POS A4k about to be obliterated

I am starting to remember why I left the Amiga scene for a few years...

No matter how much time and money you spend on them, they always seem to play up.

Case in point. I purchased a vgc a4000. Before even attempting to use (besides playing around to make sure it all works) I stripped it down and had the psu replaced with a 350w ATX PSU (All voltages well within allowed ranges). I had the motherboard fitted with all new caps, with a new clock battery, new kickstart roms. Daughterboard had all caps replaced.

Cyberstorm card, Cybervision 64 - everything was given the same treatment.

Even the audio op chips on the a4k were replaced, just to be sure.

After all this you would expect it to be a nice system?

Well no. It ran well for about two days. Then it would refuse to boot... after half a dozen resets would again boot (HD checked in another system - perfectly fine). Then it would occasionally give a brief yellow screen... then not do it again for two days!

Sometimes it would continually reset itself, showing the green screen and playing the little Deneb ditty.

Then it will run for hours without a problem.

Oh, and for some reason, when running Payback it will continually put up the options screen and then exit back to the game over and over - as if the ECS key is stuck....

...but it does not do this at any other time. I have checked every key on the kb and they all function perfectly - including the ECS.

I have pulled it down, and put it back up so many times I have just had enough.

ANY goddamn ideas when ELSE needs to be done on an a4k in order for it to just RUN? Is black magic involved? Animal sacrifice?

Oh, I forgot. Sometimes it will boot to wb and then put up recoverable alert after recoverable alert. Other times it will boot and then freeze as soon as the right mouse button is pressed.

Then it will run AmigaMark for hours with no problems. Then other times when you run it it will crash within 5 minutes.

@abraXXious

Time a go I have a problem like this (sometimes boot/play, sometimes not...)

Try checking the contacts on the Chip RAM socket. If they are good try changing the SIMM module.

As I said.... on my first A4K I solved this issue with one new SIMM module for Chip RAM (I bought from Amigakit).

Best wishes

Accelerator connector could create such problems.
Accelerator cards (I’m talking about A3640’s) have connector to the board soldered very badly. It could be full of invisible cold joints.
Amiga is then performing bad or worse depending on room temperature and humidity.

Situation gets worse every time you disconnect and reconnect accelerator card to the board.

Connector can be cleaned, but cold soldering is terribly hard to fix. Joints below cold solder are usually corroded and just adding flux and reheating them will only make it worse. (Solder will not connect well on the invisible side of the board, and it's terribly difficult to detect these kids of faults.)
IMHO the best thing would be to remove the connector, clean the board well on both sides, and resolder it again. (I was thinking about sacrificing A3200/3400 board and using that healthier looking connector when I had similar problem with one of my A3640's.)

Also I noticed that octal transceivers (9 74FCT543 chips on the A3640) can cause stability issues.

Lol, you guys are f&^king kidding me right? I have replaced half the bloody components on this unrealiable POS, now Im expected to replace the other half?! Why dont I go the whole hog and simple BIULT an entire Amiga a4k out of individual components whilst Im at it?

BTW - I have swapped the chip ram simm with two others, problem stays the same.

Oh, and guys, I know you are trying to help, but this has gone WAY WAY WAY past ridiculous now.

These older computers need treating with respect, some love & care & then they should work without issue. You have to remember the type of connections used back then were kinda like pioneering days. Perhaps you should be thankful it isn't a B.G. Box. ;)

& the boys comments above are not taking the mickey. They are dead serious. :nod:

Your Green screen event could be either a dodgey Chip Ram module connection or an iffy Buster contact if it's a socketed version you have. Sometimes, just a little pressure on a socketed chip can rectify the problem. ;)

Kin

Cant do it. I have to draw the line somewhere - this machine has cost me over $1500 so far - no more.

Onto the next machine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by abraXXious

I had the motherboard fitted with all new caps, with a new clock battery, new kickstart roms. Daughterboard had all caps replaced.

Cyberstorm card, Cybervision 64 - everything was given the same treatment.

Even the audio op chips on the a4k were replaced, just to be sure.

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Who did this job?
Was the Amiga working fine before?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by abraXXious

ANY goddamn ideas when ELSE needs to be done on an a4k in order for it to just RUN? Is black magic involved? Animal sacrifice?

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Believe me or not but YES, there is some black magic behind.
In general - If you don't like electronic - electronic don't like you as well.
I know what I'm talking: I can work on my PC for hours without any problems but once passed to my wife she gets problems right away (no internet connection, mouse not working, ...).
The same with my phone: when I'm giving my phone to her she will ALWAYS press at least two buttons once she will grab the phone from my hands. :unsure:
I know that it's strange, but I've seen this too many times to disbelieve it.

It seems that old electronic don't like you.
Maybe because you destroyer some old nice hardware recently - who knows...

---------- Post added at 13:59 ---------- Previous post was at 13:58 ----------

@Kin,
You was faster. ;)
Right on spot!

Have you seen the image gallery of my collection? I have a huge collection of old electronics, game consoles, old pcs etc.

The ONLY problems I ever seem to experience is with bloody Amigas. Pcs - no problems (even Amithlon is perfectly reliable), Atari St/Ste/Xl etc etc, no probs.

Amigas? Non stop problems. Is it because C= cut corners in manufacturing etc? There HAS to be a reason why Amigas are the most unreliable system ever released.

The sad thing is that, except for this fact, they are also one of my favourate systems.

Oh well.

Ok, who did all the repair you are talking about?
Was Amiga working stable before?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by abraXXious

Lol, you guys are f&^king kidding me right? I have replaced half the bloody components on this unrealiable POS, now Im expected to replace the other half?! Why dont I go the whole hog and simple BIULT an entire Amiga a4k out of individual components whilst Im at it?

BTW - I have swapped the chip ram simm with two others, problem stays the same.

Oh, and guys, I know you are trying to help, but this has gone WAY WAY WAY past ridiculous now.

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Well, you asked. :)
And I was not kidding. That's what I did with my A4000.
I have spent approx 30 hours fixing her. But this way I'm sure I've done everything I can to make her work flawlessly for at least next 5 years.

You may say that it's cheaper and easier to buy a stable A4000 from someone here, but there are no guarantees that the same problems will not appear on this A4000 as well in a few days (or durnig transport).

Ofcourse you can always download UAE. :D

---------- Post added at 14:15 ---------- Previous post was at 14:11 ----------

Quote:

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Originally Posted by abraXXious

Is it because C= cut corners in manufacturing etc?

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Yes!

---------- Post added at 14:25 ---------- Previous post was at 14:15 ----------

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stachu100

Ok, who did all the repair you are talking about?
Was Amiga working stable before?

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I would not blame the guy who was fixing her.

You can do more damage by just bending a Cyberstorm card a bit, then by breaking every single cap pad during caps replacement.