Expert: Gregory Donner - 9/26/2008

Question
I have a program that I use on the Amiga called Pro Video Gold. It's a character generator. I also have a Progen "genlock" unit attached to the 500 as well and then a montior looped through the progen.

After I load the program and the computer is running for awhile the computer will freeze and lock up. I have to do a cold start in order for it to boot back up. A warm start will not work to get it to boot again. I also have a A590 hard drive attached to the computer as well.

Any thoughts as to why it will freeze randomly? I do not have to even be typing or touching the computer or making it process anything for it to freeze. It just does it randomly.

Thanks.

Answer
Hi Larry,

Unfortunately, it's very difficult to know what might be causing your Amiga 500 to freeze--though it could be bad RAM in your system. Do you ever get any kind of solid colors displayed on the screen when booting up (other then black or gray)? I ask, because the Amiga is designed to report certain hardware problems with various colors (blue, red, green) before bootup.

I hope this helps,

Greg