#Sick Amiga
7 messages in this thread
Tried to use my Amiga this afternoon, and I was not able to boot up the
machine. All I got was a flashing green screen, and the the power led flashed
four times, then green screen again, etc. Let me add that I have done the
internal expansion to 1 meg along with the auto-config modification, and have
been using both for about 3 months with no glitche until today. I was using the
machine last night, and did not experience any unusual behavior at all. Could
someone steer me in the right direction in correcting this problem?
Mark Morales 72307,2503
I THINK SOMEONE TOLD ME THAT FLASHING GREEN MEANS THAT THE MEMORY TEST
FAILED. I HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WHEN I FIRST PUT MY HACK IN. IN THE
END IT WAS A COLD SOLDER JOINT.
(SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS)
-] MIKE SCARY SCALORA [-
CIS:73717,2334
PLINK:SCARY
Mark,
Sounds like bad memory, for whatever reason. It could be you have lost
a memory chip, or perhaps one of your solder connections is bad. Easiest thing
to try first is to carefully inspect all your joints for signs of improper
bonding, redoing any that seem even remotely suspect.
Often, a cold solder joint will show up weeks or months later, due to
corrosion and/or oxidation at the points where any physical contact is being
made.
Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.
Regards, Larry.
Larry, Thanks for the info. Will try redoing the joints this evening. In the
event it fails, do you think the bad chips would be on the motherboard, or
perhaps on the daughter board ? (As stated, it does not make it to the insert
kickstart stage.)Will be sure to let all know how things turn out, as it may be
useful to someone else
Mark
Mark,
Though it is possible that there has been some static damage to the
chips on the daughter board, it is a lot less likely. The reason for this is
that you handled the motherboard chips a lot more, as well as applying heat to
them while soldering. In order of most to least probable, I would say that the
problem will be a bad solder connection, a bad chip on the motherboard (ram or
one of the "glue" chips), and "other" (being ALL other causes.
Regards, Larry.
Larry,
The problem has been solved, and as it turned out, it fell into the
category of "other". It seems that a socket was N.G., and apparently my
jostling the machine the day before caused the ram/socket to start acting up. I
don't know if I caused the damage when I installed the sockets, if the things
were marginal from the beginning, (I had purchased them on the surplus market
in N.Y.), or a combination of the two.. Let me tell you though, it was a real
bitch tracking this problem down, and only strengthens my belief in buying
PRIME components, even for the seemingly insignificant stuff! Thanks for your
prompt and helpful suggestions.
Regards… Mark
Mark,
I'm glad you found your problem. As to buying prime components, yes, if
it is for something like the ram expansion, where a problem can mean loss of
use of your Amiga (shudder) for days, then the small extra cost is well woth
it.
Regards, Larry.