ACA500plus not booting

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Hi,


    I have a A500 REV6A and recently acquired a ACA500plus. When starting the system I get either a black screen with green bars and message E2 on the display, or a dark blue screen with message FF on the display.

    Before installing I gave the Zorro slot a good clean with IPA.


    What could be wrong?


    Kind regards,

    Marien

  • Are there any expansions inside the A500? Does it start with the rotating animation on the DisMo? Any other Amiga or power supply available to try with?

  • The rotation animation is shown on the DisMo on start-up. Also Ctrl-A-A does reset the Amiga. There is no other expansion in the Amiga, other then a 3.x kick rom. I will try another powersupply tonight.

  • All ACA500plus do pass several tests before they are packed, so it must be something small that you're missing. Can you run the Amiga in de-brick mode, that is "hold down the DisMo button until the blinking "0_" appears, then do another ctrl-A-A?

  • "Yellow" means that an error was found in the memory that was tested. Sounds like a contact problem - I do see that you cleaned the contacts, but can you take a look into the connector on the ACA500plus? Maybe a bent pin?

  • There are a total of two ACA500plus units on the agenda for today, but none of them has the error description "yellow screen". If you want to know more details, I'll need the warranty ID of the card.

  • G'day Jens,


    I'm getting the same problem as this with my old ACA500+. However, it's intermittent, I suspect it's the connector on the ACA500+, perhaps a dry join, or something. Once it's working, it's find the whole time, but if I move the Amiga (as I have to do, as I don't have the space to keep it permanently located), then I typically have to keep trying it until it works.


    I've tried it on two Amiga 500s and it acts the same regardless. I've got a brand new ACA500+ (2019 model just recently) and the problem doesn't exist. I'm in Australia, and it's a bit expensive to ship the ACA500+ back and forth, and I work at a company with a bunch of electronics technicians (who resoldered and fixed the CF port because I bent some of the pins).


    I've noticed the new ACA500+ has a much stiffer connection slot to the Amiga 500, and I'm wondering if I should arrange for the slot connector to be replaced, or should I look somewhere else on the ACA500+ for the problem?


    Any help is really appreciated.

  • The only true difference between the current and the previous model of the ACA500plus is that I'Ve put a 10k pull-up resistor on the reset line, which cleans up the rising edge of the reset signal - this is necessary for some, but not all A500s. You could try that on your machine.


    The difference between the connectors may not be the spring force, but some grease that has built up over the years. Please try to clean the connector with IPA and a an old toothbrush, and also use micro fibre cloth and IPA for cleaning the A500 side.

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.