A1200 Loooooooong boot times!

Mick_AKA · 28 May 2005, 22:26

Hi all, currently my A1200 has suddenly devoloped a problem!

the boot time has leangthened to around 20 secconds where as it used to take 5 for it to fire up and boot into os 3.5.

Ive not installed any new software or hardware!

I am running the following:

A1200 Rev 1D4 MB with 3.1 Roms, Blizzard 1230 MkIV with 128meg ram, IBM 4 gig HDD, OS 3.5 installed, Squirrel SCSI with NEC Caddy Load CD Drive etc etc...

Any ideas folks?

thomas · 28 May 2005, 23:13

Perhaps one of the HDD partitions is validating. Wait until the HDD light stops blinking before you switch off or reset the computer. Then it should boot as fast as before.

If it does not solve itself, you have to investigate where it needs so long. Hold down both mouse buttons during reset and choose "boot without startup-sequence" from the menu. A DOS window should appear. First enter Info and check that al drives are read/write and none is validating. If one is validating, wait for it to finish (HDD light becomes dark). Enter Info again. If the drive is still marked as validating, then the disk structure is corrupted. Get DiskSalv or similar to salvage the data. (Note: if you want to rescue all data you should first copy all files to a different location and then reformat the partition. If you try to repair the partition, important files might get deleted.)

If no drive is validating and the boot process is still slow, go to the DOS window without startup-sequence again, enter Set Echo On and Execute S:Startup-Sequence. Then watch the boot process and recognise where it is slow.

Mick_AKA · 28 May 2005, 23:26

I cant see any problems at all, have also tried booting with the blizzard removed which does not help, its almost like the system gets half through booting then re-starts

Mick_AKA · 28 May 2005, 23:49

The plot thickens....

The A1200 is now stripped bare, no HD no Blizzard no cd-rom, just a bare standard A1200...

...and we still have a 20 seccond wait for the disk insert screen

Mick_AKA · 29 May 2005, 00:15

Right ok, my PCMCIA cd-rom has stopped mounting, my extra ram and/or my blizzard is only recognised every other boot, when i put a disk into the internal drive it freezes the machine

are we talking dead motherboard here?

Bamiga2002 · 29 May 2005, 11:08

That can be checked only with another motherboard that WORKS. My mobo went bust some time ago, but i lack the cash for the "massive" upgrade i have planned. First the internal IDE interface lost a pin when i pulled the HD cable out of it. Miggy wouldn't boot after that. Then i think i broke the PCMCIA slot with an already broken 90 degree adapter grrrrr . Yep when i have the cash prepare for a monster A1200 setup

Pfloyd · 29 May 2005, 11:23

With Kickstart 3.1 ROMs and disconnected HDD, the 20 sec delay before you can see the "Insert Disk" screen is normal (HDD spinup and ready timeout).

If this also appears when the HDD is connected, check IDE cable and HDD master/slave/cs jumpers. Some HDDs work better if you cut the Reset Signal from the IDE cable (pin 1).

Mick_AKA · 29 May 2005, 12:59

Well the a1200 seems to be totally dead now, when turned on just turnd hard disk and shows a dark grey screen, ctrl-a-a still resets it though

28 May 2005, 22:26	#1
Mick_AKA crusader of light Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stone, Staffordshire. Posts: 1,151	A1200 Loooooooong boot times! Hi all, currently my A1200 has suddenly devoloped a problem! the boot time has leangthened to around 20 secconds where as it used to take 5 for it to fire up and boot into os 3.5. Ive not installed any new software or hardware! I am running the following: A1200 Rev 1D4 MB with 3.1 Roms, Blizzard 1230 MkIV with 128meg ram, IBM 4 gig HDD, OS 3.5 installed, Squirrel SCSI with NEC Caddy Load CD Drive etc etc... Any ideas folks?

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28 May 2005, 23:13	#2
thomas Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Germany Posts: 7,024	Perhaps one of the HDD partitions is validating. Wait until the HDD light stops blinking before you switch off or reset the computer. Then it should boot as fast as before. If it does not solve itself, you have to investigate where it needs so long. Hold down both mouse buttons during reset and choose "boot without startup-sequence" from the menu. A DOS window should appear. First enter Info and check that al drives are read/write and none is validating. If one is validating, wait for it to finish (HDD light becomes dark). Enter Info again. If the drive is still marked as validating, then the disk structure is corrupted. Get DiskSalv or similar to salvage the data. (Note: if you want to rescue all data you should first copy all files to a different location and then reformat the partition. If you try to repair the partition, important files might get deleted.) If no drive is validating and the boot process is still slow, go to the DOS window without startup-sequence again, enter Set Echo On and Execute S:Startup-Sequence. Then watch the boot process and recognise where it is slow.

28 May 2005, 23:26	#3
Mick_AKA crusader of light Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stone, Staffordshire. Posts: 1,151	I cant see any problems at all, have also tried booting with the blizzard removed which does not help, its almost like the system gets half through booting then re-starts

28 May 2005, 23:49	#4
Mick_AKA crusader of light Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stone, Staffordshire. Posts: 1,151	The plot thickens.... The A1200 is now stripped bare, no HD no Blizzard no cd-rom, just a bare standard A1200... ...and we still have a 20 seccond wait for the disk insert screen

29 May 2005, 00:15	#5
Mick_AKA crusader of light Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stone, Staffordshire. Posts: 1,151	Right ok, my PCMCIA cd-rom has stopped mounting, my extra ram and/or my blizzard is only recognised every other boot, when i put a disk into the internal drive it freezes the machine are we talking dead motherboard here?

29 May 2005, 11:08	#6
Bamiga2002 BlizzardPPC'less Join Date: May 2004 Location: Finland Age: 46 Posts: 3,210	That can be checked only with another motherboard that WORKS. My mobo went bust some time ago, but i lack the cash for the "massive" upgrade i have planned. First the internal IDE interface lost a pin when i pulled the HD cable out of it. Miggy wouldn't boot after that. Then i think i broke the PCMCIA slot with an already broken 90 degree adapter grrrrr . Yep when i have the cash prepare for a monster A1200 setup

29 May 2005, 11:23	#7
Pfloyd Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Bonn / Germany Posts: 88	With Kickstart 3.1 ROMs and disconnected HDD, the 20 sec delay before you can see the "Insert Disk" screen is normal (HDD spinup and ready timeout). If this also appears when the HDD is connected, check IDE cable and HDD master/slave/cs jumpers. Some HDDs work better if you cut the Reset Signal from the IDE cable (pin 1).

29 May 2005, 12:59	#8
Mick_AKA crusader of light Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Stone, Staffordshire. Posts: 1,151	Well the a1200 seems to be totally dead now, when turned on just turnd hard disk and shows a dark grey screen, ctrl-a-a still resets it though

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