A1200 Wont Reset?

[blade002]

Something really weird is going on with my A1200. It's an original Commodore A1200 that I bought back in 1992 that's worked fine up until now with a minor problem.

The problem I'm having is that when I try to reset it with the usual "Ctrl, Amiga, Amiga" keys it does nothing! I have checked within Workbench if the keyboard is working and the keys are working but I don't know how to check if both left and right Amiga keys are working since I have only ever used those keys to reset.

Is there a way I can use those keys as a test to see if they are working within Workbench?

Other than that, what could it be? the A1200 is working fine otherwise.

My configuration is with an Blizzard 030@50mhz, 16 meg of fast, 2.5 Inch IDE HD running off an IDE Buffered Interface Device.

[Daedalus]

You can test the right Amiga key by seeing if any menu shortcuts work, for example Right Amiga+I to open the information window for the highlighted icon(s). Holding down the Left Amiga key and pressing the arrow keys should move your mouse pointer around the screen, and pressing Left Amiga and Left Alt should do the same as clicking the left mouse button, e.g. selecting an icon under the mouse pointer.

There may be other issues however if the keys are all working. For example, the reset can be delayed by a number of seconds by software - are you sure it isn't just delaying the reset? Does it not reset even after 30 seconds? The keyboard reset is actually a separate signal to the main reset line on the motherboard, and so it can be damaged while the rest of the machine works fine. Have you ever had the capacitors replaced? Damage to the board from leaking capacitors could in theory cause such a fault.

[FOL]

Or go into early startup menu and check all keys that way. Each key press will change screen mode. If a key doesn't, then it isnt working.

I would check the keyboard cable, if its not completely square it can cause issues with certain keys.

[blade002]

Thanks guys, I just did a test on the boot screen and it appears the Right Amiga key is not working but that's not the only key that's not working on the numeric keypad the ( * and + keys have also stopped working.

I need to figure out ASAP what's going on here, cause as you said Daedalus, it could be the Caps

I re-seated the keyboard cable FOL but to no avail

[Daedalus]

Hmmm, those keys all relate to different matrix rows and columns, so there are a few circuits involved at least. Any creases on the ribbon? Are you certain the clamping cover part of the keyboard connector on the motherboard is securely and squarely pushed down, after the ribbon is inserted fully? If it worked before and the machine hadn't been taken apart before it stopped working then it does sound like something to do with time, e.g. capacitors or oxidisation of contacts. Reseating the ribbon should've helped if it was oxidisation, but there's also a chance the ribbon end has become damaged from too many removals and insertions.

[Jope]

.. especially when removed and inserted without opening the latch .. :-)

[FOL]

Could trim the cable by 1mm.

[LongLifeA1200]

So what is it about these keys on the A1200 (in particular the 'Ctrl', Left-'Shift', Left-'Alt', Left-'A' and Right-'A') that is making them the first to fail?

[solarmon]

Use Amiga Test Kit to show which keys are failing.

If it is the control/special keys, then there is a common ground trace that they use.

You can use the keyboard map I made to find and check the traces:

https://github.com/solarmon/Amiga-Keyboard

The broken traces can be fixed with silver conductive ink.