Atari 4160ste wont boot

[Toolism]

Hi all,

 

I have a problem with my atari 4160ste, it suddenly started to stop booting.

 

It was working fine, except the floppy drive which was dead, so I bought a replacement one and then everything was perfect for a day and suddenly I got this bomb screen on start up.

I have no idea what is causing this, I checked all the chips and stuff inside to look for a dodgy connexion or anything suspicious but it all looks OK and since it was working 5 min before I wonder what could have gone wrong all of a sudden.

 

It sometimes starts if I force reset several time, most of the time it turn it on and get no sound at all, like its not even trying, but if I reset it a couple times sometimes with a floppy inside, it will eventually load the game or come back to the TOS environment.

 

I have no knowledge whatsoever in electronics and computer components, I can just see that all the connexion seem fine on my boards.

Could be a dodgy ram upgrade from previous user ? but it was working everytime before and all looks in good working order.

 

Any idea what could be causing this ? Advice most welcome. cheers!

[GadgetUK]

It's possible the PSU has bad caps. Also possible its a RAM fault. I would start by reseating any socketed chips and see if any of the caps in the PSU have swollen tops - be careful in the PSU though you can get a nasty shock if you touch the high voltage caps - best way to do it is remove the power cord and then switch the ST on to bleed caps dry. Then remove the PSU cover to check that first. If you've got a multimeter check the connector to the mainboard is carrying +5, +12 and -12v.

[eeun]

That's a tough one without parts to swap-test. I'd also add trying to start with less ram - and remember if you're using just two sticks, they go in slots 1 and 3. If that doesn't work, try the other two sticks in 1 and 3. That should at least eliminate the ram.

[Toolism]

thanks for the replies guys!

 

From what you told me, I would now think it is a PSU issue, now I'm thinking of it, when I tried to put the atari pieces together after changing the floppy drive, I probably forced it a little bit to fit it properly. something was blocking it near the PSU. So maybe it has been damaged.

I feel really stupid now. I'll have to check this properly tomorrow!