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From: menelli@sunb3.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Amiga 1000 Bootup/Guru Problem.
Message-ID: <34600006@sunb3>
Date: 9 Apr 90 00:38:30 GMT
References: <2014@awdprime.UUCP>
Lines: 55
Nf-ID: #R:awdprime.UUCP:2014:sunb3:34600006:000:2941
Nf-From: sunb3.cs.uiuc.edu!menelli    Apr  7 12:49:00 1990


/* Written 10:42 am  Apr  4, 1990 by rick@samurai.austin.ibm.com in sunb3:comp.sys.amiga */
/* ---------- "Amiga 1000 Bootup/Guru Problem." ---------- */
My Amiga 1000 appears to be on its last leg.  I am constantly getting two
GURU messages upon bootup.  These messages sometimes alternate, but the 
message is rarely different than these two numbers.  This posting is a
plea for help to aid me in determining what is wrong, and how I can fix it
if possible.  Chip/Part numbers would be a great help if that is the problem!

The GURUS I am getting are:

00000003.00C01570 or
00000004.00C01570               (This is the one I get 95% of the time)

I am not sure of the number of zeros in front of the 3 or 4, but the C01570
is constant.

The strange thing is I am sometimes able to actually get through kickstart
and use the machine.  Other side effects include the system locking up and
staying that way, but NO GURU appears.  When this occurs, I cannot reboot
using the control-amiga-amiga, but instead I have to shut the machine totally
off.  Usually after this has occured, and I turn the system back on, I start
getting the constant GURUS listed above.  As a side note, I have the 512k 
do-it-yourself memory upgrade that was in Byte a few years ago.

If someone at Commodore or anyone with some hardware knowledge about the
Amiga could take a second and offer an opinion, I would be extremely greatful.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+     Rick Sutton - Contractor - IBM AWD - Austin, Texas (512) 823-4722       +
+          @cs.utexas.edu:ibmchs!auschs!samurai.austin.ibm.com!rick           +
+     ..!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!ibmaus!auschs!samurai.austin.ibm.com!rick        +
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
/* End of text from sunb3:comp.sys.amiga */

Well, I used to have the same problem, and I too had a hacked up 512k expansion
inside the machine. After about a year and a half, something happened to the
chips and/or the wires that caused the machine to guru when I turned it on.
After being on for a few minutes, it would eventually work as expected.

The solution? Well, I went the extreme route and ripped out the memory and
bought a Spirit Inboard. It's much more stable. My guess is that the 150 ns
RAMs were the problem - maybe 120's would have worked better. It seems like
150ns rams are sort of on the borderline between fast enough and not. I know
someone who has the same problem with his A500 512k expander - guess what -
150ns RAMs. He, too, has to wait for a few minutes before the machine boots
successfully.

Do you have 150s in your machine? I don't know if this is the real problem,
or the behavior of the two aforementioned machines is purely coincidental, but
I would suggest removing the hack, since it saved me a lot of headaches in the
long run. Otherwise, maybe faster RAMs?

Ron Menelli
menelli@cs.uiuc.edu