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Conference 7.286::atarist

Title:Atari ST, TT, & Falcon
Notice:Please read note 1.0 and its replies before posting!
Moderator:FUNYET::ANDERSON
Created:Mon Apr 04 1988
Last Modified:Tue May 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1433
Total number of notes:10312

1226.0. "System Down" by DECWET::HASLOCK (Opinions - Worth what you pay) Mon Dec 30 1991 15:06

After a week or so of obscure problems, my system died. Any suggestions would
be most welcome.

Obscure Problems.
	Some games would lock up and hitting reset blanked the screen while
	the button was pressed but the screen would be unchanged when the
	button was released. The programs may have locked up at a point when
	they were trying to access the sound generator.

	The system would not boot from some disks. One disk would fail at
	any one of three points but usually passed the RAM check program in
	the auto folder.

System Death.
	I boot the system and the floppy select light does not turn on and
	the floppy does not spin. I've tried two different floppy drives and
	there is no change.

		Nigel
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
1226.11st guess, DMA controllerPRNSYS::LOMICKAJJeffrey A. LomickaMon Dec 30 1991 23:3116
Does it eventually come up with a green screen and title bar?

If so, or even if it doesn't, the first thing I'd suspect in your case
is the Atari DMA controller.  You should be able to get one in your
neighberhood from Best Electronics.  It's socketed (40 pin) in machines
of your vintage, so the check is as easy as swapping the part with a
friend.

The second choice would be memory, but you didn't mention "vertical
lines on the screen" in any of the failure modes, and vertical lines or
bars are classic "bad memory" symptoms.

Sometimes weird problems can be traced to bad power, but that usually
comes with screens that jump when the floppy motor spins.

So, go for the DMA controller, see what happens.
1226.2ROMsUFHIS::BFALKENSTEINTue Jan 07 1992 07:135
    
    another guess is to reseat the Operating System ROMs
    
    Bernd