Amiga problem has me confused
Michael Glicksman
me baffled. I consider myself to be an experienced user but I must
admit that I need help now. I have an A500 with a Supra 500XP hard
drive and 3 megs of ram. I'm using KS2.0 ROM.
My problem is with Workbench. When I select an icon(and double-click)
the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
I don't have any problems with the shell, I can run programs fine and
I haven't had it lock up yet. Even though I mostly use the shell and
rarely start programs from Workbench, I know this problem is going to
cause me some difficulty.
I've tried several things to narrow down the problem. I disconnected
my hard drive and booted from floppies(I thought maybe there was a
problem with the files on my hard disk), but the workbench problem
occurs even when I boot from floppy disk. I've booted from several
different floppies(with my hard drive connected and disconnected) and
still have the same problem.
I booted up my system with a Kickstart 1.3 disk, but I _still_ had
problems with icons on the workbench.
My conclusion is that I have some kind of hardware problem(my worst
fear). I can't imagine what would cause the problem.
Anyway, I would hate to have to repair my machine(since repairing an
A500 would probably cost as much as buying a replacement). I don't
want to throw my faithful Amiga out, I've invested too much into it
so far and can't shell out more $$$ for a better machine.
Any help would be appreciated, especially since Commodore can't help
me anymore and my dealer closed up years ago.
--
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# Somehow I can't believe there are many heights that can't be scaled by a #
# man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. -Walt Disney- #
#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#> From the Amiga of sl...@clark.net <#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#
Jeffrey Thomas Sheldon
: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
I HAVE ALMOST THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM!! And no one every gave me a good
solution :(
When I click on icons it freezes (after reboot it may take a few clicks)
When I drag icons it freezes
When I click on "by name" items it freezes
When I try to initialize my CNet BBS software it freezes trying to setup
the modem line (though it's definately hardware related).
I can't imagine what it is...everything removed but monitor (via RGB or
composite), bootable floppy, and mouse and it still messes up.
I'm hoping to get a chipset in the mail from someone soon and if that
ever arrives, I'll be able to see what chip it is for sure (since chips
can vary in price).
IF ANYONE has a suggestion though, please make it.
Thanks
-Jeff
James Cooper
Can you use the mouse to drag-select text in the Shell? How about in any
text editors that support it?
If you can, that would narrow the problem down to either Workbench or
icon.library. If not, its probably Paula or one of your 8520s.
--
---------------
Jim Cooper
(ja...@unx.sas.com) bix: jcooper
Any opinions expressed herein are mine (Mine, all mine! Ha, ha, ha!),
and not necessarily those of my employer.
tem...@netins.net
>: My problem is with Workbench. When I select an icon(and double-click)
>: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
>: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
>: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
>
>I HAVE ALMOST THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM!! And no one every gave me a good
>solution :(
>
>When I click on icons it freezes (after reboot it may take a few clicks)
>When I drag icons it freezes
>When I click on "by name" items it freezes
>
>When I try to initialize my CNet BBS software it freezes trying to setup
>the modem line (though it's definately hardware related).
>
>I can't imagine what it is...everything removed but monitor (via RGB or
>composite), bootable floppy, and mouse and it still messes up.
>
>I'm hoping to get a chipset in the mail from someone soon and if that
>ever arrives, I'll be able to see what chip it is for sure (since chips
>can vary in price).
>
>IF ANYONE has a suggestion though, please make it.
>
>-Jeff
I remember this problem from years ago.. if I remmeber right.. it is in fact
a util that you are running in the startup-sequence that is causing the
problem.. I remember it had nothing to do with the amiga or the os..
It was simple enough to fix by removing what caused it... but at this time
I can't remmeber what it was.. I suggest stripping things out of the startups
until you find it.
J.J. Evers
the same problem with my a4000(but my computer locked up when ever I hit
the right mouse button(not just in workbench)).. Luckly your parts arn't
as hard to replace.
--
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Per Swantesson
: My problem is with Workbench. When I select an icon(and double-click)
: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
One or both of your port-chips are defect (CIA8520 if I remeber correctly)
They cost less than $15 each and are easy to replace.
Per Swantesson
http://tekla.teknikum.umu.se/~fr95psn/
Gary Alan Peake
>: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
>: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
>: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
>
>solution :(
Try eliminating all but the necessary programs from your startup drawer and
your user-startup.
Had this same problem and it turned out to be conflicting programs at
startup.
Gary Peake
1:106/7512.2
40:202/12.1
gpe...@cup.portal.com
Mathias Karlsson
>Michael Glicksman (sl...@clark.net) wrote:
>: My problem is with Workbench. When I select an icon(and double-click)
>: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
>: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
>: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
>One or both of your port-chips are defect (CIA8520 if I remeber correctly)
>They cost less than $15 each and are easy to replace.
Note to original poster:
Since there are two CIA/8520 in the Amiga changing places is a good idea, if
the fault remains, they are probably ok and something else is defect, but
if mouse etc starts working, and serial/parallell/whatever goes down, one of
(if not both) the CIA-chips is defect. As you say, they are not expensive and
easy to replace. (beware of static electricity when changing any chips though)
Generally speaking, if something suddenly stops working, checking the CIA8520's
is a good idea.
vh MK
--
// "Oh god of earth and altar, bow down and hear our cry"
\X/ Boing! -- Jag skall d| med min dator p} -- ...
Michael Glicksman
Mathias Karlsson <d3k...@dtek.chalmers.se> wrote:
>fr95psn@tekla (Per Swantesson) writes:
>>Michael Glicksman (sl...@clark.net) wrote:
>>: My problem is with Workbench. When I select an icon(and double-click)
>>: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
>>: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
>>: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
>
>>One or both of your port-chips are defect (CIA8520 if I remeber correctly)
>>They cost less than $15 each and are easy to replace.
>
>is a good idea.
I'm the original poster. Thanks to everyone who offered advice. From what
I've read, I'm pretty sure my problem is caused by a bad CIA chip. As some
of you have suggested, I'm going to try and switch the chips and see what
happens(I tried this earlier today, but the d*mn things were wedged in there
pretty tight. I think I can get hold of a chip-extractor, then I'll try it
again). It's nice to know that this isn't an expensive problem to repair.
Thanks everyone, now that I _know_ what is causing the problem, I'm not
as worried as I was before.
Kasper van Wouw
> I'm the original poster. Thanks to everyone who offered advice. From what
> I've read, I'm pretty sure my problem is caused by a bad CIA chip. As some
> of you have suggested, I'm going to try and switch the chips and see what
> happens(I tried this earlier today, but the d*mn things were wedged in there
> pretty tight. I think I can get hold of a chip-extractor, then I'll try it
> again). It's nice to know that this isn't an expensive problem to repair.
>
> Thanks everyone, now that I _know_ what is causing the problem, I'm not
> as worried as I was before.
Try clicking and dragging without a mouse (i.e. holding right amiga down
and using the arrow keys). This doesn't use the CIA's.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everything should be made as simple as possible, Kasper van Wouw
but not simpler -- Albert Einstein kas...@stack.urc.tue.nl
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Darren M. Greenwald
>I've owned an Amiga for 5 years and now I have a problem that has
>me baffled. I consider myself to be an experienced user but I must
>admit that I need help now. I have an A500 with a Supra 500XP hard
>drive and 3 megs of ram. I'm using KS2.0 ROM.
>
>the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
>nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
>it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
>
>I haven't had it lock up yet. Even though I mostly use the shell and
>rarely start programs from Workbench, I know this problem is going to
>cause me some difficulty.
>
>I've tried several things to narrow down the problem. I disconnected
>my hard drive and booted from floppies(I thought maybe there was a
>problem with the files on my hard disk), but the workbench problem
>occurs even when I boot from floppy disk. I've booted from several
>different floppies(with my hard drive connected and disconnected) and
>still have the same problem.
>
Hmm, if the problem appears to be strictly one of freezing up when
dragging icons, or doing other icon related things, this can be
a sign that there is a CIA problem. One possible cause here is
that the TOD counter (or interrupt) on CIA-B is not functioning.
If the problem appears to go away under KS 3.x (icons drag, but
flicker a little ) this also suggests a bad CIA. Though KS 3 will
recover from a bad CIA-B line counter, you should still consider
replacing the CIA as it may be indicative of other problems, as well
as cause a few games to lock up that try to do beam syncing via
the TOD counter on CIA-B.
That is about all I can think of that would be causing you this
kind of symptoms off hand.
--
-----------------------------------------------------------
Darren M. Greenwald | Scala Inc. R&D /
Senior Engineer | dar...@scala.com o
-----------------------------------------------------------
Bernd Sieker
In article <139...@cup.portal.com> gpe...@cup.portal.com (Gary Alan Peake) writes:
>
> >: My problem is with Workbench. When I select an icon(and double-click)
> >: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
> >: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
> >: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
Sounds very much like a CIA problem to me. I guess this was because
the Workbench uses CIA timers to determine double clicks. Swap the two
CIA (8520) and see if other (or, by pure chance) no errors occur, if
so, get one or two new 8520.
> >
> >I HAVE ALMOST THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM!! And no one every gave me a good
> >solution :(
>
> Try eliminating all but the necessary programs from your startup drawer and
> your user-startup.
>
> Had this same problem and it turned out to be conflicting programs at
> startup.
That's another thing to check, of course, but problems with double
clicks on the Workbench have often turned out to be faulty
CIAs. They're easy to get and not that expensive (though not exactly
cheap).
>
>
> Gary Peake
> 1:106/7512.2
> 40:202/12.1
> gpe...@cup.portal.com
--
Bernd Sieker \\ email: bsi...@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de
IRC: Pink \\ HAM-Radio: DG6YHI (@DB0BQ.#NRW.DEU.EU)
--
"Bruno Heinz Jaja, unlike Strawinsky, has never been guilty of
composing harmony in all his life!"
Dr. Peter Kittel
>: My problem is with Workbench. When I select an icon(and double-click)
>: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
>: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
>: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
>
>solution :(
>
>When I drag icons it freezes
>When I click on "by name" items it freezes
I once heard that you can get these symptoms with a hardware defect in
one of the CIAs or some other chip in the path of processing mouse
signals. No own experiences though.
--
Best Regards, Dr. Peter Kittel //
Private Site in Frankfurt, Germany \X/ Email to: pet...@combo.ganesha.com
Now re-employed at Amiga Technologies GmbH in Bensheim, Germany
Stay cool, not cold (Cool bleiben, nicht kalt); H. J. Friedrichs
Bill Silvey
: In article <3q6lpa$1d...@tiger1.ocs.lsu.edu> je...@tiger.lsu.edu (Jeffrey Thomas Sheldon) writes:
: >: My problem is with Workbench. When I select an icon(and double-click)
: >: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
: >: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
: >: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
: >
: >I HAVE ALMOST THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM!! And no one every gave me a good
: >solution :(
: >
: >When I click on icons it freezes (after reboot it may take a few clicks)
: >When I drag icons it freezes
: >When I click on "by name" items it freezes
Try opening your clock and watch it VERY CAREFULLY. If the seconds skip
backwards, then coupled with your statements above it IS your CIA chips.
: I once heard that you can get these symptoms with a hardware defect in
: one of the CIAs or some other chip in the path of processing mouse
: signals. No own experiences though.
Yep, I had the same problem with my original A500.
James Ianni
: In article <3q6lpa$1d...@tiger1.ocs.lsu.edu> je...@tiger.lsu.edu (Jeffrey Thomas Sheldon) writes:
: >: My problem is with Workbench. When I select an icon(and double-click)
: >: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
: >: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
: >: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
: >
: >I HAVE ALMOST THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM!! And no one every gave me a good
: >solution :(
: >
: >When I click on icons it freezes (after reboot it may take a few clicks)
: >When I drag icons it freezes
: >When I click on "by name" items it freezes
: I once heard that you can get these symptoms with a hardware defect in
: one of the CIAs or some other chip in the path of processing mouse
: signals. No own experiences though.
I had the exact problem once a number of years ago. If you have
<=Workbench1.3 , then youcan fix it with a PD program called, Hmmm, it's
been so long ago, uhhh ViewPortFix or something, BUT IT DID GET RID OF
THAT PROBLEM. If you have >WB2.0 and have this problem, then it may be a
CIA chip, they are the most probable chip to go bad.
Marcus Majer
On the 02.06.1995 at 19:35:28 o'clock
has Bill use his fingers to write over
the theme Re: Amiga problem has me confused.
BS> Dr. Peter Kittel (pet...@combo.adsp.sub.org) wrote:
BS> : In article <3q6lpa$1d...@tiger1.ocs.lsu.edu> je...@tiger.lsu.edu (Jeffrey Thomas Sheldon) writes:
BS> : >: My problem is with Workbench. When I select an icon(and double-click)
BS> : >: the computer locks up. No mouse movement, the icon drawer won't open,
BS> : >: nothing. My Amiga isn't even nice enough to give me an error message,
BS> : >: it just freezes when it tries to open an icon.
BS> : >
BS> : >I HAVE ALMOST THE EXACT SAME PROBLEM!! And no one every gave me a good
BS> : >solution :(
BS> : >
BS> : >When I click on icons it freezes (after reboot it may take a few clicks)
BS> : >When I drag icons it freezes
BS> : >When I click on "by name" items it freezes
BS>
BS> Try opening your clock and watch it VERY CAREFULLY. If the seconds skip
BS> backwards, then coupled with your statements above it IS your CIA chips.
BS>
BS> : I once heard that you can get these symptoms with a hardware defect in
BS> : one of the CIAs or some other chip in the path of processing mouse
BS> : signals. No own experiences though.
BS>
BS> Yep, I had the same problem with my original A500.
BS>
BS>
I had seen that you have a view Problems and I hope I have the answer?
Change the two 8520 with them self.
I Had this problem a view month ago.
Many Luck.
Till next in this Pages ?
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