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Repair guide

Read the Amiga power-on screen colours and find a dead-boot fault

An Amiga uses the screen colour at power-on to hint where a fault lies. Note the colour, then compare it with a published chart for your model.

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Diagnosis · Careful · about 60 minutes. Worth doing. Reports say this fix helps on many machines.

You are in the right place if: The Amiga shows a plain coloured screen or never reaches the insert-disk hand.

Before you start

  • Do not poke around live circuits.
  • Unplug before touching boards or reseating chips.

Board revisions and models

Colours and behaviour differ by model and Kickstart version.

Parts you may need

  • Test ROM or spare Kickstart. Check ROM faults Amazon · eBay
  • Replacement power supply. Rule out PSU Amazon · eBay

Tools

Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. These links only search by name. Disclosure

Step by step

  1. Disconnect everything Unplug all peripherals and any expansion from the machine.
  2. Use a clean power supply Check the supply, since a bad one gives odd results.
  3. Note the colour Power on and write down the screen colour that appears and what it does.
  4. Compare with a chart Look up the colour in a published chart for your Amiga model.
  5. Reseat chips and RAM Reseat socketed chips and memory.
  6. Check the Kickstart ROMs Check the ROM chips are seated and the right way round.
  7. Check the clock battery area Look for leak damage near the battery.
  8. Check polarity after any previous repair If someone has recapped the machine, check polarity.
  9. Retest Retry after each change.

Tips, tales and maybes

Found in write-ups and forum threads. These are other people's reports, not tested by us.

  • Maybe (Low confidence). Different colours are commonly said to point to ROM, chip RAM, custom chip or CPU problems, but check a published chart for your model before acting on it. General technique, no source.
  • Watch out (Medium confidence). One A1200 black screen turned out to be reversed capacitors from an earlier recap plus a broken trace. Source

Guides we used

We wrote the steps in our own words from these. They have the photos and the full detail, so please read them and support their authors.

Boards and models vary, so check what is in front of you. A repair can involve hot tools, chemicals and, on some machines, dangerous voltages. You do it at your own risk.

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