stu00@ux.acs.umn.edu (Stuart Stanley) (01/23/91)
A friend of mine has a modified (read 500 in 2000 case..) Amiga 500
that is having a wierd problem. And since I am his service agent (pizza,
once a year for full coverage ;), I thought I would shoot this out on the
net and see if anyone has any idea what could be causing it.
Problem:
After about ten minutes or so (sometimes it can be much longer, but
it mostly lands on ten minutes) you can here a soft *click* and the
screen goes blank. At this point, the machine is locked up except for
the sound chip! (ie, if there was a auto-repeat sound loaded, it keeps
going). All other function except reboot are disabled.
configuration:
A500 (1986) w/ 1084 monitor.
a501 ram module
Spirit inboard 1.5 meg board (fits in CPU chip socket - CPU plugs into
it)
Cltd SCSI controller (new model, w/ autoboot)
1.3 roms.
Diagnosis thus far:
I pulled the case and cleaned and reseated everything. The machine
ran for about 2 hours and then died.
I pulled the Hard drive controller...
While playing a basketball game, it locked up again.
My friend then rebooted the machine w/out a disk and left it
on overnight - - - it did NOT lock up.
(ie, w/ the "insert workbench" thing up, it went ok...hmm,
and the monitor was turned off. I begin to wonder....)
so, any ideas?
(With any luck this guy will be buying a 3000 this spring and thus
we can retire this thing.... :)
Thank you,
Stuartn368bq@tamuts.tamu.edu (Raoul Rodriguez) (01/24/91)
Sounds like your problem is the same one that I had, it is not the computer,
but the monitor that is causing your problem, next time it goes out,
try a good solid "whack" to the left side of the monitor case... (seriously)
my problem was that there was a "cold" solder joint on the motherboard...
a friend of mine diagnosed the problem, and we "operated", you can also do
a "jurry rig" to fix it, but only temporarially... what you do is stick
some bad disks (or something solid and flat, and somewhat thick) between
the metal shielding on the bottom of the motherboard and the plastic case of
the monitor (wedge 'em in there good)... But the only way you can fix the
problem is to open up the monitor and find the broken solder joint on the
bottom of the motherboard...
P.S. Cost me a Super Big Gulp to have mine fixed (no problem since!), as
opposed to the $180 my local C= dealer wanted to replace the motherboard
Raoul Rodriguez n368bq@tamuts.tamu.edu
"Opus was blessedly unaware of Portnoy and Hodge-Podge marching up the hill
with a fully automatic 45mm American Ruger Assault rifle, apparently intent
upon massacring the imminent hordes of Communists in groups of fifty or more."
- Bloom Countypeterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY) (01/28/91)
In article <3104@ux.acs.umn.edu> stu00@uz.acs.umn.edu (Stuart Stanley) writes: > > Problem: > After about ten minutes or so (sometimes it can be much longer, but > it mostly lands on ten minutes) you can here a soft *click* and the > screen goes blank. At this point, the machine is locked up except for > the sound chip! (ie, if there was a auto-repeat sound loaded, it keeps > going). All other function except reboot are disabled. Did you check for "Byte Bandit"or other Virus? -- Best regards, Dr. Peter Kittel // E-Mail to \\ Only my personal opinions... Commodore Frankfurt, Germany \X/ {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmger!peterk
espie@egret.Stanford.EDU (Marc Espie) (01/29/91)
Since this is an old but serious problem, there is a quick way to check for a Byte-bandit virus without a virus-killer. When the screen goes blank and everything locks up, hold down the five bottom keys of the keyboard: left shift left amiga space bar right amiga right shift, if I remember my keyboard well. You should start at the left, and end up holding down all five keys... if the machine unlocks bingo! You've got it. Hope that helps. I spent five hours checking my power supply for surges before thinking of a virus. Marc (espie@flamingo.stanford.edu)
n368bq@tamuts.tamu.edu (Raoul Rodriguez) (01/29/91)
One more time, when you have a 1084 "go dead" and you hear a click (like when it is turned on and off) The problem is NOT A VIRUS! It is a "cold" (broken) solder joint on the motherboard of the 1084 monitor, the person in question posted this sometime ago, and I helped him with his problem, and it was in deed the motherboard of the monitor that was the source of the problems... If anyone else has a similar problem (they are fighteningly fequent on the 1084) of the screen just going "black all of a sudden (in it's early stages, it screen can be brought back with a good "whack" to the side of the monitor case (left side preferablly). Anyway, if you want to know how it fix it, email me... I will give you an exhaustive discription on how to fix it. Raoul "My 500 has a detached keyboard Rodriguez n368bq@tamuts.tamu.edu Standard disclaimers apply (within)
stu00@ux.acs.umn.edu (Stuart Stanley) (01/30/91)
I would to like to thank everyone for there suggestions about my
friends problem with his machine going dead. It turns out that is in
fact a monitor problem. For about 2 years the monitor has "pop"ed every
so often, but it seems that it is now back blasting the machine.
This was finaly isolated by using the RCA mono jack to hook up the
video instead of the digital one. The result: A stable system that has
not crashed in days. We have also reconnected it and watched two crashes.
Both were acompaniend by the monitor pop. Note, the monitor itself is
not going dead, but is instead nocking out the machine.
One person sugggested I try an upgrade power supply, but I am already
using a 200watt supply. (the hard drive needed it). For now, my friend
will continue to use B&W (YUCK!). At least until I can pick up some
chroma dope.
thanks again,
Stuart