NetNews Offline 2/NetNews Offline Volume 2.iso/news/comp/sys/amiga/misc-part2/13632

Text File | 1996-08-05 | 7.3 KB | 158 lines

Path: cph-1.news.DK.net!dkuug!dknet!dkbbbs!peter.larsen
From: [e-mail] (PETER LARSEN)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: HELP PLEASE!
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 96 14:36:00 +0100
Distribution: world
Organization: Danish Key Board BBS - Copenhagen Denmark - [phone]
Reply-To: [e-mail] (PETER LARSEN)
References: <[e-mail]>
X-Newsreader: PCBoard Version 15.22
X-Mailer: PCBoard/UUOUT Version 1.20


Hi Nicholas and Kvogel,


NS> kvogel had the following to say about Re: HELP PLEASE! .. k> On
NS> 10-Apr-96 12:23:00, Paulo Cardoso ([e-mail]) wrote:

didn' see the start of this ....

NS> >>  I *NEED* your /HELP/ on this; >> ... >>    . A263o, MMu + FPU
NS> 25Mhz

Well  ... hmmm,

NS> >> This is what happens when i turn on the computer:

NS> >>  A black screen appears, i press the mouse buttons to make the
NS> rom menu >>  appears, no luck :

Have you tried turning on the computer with both mouse-buttons pressed,
or at least pressing them within very few seconds of turning it on, that
should take you to the A2630 cards boot menu. IF you can get to that
one, then the card is probably OK.

IF you get the message that autoconfig is out of memoryspace, and you
have not attempted to feed your miggy more than 8 megs autoconfig
fastram, then you might need an updated rom-version for the card. But it
appears to me that 'everything used to work' for you ....?

IF there is a problem with the card, or with some expansion card, then a
red screen describing the error, and listing all expansion cards with
manufacturer ID-numbers will come up, at least with recent OS versions.

Also, generally speaking, if you see a yellow screen during boot, or
even just flashing a short instant, then there is some kind of problem
either with fastram or along the zorro bus. Yeah - I know, the docs say
'an exception occured before the guru-handler was installed', but this
is what it is most likely to mean in real life. My A2000 did make a
short yellow flash on every single cold boot with its A2386sx installed,
but worked alright after that, so panic may not be relevant.

NS>    (, then the power led starts to blink
NS> and the screen >>  turns Green, blinks then boot, then blinks again,
NS> all the time with the a >>  Green scren.

OK, this indicates 'A problem' with chip-ram, if there is only a brief
flash of green, then running some ram-checking software (MD will do just
nicely) may be a good idea, it could be a faulty ram-chip, but it is
highly likely that it is just a connection-problem for the AGNUS chip,
that shows up only on a cold boot. And that problem is highly likely
being that it has worked itself loose (heating up, cooling down, heating
up, cooling down can cause that, also bending of the motherboard while
inserting a z-2 card ain't too good for socket mounted stuff ... worse
is if of course if a pc-board line breaks ...), so the cure is to
TURN OFF COMPUTER, REMOVE MAINS LEAD FROM IT, open the computer, locate
agnus, locate radiator, water pipe or similar ground connected item,
touch that with one hand, touch computer's frame with other hand, and
then, while keeping 'other hand' on computers frame press gently on
Agnus with thumb of 'first hand'.

? - why I suggest such a complex way of pressing a chip in place, well
you see - I don't know if you have say nylon carpeting in your living
room, and thus usually carries along 10 kV of static charge after
walking two steps on it with shoes with rubber soles, right? - and do
note that part about removing mains lead from computer before touching
'something grounded', if the computer has a defective PSU, that PSU
could be damaged extensively while frying you, so there might not be an
Amiga that your estate could sell to someone else, or your nephew
inherit.

NS> >> PLEASE HELP ME!!!! i now that its stupid to spent money on a OLD
NS> A2ooo, but >> there's no money for anything else, SO PLEASE HELP!

Hey hey hey, don't panic .....

NS> normally a green screen should indicate that an error with chipmem
NS> has occured .. but if it is *that* with your problem .. i do not
NS> know ..

It is in my opinion some 98 percent probable that AGNUS is loose in its
socket, so loose that the computer can not boot. It is highly likely
that it just needs to be pressed in place. But don't overdo it, don't
bend the motherboard too much .... the very cautious way to press IC's
in place is in fact to strip the machine apart, and put the motherboard
on a level smooth surface, and then press, but hardly anybody goes to
those extremes, frankly I didn't with a similar problem recently.

Anybody remember what a blue screen means btw. ...?

OH - and while you have that computer open, do remove all the dust from
it, you should in fact spring clean a computer every year, because
otherwise accumulated dust can cause overheating during summer, and
unreliable operation - at worst component failure because of thermal
stress. Just use one of them contraptions that are designed to look like
a WALKER, but not so pretty, and with a confusingly different
functionality, they actually suck in air on one end, and ejects it at
the other, and keep the dust inside, almost like a computer btw.
Another, colloquial, name for that contraption is 'vacuum cleaner'. DO
NOT VACUUM YOUR COMPUTER, put the 'WALKER-like' contraption on BLOW, and
blow gently at a reasonable distance. With some care you should then
have a reasonably dust free computer, but do try to avoid getting all
the dust from the PSU into the disk-drive(s). After doing that, put the
'WALKER-like contraption' into Vacuum mode, and clean up your living
room, so as to prevent your AMIGA from inhaling all that dust again.

And don't get me wrong, I already wrote to VIScorp and told them that
the Walker is the most probable update for my A2k/2620! - I have seen
that critter on a computer show in town - Copenhagen, Denmark - and I
*like it*. All computers don't have to be 'squares', right?

Oh - and when you take that A2000 apart, be gentle, work slowly, don't
force anything, keep all screws and all that. Read the manual about how
to open the cabinet. You will be doing it all on your own
responsability. And if you remove expansion cards, then be very careful,
do try to avoid touching exposed circuitry on the reverse side, and
don't touch the edge connectors. While you are at it, you may want to
gently clean the edge-connnectors with tissue-paper with a bit of
alcohol on it, pure ISOPROPYL-ALCOHOL will be jus fine, but don't inhale
too much of it, it is in fact slighly toxic inhaled, and *very* toxic
imbibed, so take care ....

IF there is something I forgot to warn you about, you are hereby warned
about that too ... no warranty made or implied, and it does in fact
appear that contacting a repair shop may be advisable with so severe
symptoms.


   Kind regards

   Peter Larsen




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