A4000 Working after 8 months work!

[fitzsteve]

Was just wondering if the psu is struggling now you have the zorro slots packed out. I have a atx adapter you can borrow if you want to test with an atx psu? I can pop it in the post tomorrow if you pm me your address.

 

[manic23]

Was just wondering if the psu is struggling now you have the zorro slots packed out. I have a atx adapter you can borrow if you want to test with an atx psu? I can pop it in the post tomorrow if you pm me your address.

Yes I agree Steve, I think that is the issue as well. Really appreciate the offer of the adaptor mate but I do actually already have one of those, I got it a while back just in case I ever needed one. I have also been talking with Heather here on AmiBay the other night who advised me the best type PSU to buy. I have one on order and should come this week. I'm going to fit it next weekend and will report back here on the results.

Thanks again for the thought Steve

 

[protek]

My A4000 has Piccolo SD64, X-Surf and ZorRAM. My A3640 is overclocked to 32 MHz. Only issue seems to be that after a long time of not being used, the first boot takes ages. All subsequent boots work normally. The caps have been changed on the mobo but apparently I needed to do the same on the PSU. Already got the components. Just needed to find time to take the PSU apart.

 

[manic23]

My A4000 has Piccolo SD64, X-Surf and ZorRAM. My A3640 is overclocked to 32 MHz. Only issue seems to be that after a long time of not being used, the first boot takes ages. All subsequent boots work normally. The caps have been changed on the mobo but apparently I needed to do the same on the PSU. Already got the components. Just needed to find time to take the PSU apart.

I think my PSU is giving up the ghost maybe a recap on the PSU might work on mine, but they look OK to me. Where did you get the caps protek?

 

[fitzsteve]

Have you tried using an atx psu with your adapter to see if it's stable?

 

[roy_bates]

you have to keep in mind the a4000 is terrible in my opinion for airflow.

if you look at the design anything in front of the power supply partly blocks it.
when the case lid is on it restricts it even further.and it wont matter how strong the fan is...

if leaving the case off has a dramatic effect of making it stable,then there is your answer.


if the caps was indeed bad in the power supply they would still be bad no matter if the case was on or not,its that simple.

if you really want to know if the caps are bad just invest in a esr meter,and see for yourself.


to make a point if anyone looks at the power supply it seems to me it only keeps the front bay cool,lol

although, cooling is only one aspect of this.

 

[protek]

My A4000 has Piccolo SD64, X-Surf and ZorRAM. My A3640 is overclocked to 32 MHz. Only issue seems to be that after a long time of not being used, the first boot takes ages. All subsequent boots work normally. The caps have been changed on the mobo but apparently I needed to do the same on the PSU. Already got the components. Just needed to find time to take the PSU apart.

I think my PSU is giving up the ghost maybe a recap on the PSU might work on mine, but they look OK to me. Where did you get the caps protek?

I got them from a local supplier. In fact I got them twice as I erroneously purchased caps for the Skynet PSU, when I in fact have a LiteOn PSU. If you have a Skynet one and want to change the caps I can sell you mine as I really don't need them. It's just missing a couple of the biggest capacitors that couldn't be purchased from my local supplier so you'd need to purchase them separately.

 

[manic23]

Have you tried using an atx psu with your adapter to see if it's stable?

I will try one Steve once it turns up, ordered one a few days ago. I will let you know if it works

you have to keep in mind the a4000 is terrible in my opinion for airflow.

if you look at the design anything in front of the power supply partly blocks it.
when the case lid is on it restricts it even further.and it wont matter how strong the fan is...

if leaving the case off has a dramatic effect of making it stable,then there is your answer.


if the caps was indeed bad in the power supply they would still be bad no matter if the case was on or not,its that simple.

if you really want to know if the caps are bad just invest in a esr meter,and see for yourself.


to make a point if anyone looks at the power supply it seems to me it only keeps the front bay cool,lol

although, cooling is only one aspect of this.

Agreed, I have read so much here on AmiBay and others places about the terrible cooling of the A40000 case, makes me wonder if C= actually did any testing on the thing before release.

My A4000 has Piccolo SD64, X-Surf and ZorRAM. My A3640 is overclocked to 32 MHz. Only issue seems to be that after a long time of not being used, the first boot takes ages. All subsequent boots work normally. The caps have been changed on the mobo but apparently I needed to do the same on the PSU. Already got the components. Just needed to find time to take the PSU apart.

I think my PSU is giving up the ghost maybe a recap on the PSU might work on mine, but they look OK to me. Where did you get the caps protek?

I got them from a local supplier. In fact I got them twice as I erroneously purchased caps for the Skynet PSU, when I in fact have a LiteOn PSU. If you have a Skynet one and want to change the caps I can sell you mine as I really don't need them. It's just missing a couple of the biggest capacitors that couldn't be purchased from my local supplier so you'd need to purchase them separately.

Thanks for the offer protek but I think I'm going to use a new PSU and see how I get on with that.

 

[fitzsteve]

Good luck mate. I used an atx psu with my adapter on a previous project and it was always rock solid and of course pimped out to the max lol.

 

[manic23]

Good luck mate. I used an atx psu with my adapter on a previous project and it was always rock solid and of course pimped out to the max lol.

Thanks Steve, yer I hope that this new PSU will be the last thing I have to do to this A4000 (well unless I ever manage to get hold of an 060 Cyberstorm) and then I can actually start using it and enjoying it

 

[fitzsteve]

Tinkering is the best bit mate...

 

[fitzsteve]

Saying that it is really depressing when you have major issues. For the longest time I wanted (and still would love) a working Grex csppc setup. After finding all the bits I could never get it working stable.

Only project I've had to call a failure and give up.

 

[manic23]

Tinkering is the best bit mate...

Yes and no I get frustrated when things don't work, I just want things to work out the box (So why buy an A4000 I hear you ask) well I know that 'now' lol but yer tinkering is fun as long as your only doing it for fun and not to try to resolve problems that you have no idea how to fix.

- - - Updated - - -

Saying that it is really depressing when you have major issues. For the longest time I wanted (and still would love) a working Grex csppc setup. After finding all the bits I could never get it working stable.

Only project I've had to call a failure and give up.

I have never really been interested in Power PC Amigas to me it's 680x0 all the way

 

[manic23]

Latest Update Re power Supply:

Basically It doesn't work (no surprise there then, nothing I have done on this damn A4000 has worked first time for me!!)

The A4000 seems to power up, lights come on, fans spin, but it will not boot at all with the new power supply, not even with no HD, won't even go to the 3.1 kickstart screen, just a blank screen both on Picasso IV and scan doubler via SCART. Can anyone advise where I should start looking? what to test, do I have the right supply? should that supply work with my A4K? if not PLEEEEAAASSEEE can someone advise me what PSU to buy that will work? Thanks for your help guys.

This is the PSU I have:


And I am using it with this adaptor I got from a seller here on AmiBay


- - - Updated - - -

Typical, as soon as I post that I sort of get it working, I wangled the power connector to the mainboard a bit and it has now come on, all seem OK but I think I may have a dodgy adaptor. Any idea how I might fix it?

 

[roy_bates]

maybe the pins are dirty that the daptor plugs into try cleaning them,might not be easy though...

maybe thats what it was in the first place.bad power connector can course all sorts of problems.


do you still have the original a4000 power supply?

 

[manic23]

Yes I do still have that Roy and it powers up OK with the old one (albeit with problems after about 10 or 15 mins) it is actually working at the moment but I do suspect the adaptor. I have ordered a new one from AmigaKit so we'll see if that does anything

- - - Updated - - -

Another interesting development just happened!! I got the same screen corruption that I was getting before with the new PSU installed after about 10 minutes so I do not think the PSU was the problem. Back to square one...

 

[roy_bates]

screen corruption in rtg?

 

[manic23]

A4000 Working after 8 months work!

Yes exactly that Roy. I have the desktop fan running again now and it's fine so something must be overheating I felt the chips on the Picasso IV and they didn't seem overly hot to me so I'm not sure what is getting hot maybe the CPU? I have a warp engine on order that will be coming soon so hopefully that might resolve the problem.

 

[roy_bates]

you could try to put some cooling on the picasso,on the gpu and ram

 

[manic23]

Like a heat sink you mean?