Amiga 1200 2B red screen and blinking LED after ctrl+A+A

[turrican9]

so I recently built up another A1200 based on a Rev 2B motherboard.

I have removed the RF modulator and recapped it. I am currently using it with a fully unlocked Indivision ACA 1221. Using a 4GB CF card has HD and having Classic workbench full installed.

So this setup seem to work perfectly fine and stable with games and everything. There is just one strange thing. If I soft reset by using ctrl+Amiga+Amiga I get a red screen for a few seconds and the LEDs blinks. But after that it boots just fine to workbench again. This also happens if I remove the ACA 1221. If I remove the CF card from the IDE adapter and only use a floppy drive then the red screen will not happen when I ctrl+A+A. There is nothing wrong with the CF card as I have tried other with the same result. So seems to be related to IDE somehow.

I know the red screen is supposed to be related to ROM error. But I find it strange that the system seems to work perfectly fine and stable appart from this minor thing. And the fact that it will not happen if I don't use a harddrive.

Any suggestions?

[cpiac64]

verify if during boot load a patch of kickstart

[turrican9]

Originally Posted by cpiac64

verify if during boot load a patch of kickstart

What do you mean? How do I do this?

[solarmon]

Check all the reset signals are getting to where they need to get to.

[turrican9]

Originally Posted by solarmon

Check all the reset signals are getting to where they need to get to.

But it does reset when I push ctrl+A+A. It's just showing a red screen for 1 or 2 seconds after reset. Then it boots fine again, just like after a normal reset. And this only happens if I have a CF card as HD in my CF to IDE adapter. If I take the CF card out I will not get the red screen on soft reset.

I also tried the ROM chips from my other A1200 2B in this board and got the same results with that red screen.

Edit: Maybe I should remove both 2B boards from their RF shields and compare components. Maybe this is some timing stuff relating to some smd caps that needs to be removed or something.

Edit2: Oh, and I forgot to mention I do not get the red screen if I restart classic workbench from the menu. Only when doing ctrl+A+A. And on coldboot it's also fine with no red screen

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by turrican9

so I recently built up another A1200 based on a Rev 2B motherboard.

I have removed the RF modulator and recapped it. I am currently using it with a fully unlocked Indivision ACA 1221. Using a 4GB CF card has HD and having Classic workbench full installed.

So this setup seem to work perfectly fine and stable with games and everything. There is just one strange thing. If I soft reset by using ctrl+Amiga+Amiga I get a red screen for a few seconds and the LEDs blinks. But after that it boots just fine to workbench again. This also happens if I remove the ACA 1221. If I remove the CF card from the IDE adapter and only use a floppy drive then the red screen will not happen when I ctrl+A+A. There is nothing wrong with the CF card as I have tried other with the same result. So seems to be related to IDE somehow.

I know the red screen is supposed to be related to ROM error. But I find it strange that the system seems to work perfectly fine and stable appart from this minor thing. And the fact that it will not happen if I don't use a harddrive.

Any suggestions?

You using Kickstart 3.1.4 by any chance?

[turrican9]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

Kickstart 3.1.4 by any chance?

No, using the stock 3.0 kickstarts

[Nobby_UK]

Whenever I have had a Red Screen on my 1200
it was down to the Apollo accelerator.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by Nobby_UK

Whenever I have had a Red Screen on my 1200
it was down to the Apollo accelerator.

Apollo's have always been troubled cards....

I've seen Red screens trying to get 4xIDE & FastATA to work with an mSATA drive attached.

I can kinda appreciate where the OP is going suspecting attached Hard drives.... Basically any device on the SCSI bus.....

[turrican9]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

Apollo's have always been troubled cards....

I've seen Red screens trying to get 4xIDE & FastATA to work with an mSATA drive attached.

I can kinda appreciate where the OP is going suspecting attached Hard drives.... Basically any device on the SCSI bus.....

I don't suspect the CF card or the IDE to CF adapter as they work fine in other Amigas. I also tried other IDE to CF adapters/CF cards in this Amiga. I think it's the motherboard causing the issue in combination with IDE/harddrive.

It's a very minor issue as it doesn't really affect anything. System works perfectly. It's just that I notice that red screen and blinking LEDs when I do a ctrl+a+a. After that it still boots normal. Coldboot or restart via classic WB menu gives no red screen.

Still curious as to why I see this red screen.

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by turrican9

I don't suspect the CF card or the IDE to CF adapter as they work fine in other Amigas. I also tried other IDE to CF adapters/CF cards in this Amiga. I think it's the motherboard causing the issue in combination with IDE/harddrive.

It's a very minor issue as it doesn't really affect anything. System works perfectly. It's just that I notice that red screen and blinking LEDs when I do a ctrl+a+a. After that it still boots normal. Coldboot or restart via classic WB menu gives no red screen.

Still curious as to why I see this red screen.

We know Red is a ROM Fault but since I stopped messing around with an mSATA adapter in vain, whilst wanting to see it work correctly, using a Mircodrive/CF combo has not shown me a Red Screen once.

Does your board conform as suggested here? - Not entirely sure your 1221 is included.

http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/am..._mobo_fix.html

I have seen a flashing Power light from an odd cold boot & the rare Red ROM flash sprinkled in for an extra special "wtf"; ....but since switching power supplies to a beefier one, all has been good so far. - Rev. 1D4 with 3.1.4 ROM & DKB 1240 @ 50Mhz 030/882

[turrican9]

Originally Posted by Kin Hell

We know Red is a ROM Fault but since I stopped messing around with an mSATA adapter in vain, whilst wanting to see it work correctly, using a Mircodrive/CF combo has not shown me a Red Screen once.

Does your board conform as suggested here? - Not entirely sure your 1221 is included.

http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/am..._mobo_fix.html

I have seen a flashing Power light from an odd cold boot & the rare Red ROM flash sprinkled in for an extra special "wtf"; ....but since switching power supplies to a beefier one, all has been good so far. - Rev. 1D4 with 3.1.4 ROM & DKB 1240 @ 50Mhz 030/882

I have not checked the backside of my board yet to look at the component layout and compare it to my other 2B board or the various timing fixes.

The red screen on soft reset does happen without using any accelerator and only if I have a CF card inserted into the ide to cf adapter. If I boot from a floppy drive and still have the CF card plugged in the red screen will not happen on every soft reboot.

Also, I noticed yesterday that when loading a few whdload games, after a while doing this the next game may get a black screen/freeze after the whdload info window. And I need to reset the Amiga. After that the game will start up normally. This seems to happen only after I loaded quite a few whdload games. I can loop a game all night with no problem.

This to me indicates an IDE problem as I've had this kind of behaviour on a furia based A600 using CF cards. Not the red screen thing but the black screen after loading quite a few whdload titles. This came down to the Furia hating CF cards and SD card adapter solved it. Also seen this behaviour on ACA 620 in A600s if I didn't use the grouding screws.

Maybe I should try my IDE to SD card adapter just for fun. See if that changes anything.

I left out C235, C236 and C239 when I recapped. As I removed the RF modulator and these caps seems to only be related to the RF modulator.

[turrican9]

Update. Red screen on soft reset is gone now. I think it happened after unplugging and plugging the IDE to CF card adapter several times. I suspect I must have gotten flux on the IDE header. What must have happened is when recapping and using flux I used a toothbrush and isoprop to clean away the flux. Then I probably scrubbed over the IDE connector and got this sticky stuff on there. Must have made resistance on the pins high enough to cause problems. This is a nasty type of sticky flux that is hard to get off. This is not the first time this flux is causing headache for me.

Will test more tomorrow

[turrican9]

Well, turns out the 8MB RAM board is not giving me red screens on soft reboot. However, the ACA 1221 does.

According to indivision this is perfectly normal for the ACA 1221 on A1200.

The ACA1221 may start up with a red screen in some cases. This may happen on a cold-start or after a reset. This is not an issue, as it will not keep the system from starting at all; it's just a property of the card with certain A1200 motherboard revisions, and it's perfectly normal behaviour.

http://wiki.icomp.de/wiki/ACA1221

However, after loading a bunch of whdload games I get the occassional lockup and black screen where I have to reset the Amiga. I still suspect this is some kind of timing issue since I get those occassional lockups. But only when starting whdload games. Happens randomly after I have loaded a bunch of them.

I have also removed two smd caps recommended by Indivision. This made no difference. Well, mystery solved I guess.

[Kin Hell]

I really do like good Mysteries. - Glad to hear you feel it's resolved.

Originally Posted by turrican9

<snip> unplugging and plugging the IDE to CF card adapter several times. <snip>

I've done this on my 1D4 IDE Header, trying to get mSATA to show. - Cold booting might need several 3 finger salutes. Lock up's for me too a few times on the Workbench screen when it finally booted & then a corrupted partition table afterwards & total loss of data on the drive.

IDE issues with mSATA for me, but since using a 6GB Microdrive/SD to 44pin combo, things are Golden.

[stevew]

I get the same issue, issue 2b board RED screen on ctrl+A+A sometimes. The other thing I notice is my ide-SD adapter is not recognised on cold start, after I carry out a few crtl+A+A, get a RED screen then after that it was recognised and booted into workbench.

[Orionis5]

stevew
Do you also have same problem when removing ide-SD adapter ?

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Orionis5

stevew
Do you also have same problem when removing ide-SD adapter ?

I replaced the ide header as I broke the existing one, and I bent the legs of each ROM chip slightly outwards so they made better contact with the socket. Ide device instantly recognised when I switched on the amiga ?