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- Path: smople.thehub.com.au!jasonk
- From: jasonk@smople.thehub.com.au (Jason Kempnich)
- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
- Subject: Amiga Parallel port prob
- Date: 11 Jan 1996 21:05:45 GMT
- Organization: Hub Communications
- Message-ID: <4d3u39$lgd@HunkyD.thehub.com.au>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: smople.thehub.com.au
- X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
-
- Hi folks,
-
- I'm posting this in the [vain] hope that someone has experienced this
- before. You see, if I don't get a bit of help with this, the repair bill
- could cost well over $1000 (you'll see why later).
-
- THE PROBLEM:
- My Amiga 4000/040 crashes every time I go to print. It doesn't matter
- what program I'm using - even copying my startup-sequence to par: will
- crash the machine evey time without fail. The serial port is fine, as is
- all the software. Its definatly the parallel port. I proved the software
- side (printer drivers, devices etc etc) to be OK by booting up on an old
- Workbench 1.2 disk that has not been used since 1.2 was new - anyway, it
- crashed.
-
- THE DETAILS:
- * Factory standard Amiga 4000/040 with no extra hardware or RAM.
-
- * Only crashes when using the parallel port, as soon as data is sent
- through it.
-
- * If printer is off-line, there is NO crash. It sits for 20 - 30 secs,
- then reports printer is off-line (as per normal).
-
- * The problem must be hardware, as I have used drivers/devices that are
- about 6 years old with the hard disk disabled.
-
- * The problem "appeared" one night without warning (sometimes you can
- "see" a problem coming because something occasionally fails) and has
- not abated since it appeared.
-
- * The problem is not in the printer or the printer cable as both are being
- used on an Amiga 2000 without a problem.
-
- THE CRUNCH:
- I have been told by a former Amiga expert that my problem could be one
- of three chips - either the parallel CIA, or one of two programmable chips
- which are assigned I/O tasks (or something like that). The problem is
- that no Amiga repair place in Brisbane (where I live) can test to see if
- these chips are faulty. What I'll have to do is (for example):
-
- 1) Buy a chip.
-
- 2) Give it to a surface mount soldering firm - they charge $100 to unsolder
- the old chip and $100 to resolder the new chip on.
-
- 3) See if the computer works - if not, goto step 1. :-)
-
- Now you can see my problem - if the fault is the last chip, I've bought
- three chips and spent $600 on soldering. And the fault may not even be
- in that area! HELP!
-
- If anyone has any advice in this area, please yell. Before I leave, I'll
- offer one more piece of information. About 6 months ago, I experienced
- a very intermittent problem, which disappeared without warning. Infrequently,
- when I would try to print to the parallel device, the machine would behave
- as if the printer was not connected, even though it was. This problem could
- be "fixed" by turning off the machine and waiting anything from 2 minutes
- to 2 hours. Hope that helps.
-
- As before, any help/advice/stories will be greatly appreciated.
-
- See ya,
- Jason.
- --
- +----------- <*> http://www.thehub.com.au/~jasonk <*> ---------------///
- | "Got a brand new semi-automatic weapon with a laser sight, /// Vorlon
- | Oh I'm praying somebody tries to break in here tonight!" \\\/// Inside
- +------- <*> From Wierd Al Yankovic's "Trigger Happy" <*> -------\XX/
-