Need advice with an A3640 problem

[Hiddenevil]

Hi everyone

I'm hoping someone might be able to chip in here with advice. It's going to be a bit lengthy, but please stick with me

March 2015 - My much loved A3000 stops booting up, it sends a signal to the monitor but no actual picture. I later send the motherboard to TheCorfiot who repairs some burnt traces. Still the machine will not boot with my rev 3.1 A3640.

Feb 2016 - I finally get my hands on two rev 3.0, A3640's thanks to two of my Amiga buddies. On closer inspection one has been upgraded to the latest revision GAL's, kudo's to tbtorro for confirming this for me. Both cards post an insert floppy screen when inside my A3000, but only the updated card actually tries booting my HD. However for some reason it wont fully boot and hangs half way, I think this has to be a library or something as the machine will boot from a WB 3.1 floppy.

Now here comes the ruffle, my own rev 3.1 card has been checked by TheCorfiot and Zetr0, according to them the caps are alright and Zetr0 has even managed to get it working in his slightly beat up A4000. Bearing in mind, that I had told him I thought it was a dead card. So he was more then a little amazed when it booted up. Posting the card back to me, I finally tried it back in my A3000 yesterday, only to find it doesn't post a screen. My monitor says it's getting a signal when the Amiga is powered, but it refuses to post. The chips on the card get slightly warm, but thats about it. If that isn't weird enough, when I first installed the updated rev 3.0 card I'd been loaned. I secured it to the mounting points with screws, then when I powered up the Amiga, it didn't post. I removed the screws and then added them one at a time, at which point I found that by adding the left screw (amiga facing me), stopped the machine booting. In fact the way it acted, was exactly how it does when the rev 3.1 card it inserted in the slot.

So that is how far I've got, I'm tired, totally at my wits end and this problem is now going beyond my technical knowledge. Part of me wonders if it's an earthing problem. But the only way to know for sure, is if I try the card in another A3000 or A4000.

Also on a side note, I've noticed that unlike the other two cards, my rev 3.1 is missing a cap, C106. I asked tbtorro and he says that it shouldn't effect the card booting on a A3000.

 

[cpiace64]

mistery

i have a3640 update 3.2 working on a4000 rev C but don't work on rev B

i have 2 main a3000 dead and don't test on it

news:
i have changed EP8700 and now work on all my A4000D any rev.

 

[Hiddenevil]

Im hoping someone might be able to help shed some light or maybe suggest something I've not thought of

 

[bebek]

It is hard to suggest something without testing it. I could test all of your cards with A4000 and A3000, repair, update to any software rev etc.

 

[hese]

I can also fix everything.

 

[Zetr0]

@hiddenevil

I suspect my friend, a jaunt up east will see you right - pop on over with the A3k and WE will get to the bottom of this myriad of torture =D

 

[Hiddenevil]

Thanks for the offers guys, think i will be popping down to see Zetr0 at some point. Need to get this sorted as it's been going on for 12 months.

 

[Zetr0]

Bet you would all like a little update eh?


Well my friends after a good 12 hours of wrestling - Hiddenevil's A3000 is up and rocking with all the trimmings - some close moments in the repair rebuild - but I shall let Hiddenevil tell you more =D

 

[CrazyC]

Sounds like an epic story- thread bookmarked!

Sent from my S7 Edge

 

[Hiddenevil]

Hey guys

Well took me a while to reply to this but here I am finally with the low down on the A3000.

So after a drive down from Sheffield to go and see Zetr0, we set up my poorly A3000D on his workbench and went about working on it. Stripped the machine back to bare basics and slowly began adding hardware a bit at a time. I had three A3640's, one which was my own and the two others lent to me by friends. By sheer luck, all three cards spanned the three revisions of the processor card, starting from rev 3, 3.1 and 3.2.

I'd already established that I could get the A3k posting a screen with every card bar my own rev 3.1. The only problem was that was pretty much all I could do, the machine just crashed out trying to boot from HD. After a bit of head scratching, I pointed out to Zetr0 that I'd managed to make the 3.2 card act just like my 3. By simply pressing down on the left hand side of the A3640. This marked the turning point, because after playing about some more with the card, applying pressure in certain places. We managed to get the A3000 to load the HD for the first time in 18 months. We also managed to get it to sit with a blank screen, just like my 3.1 card. Something was certainly wrong with either the CPU card or the slot on the motherboard.

We took the mobo about and checked it over, but no visible signs of wear were visible. So putting it back together I began to rebuild the machine a piece at a time. Something that became a process of trial and error, as the A3000 kept loosing a zorro card at random. After spending the best part of the day fighting with it, I finally found the right arrangement for my cards. Where all 4 of my Zorro cards function.

At this point the guess is that the pins inside the port are getting tired. So at some point down the road, I might need to replace to CPU slot, if i can. But for now the A3000 is working, with only the right hand side of the A3640 screwed down.