Problematic GVP A530 Turbo

[Mogsy]

I recently pulled out my A500+ and GVP A530 Turbo from the loft.

To my amazement everything worked, with the exception of an error message referring to fonts when booting from the A530 HD. When cancelled, it would continue to boot straight into Workbench.

Unfortunately, it will no longer boot from HD. When turned on, it makes the usual noise, but the screen remains grey and there is no HD activity.

I'm thinking the HD has kicked the bucket...

Can anyone offer some advice or maybe give me an indication of where to get a replacement HD or even how to go about chucking a CF card in it.

Many thanks.

[fitzsteve]

Sadly these old SCSI HDD's have a habbit of dying

Does your A500+ boot from a floppy Disk or offer an 'Insert Disk' screen if you disconnect the HDD or turn off/unplug the Accelerator?

A500+ are also prone to battery leakage, if you haven't replaced/removed your original battery by now it is almost certainly leaking or about to!

If the A500+ is not booting on it's own then I suggest opening and making sure all socketed chips are fully seated in their sockets and of course checking for any battery damage.

Good luck

Steve.

[Mogsy]

Many thanks for your reply.

The A500+ boot fine from floppy with the A530 removed or with the turbo switched off.

I have had the A500+ open and the battery seems fine.

[roy bates]

the only way i know to get scsi to see a ide cf card is this:

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...VqY-g2EwmhiXxw

and well,there not cheap.

i think you would be better off looking for a scsi drive(50 pin)


you could try to check the power supply for the gvp to make sure its putting out the right voltages(although i dont think its that)and check all the connectors for power and side connector are clean.

[Mogsy]

Hmm, I've stripped the A530 down, given it a clean and reseated the CPU and various jumpers and its now booting again lol.

I'm scared to turn it off again....

[roy bates]

probably a bad jumper,or worse case a bad solder joint(i dont think its the last one)

[Mogsy]

I really hope so. After 20+ years of being mothballed and it working on first try it would be a shame for it to fail now.

As the saying goes, "they really don't make them like they used to".

[roy bates]

so true,i have 30 year old machines that just keep on going,well ok ive had to fix them a few times but still

[Mogsy]

Thats just it, simple fixes and these things keep chugging on.

Try doing that with a modern PC.

[roy bates]

i wish some of the fixes ive had to do where easy ones,well ok some where and some not so...


dont talk to me about pc's mine broken down alot more times than anything retro i have

[Mogsy]

Same here. I've gone through some mobo's in my time....

On the plus side replacement parts are easily obtainable for modern kit.

If only GVP memory was as easy to acquire as PC memory!

[roy bates]

i have actually seen them turn up from time to time on amibay.

[Mogsy]

There was one guy advertising 2 x 4MB 30 pin GVP chips, but they're the wrong type.

[roy bates]

hmm im actually wondering if theres a hack out there to make 72 pin simms work in these.

[roy bates]

well well... there actually is a hack im going to read the docs....

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by Mogsy

I have had the A500+ open and the battery seems fine.

That's great news and glad you got it booting again, I picked up a GVP 530 recently, it's a great bit of kit.

Word of advice though, unless you know that battery was replaced in the last 5 years remove or replace it as they are literally a ticking time bomb

[Mogsy]

Originally Posted by roy bates

well well... there actually is a hack im going to read the docs....

Ooh, I'm interested.

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

That's great news and glad you got it booting again, I picked up a GVP 530 recently, it's a great bit of kit.

Word of advice though, unless you know that battery was replaced in the last 5 years remove or replace it as they are literally a ticking time bomb

Yeah, you're right. I'll more than likely take it out.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

Word of advice though, unless you know that battery was replaced in the last 5 years remove or replace it as they are literally a ticking time bomb

I don't think many would use an A500+ for serious work today anyway, so losing the RTC by removing the battery isn't a big issue.

[roy bates]

hey steve, do think kipper2k would knock out a few 4mb 64 pin simms,if he could get the drams?

[Mogsy]

Woudl the memory at the bottom of this page not suffice?

http://www.gvp-m.com/pricejapan.html