My A3000 desktop is now green screening and I need help getting her fixed. Does anybody on this site know where I can get her repaired by an Amiga expert. I am happy to pay and can ideally send just the motherboard to be repaired.

Steve

Story how it happened.

As you may be aware not long ago I finally got round to doing a video about my much loved Amiga 3000 desktop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXrM97yhbM8

Well after doing this I decided to get an accelerator for her and a very nice guy on AmiBay called Steven offered to sell me his 060 accelerator, but because I had problems with accelerators he sent it to me to try it first.

Well after a few days of testing here was the upshot, with the 060 in, my built in SCSI controller screwed the hard disk partitions by messing up the checksums and then finally because of having to remove and rebuild her many times I ended up with a green screen. She is now in the cupboard until I can get her repaired.

For the record, the accelerator worked, but I had to use a GVP HD8 as the hard disk controller.

Last edited by clusteruk on 16-May-2012 at 07:49 AM.

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@clusteruk

Green screen means RAM failure if I remember correctly. Try reseating the RAM chips/modules.

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@Deniil715

I tried jiggling them, but I guess I need to remove and replace4/8 at a time.

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Amiga 1000, 3000D Toaster, Checkmate A1500 Plus
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@clusteruk

This might not help at all but this is my experience with a green screen on an A3000 of sorts

During one of my Amiga auctions back in the day I was offered a broken A3000T, he said he tried to get it going for ages but then gave up on it... he offered it to me for an additional $100 Well, I said YES! (it had to come from Auckland)

It arrived and I turned it on, a dark green screen (I can't remember if it blinked or not or changed in shades of green)

I opened it up and was happy to also see an 040 installed

I probably resetted the ram chips and other chips and even swapped CIA chips around if the A3000 had them :p

and the last thing I could think of was replacing the 3.1 roms. So I took a gamble and got a set from somewhere

I pushed them in AND THAT DID IT "up" fired the A3000T, gee, did it boot fast!

and no it wasn't a yellow screen it was definately a green screen!

I transplanted some memory from the PP&S Zeus board from the A2000 to the 040, optimised the workbench with all my fav tools etc and turned it off, it's been off ever since, probably a good 7 years, a nice machine for sure!

So if you have a spare rom set, give it a go if all else fails, worked for my A3000 of sorts

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@Slayer

Interesting, not sure I have a spare, but I will remove all ram and replace gradually and also try reseating the Rom as I do not have a spare.

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Amiga 1000, 3000D Toaster, Checkmate A1500 Plus
http://www.checkmate1500plus.com/

@clusteruk

Dark green screens generally mean Chip Memory. If the battery ever leaked in the 3k it may have corroded the sockets for chip mem or the surface mount chips and socketed chips.

I would pull all fast ram, set the clocks to internal (pull the 060), and pull one meg of chip memory. Use vinegar and a toothbrush to scrub the sockets and pull denise and paula and do the same. Let it sit with the vinegar for a few minutes than rinse off with distilled water.

Let is dry, then if you still see green spots in the sockets get a fiberglass pen and scrap it off. I then use compressed air to clean up socket and finish with circuit board cleaner.

This process will help if it's memory related. Clean the bottom of the motherboard looking for any corrosion or bad solder, fix as needed.

Most of all if your battery is mounted on the MB, remove is and run long wires to the MB and mount is off the MB.

This is you best shot at fixing your problem without using test equipment and learning the schematic or sending to someone who can fix it.

On the other items Steve:

You need the proto 08 version of the onboard SCSI chip. They are OEM with AMD chips now and are only about 20 dollars. This controller will be much faster than the GVP.

I mentioned this to you at Amibay, but I think its worth repeating. If I were to accelerate my 3k desktop I would only chose the Warp Engine 3040 or the Cyberstorm 060 MK III. These are the only 2 controllers in the known universe that provide local fast ram, a faster processor, and most of all a faster scsi controller.

I owned a MK II 060 and the Warp Engine 040 was faster in day to day usage, granted if I was doing ray tracing or heavy math the MK II would be faster. I used it for email, browsing, word processing, painting, etc. and the onboard scsi made a tremendous difference (I think the WE was made better IMHO). I sold the MKII off and kept the WE.

I mention all of this because, if you really want to use you 3000D for a work horse and a daily system, the right accelerator and video card will make the Amiga make it very usable.

Just wanted to give my thoughts. I have been using a 3k for 30 years and have fixed some for friends. My kids have there own 3k (unfortunately that is dead right now). I have always thought the 3000 was the best amiga ever made, as long as you take care of the battery they last forever. Battery damage greatly reduces the life of them.

@Steve

Sorry to hear of your troubles.

According to my web search (and several other posts) Green screen can mean - Bad Chip RAM or Agnus.

If all else fails JJB at the Amiga Repair centre in France does a good job with Classic Amiga repairs. I have used him in the past for multiple A4000 & Cyberstorm mobo repairs.

TrevorD

Last edited by TrevorDick on 16-May-2012 at 09:32 PM.

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