ScuzzBlog: Diaries February 2021
Entry 20th February 2021: Post 1: Amiga 3000 - Not a good day.
Amiga 3000 - Not a good day.
Today was not a good day, I have to say. I was determined to get
to the bottom of my A3000 failed hard drive issues. I wanted to
try and identify which hard drive had fallen over, and whether I
had lost the AMAX files and emulator.
I started by sorting out the special boot disk needed to get into
the OS. I plugged in the A3000 mouse and keyboard and set up the
black 1084S monitor.
The machine requests the special kickstart disk, basically cus the
computer cannot find a bootable hard drive on the system. I have
determined that the Workbench WB2.0x drive fell over and the only
drive left is the AMAX Mac formatted drive. That said I was unable
to boot into the 2.04 Workbench. Repeated attempts with the various
disks resulted in the same failure. Half way through the sequence
is fell over.
I had better luck with WB 1.3 though SysInfo threw up a very strange
error message that I have never seen before.
I then tried playing a game with the 2.04 ROM and this is where
things really went from bad to worse. The screen started to break
up and then she just froze and threw up a GURU. I tried several
times but sadly just fell over. The game started initially and
then broke down. It was at this point I gave up.
This machine has some quite odd wiring jointing around the PSU and
a good deal of insulating tape. The original drives need to be
fully removed and the cradle lifted to look at the motherboard.
The main use for this computer has been for the MAC emulator so I
am not sure just what has been modified. The notes that came with
the machine point at both internal and external floppy drive issues
with the MAC card installed.
That was that. I did have two long sessions today with the 3000
and whilst she boots to both the 2.04 and 1.3 boot screen I can
only get to the 1.3 Workbench. May point to a ROM issue. I did
bypass the AMAX card and the floppy drive connection to it but it
made no difference. The problem is with the SCSI drives and possibly
ROM, Denise and or even memory on the machine. I removed the battery
a good while back and there is no battery damage. She is quite
clean.
I will wait until we get the bright summer nights to give me more
time in the natural light. And it'll be warmer for the 'gal. I
won't give up, I never do. I am thinking of using a IDE interface
plugged into the daughterboard and using a 3.5" IDE and lose the
SCSI. Just to get her working. Shouldn't be difficult. SCSI can be
a little fickle at times. I do like SCSI but when it plays up it
can be a bit of a challenge sorting it out.
More no doubt in the summer. If I can leave the computer alone.
Been a long day and not very rewarding.
Amiga 3000 - Not a good day.
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