More A3000 SCSI woes

Vypr · 24 April 2022, 21:55

Was doing some work on my ReAmiga 3000, specifically Zorro cards would work for fine for an hour or so but on reboot would fail to be detected. I figured the problem would be the PAL chip at U714 because it was absolutely burning hot. I replaced the PAL16v8 with a GAL16V8 and all was good until about a day later.
Now the system will not boot up with the SCSI2SD connected, power light is full green and HDD LED is on solid.
Disconnecting the SCSI cable or removing the SD card from the SCSI2SD will allow the Amiga to boot to floppy.

Things I have tried:
Replaced the ROMS (3.2) with the original 3.1 ROMs
Replaced the SCSI cable
Inserted a fresh SD card (cleaned with no partitions)
Swapped the SCSI2SD with one from a working A2000
Swapped the WDC SCSI chip with a known good working one.
Tested the logic chips at U106 and U713 in an RCT - both passed.

The SCSI2SD has internal termination turned on, turning it off allows the Amiga to boot to floppy but HDTools doesn't detect any drives.

Resistor packs are installed in RP802 & RP803, removing them didn't help.

Anything else I can check? I haven't tried terminating the cable itself, I do have a 50 pin SCSI terminator somewhere in the depths of the mancave but I don't feel up to the Archeological expedition required to find it (There's a lost tribe of ZX Spectrum motherboards in there somewhere).

Leon Besson · 24 April 2022, 23:34

Mainboard recapped? Bromigo!

alexh · 25 April 2022, 08:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leon Besson

Mainboard recapped?

It's a brand new ReAmiga 3000!!!

matt3k · 28 April 2022, 18:44

If I had to guess:
1. Power Supply (try a different one if you have one) - When they start to fail they give very strange symtoms.
2. Your new ReAmiga has a fault somewhere when it was built. I suggest you try components in another 3k to test.
3. Some other chip is bad. Get another 3k to swap out chips with to see if that tells you.

Good luck! I know of 3 other ReAmiga users that have had issues with the boards, so it may be possible...

Wrangler · 28 April 2022, 19:35

Solid HDD light at power on says bad SCSI termination to me. I think you need to try some more combinations with the termination (eg active termination) and/or a different SCSI cable length (did your replacement cable have a different length?). Also is there term power on the cable?

Leon Besson · 02 May 2022, 00:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by alexh

It's a brand new ReAmiga 3000!!!

D’oh!

Vypr · 16 June 2022, 00:21

OK, finally had time to get back to this one.
Still no joy getting it to detect SCSI without locking up.. SO far have tried:

1) checked all the lines from the SCSI chip to the 50 pin cponnector and to the DMAC, all showing good connection.
2) Tried several different lengths of SCSI cable from less than 2 inches to full 6 connector length.
3) Tested several known working SCSI drives. Will boot with SCSI CD ROM attached but locks up when using HDToolbox scanning drives.
4) Tried with and without the Resistor termination packs on the main board
5) Bought brand new resistor packs just in case
6) Tried putting an Active terminator on the SCSI cable
7) Plugged in an A2091SCSI card, was able to boot off that fine.
8) Swapped the WDC SCSI chip from the working A2091, same issue. SCSI chip from A3000 works on the A2091.

The only component I haven't swapped is the Super-DMAC since it's pretty difficult to get spares of this chip..

Any other suggestions on what I can try?

Vypr · 16 June 2022, 01:22

OK, hugely confused now.
While swapping some ROMS around (Put the old KS3.1 ROMS that came with it back in, no joy there) My eyes fell upon the 3630 card I took out of my A4000 when I got hold of a 3660 for it.
For shits and giggles I popped it in

And it worked.

So it looks like I now have to start checking the CPU for bad connections. Either that or the CPU is shot.

Dale423 · 16 June 2022, 15:15

Sounds like a bad SDMAC to me. I had similar issues and replacing the SDMAC (pricey!) resolved it.

Vypr · 17 June 2022, 13:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dale423

Sounds like a bad SDMAC to me. I had similar issues and replacing the SDMAC (pricey!) resolved it.

I was heading down the SDMAC route myself Only price i could find was £350 and it was out of stock anyway.

But the fact it works witha CPU card makes me think it's not the DMAC after all.

trixster · 17 June 2022, 15:48

I have a spare DMAC-02 I can lend you to help troubleshoot if you want?

24 April 2022, 21:55	#1
Vypr Registered User Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: East Kilbride, Scotland Posts: 451	More A3000 SCSI woes Was doing some work on my ReAmiga 3000, specifically Zorro cards would work for fine for an hour or so but on reboot would fail to be detected. I figured the problem would be the PAL chip at U714 because it was absolutely burning hot. I replaced the PAL16v8 with a GAL16V8 and all was good until about a day later. Now the system will not boot up with the SCSI2SD connected, power light is full green and HDD LED is on solid. Disconnecting the SCSI cable or removing the SD card from the SCSI2SD will allow the Amiga to boot to floppy. Things I have tried: Replaced the ROMS (3.2) with the original 3.1 ROMs Replaced the SCSI cable Inserted a fresh SD card (cleaned with no partitions) Swapped the SCSI2SD with one from a working A2000 Swapped the WDC SCSI chip with a known good working one. Tested the logic chips at U106 and U713 in an RCT - both passed. The SCSI2SD has internal termination turned on, turning it off allows the Amiga to boot to floppy but HDTools doesn't detect any drives. Resistor packs are installed in RP802 & RP803, removing them didn't help. Anything else I can check? I haven't tried terminating the cable itself, I do have a 50 pin SCSI terminator somewhere in the depths of the mancave but I don't feel up to the Archeological expedition required to find it (There's a lost tribe of ZX Spectrum motherboards in there somewhere).

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24 April 2022, 23:34	#2
Leon Besson Banned Join Date: Feb 2022 Location: Anywhere and everywhere I have a contract Posts: 822	Mainboard recapped? Bromigo!

28 April 2022, 18:44	#4
matt3k Registered User Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: NY / USA Posts: 290	If I had to guess: 1. Power Supply (try a different one if you have one) - When they start to fail they give very strange symtoms. 2. Your new ReAmiga has a fault somewhere when it was built. I suggest you try components in another 3k to test. 3. Some other chip is bad. Get another 3k to swap out chips with to see if that tells you. Good luck! I know of 3 other ReAmiga users that have had issues with the boards, so it may be possible...

28 April 2022, 19:35	#5
Wrangler Registered User Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: London, UK Posts: 414	Solid HDD light at power on says bad SCSI termination to me. I think you need to try some more combinations with the termination (eg active termination) and/or a different SCSI cable length (did your replacement cable have a different length?). Also is there term power on the cable?

16 June 2022, 00:21	#7
Vypr Registered User Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: East Kilbride, Scotland Posts: 451	OK, finally had time to get back to this one. Still no joy getting it to detect SCSI without locking up.. SO far have tried: 1) checked all the lines from the SCSI chip to the 50 pin cponnector and to the DMAC, all showing good connection. 2) Tried several different lengths of SCSI cable from less than 2 inches to full 6 connector length. 3) Tested several known working SCSI drives. Will boot with SCSI CD ROM attached but locks up when using HDToolbox scanning drives. 4) Tried with and without the Resistor termination packs on the main board 5) Bought brand new resistor packs just in case 6) Tried putting an Active terminator on the SCSI cable 7) Plugged in an A2091SCSI card, was able to boot off that fine. 8) Swapped the WDC SCSI chip from the working A2091, same issue. SCSI chip from A3000 works on the A2091. The only component I haven't swapped is the Super-DMAC since it's pretty difficult to get spares of this chip.. Any other suggestions on what I can try?

16 June 2022, 01:22	#8
Vypr Registered User Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: East Kilbride, Scotland Posts: 451	OK, hugely confused now. While swapping some ROMS around (Put the old KS3.1 ROMS that came with it back in, no joy there) My eyes fell upon the 3630 card I took out of my A4000 when I got hold of a 3660 for it. For shits and giggles I popped it in And it worked. So it looks like I now have to start checking the CPU for bad connections. Either that or the CPU is shot.

16 June 2022, 15:15	#9
Dale423 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2020 Location: Bentonville, AR USA Posts: 74	Sounds like a bad SDMAC to me. I had similar issues and replacing the SDMAC (pricey!) resolved it.

17 June 2022, 15:48	#11
trixster Guru Meditating Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: England Posts: 2,337	I have a spare DMAC-02 I can lend you to help troubleshoot if you want?

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