d@alice.UucP (Daniel Rosenberg) (09/04/86)
I want to publicly thank everyone who helped me (successfully) with
what will be henceforth known as the Centronics Pin 14 problem
(that is, if you have pin 14 connected on either side and you get
too many line feeds, don't hesitate to disocnnect it.)
So I was very happy. I had a cable that worked. I was printing out
a paper, and the printer fed wrong, so I turned it off, got the
paper out of the mess it was in, and turned it back on again.
The Amiga looked pretty crashed. It refused to continue printing,
was oblivious to everything (except CTRL-Amiga-Amiga, I presume.)
I thought, "Darn. Now I've lost this article!"
Darn, darn.
I jiggled the printer cable.
Ack! Pzzpht!
The screen went black. I thought, "OHMYGODMYPRINTER'SDEADWHATAMIGONNADO?!"
So, I calmed myself down.
I rebooted (or rather, it rebooted.)
And it showed a little upside-down Kickstart disk. "Kickstart? Hmm." That
was weird. Writable-control-store gone. Oh well. I happily stuck in a
Kickstart.
It said "No. A Kickstart disk, please."
...
Five Kickstart disks later, I realized I was in a hole. I finally found a
place that had an Amiga repair department.
$35 to start. $50/hour for labor. ("Okay, not bad.") I explained the
problem. ("Oh - we'll have to replace the motherboard. Ten working days
and at LEAST $300.")
Does anyone have any suggestions? This simply COULDN'T be worth a new
motherboard...
Commodore, help? Please? Aie!
Any suggestions appreciated. Boy do I have all the luck.
Thanks much.
--
# Daniel Rosenberg (CE) @ AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill
# disclaimer: These opinions are necessarily mine, not my employer's.
# UUCP: { (ihnp4) || research || allegra}!alice!d AT&T: 201/582-6455 (work)
# "We're not in the eighth dimension! We're over New Jersey!" - BBhiggin@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Paul Higginbottom) (09/05/86)
In article <6017@alice.uUCp> d@alice.UUCP (Daniel Rosenberg) writes: ><sad story about an Amiga croaking>... >Five Kickstart disks later, I realized I was in a hole. I finally found a >place that had an Amiga repair department. > >$35 to start. $50/hour for labor. ("Okay, not bad.") I explained the >problem. ("Oh - we'll have to replace the motherboard. Ten working days >and at LEAST $300.") > >Does anyone have any suggestions? This simply COULDN'T be worth a new >motherboard... > >Any suggestions appreciated. Boy do I have all the luck. > >Thanks much. >-- ># Daniel Rosenberg (CE) @ AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill ># disclaimer: These opinions are necessarily mine, not my employer's. ># UUCP: { (ihnp4) || research || allegra}!alice!d AT&T: 201/582-6455 (work) ># "We're not in the eighth dimension! We're over New Jersey!" - BB Well Daniel, did they try tell you exactly what was wrong with the machine, or have THEY simply given up? If the machine does anything at power up, I don't think it could be that sick. I think you might be advised to get it back and get someone else to look at it. I'm not trying to say that the people you took it to are disreputable, but someone else might be able to find out what's wrong rather than giving up and saying "what the hell, replace the motherboard, it's not our money" (not their words exactly, admittedly). When it said put in a kickstart, did you try turning the machine off (i.e., power), and then starting over, including disconnecting the printer? (Maybe that was screwing it up). Hope this helps (probably doesn't). Paul Higginbottom Disclaimer: I do not work for Commodore and these opinions are my own.
grr@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (George Robbins) (09/07/86)
In article <6017@alice.uUCp> d@alice.UUCP (Daniel Rosenberg) writes: ... >And it showed a little upside-down Kickstart disk. "Kickstart? Hmm." That >was weird. Writable-control-store gone. Oh well. I happily stuck in a >Kickstart. > >It said "No. A Kickstart disk, please." ... >Does anyone have any suggestions? This simply COULDN'T be worth a new >motherboard... > >Commodore, help? Please? Aie! > ># Daniel Rosenberg (CE) @ AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill You probably popped one of the 8520 I/O chips. The one (U6P) that supports the printer port also senses a number of the floppy control signals. There is raw +5 volts on one of the connector pins, that can damage the chip if shorted to one of the other pins. Convince your service facility to try swapping out these chips before swapping the main board. They are socketed in most all systems, and you should save a pile of money. It is *NOT* a wise act to plug or unplug the video, floppy or printer connectors when the machine is powered up... Those little sparks you see are a warning 8-) -- George Robbins - now working with, uucp: {ihnp4|seismo|caip}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@seismo.css.GOV Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)
kdd@well.UUCP (Keith David Doyle) (09/07/86)
In article <6017@alice.uUCp> d@alice.UUCP (Daniel Rosenberg) writes: >$35 to start. $50/hour for labor. ("Okay, not bad.") I explained the >problem. ("Oh - we'll have to replace the motherboard. Ten working days >and at LEAST $300.") > >Does anyone have any suggestions? This simply COULDN'T be worth a new >motherboard... Probably not... At any rate, if you DO end up paying such extortionary prices, MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR OLD MOTHERBOARD!. At least if you do run into someone who can fix them someday you then might have a few spare parts etc. And, you make sure they are doing the work you are paying them to do. Keith Doyle ihnp4!ptsfa!well!kdd
elg@usl.UUCP (Eric Lee Green) (09/11/86)
In article <6017@alice.uUCp> d@alice.UUCP (Daniel Rosenberg) writes: > >Five Kickstart disks later, I realized I was in a hole. I finally found a >place that had an Amiga repair department. > >$35 to start. $50/hour for labor. ("Okay, not bad.") I explained the >problem. ("Oh - we'll have to replace the motherboard. Ten working days >and at LEAST $300.") > >Does anyone have any suggestions? This simply COULDN'T be worth a new >motherboard... I've noticed a disturbing fact about most computer stores. Whereas out in the oilfields component-level seat-of-the-pants repairs are very common (when something goes, you need it fixed NOW, you can't wait 10 days), most computer stores don't really have a service department. Oh yes, they swap out motherboards. It don't take much brains to do that. Even I can swap out a motherboard. But they sure can't repair the computer. And then they charge you $35 just to look at the thing, and $50/hour for doing something that I could do myself? I guess I'm just lucky to have a REAL dealer here, one who specializes in repair instead of sales, an ex-Conoco technician well versed in the mysteries of seat-of-the-pants debugging. Now, if only other computer stores learned that repairing stuff could be profitable... but then again, since they can just ship their broken equipment to the real repair shop (probably the only reason he's still in business, he gets computers to repair from all over), and since the customer doesn't mind being charge $50 just to pack it up and drop it off at the repairman's, I guess the people get what they deserve... -- Eric Green {akgua,ut-sally}!usl!elg (Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191, Lafayette, LA 70509) " In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move."