X-Surf flashing power light, no boot :-(

[fitzsteve]

Howdy All!

I got my X-Surf last week and decided to install it today.

After connecting it up the A4000 does not boot, I just get a flashing power light?

Any idea's? I cannot even get to early boot screen.

Incedently this is what happens if I try to run my PicassoIV in ZIII mode, so is this something else that does not like Buster 9?

I guess I'll have to get that buster 11 soon

Steve.

[alexh]

I don't think there is any history of this card not working with Buster 9.

It is not a Zorro III card and AFAIK there are no changes to Zorro II mode between buster revisions.

Starting to wonder if your daughter card may be broken / not inserted correctly.

[fitzsteve]

You might be right about the Daughter board alexh, I had problems booting after I removed the X-Surf and the Tocatta was in the slot just above the Picasso, when I moved the Tocatta back up to its original slkot (the one above) the system booted again.

However the system will still not boot with the X-Surf in the slot above so I really don't know.

I tried the X-Surf in all of the top three slots without the Toactta and Buddha plugged in.

Sad times.

[bebek]

Hi, I have just find out that the card you bought from ebay is from me . Normally my wife is doing ebay stuff cause I have no time and she is at home with baby. Today I have asked her to send this case with board to you and she remembered your name. I am very sorry you are experiencing troubles with the card. The card was working perfectly well till last second it was in Amiga, so it is a day before I took a picture and put it on ebay (sorry guys but did not know what it was worth so let the market decide). Anyway, it was working with the board I have just sent to you so there should be no reason it will not work with it again unless something happened and it is faulty now. I will give you full refund in that case.

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by bebek

Hi, I have just find out that the card you bought from ebay is from me . Normally my wife is doing ebay stuff cause I have no time and she is at home with baby. Today I have asked her to send this case with board to you and she remembered your name. I am very sorry you are experiencing troubles with the card. The card was working perfectly well till last second it was in Amiga, so it is a day before I took a picture and put it on ebay (sorry guys but did not know what it was worth so let the market decide). Anyway, it was working with the board I have just sent to you so there should be no reason it will not work with it again unless something happened and it is faulty now. I will give you full refund in that case.

Hi!

I'm 99.9999% sure there is nothing wrong with the Card, I think either I have a faulty daughter board or its to do with the Buster revision, one of the reasons I went for your spare motherboard/tower.

I'm having trouble with other Zorro cards as well, like the Z3 Fastlane which is also a known working card. And also my PicassoIV only works in Zorro 2 mode

I'm sure everything will be ok with the X-Surf

Thanks for the reassurance though.

Steve.

[fitzsteve]

Just re-visiting this.

The X-Surf is working perfectly in my 2nd A4000 which has Buster11 and Elbox 7 Slot Zorro Board (its in Elbox Power Tower)

I've tried it again in my Desktop A4000 and the same results, flashing power light and no boot

I've since re-built the A4000D so I know the Zorro Board is correctly inserted, I'm tempted to swap the Motherboards and but if the Daughter Board is faulty I guess its best to try another first? Also if I do this then there is a good chance the Z3 Fastlane won't work in my other A4000 and its the only Ram expansion I have for it.

Hmmm

Since

[lambrettadave]

steve, you say you have 2 of a4000', have you tried to swap the daughter boards surely this would help to resolve a little problem.

i guess you are/have been checking that the zorro slots are clean and like wise to where the daughter board goes in.

Dave

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by lambrettadave

steve, you say you have 2 of a4000', have you tried to swap the daughter boards surely this would help to resolve a little problem.

i guess you are/have been checking that the zorro slots are clean and like wise to where the daughter board goes in.

Dave

Hi Dave,

I've cleaned the Zorro slots and this did not help. The X-Surf does not work in any of the Zorro slots in my A4000D however other cards such as my Tocatta, BuddhaIDE and PiccassoIV (albiet in ZII mode) all work.

Sadly I can't switch out the other Zorro board as its for a Tower system so would not fit in my Desktop.

Another option is to swap over the motherboards (which I've been seriously considering) but I'd hate to risk damaging something with all that work as it requires a full strip down of the A4000D to get to the screws to remove the motherboard.

Thanks for the input.

Steve.

[lambrettadave]

So does the a4000 allow z2 and z3 cards to be inserted at the same time.

Seams like the machine is switching into z2 mode and therefore bypassing zorro 3

have you got anything else to put in the slot to see if it accept another zorro 2 card and if possible t0 try another zorro3 card to see if it will accept a different zorro3

[alexh]

Originally Posted by lambrettadave

So does the a4000 allow z2 and z3 cards to be inserted at the same time.

Yes. ZII and ZIII cards work happily in the same system.

[mech]

Steve,I wouldn't assume its buster 9 as being problematic, x-surf works fine in 4000's with buster 9. You may simply have a bad buster 9 chip or a problem with the zorro bus elsewhere.. It would make sense to put in a buster11 though if you buy one and may save you some grief.

Mike

[fitzsteve]

So! I decided to try moving everything to the Tower for testing (saves changing the motherboards) So in went the Apollo 4040, X-Surf & PicassoIV...

And interestingly it seems to be the combination of X-Surf and PicassoIV that is the problem.

In either A4000 if these two cards are used together then all I get is flashing power light

Whilst I was at it I tried the PicassoIV in ZIII Mode in the tower and that checks out as working fine.

Any idea's?

Steve.

[alexh]

I've got a Picasso IV in ZIII mode + X-Surf, A4000D buster Rev11 and they work fine.

BUT

The X-Surf _IS_ picky about which slot it likes.

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by alexh

I've got a Picasso IV in ZIII mode + X-Surf, A4000D buster Rev11 and they work fine.

BUT

The X-Surf _IS_ picky about which slot it likes.

Yeah that seems to be the problem, not so much what slot the X-Surf is in, but the other cards and the slots they are in being used with the X-Surf!

I moved the X-Surf and Tocatta (swapped the slots they were in) and now its booted up and working! (In the Tower) Or I say, it was working... Now for some reason I have another problem

When I introduced another zorro card (the Buddha) it done the same thing again. So whipped that out, rebooted all fine.

She hung whilst installing the MiamiDX and now wont boot

So another fun problem to investigate (the CF is booting fine in UAE so thats not corrupt)

Should have left everything as it was and forgot about the damn Network card!

Now I've opened a massive can of worms!

[fitzsteve]

Put everything back as it was now, system was hanging for some reason maybe the PSU in the Tower is not strong enough, anyway to save further risk of damaging stuff I've given up!

Would have been great to get the little fella online but I guess it wasn't meant to be

When I build my super dooper Tower, I'll get that one online, for now I'll probably sell the X-Surf.

Steve.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

maybe the PSU in the Tower is not strong enough

Never had a power problem in an Amiga yet. Even fully loaded.

[bebek]

PSU in tower I sold you was working with seven zorro cards and PPC/060, two scsi hard drives, two IDE and three dvdrom drives - it has got enough power

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by bebek

PSU in tower I sold you was working with seven zorro cards and PPC/060, two scsi hard drives, two IDE and three dvdrom drives - it has got enough power

Thanks for that

I'm going to try another Bus Board in the Desktop at some point.

Tower is working fine with just Z3 Fastlane & XSurf but once I loaded it up with everything it was hanging, however I since resolved the Ram issue on the Z3 Fastlane (one bank had mixed chips/2 pairs) and I think this my have been the cause.

Steve.