A1000 will not boot up

[dparrott]

I have an A1000 that was working fine 6 years ago before it went into storage. I just pulled it out and fired it up and all it does is flash it's red light every few seconds. The disk drives do not run. Ideas anyone? Could it be the df0 drive? I have an extra df1, can I replace the df0 with that?

Dan

[Buleste]

Welcome to the site!! Have you opened her up just to check that no connections have come loose? As it's been in storage for a few years it's possible it may have gotten a bit of moisture in it so it may need warming up for a bit. Maybe also double check that the ROMS haven't become a little loose as well.

[dparrott]

Thanks.

I pushed all of the chips in and checked the connections, all looks good. There is a board that is upside down though, I can't see how to get to the chips under it.

When you mean "letting it warm up", you mean just turn it on and leave it run for a bit?

[Harrison]

If it has been in a left for some time moisture can form on the electronics. If you leave it in the house for a day it often lets the moisture go away and often allow it to work again.

Do you get anything on screen when you switch the A1000 on? Or is it just blank?

[dparrott]

It's been inside of my office since last Friday.

All I get when I turn it on is a series of blank colored screens. The red light on the front keeps blinking. It doesn't check for a disk in df0.

[Harrison]

What are the colours of the blank coloured screens? These coloured screens are the AMiga's error screens and each colour represents a different error. If you let us know the colours we can tell you the errors.

[dparrott]

The screen stays dark grey for 5 seconds, then turns light blue when the red light on the front flashes. It then goes back to grey and keeps repeating that cycle.

[Harrison]

I think the blue error screen means there is a problem with one of the custom chips. The good news is that the custom chipset inside the A1000 is socketed so the chips can be reseated, cleaned or replaced.

I would first remove any expansions such as ram upgrades and external floppy and HD drives and just check one of those isn't the cause.

If it still does it then you will need to take the A1000 apart and remove each of the custom chips carefully, give then a light clean with some electrical cleaner and then try refitting them. Hopefully it is just a bad socket connection causing the issue.

But failing that, you can get replacement custom chips from various sources if needed.

[dparrott]

IT'S ALIVE!!!

I took off the top circuit board, pushed it back in and it now works. Thanks for all of the help.

[Harrison]

Great that you got it to work. Have fun! :)

[dparrott]

Well, it worked for a while, then yesterday I tried to boot it up and the df0: won't read any disks, not even Kickstart. The drive just keeps making clicking sounds.

[Harrison]

Having not been used for so long I expect some dust and rubbish has got into the drive and the use of the drive has collected this rubbish up in the drive and now blocked the read write head. You should be able to clean it with some alcohol and cotton buds. Or if you can find one you could try a floppy drive head cleaner.

[dparrott]

Thanks, I'll try that.

[dparrott]

How would I clean it with alcohol and cotton?