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Well really 32 but but want sure best place to post

Posted: 16 Sep 2021 21:10
by philbo34
So I have finally managed to move all the stuff from my house to the boss lady's .
I have an A3000 with an arm 3 upgrade, extra ram and a IDE pod.
On boot it displays a red screen which some times changes to purple.
I have access to a scope .
The battery has been removed and a new holder fitted.
Do I recap the PSU before I go further
Any ideas or help or abuse gratefully received

Re: Well really 32 but but want sure best place to post

Posted: 16 Sep 2021 21:18
by Badwolf
A few thoughts:-

Have you held down DELETE whilst powering on yet? (reset the NVRAM)

In the event of a boot failure, the NUM LOCK light should blink a number of times to indicate fault.

I had to replace the NVRAM chip on mine, I can't remember exactly the failure mode, but it had been working then died a week after I'd 'finished' restoring it. Is the little (eight pin?) one down by the battery.

BW

Re: Well really 32 but but want sure best place to post

Posted: 16 Sep 2021 21:25
by philbo34
Cheers . Holding delete gives same response .
NUM lock not flashing
Disc light flashing as though trying to load something running it off a start cable. Same result on mono.

Re: Well really 32 but but want sure best place to post

Posted: 16 Sep 2021 22:06
by RetroPassionUK
Sorry its a A3000? If so push down all the chips, I know it sounds simple but recovered a few machines with that :-)

Re: Well really 32 but but want sure best place to post

Posted: 16 Sep 2021 22:26
by exxos
I have moved this post to the Amiga hardware help.

Re: Well really 32 but but want sure best place to post

Posted: 16 Sep 2021 23:21
by Steve
@exxos tis' Acorn he's talking about :)

Re: Well really 32 but but want sure best place to post

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 08:26
by JezC
Do we need separate sections for Acorn, SGI etc.?

;)

Re: Well really 32 but but want sure best place to post

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 08:31
by Steve
Hey @philbo34 just in case you don't know, the main Acorn forum is stardot.co.uk just in case you need more specific help.

Re: Well really 32 but but want sure best place to post

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 08:52
by Badwolf
philbo34 wrote: 16 Sep 2021 21:25 Cheers . Holding delete gives same response .
NUM lock not flashing
Disc light flashing as though trying to load something running it off a start cable. Same result on mono.
Sorry, I completely misremembered that. It’s not Num Lock, it’s one of the two LEDS up next to the BBC logo. Could well be the disc one you mention.

Is it pulsing in blocks? That’s the error code.

https://www.retro-kit.co.uk/page.cfm/co ... re-errors/

Check out the section POST Error Calculator.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5pcs-PCF8583 ... 1500143888

If it’s anything NVRAM or CMOS related, have a look at connectivity around the above chip (bottom left corner of the motherboard). As I say, I had to swap mine out after a week of working fine.

BW

Re: Well really 32 but but want sure best place to post

Posted: 17 Sep 2021 10:19
by philbo34
Cheers for all the advice.
Various errors
CMOS unreadable
CMOS checksum
ROM checksum
Ram address line

So will start by unplugging the additional bits
And looking at the CMOS chip and area round where the battery was