Help, my sam is dying...!?

I have a SAM-flex 667Mhz with Radeon 9250. It all started when I gave the case a little bump. Strange lines across the screen and it froze. Then I tried cold rebooting it, and it wouldn't boot again. There is no signal from the radeon, and the serial gives strange output (something with keyboard).

The situation now is, that it boots sometimes, but most of the time with no video signal, and sometimes it doesn't boot at all (I can tell from drive noices).

Has anyone experienced such problems?? Do I need to ship it for repair or is there something I can do about it??

Did you try reseating the video card?

Just what I was going to ask.

@alkfil
If swapping does not help, you for sure know that all the users know that you works on qt, db101 and those patches, and via bounty we all will send you new machine without problems :)

@alfkil
I would try reseating the RAM, PSU connectors and the power and reset switch connectors it is probably just a bad connection some were.

I have already tried unplugging and replugging all things and switching the video card to a different slot. Just now I got it booting with video for one time, but it seems video update is slower than usual, and it hangs just when the workbench screen appears...

I'm guessing that I need to send it for repair...

@alfkil

Just in case of test will be good to try another radeon to test with (maybe just something with card itself?).

Btw, did your sam have inbuild gfx card ? (silicon motion of how it called)

@kas1e

No, he has the flex version. The ep has onboard gfx card aswell.

@alfkil
Do you have a spare PSU you can try as I have had similar problems in the past then my power supply was failing.

The other long shot is do you have a spare BOIS battery you can try as I know U-boot does not seem to work properly then the battery is flat for some reason.

@Dwyloc

Now you mention it, I do as a matter of fact have a spare PSU in my A1200 tower. I could also try and get hold of a spare battery, when all this Christmas is over.

And uhm yes I have a Voodoo card in the A1200 tower also, that I could try. I'm a bit reluctant though, because it has two hacks == 5 OR 3.3 volt PCI. Do you think it is safe to try it??

@alfkil
I would not risk it with the Voodoo card personally as if its really just a 5V card it could do real damage to your expensive sam

As you had other U-boot problems recreantly I am increasingly beginning to wonder if it is a flat battery issue you are seeing, do you have any old PC's you could try borrowing a battery from to see if it helps or a multi meeter to check the battery voltage?

@alfkil

I think it's not (safe), before plug anythings on your Sam drop a mail to ACube asking for help, they are availible until 27 December ...

@ alfkil

I once had the same thing happen to me and the problem was a loose small screw which got trapped beneath the MB causing some type of short.
I only found this out after trying new memory, video card, cables etc. and then eventually took the whole thing apart and reassembled and voila..it worked!

good luck

If your card has a 3.3V compliant slot, it's a 3.3V compliant card!

That said if you do try it and everyone dies suddenly, it's not my fault. :) I'd do it without a second thought though. It is definitely supported on non-classics, is it? I presume it is.

What's the status on your machine Alfkil?

@Troels

It is working and on its way back from Italy. In the meantime I have been doing some work on a Qt project under Ubuntu . As soon as I get my machine back, I will do an Amiga version.

@alfkil



When you receive you Sam back i hope you can look at WarpOS games again

@alfkil
Great news