jacobson@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (06/11/88)
Last night (Friday June 10th) my 2000 suddenly would not send data to my printer (I just get the "printer trouble" requestor"). I have tested the printer and cable on another 2000 and so I know they are OK. The power lines of the paralell port work still (the printer resets when I do a ctrl-amiga amiga) and the parallel port still works with Digiview and lets me digitize but it plain won't work with my printer. The printer was fine the previous night (Thursday June 9th) and I printed things out with no trouble. I have a 2000 with bridgeboard installed, and a external 3.5 on the bridge two internal 3.5 floppies for the Amiga. The digiview and printer are attached to the parallel port via a data switch (A-B, and yes I tested the printer on the port without the switch so i know it is not the switch). I have a 1200 baud modem. Has anyone else out there had such a problem????? What happened last night was I had dearced a text file from a local BBS I had just downloaded. I had just typed it in ram to look at the text and then typed the text to the device PRT:. I got a total system lockup, and had to reboot. I go no GURU error message at all. I rebooted, dearced the text in ram again, and tried once more to type to prt:. This time I got the printer trouble requestor, and I proceeded to test the printer, cable, digiview, tried it on another 2000 (and found the printer and cable to work just fine). Could my 8520 chip have partially flaked out on how it controls data sending to my printer, or is there several possible sources of trouble. I could swap the 8520 from the other 2000 (which is not going to be used with a printer) if that definately is the source of my trouble, but I don't want to mess with the work involved if that may not be my trouble. I suspect the trouble occured first when I tried to type the file to the printer and got a system lockup. Could this be the new virus I have vaguely remembered hearing about, or was it just my 8520 failing that locked things up?? I hate to have to pay for as yet unkown repairs, especially if it is more than my 8520 chip which could mean mucho $ that I frankly cannot afford for some time (heck I am still paying my loan off for the two 2000's-and I don't want to use the other 2000 instead full time---its a 4.1 with the fuzzy output I never bother ed to get fixed--it was tolerable for what it was used for in my office--- now my kids use and don't notice it for what they use it for). Anyway I have emailed a letter to Dave Haynie and George Robbins about this problem, but wanted to put up a general note to the NET to see if anyone else ever had this problem, so that I am well armed with the potential sources for the problem before I give my machine to the dealer. Perhaps it is a real simple problem, but I would like to know before I let anyone try to repair. If it is an expensive problem then I will just have to live with using the second "fuzzy older 4.1 B2000" for printer output somehow (I never got it repaired for those curious because I frankly at the time did not trust the reliability of the local dealer--they did not do good work and have a bad rep--but they are learning--but I am still cautious and if I can fix I would just as soon do it myself someday). Any concrete suggestions as to what failed in my parallel port would be most appreciated. I will let you know if I find out the source of the trouble, for those curious (and future reference). Russ Jacobson Illinois Geological Survey 615 E. Peabody Drive Champaign, IL 61820 217-244-2425 (Home 217-384-3128 or 384-6983) USENET: [ihnp4,pur-ee,convex]!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!uiucuxe!jacobson ARPANET: jacobsonuiucuxe@a.cs.uiuc.edu CSNET: jacobsonuiucuxe@uiuc.csnet
jacobson@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (06/12/88)
I had a chance to have my dealer look at the 2000 and he found two bad data lines and by replacing the 8520 the system worked fine at the dealers. I got home and it still did not work with the printer, and now the printer did not work with the second 2000 either (which I got the ferrite beads removed from while I was doing all this by the way). To make a long story short it turns out that one of my printer cables, and the switchbox (A-B that is) also seem to be bad now, sounds like I got some sort of short/surge/static---per haps because it is so dry around here with this drought this spring and summer?????. Anyway I am now working, but no longer can use the A-B switch with digiview, its back to changing between the printer and digiview by removing the cable each time (what a drag), but I don't trust the switchbox after this epsiode. Russ Jacobson Illinois Geological Survey USENET: [ihnp4,pur-ee,convex]!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!uiucuxe!jacobson ARPANET: jacobsonuiucuxe@a.cs.uiuc.edu CSNET: jacobsonuiucuxe@uiuc.csnet
hansb@ariel.unm.edu (Hans Bechtel) (06/14/88)
A friend of mine had a problem with his printer with his amiga 1000. He has a panasonic 1080i printer. He took his computer and printer to a local shop which didn't fix the problem but still charged $135.00 for the repair. The shop's excuse? " the 8520 chip was blown by the printer cable being the wrong type" Anyway, He took the computer and printer over to a electronic repair friend of his. the problem? The "hex-inverter" chip ($0.69) was bad. After it was replaced, (a 15 minute job) no more problems... Hope that helps. Hans Bechtel (the first place described was Alpha Computers in Albuquerque)
cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (06/16/88)
In article <45600042@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu> jacobson@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu writes: >Any concrete suggestions as to what failed in my parallel port would be most >appreciated. I will let you know if I find out the source of the trouble, >for those curious (and future reference). >Russ Jacobson It seems hard to believe that printing a file to PRT: would cause the printer port to die. Some software type suggestions : - First power cycle everything, the computer and the printer (and the printer buffer if you have one). Something could have scribbled on the in core copy of the printer device or set the printer to a very weird mode. - Then check your preferences to see that the printer is still redirected to the parallel port. Try printing something to PAR: - Then check that the appropriate drivers are installed and that you aren't using a bogus driver with a bogus printer.device. - What was it you were de-arcing? This could be a major clue here. - Reboot with a completely vanilla workbench and copy s:startup-sequence to PAR: If none of these work then suspect the hardware and swap the printer 8520 and the serial port's 8520. If things get better you have found the problem. If not then something else is really messed up. --Chuck McManis uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.