Need help with my x68000 ACEHD

[sy35]

Hello to all i am new to the x68k and have two of them. i have some problems with them. one did work till i gave it a bit of a clean  but not now  . it powers up and the green light comes on but that is it and when you turn it of the fan still keep running and it will not go to stand bye. can any one help me please.

[Maxwar]

I am rather new the the x68000 myself and likely wont be much help but you should provide more details, such as: what exactly do you mean by "giving it a bit of clean" ?

In any case when i first had my Compact XVI, it suffered from leaky capacitors and the disks i  had were bad. If i tried to feed it a bad disk it would usually spit it out butt  sometimes it would kind of try to load it and hang and behave in the way you describe ( no soft power off )

Once i had good disks, this did not happen anymore.

[sy35]

Hi

I stripped it down to clean it as it had a lot off dust in it. i don't do any think to damage it as far as i know. i hope some one can help or it looks like they are dead, i just hope they are not

[Maxwar]

Possibly a HDD issue?
I dont know much about the X68k Hard drive, my model does not have it.  Does yours still have it?
Is it possible you disconnected a cable  while cleaning?
Did you try booting with a floppy?

The more background info and history about what happened, the more people can help you.

[sy35]

Hi

I don't think it is a HDD issue as i have tried  the other x68000 and it is doing the same thing and that has no HDD in it. I did disconnected the cable off of the bottom bored but that's all . I also try to put in a floppy but it did nothing. will see if i can put a video of it on later

[BlueBMW]

You say that when you power it on the green light comes on, but it will not boot from disks or from the hard drive correct?  And when you turn it off, it wont shut off but rather just flashes the green light at you?  Could you press the interrupt button on top of the system and take a picture of what comes up on the screen?

[sy35]

i plug the system in and i get the red light come on, and then when i press the power button the green light comes on and that is it. The monitor shows no signal and the hdd does not boot up, i can load a floppy in to the drive and eject it , but the disk drive will not read the disk. When i power off the green light goes off and the red light will not re-appear but the internal fan will keep running

[BlueBMW]

Do you have access to a multimeter and do you feel comfortable opening the side of your system?  Im wondering if maybe your power supply is starting to fail and one of the voltage lines is dead or weak.

[Maxwar]

When In doubt, recap the PSU :p    ( semi-joke )
The twin tower style X68ks are apparently renowned for their failing PSUs. So thats quite possibly a PSU issue. I myself recently got one that probably has dead PSU ( ExpertHD) I did not get to mess with it yet, its still in the box. 

However I still find it funny the the problem started right after the cleaning. Have you used the computer in a small time frame before the cleaning? Or say, took the box out of the closet after 6 months, cleaned it and oops it does not work?

Anyway, I would try disconnecting the HDD and try to work it out with known good floppies at first.  When troubleshooting stuff its best to reduce variables.  Even if your floppy drives are bad, they should still at least try to read. Also, if you have any expansion cards in the computer, ( Ram, midi card etc... ) I would take em out too.

Also, is it possible that the bios memory got currupted? Say, battery is weak, borderline failing and somehow its glitching. I troubleshoot and repair PCs a lot, reseting bios is definitely in my checklist when things to not work at all. I dont know much specifics for X68000s but really thats the stuff im thinking about so far. 

Good luck!

[stt1]

it powers up and the green light comes on but that is it and when you turn it of the fan still keep running and it will not go to stand bye.

Power supply failure, almost surely. Do not try to use the computer until you have fixed the supply or made ATX-swap.

- Saku

[eidis]

 Hi Sy35,

Sorry for the late reply. I had the same problem as you and the cause was a poorly seated I/O slot riser. Try to attach it while the motherboard is still out of case, make sure that it is plugged as deep as possible and sits tightly. In any case, be sure to recap the PSU and other components of the system as well. It is very critical that you do so because they are a "ticking time bomb".

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

[Maxwar]

Hi Sy35,

Sorry for the late reply. I had the same problem as you and the cause was a poorly seated I/O slot riser. Try to attach it while the motherboard is still out of case, make sure that it is plugged as deep as possible and sits tightly. In any case, be sure to recap the PSU and other components of the system as well. It is very critical that you do so because they are a "ticking time bomb".

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

After reading this i recall that, when i was testing my recapped XVI, i first tried to power the mobo with no parts connected to it and it behaved just as OP described. After i connected everything ( Riser card, rear connector ports, floppy drives etc... ) IT worked.  This further reinforces the theory of the "Not properly connected something".

[sy35]

Hi Sy35,

Sorry for the late reply. I had the same problem as you and the cause was a poorly seated I/O slot riser. Try to attach it while the motherboard is still out of case, make sure that it is plugged as deep as possible and sits tightly. In any case, be sure to recap the PSU and other components of the system as well. It is very critical that you do so because they are a "ticking time bomb".

Keep the scene alive !
Eidis

After reading this i recall that, when i was testing my recapped XVI, i first tried to power the mobo with no parts connected to it and it behaved just as OP described. After i connected everything ( Riser card, rear connector ports, floppy drives etc... ) IT worked.  This further reinforces the theory of the "Not properly connected something".

Hi i have checked and double checked all the connections . I also replaced the PCB battery to day and i still have the same problem. so i am still at a loss with it. I have the system disk for the ACE HD on there way to me don't know if that will help me in any way all not will get that video on as so as. hope i can get them up and running soon.

[eidis]

Hi Sy35,

This sounds like a capacitor issue. You will need to replace them and there is no way around it

Eidis

P.S. Here is a super lazy method for debugging purposes only. Replace all capacitors on the main motherboard but be sure to measure dimensions of the original ones before purchasing replacements, otherwise you will not be able to fit the metal shield frame if they are higher. Replace the rest which have 100uf or higher values and see if something changes.

[sy35]

Hi Sy35,

This sounds like a capacitor issue. You will need to replace them and there is no way around it

Eidis

P.S. Here is a super lazy method for debugging purposes only. Replace all capacitors on the main motherboard but be sure to measure dimensions of the original ones before purchasing replacements, otherwise you will not be able to fit the metal shield frame if they are higher. Replace the rest which have 100uf or higher values and see if something changes.

Hi Eidis

can you tell me how many capacitors are there to replace on the main motherboard please. I have had a quick look and it looks like 4 capacitors . many be wrong this is all new to me. 

[eidis]

 Hi!

I found 3. Start by replacing the three ones which can be seen in the bottom left cornet (green, dark blue and black)

http://content5-foto.inbox.lv/albums/e/eidis/X68000/CPU-Closeup.jpg

Eidis

[sy35]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12426986@N03/6526588153/#
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12426986@N03/6526589451/#

Hi
can any one tell me how to build this inverter as it looks like it is run on 240v as i am in the uk.  the one from off of the NFG site looks different to this one.  and i think have this many be why i have problems with my x68000. it just seem funny how how both my x68000 have the same problem at the same time. funny odds