My Amiga One is on a strange state since 12 days more or less.
The problem is that the machine starts up (motherboard lights green,HD DVD drives go on...) but when it has to give video signal to the screen...this doesn't happen.
So apparently the machine has life yet but I am very frustrated to see no Workbench or OS4.1 in action.How much I have missed it!!!

This came after disconnecting the power cables of the tower and the monitor and from day to day I lost the video sign on the monitor.

After that I gave it to a computer center that have good experiences on cases like this before and the only thing I could say is that they changed all the cards and the PSU and more they said they didn't found nothing.

So I take the Siil0680 cables and plugged something shorter at the VIA controller to ensure if the siil0680 card is doing wrong.Nothing happens and no screen on the monitor again.I have the machine on this state for now until I have a better idea of what is the problem happenning on my Amiga.

I can give my configuration at petition but I think is on my signature.

The only think I hope is good luck and an Amiga One resurrected from the dead or who knows and enjoy using OS4.1.

Can anybody help me?

Does anyone has recently similar problem like mine with his/her Amiga One?

Any ideas would be appreciated and would be considered in order to restore my loved Amiga.

I really don't have idea what I am missing or doing wrong with my Amiga One.

Last edited by newlight on 26-Jan-2010 at 04:21 PM.

_________________
AMIGA 500 1.5 MB ACA500/ACA1232 accelerators
AMIGA 500 German
CD32 unexpanded
Amiga 1200 Tower on AmigaKit since years
AMIGA 1300 030/50 Mhz/32 MB WB 3.9 with lots of games&demos
AMIGA ONE XE G3 PPC 800 Mhz/1 GB RAM/RADEON 9250 128 MB/SATA CONTROLLER

@newlight

I believe this kind of behaviour can happen if the CMOS battery has gone flat. Hope you get it sorted.

_________________
A600 OS3.1 ACA620 | '030 A1200 OS3.5 | µA1-C 750GX OS4.1 | SAM460 OS4.1 | '040 A3000 OS2.1 | Christian Aid |

@newlight
Change the battery...

@newlight

OK.. there's a few things to try..

First of all, replace the CMOS battery. (Silver, coin-like battery.. CR2032 is the type)

If that doesn't work, try putting a different (but supported) graphics card in, boot up and then turn off and put the original grpahics card back in.

I found that when I left my A1 unplegged for ages it was like yours, changed the battery and got nothing, but then changed the graphics card and it was OK.. Put the original back in and all was fine again. I think uboot gets a bit upset when the battery gets flat.

_________________
Back to action!

@newlight
You're in the same boat that I am. My AmigaOne 800 XE is doing nothing. Though the motherboard seems to be working fine (CPU fan spins, green light for IDE bus is on, fan in video card spins, video activation occurs when the system is powered up) Uboot will not come up. Have a look at the thead by Broadblues "AmigaOne Went Dead This Morning ;-(". You might try putting in a fresh CR2032 battery then wait a few minutes for the AmigaOne to warm up. Once it is running for a few minutes, hit the reset button and see if Uboot comes up. Haven't tried this yet. Have a feeling there may be a short somewhere in the CPU module or perhaps my memory went bad. Not getting anything from the serial port (first one near the USB connectors) when using minicom on my Mac Mini. Settings are 115200bps 8N1. When the AmigaOne is booted nothing shows up on the terminal output of minicom.

@newlight


You really ought to get a null modem cable so you can view the serial output. If the battery is too flat you won't get any output.

My A1 is currently giving me grief. Up until a day or two ago I had been using a PCI graphics card in a 33mhz slot and when I added an AGP card it decided not to play ball. This configuration has worked fine in the past. Now no matter what configuration I run now it won't boot unless no graphics card is plugged. I can see all this because I have the serial out connected to my PC via an USB adapter.

Last time I had a similar problem it was the RAM that was causing UBOOT to stop mid post, I solved that by swapping the memory modules around. When it does finally decide to work I'll have to make a mental note to leave it alone in future.

@Jamie_S
My battery is about 6 months old andI changed the older one with this because it didn't show any screen if I remember well.And only used about 3 months at best of the time passed.

So I think my battery is all right.

_________________
AMIGA 500 1.5 MB ACA500/ACA1232 accelerators
AMIGA 500 German
CD32 unexpanded
Amiga 1200 Tower on AmigaKit since years
AMIGA 1300 030/50 Mhz/32 MB WB 3.9 with lots of games&demos
AMIGA ONE XE G3 PPC 800 Mhz/1 GB RAM/RADEON 9250 128 MB/SATA CONTROLLER

@newlight

Your description of your dead A1 exactly matches mine. I can say this about mine:

1. There was a history of events leading to it wherein the general solution was to reseat whatever could be reseated - the sound card tended to ease out of its slot, particularly if a speaker was too close. Once it seemed as if the ram had to be reseated, another time a slightly tense IDE cable from sil680 card; usually I had the computer functional again without also trying the video card or cpu card (megarray). Once a month I took my A1 into the lounge for a club meeting then back again. I thought this moving was a source of these troubles.

2. Although superficially similar to the failure of the battery I found on test the battery was fine although I replaced it anyway. I managed to separate the holder from the motherboard but glued it back and tested that the power was reaching nearby points on the MB.

3. Connecting the upper comm port to another machine via a null modern cable established that there was an output up to a certain point. The Ram test went OK which I gather also means that the clock battery is doing OK. The battery I gather has something to do with starting up the video card but I know nothing about this. The output stopped 4 lines short - it reached the last reference to ram:

512 MB
FLASH:  0 kB
VGA:   0 ..

The Flash and VGA lines failed to show, the action stopping at "512 MB".
From this I concluded my agp radeon 9050 was not being noticed. Insertion of a different radeon card had no effect, cleaning of the agp slot with brush and compressed air none either. I examined the board for a possible trace break or cold joint but could not see anything. I do not have a pci card to try. Perhaps someone reading this will have a closer interpretation of what is happening at the point of failure?

Noel

Last edited by NoelFuller on 19-Nov-2009 at 12:44 AM.

@NoelFuller&All

History of events seems to give us to a common point eh?
I think the Amiga One is a very ankward and rarely tipical kind of fast machine.

Well the question is what steps are the more affordable and clean if possible (in a class of hardware manipulation) to put Amiga One back to life.

First if I want to go to replace the battery I probably will make lost my U-Boot settings.
If so happens I have copied to a notebook in case of urge,but I think my battery is new so it is in a good condition.But if this is a failure of energy I can try it no doubt.

And the graphics card is one year old but intensely used when it was at its time.
The only possible downside is an AGP slot very used to change and test in the last times.Clearly is possible but I don't know at all,really.

The most convicing thing you say to me is a high tension on my Siil card so I have to try it.Sometimes things changes when they aren't putted as before.

All in all I will try it some things but clearly don't have wisdom enough to go.

What do you think?

Can anyone list me a list of priority of tests before I go on this task?

Last edited by newlight on 19-Nov-2009 at 10:21 PM.

_________________
AMIGA 500 1.5 MB ACA500/ACA1232 accelerators
AMIGA 500 German
CD32 unexpanded
Amiga 1200 Tower on AmigaKit since years
AMIGA 1300 030/50 Mhz/32 MB WB 3.9 with lots of games&demos
AMIGA ONE XE G3 PPC 800 Mhz/1 GB RAM/RADEON 9250 128 MB/SATA CONTROLLER

@newlight

I know and I WANT to do something but I am asking what's the best preference to take this task.

Come on I want to see your thoughts here and want to be positive because my Amiga One is the preference now for sure.

So about battery,cables of Siil or video card what is the most probably failing?

I hope to hear you something about the things I must do in order to release of pain and that's it .

A thankful comeback for all.

Send me your ideas.

Last edited by newlight on 20-Nov-2009 at 01:57 AM.

_________________
AMIGA 500 1.5 MB ACA500/ACA1232 accelerators
AMIGA 500 German
CD32 unexpanded
Amiga 1200 Tower on AmigaKit since years
AMIGA 1300 030/50 Mhz/32 MB WB 3.9 with lots of games&demos
AMIGA ONE XE G3 PPC 800 Mhz/1 GB RAM/RADEON 9250 128 MB/SATA CONTROLLER

@janimator

Quote:

Settings are 115200bps 8N1

I'd also try 9,600 baud.

@Hypex
Hi there Hypex. I actually tried what BroadBlues did and that was let the Amigaone warm up for a few minutes then hit the reset. Sure enough UBoot appeared but promptly vanished when I tried to reset a second time. I also tried pushing lightly on the upper left hand corner of the CPU module where the meg array connector is located that BroadBlues mentioned and yes, UBoot appeared, then would not come back after turning off the power momentarily. I'm going with what BroadBlues stated and that there is a broken trace or solder point in the CPU but trying to find it or fix I don't have the necessary tools. Don't want to spend a fortune trying to fix it. I'm at the point now where I'm ready to sell the system (new 500W PSU, AGP Radeon Saphire 9250 graphics card, SCSI controller, SoundBlaster card, two Crucial 256mb modules and Firewire module (for Linux) to anyone who can fix it and use it. I think this is indicative of the design of the XE's, SE's. Probably the combination of rapid heat and cold temperature changes over the years wore out the CPU circuitry.

It's unlikely to be a bad joint - possible but unlikely. If your UBoot has come up at all, though, your CPU is just fine and that's good news.

This is what I'd do:

1) Change the battery with a known good one, measured to be the correct voltage (yes, even though your current one isn't old)
2) Connect it to a serial terminal (8N1 9600 or 115200, depending on your UBoot settings) and read the output.
3) Disconnect all the cards, hard disks and everything, and try that with your serial terminal - I think though I'm not sure - you should get a UBoot prompt on your terminal.
4) Reconnect the graphics card only. Preferably use a known good graphics card from another A1, but failing that a known-supported card. Worst case is your current GFX card as it may be bad - try testing it in a PC first though.

Either way, if it ever comes up with a UBoot, like it did, it's not dead, it's just resting....

@newlight

In the first years I had my A1, I never had the battery issues that other people were having. I probably turned the system on almost every day. Now that I hardly use it, I keep on getting battery problems. I replaced a battery a couple of months ago, used it for half an hour and never switched it on again until this week. Same problems as you described, no VGA, no boot. Powered on and off a couple of times, nothing. Went out to buy new batteries. Came back and switched it on with the old battery, and it worked, sigh!
Anyway, at the time I replaced the battery a couple of months ago, it was having the same symptoms and replacing the battery did it. Yes, it's a bitch to lose all U-boot settings, but there is no real alternative (besides switching the A1 on and off several times, unplugging and plugging the power cord, using the PSU switch several times and hoping it will come alive).

_________________
Audio Evolution
http://www.audio-evolution.com

The AmigaOne XE (at the very least) motherboard has a short circuit that makes the battery go flat if the computer has been powered off for too long. Does NOT has to be for a very long time. Some dev told me this is an error at the AmigaOne.

But I can see that other sources of errors can make the AmigaOne not power on, most likely is some card or device getting slightly out of connect due to moving the computer.

You can buy a new battery at Clas Ohlsson for instance (they are cheap), it is for sure a CR2032 battery (I know for a fact, since my diabetes bloodsugar meter uses exactly same, and I just opened battery from meter and double checked).
Btw.: The CR2032 coding is like this; "20" is diameter of battery in millimeter, and "32" is voltage (3.2 volts). Some dude told me. So this implies that a CR2034 (if that exists) is 3.4 volts and 20 mm diameter. (for instance)

Btw. a little comment upon this statement:
"(my AmigaOne can be...)...resurrected from the dead":
It is only with faith in Jesus you can be resurrected from the dead.
Jesus says: "The one who believes in me, shall never die. And the one that believes in me, shall live even if he dies."

Peace.

_________________
Amiga is the One...

@alef

Well I think I will go for a new battery and maybe a null modem cable in the following days.If so happens then my bag will be more full than ever be...But I hope it could improve the situation a bit or a better beatiful situation in case of resurrection A1.

If this occurs I must begin to believe in Jesuschrist at all.

_________________
AMIGA 500 1.5 MB ACA500/ACA1232 accelerators
AMIGA 500 German
CD32 unexpanded
Amiga 1200 Tower on AmigaKit since years
AMIGA 1300 030/50 Mhz/32 MB WB 3.9 with lots of games&demos
AMIGA ONE XE G3 PPC 800 Mhz/1 GB RAM/RADEON 9250 128 MB/SATA CONTROLLER

@newlight

Like I said earlier you really need to link it up to another computer via serial so that you can make a proper diagnostic.

@Rob

Thanks mate!!! I appreciate all of your kindful-Amigaish efforts,really.

I really was socked when the A1 becomes sadly unusable,you know.
But now I have to move on yes.

I will try to pick one as I said and have to decide this evening.

Only some question: Is the null modem cable one I can buy whatever wich brand it has? May I look into the mark in case I go to buy it?

_________________
AMIGA 500 1.5 MB ACA500/ACA1232 accelerators
AMIGA 500 German
CD32 unexpanded
Amiga 1200 Tower on AmigaKit since years
AMIGA 1300 030/50 Mhz/32 MB WB 3.9 with lots of games&demos
AMIGA ONE XE G3 PPC 800 Mhz/1 GB RAM/RADEON 9250 128 MB/SATA CONTROLLER

@newlight

Any cable will work as long as its a null modem cable. I had to get an USB - serial adapter because my my PC only has USB. The terminal program I used is called RealTerm but there are others.

My A1's post is hanging on the VGA, I'm that plugging in another AGP Radeon will sort things out but I'll have to wait a few days before I can do that.

@Rob

A good Radeon 9250 with 256 Mb of ram for example or what's the type you are going to try?

I expect that the result and tolerance with different computers of the null modem is good.

I will go in about 1 hour to buy the cable and the battery.

More suggestions?

Last edited by newlight on 20-Nov-2009 at 03:03 PM.

_________________
AMIGA 500 1.5 MB ACA500/ACA1232 accelerators
AMIGA 500 German
CD32 unexpanded
Amiga 1200 Tower on AmigaKit since years
AMIGA 1300 030/50 Mhz/32 MB WB 3.9 with lots of games&demos
AMIGA ONE XE G3 PPC 800 Mhz/1 GB RAM/RADEON 9250 128 MB/SATA CONTROLLER