Amiga 4000T not booting

[Kristian95]

EDIT: I have put a summary of my problem here in the first post:

I have switched the P-IV card to the other video-slot and now it works... when I use WHDLoad it keeps working fine, but when I am in Workbench after a few minutes it stops working (giving me a black screen on my LCD)... anyone have any idea what causes this to happen ??

Also, unrelated, I wonder whether anyone can help me with my floppy problem:

I have 2 HD floppy drives in the Amiga, one FZ-357A and one FZ-357B drive, I have bought a new floppy cable from Amigakit, but I am unsure how to set the jumpers for drive selection... should both be DS0 or should one of them be DS1 ?? If one should be set to DS1, should it be the one before or after the "twist" on the floppy cable ??

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I've finally gotten all my bits and pieces together to use my A4000T and it won't boot
When I start the machine I am stuck with a black screen and the caps lock on the keyboard blinking slowly... blink.... blink..... blink.... it blinks like that continuously.
The machine has a Picasso IV card, a CSPPC card and a 2Mb eFlash card in it.
I read somewhere that the continuous one flash on the caps lock indicates a problem with one of the CIA chips... is that true, in if it is, is there anyone in the US capable of fixing my dear Amiga for me ??

[Boot_WB]

Take all the cards out (except the ppc) and try booting. It may take around 30 seconds to reach the "insert disk" screen,

If that works, start building up the system, card by card. Check that the machine boots each time you add a card.

Eventually, you'll find out which card is causing the problem - then it will be a lot easier to figure out what the problem is, and hopefully find a solution.

Regards



Rich

[Kristian95]

I have tried taking the e-flash card out, I have disconnected the SCSI cd-rom drive and I have disconnected the IDE->CF adapters (taking the IDE-cable out completely) and still no go. I cannot remove the P-IV card as I have no monitor to connect to a bare Amiga and I cannot remove the CSPPC card as I don't have any other CPU card.
The CPU fan on the PPC as well as the case fan both run when the computer is booted.
Btw, the keyboard has been bought as working from Vesalia.de.

[Boot_WB]

1) Double check to make sure that the video, ports, and disk modules are installed properly - you may have just misaligned them when plugging them in.

if still no joy:

2) Try booting without the keyboard installed.

if still no joy:

3) There are two jumpers on the A4000T motherboard (underneath the CSPPC card). Make sure these are set to the "E" position, not the "I" position.

if still no joy:

4) Remove the picasso IV, you don't need to see the screen to know that the Amiga has got to the "insert disk" screen - the clicking of the floppy drive will give it away.

if still no joy:

5) Try removing the fast ram from the motherboard - just leave the CSPPC memory on board. this will eliminate the possibility that the motherboard ram is causing the problem.

if still no joy:

6) Try testing the CSPPC memory two sticks at a time (the CSPPC requires simms to be installed in pairs). Make sure the CSPPC memory slots 1 and 3 are populated.

If still no joy don't panic, it may still be something fairly simple to solve.

Regards



Rich

[Calgor]

Also make sure the PPC card is properly seated in the motherboard accelerator slot. It can come loose if in transport. The keyboard tip to boot without one connected is also a good one (and even no mouse too - don't plug it in/out while amiga is on).

I would also try to boot with nothing connected except the floppy drive too.

[Kristian95]

One step closer actually I have had the Amiga booting. I think the problem was a conflict between my 2 IDE -> CF devices, I think both wanted to be masters... I solved that one, though my preferred device had to be slave.
The computer boots, no caps flashing, but I'm not there quite yet, because I have problems with the video signal from my Picasso IV card:

Most of the time when I boot (using a standard PC CRT monitor) I get a black screen, well I can see that the Amiga image on the screen is slightly less "black" than the surrounding. Once in a while, when I boot, I get a grey screen instead. It even booted and showed me a _very_ blurred WB screen. Also, once, I got a Guru screen which displayed perfectly. I checked with the monitor, when the screen was giving me the blurred wb screen it was at 31 KHz.... does this indicate that the scandoubler/flicker fixer is in trouble ??

Thanks to all of you for your help throughout this ordeal!!

Btw, I do, somewhere, have an Amiga -> Scart cable for the standard video output, but I am in the US and the TV I have access to does not have a scart plug but only the 3 plugs for Y, Pb and Pr.

Btw, I have 2 HD floppy drives in the Amiga, one FZ-357A and one FZ-357B drive, I have bought a new floppy cable from Amigakit, but I am unsure how to set the jumpers for drive selection... should both be DS0 or should one of them be DS1 ?? If one should be set to DS1, should it be the one before or after the "twist" on the floppy cable ??

[Kristian95]

Ok, I'm getting closer now
I have switched the P-IV card to the other video-slot and now it works... when I use WHDLoad it keeps working fine, but when I am in Workbench after a few minutes it stops working (giving me a black screen on my LCD)... anyone have any idea what causes this to happen ??