

[qq1975b]

Here it is

[SpeedGeek]

The A3640 will work with either page mode or static column memory but does not support burst mode. However, Ramsey 04 does not support page mode either. (Just don't try to enable page mode and your OK).

Since everything works good (except for the broken LED PCB) with the 68030. You have identified the A3640 as your problem! From looking at the image its looks like you have a rev. 3.1 PCB with a rev. 3.0 U209! So you at least need to upgrade U209... and you might as well check the polarity of Electrolytic caps while you (or your service tech) is at it! From BBoAH:

"V3.0
This revision will not work in A3000's at all (unknown if this also applies to the A3000T and A4000T) because of a conflict with the DMA handling of the onboard SCSI controller and some Zorro cards. Although it will work with A4000's. A bug in the design allows the board to grant DMA access to more than one device, causing the machine to hang. There is also a problem with the STERM* signal that can cause sporadic crashes with some cards such as the Cybervison 64. The PAL or GAL chip located at U209 should be -01."

P.S. After you get your A3640 fixed I highly recommend you check out AndyLandy's "A3000 Hardware prOn" thread on Amibay!

[qq1975b]

Ooopsss! that's a problem!
Where can I find the -02 GAL chip? Can I buy an specific EEPROM model and programm it? I need to know the GAL chip model and need the .bin (.rom .img,...) file. Someone has it?
Then I will need someone to change caps and replace U209 GAL chip...because I am not used to the iron...I will look for it (I am from Barcelona).

thank you.

[SpeedGeek]

It's better to upgrade to the -03 GAL chip. (-02 still has a Zorro2 DMA bug). The GAL is a 22V10 and the .jed file needed to program it is on many Amiga websites but was originally posted on: http://www.thule.no/haynie/

If you can't find a local service tech Cosmos in France can do this work for you. You can see some of his work here:
http://leblogdecosmos.blogspot.com/2...a3640-iii.html