Need Help with my Blizzard 1230 MKIV

lopos2000 · 04 July 2006, 14:12

My A1200T doesn't boot up anymore with the Blizzard installed.

Normarly when the Amiga boots up you get the blue lines for a split second but not anymore. What I get is a white blit and moving black/white lines on my screen. Early boot menue doesn't work too.

So, I took out the CPU from the Blizzard and booted the Amiga up again. Now I get a black screen and no early boot menue.
My board is a REV 2B wih no modifications.
Any Ideas.

rare_j · 04 July 2006, 14:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by lopos2000

What I get is a white blit and moving black/white lines on my screen. Early boot menue doesn't work too.

That's what I got when I plugged too much stuff into my A1200 with the standard PSU and ran out of juice. A white line instead of the blue ones and then the thing was in a reset loop which meant moving black/white lines on the screen, then the white line again etc.

I switched it off at the plug and unplugged loads of stuff and it still didn't work; I got the red screen of ROM death instead, that was quite scary and I thought I'd fried it. So I left it cold for 1/2 hour and when I went back to it it came back to life. PHEW. Since then no probs.

Don't know if thats any help but my symptoms sound A LOT like yours. Maybe that's what happens if the Bliz isn't getting enough power?

EDIT: I really was being silly with the power at the time. I had an external floppy, zip drive, 3.5" HDD, 2.5" HDD, Network card, internal DCE scandoubler, and the Bliz + RAM all plugged in which is madness. I may have had a IDE compactflash in there as well, can't remember. anyway it was way too much.

lopos2000 · 04 July 2006, 14:50

Yes, that sounds similar but I am using a AT 230W PSU so that can't be it. And it's still the same. I checked the ROMS they are still firmly seated.

rare_j · 04 July 2006, 14:54

Have you tried removing the bliz completely? maybe it's a bad line on the board of one of the trapdoor connectors is getting bad connectivity for some reason.

I assume holding down 2 when you switch it on to disable the Bliz is not helping?

lopos2000 · 04 July 2006, 14:58

Yes, I have removed the Blizzard and cleaned the contacts but still no luck. I can disabled the Blizzard by holding down '2' but as you said that's not realy helping.

DoctorQ · 04 July 2006, 15:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by lopos2000

Yes, I have removed the Blizzard and cleaned the contacts but still no luck. I can disabled the Blizzard by holding down '2' but as you said that's not realy helping.

Did the computer boot while you had the Blizzard removed? If so, and you still can't get it to boot with the Blizzard, try to remove the SCSI kit if it is connected, and remove the ram on the Blizzard.

If it still doesn't boot, remove the Blizzard, take a needle and carefully adjust the pins in the expansion slot on the accelerator so it makes better contact.

lopos2000 · 04 July 2006, 15:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoctorQ

Did the computer boot while you had the Blizzard removed? If so, and you still can't get it to boot with the Blizzard, try to remove the SCSI kit if it is connected, and remove the ram on the Blizzard.

Done that. Still doesn't work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoctorQ

If it still doesn't boot, remove the Blizzard, take a needle and carefully adjust the pins in the expansion slot on the accelerator so it makes better contact.

I'll try it out and see what happened.

Thanks

DoctorQ · 04 July 2006, 15:12

Well, does the computer boot without the Blizzard installed?

rare_j · 04 July 2006, 15:13

So you can hold down 2 to disable the blizzard and the machine boots ok? That's slightly promising I think. That means the Bliz is alive enough to detect a "2" and switch itself off.
Have you tried it with the CPU back in and no RAM or FPU? Try disabling maprom as well (put a jumper on J1 i think)

lopos2000 · 04 July 2006, 15:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoctorQ

Well, does the computer boot without the Blizzard installed?

Yes.

lopos2000 · 04 July 2006, 15:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by rare_j

So you can hold down 2 to disable the blizzard and the machine boots ok? That's slightly promising I think. That means the Bliz is alive enough to detect a "2" and switch itself off.
Have you tried it with the CPU back in and no RAM or FPU? Try disabling maprom as well (put a jumper on J1 i think)

Tried it. Still no luck.

rare_j · 04 July 2006, 15:23

So one day it works, the next day it doesn't? nothing else added/taken away/tinkered with on the hardware?
Sounds serious for your bliz.
Have you got active cooling in that tower? The 68030 can get too hot to touch if you're 3D rendering or even just banging workbench with a big screenmode newicons and fblit.
I hope the current heatwave hasn't pushed it over the edge.
On a slightly brighter note there's a 68030 on ebay for £12.99.
I'm sure you didn't want to hear that.

lopos2000 · 04 July 2006, 15:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by rare_j

So one day it works, the next day it doesn't? nothing else added/taken away/tinkered with on the hardware?

No, I haven't added anything to it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rare_j

Sounds serious for your bliz.

Indeed it does.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rare_j

Have you got active cooling in that tower? The 68030 can get too hot to touch if you're 3D rendering or even just banging workbench with a big screenmode newicons and fblit.

No, I haven't got active cooling in my tower but the tower is open (side panel removed)

Quote:

Originally Posted by rare_j

I hope the current heatwave hasn't pushed it over the edge.

I think it did.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rare_j

On a slightly brighter note there's a 68030 on ebay for £12.99.
I'm sure you didn't want to hear that.

Yes, I have seen it. I rather buy a new CPU that a new Blizzard.

But, I just want to make sure that it is the CPU and not something else.

rare_j · 04 July 2006, 17:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by lopos2000

No, I haven't got active cooling in my tower but the tower is open (side panel removed)

Dude that's the worst thing you can to to a hot PC on a hot day. You need a puff of air flowing over the hot bits, but when the side is off you get no airflow, just the hot air in the room sitting over the hot chips.
The idea is to have one fan pulling air into the case and another pulling out. Ideally one at the front and the other at the back (usually in the PSU), with no other significant holes in the case so you force the airflow between those two points. If even a bit of air moves over the chip it makes a big difference.
If you have the case open on a hot day (or any day) the advice is to point a desk fan or something at it. The current heatwave just makes it more necessary.
It's often said the 68030 doesn't need any cooling but that's BS in my experience. If you bang it hard at 50mhz it can get hot as hell at and locks the machine up.
Hopefully your CPU is ok and it's something else but i don't know what to suggest.

adgloride · 04 July 2006, 18:28

I did have problems on my tower with the Blizzard 1230 coming on and just some lines flickering on. My problem was the IDE interface I was using wasn't plugged into the right pins. Once it was plugged in properly it worked no problems.

04 July 2006, 14:12	#1
lopos2000 Zone Friend Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cider is best In The West Posts: 1,238	Need Help with my Blizzard 1230 MKIV My A1200T doesn't boot up anymore with the Blizzard installed. Normarly when the Amiga boots up you get the blue lines for a split second but not anymore. What I get is a white blit and moving black/white lines on my screen. Early boot menue doesn't work too. So, I took out the CPU from the Blizzard and booted the Amiga up again. Now I get a black screen and no early boot menue. My board is a REV 2B wih no modifications. Any Ideas.

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04 July 2006, 14:50	#3
lopos2000 Zone Friend Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cider is best In The West Posts: 1,238	Yes, that sounds similar but I am using a AT 230W PSU so that can't be it. And it's still the same. I checked the ROMS they are still firmly seated.

04 July 2006, 14:54	#4
rare_j Zone Friend Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: London Posts: 1,176	Have you tried removing the bliz completely? maybe it's a bad line on the board of one of the trapdoor connectors is getting bad connectivity for some reason. I assume holding down 2 when you switch it on to disable the Bliz is not helping?

04 July 2006, 14:58	#5
lopos2000 Zone Friend Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Cider is best In The West Posts: 1,238	Yes, I have removed the Blizzard and cleaned the contacts but still no luck. I can disabled the Blizzard by holding down '2' but as you said that's not realy helping.

04 July 2006, 15:12	#8
DoctorQ What?? Who?? DoctorQ!! Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Rødding/Denmark Age: 43 Posts: 314	Well, does the computer boot without the Blizzard installed?

04 July 2006, 15:13	#9
rare_j Zone Friend Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: London Posts: 1,176	So you can hold down 2 to disable the blizzard and the machine boots ok? That's slightly promising I think. That means the Bliz is alive enough to detect a "2" and switch itself off. Have you tried it with the CPU back in and no RAM or FPU? Try disabling maprom as well (put a jumper on J1 i think)

04 July 2006, 15:23	#12
rare_j Zone Friend Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: London Posts: 1,176	So one day it works, the next day it doesn't? nothing else added/taken away/tinkered with on the hardware? Sounds serious for your bliz. Have you got active cooling in that tower? The 68030 can get too hot to touch if you're 3D rendering or even just banging workbench with a big screenmode newicons and fblit. I hope the current heatwave hasn't pushed it over the edge. On a slightly brighter note there's a 68030 on ebay for £12.99. I'm sure you didn't want to hear that.

04 July 2006, 18:28	#15
adgloride Amiga Mod Chipper Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: UK Age: 51 Posts: 229	I did have problems on my tower with the Blizzard 1230 coming on and just some lines flickering on. My problem was the IDE interface I was using wasn't plugged into the right pins. Once it was plugged in properly it worked no problems.

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