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      /  A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
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Bugala 
A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 21-Nov-2014 9:43:52
#1 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 21-Aug-2007
Posts: 649
From: Finland

The feared day finally came that I didnt get my A1200 to start anymore.

Its been something from half a year to one year without use, and yesterday I was finally trying to use it again, and only very little happened.

Before starting to do anything else, I decided to write a message here, so that those who know better, can perhaps already tell me that all i need to do is x and it will work just fine.


First I try to recall everything that machine has (And i might remember some parts wrong).

A1200 in Power Tower? - case.

- It has Blizzard1230/50 + FPU
- In A1200 there is some soundcard, perhaps the name was prelude? and I think it is connected to clockport. I dont actually know where clockport is, or i could tell with mroe certainty, but i faintly recall that the guy who installed it said it was going to clockport.
- I have SCSI connection somehow, by best guess, it would be on Blizzard1230/50 perhaps, but i really dont remember. I just know I have SCSI CD-rom Drive, CDRW-Drive and Harddisk.
- In addition to SCSI Harddisk, I also have internal 2.5 inch harddisk (IDE).
- I think it was called Mediator the thing that made it possible to connect PCI-cards, and perhaps even had Shark or something like that PPC place in it.
In mediator:
- I have GFX card, I think Voodoo maybe 3000, but I have never got it to work properly, i mean, the card probably works, just never knew how to adjust settings right to get picture to a monitor.
- Some network card that i have used LAN to get to internet.

And just in case, I think the A1200 is of ESCOM era model.



Symptom:

I turn the power on. Light blinks once on CDRW drive, and i think on CD-ROM drive as well, which means that some power is going there, but it instantly also stops.
TVs blues screen does momentarily change into black, but changes right away back to blue.

I dont hear any fans turning, or even any sound like there would be anything happening with hard drive.

My first thought was that PSU is dead, but then, why would it give any power at all?

But shouldnt PSU anyway stay turned on, even if the rest would fail?



My first thought of action would be to open the case and first remove connection from PSU to anything else, and see if it turns on and keeps on. After that I would take off all unnecessary stuff, like GFX card, since I anyway dont use it, and ry if it works after that.

And then if still fails, to disconnect all but A1200 and see if it works. If works, then start adding one item at a time to my machine.


Also, there have always been problem starting my machine ever since i power towered it. For i turn the power on, and it stays black, i click the reset button with right timing, and then i get the machine to boot. One guy said this was because my harddisk was so far in connections, that it didnt get powered at start yet, and hence the boot fails first, but by using that reset button, the harddisk is able to jump to speed as well.

But compared to current situation, TV stayed black and power was clearly on and i could hear the sound of some machine humming, fan or something. Now I dont hear anything, tv wont become black but stays blue (no signal) and it dont seem like the power would be on.


Anyone know already where the problem relise, or do as i have thought to do?

Last edited by Bugala on 21-Nov-2014 at 11:19 AM.

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Bugala 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 23-Nov-2014 13:02:48
#2 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 21-Aug-2007
Posts: 649
From: Finland

@TOPIC

update:

I have now opened my powertower, found some surprise inside there, which i will post pics at later point.


I unplugged all the powerplugs i could figure out, except there was one cord that i didnt dare to touch. I think all that cord does, is to give power to a light which shows when power is on.

When i click the power button, that light blinks and now that i looked at the PSU and its FAN, i can see that the fan tries to start but fails instantly. It moves perhaps 90 - 180 degrees, but thats it. Nothing else.

I suppose this means the PSU is dead, or does it? For i had always imagined that when PSU dies, it simply doesnt start. Clearly there does come power, although for very short while only when power is turned on, so is the PSU dead, or what?


Also, if PSU is dead, then i guess i need a new one. My first choice could prehaps be to go to friends local computer store to get one from there, as he has plenty of those lying around there, but thei are PCs PSUs, and from year 2000+ basically. Hence, what should i take into consideration when trying to replace this PSU, or should i just contact "local" (means it resides in same country) Amiga dealer, who for sure can do it right?

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Hypex 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 23-Nov-2014 13:53:21
#3 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 6-May-2007
Posts: 11180
From: Greensborough, Australia

@Bugala

So for starters this system did actually work once as it is?

IIRC the clockport is slightly to the left of the floppy drive or there abouts.

Mediator bus board needs power, make sure it is plugged in. And AFAIK the SharkPPC never made it to market so if you have a Blizzard1230/50 you likely don't have PowerPC.

Setting up RTG on Mediator can be a pain and when I looked you needed to "hack" some monitors drivers for it.

Blue colour screen is custom chips error.

It could be PSU as you describe. They can do funny things. If replacing with PC one it will need enough load to sustain it working.

Apart from the usual checks for cables and such it might be time to start taking it down. Prelude should be easy to remove off clockport. Mediator certainly could cause trouble and that would be next on my list. Then Blizzard. So staart with non essentual add ons and go from there.

If it is PSU then likely cheap replacement will need adapting to be switched on and off like you current PSU.

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Rob 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 23-Nov-2014 16:43:16
#4 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 20-Mar-2003
Posts: 6344
From: S.Wales

Is the PSU AT or ATX?

Test that before stripping down the system. IIRC the AT supplies have there own dedicated switch but ATX power on is done through the motherboard but you can get around that by bridging the green PSU_ON signal to any black Ground signal.



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QuikSanz 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 23-Nov-2014 17:42:05
#5 ]
Super Member
Joined: 28-Mar-2003
Posts: 1236
From: Harbor Gateway, Gardena, Ca.

My bet is on a bad PSU. As soon as the system starts to draw current the voltage falls off.

Chris

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Bugala 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 23-Nov-2014 17:42:17
#6 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 21-Aug-2007
Posts: 649
From: Finland

@Hypex

Yes, machine have worked about half a year-year ago last time exactly like it is now. However, year ago it was still at my old house, after that it have been moved from there to here, which might have caused what ever is causing the problem. I cant remember if i have started that machine here at all or not. I faintly recall that when i took it in here, that i started it to check it is working still, but due to how it was right now before i tried to start it now, it would seem to me that I havent started it in this house at all, which would mean that it was last time started in old house, about year ago (actually 10 months to be more precise i think)


My description wasnt clear enough. the mention of sharkPPC was at point when i wasnt sure what was that thing i had in my machine for those PCI places, so was just recalling what i seemed to be recalling about it.

But after opening the computer, it clearly reads "Mediator 1200 PCI" on the board. so thats it.

And no. I dont have PPC, just the Blizzard 1230/50 + FPU, that i remember, but model im not sure, but i think it is mark IV.

I also noticed I seem to be having 1 more PCI card, probably soundcard, cant remember its name right away, but it was very popular on PC side at that time (about 2000?), if i recall that card right at all. I think name might have been Soundblaster something?


I also noticed there was among with 2 x cd-roms and 1 x harddisk, one more device there. I suppose it would be another harddisk, although i dont recall it at all, but neither do i recall having anything else either there.


Then what comes to blue screen, that blue screen didnt come from my Amiga, but it came from my tv. Point is that when there is no signal, my tv shows blue screen.

So what i meant was that when i push the power button, screen changes to black for that less than a second moment, which i suppose means that it is sending signal from Amiga to tv (through scart cable), but since computer turns off right away, it goes back to no signal state of blue screen.


And unless i missed some power cable, i guess there is no point in stripping the machine down at this point yet, since as far as i could see, it seems like i took all the power plugs but that one light plug that goes to front of machine unplugged, and it still didnt work, or rather, the light goes off almost immediatelly, and PSU fan only moves that small amount before completely stopping again.


And yes, i took two power plugs off from Mediator, however, I didnt see any power plugs that had been directly connected to the motherboard in any way. So did i miss some plug, or is the power coming to the motherboard through Mediator?

I actually have recalling that that "local" amiga dealer once told me that my normal booting problem is because my harddisk is so far from power supply, hence power through mediator would make sense, that power comes to mediator, from there to motherboard, and then finally to 2.5 harddisk attached to motherboard.

@rob

have to check if there somewhere reads wether its at or atx, i personally dont even know the difference as i dont know much about PSUs.

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amigat 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 23-Nov-2014 18:28:28
#7 ]
Regular Member
Joined: 28-Nov-2007
Posts: 234
From: wales

@Bugala

Hi
it's not the psu it sound like there a short somewhere in your setup, I would disconnect everything include the clock port card just have the motherboard and mediator and the psu then try it again if powers up the you know the psu is fine and the motherboard too, then put it together put one at a time to try to find the short.

_________________

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Rob 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 23-Nov-2014 19:34:08
#8 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 20-Mar-2003
Posts: 6344
From: S.Wales

@Bugala

Quote:
I also noticed I seem to be having 1 more PCI card, probably soundcard, cant remember its name right away, but it was very popular on PC side at that time (about 2000?), if i recall that card right at all. I think name might have been Soundblaster something?


Soundblasster 128 is the most likely.

Quote:
And yes, i took two power plugs off from Mediator, however, I didnt see any power plugs that had been directly connected to the motherboard in any way. So did i miss some plug, or is the power coming to the motherboard through Mediator?


If the 2 power connectors you mentioned are labelled P8 & P9 then the PSU is AT so should have its own power switch.



Try pushing the case's power button with everything disconnected from the PSU and see if the fan starts blowing. You can also connect drives to the PSU and they'll automatically spin up without the motherboard being powered.

The A1200 draws it's power from the Mediator so no need to worry about that.

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Bugala 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 23-Nov-2014 22:46:00
#9 ]
Cult Member
Joined: 21-Aug-2007
Posts: 649
From: Finland

@Rob

Yep, those are exactly the power plugs i took off from mediator.

As far as i looked, it looked to me that i disconnected everything from PSU but those (i think) two cords that went to power tower cases front light, but i guess that really cant cause the whole PSU to fail working.

And yes, after doing that and turning power on, it still does the same. quick blink of green light, and fan rotates a bit - first start speeding and then instantly stop for good. And it looks to me like the speed doesnt get to accelerate even to fullspeed yet.

Im tomorrow going to check through again just in case i have missed some power plug still, but i think i took them all off, except for that light.

a question.

As example. As power plug is off from Cd-Rom. Supposing for example that Cd-rom would be faulty, could it still cause the problem, even if the power is not connected.

That can for example SCSI connection alone trigger the problem?

I am asking this because if connection alone, without power, cant cause a problem. Then I can already eliminate everything connected to A1200 or mediator (which is most of the stuff), since if A1200 gets power through mediator, and i have now unplugged it, then clearly nothing there is causing the problem and in case it is not PSU that is causing the problem, I can focus my attention to Cd-roms and harddisks, since those are only things getting power outside of A1200/mediator, although, as far as i have understood, i did disconnect them too from PSU, and at least CD-roms dont get even that one blink of light anymore when power is turned on to power tower.

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QuikSanz 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 23-Nov-2014 22:58:22
#10 ]
Super Member
Joined: 28-Mar-2003
Posts: 1236
From: Harbor Gateway, Gardena, Ca.

@Bugala,

Would probably melt the wires first. How old is PSU? It may have dried out leaky caps.

Chris

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Rob 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 23-Nov-2014 23:43:04
#11 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 20-Mar-2003
Posts: 6344
From: S.Wales

@Bugala

Quote:
And yes, after doing that and turning power on, it still does the same. quick blink of green light, and fan rotates a bit - first start speeding and then instantly stop for good. And it looks to me like the speed doesnt get to accelerate even to fullspeed yet.


If nothing is connected to the PSU then it must be at fault.

If you have to replace the PSU you can get an ATX-AT converter from AmigaKit.

http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=39&products_id=306

@QuikSanz

Quote:
And yes, after doing that and turning power on, it still does the same. quick blink of green light, and fan rotates a bit - first start speeding and then instantly stop for good. And it looks to me like the speed doesnt get to accelerate even to fullspeed yet.


The Power Tower dates back to the late nineties so it would be around 15 years old.

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QuikSanz 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 24-Nov-2014 0:51:14
#12 ]
Super Member
Joined: 28-Mar-2003
Posts: 1236
From: Harbor Gateway, Gardena, Ca.

@Rob,

Should not cause a board problem, more of a brown out than a spike. Hopefully all is good with a new PS!

Chris

Edit: that's a pretty old unit

Last edited by QuikSanz on 24-Nov-2014 at 12:52 AM.

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Hypex 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 24-Nov-2014 12:56:03
#13 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 6-May-2007
Posts: 11180
From: Greensborough, Australia

@Rob

I'd like to see how well that bridge works when trying to plug it in.

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Hypex 
Re: A1200 not working - Lights blink once, nothing else.
Posted on 24-Nov-2014 13:16:42
#14 ]
Elite Member
Joined: 6-May-2007
Posts: 11180
From: Greensborough, Australia

@Bugala

Okay. The moving could have shaken something off. Did your cables have a map?

The SB128 was a popular soundcard but if you have a Prelude you shouldn't need it.

Understand about the blue screen now. Does the power light for the A1200 come on at all where ever that is?

I don't have my own Mediator but I do recall last time I checked one out in a tower there was power going from the PSU to the Mediator busboard which then powered the A1200.

Now with your drives, yes adding and removing does matter. I found when setting up an IDE DVD on my A4000 that a bad setup can crash it. So you gotta make sure the drive is on the correct position on the cable and jmupers set accordingly as master or slave. Amigas don't have DMA on IDE so it makes sense to use a non-DMA 40 wire IDE cable. That said a UDMA 80-wire IDE cable should also work but they reversed the master and slave positions in the standard if that can matter. A backwards cable will stop booting but I'm not sure if it can shut off power as well. If a short is detected it will reject power right away to my knowledge.

With SCSI, IDs have to be different, controller usually sits at ID 7, and you need the bus terminated at both ends. Controller usually is terminated on board so you need to terminate the last device on the bus.

Do you have your manuals? Now would be the time to check through them for cables needing to be connected including power. I'd say either a cable or plug is out of place somewhere or the PSU kicked it.

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