+chue Posted June 23 Share Posted June 23 6 hours ago, CPUWIZ said: A3000 is cleaned, I am not opening it, single user (as I told you). Did you take out the Vaarta? The following image is not an A3000, but does show what happens to Vaarta batteries over time. Image source: https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_march21/scuzzblogdmarch21_1901.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 12 hours ago, chue said: Did you take out the Vaarta? The following image is not an A3000, but does show what happens to Vaarta batteries over time. Image source: https://www.scuzzscink.com/amiga/scuzzblog_march21/scuzzblogdmarch21_1901.htm No, I didn't, I was worried that breaking the service seal would reduce it's value. No? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted June 24 Author Share Posted June 24 The batteries in these are one part of the design that I will never understand. Why in the world would you solder a battery right to the motherboard as opposed to using a method of making it easily end user replaceable? The IIGS had an easily removeable and replaceable battery and that was from the era. Even my 486DX motherboard has a removable CR2032 coin cell. Did they not think the end user would at some point need to change the clock battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 (edited) 55 minutes ago, eightbit said: The batteries in these are one part of the design that I will never understand. Why in the world would you solder a battery right to the motherboard as opposed to using a method of making it easily end user replaceable? The IIGS had an easily removeable and replaceable battery and that was from the era. Even my 486DX motherboard has a removable CR2032 coin cell. Did they not think the end user would at some point need to change the clock battery? They didn’t think these clunkers would make it past 5 maybe 10y … and then be disposed/recycled (business cycle on office computers/laptops was 3 to max 5 years if memory serves and at that time A3k and A4k were definitely professional oriented). Edited June 24 by phoenixdownita 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted June 24 Author Share Posted June 24 The longer these batteries are in there the worse it gets. I was watching this the other evening: Looks like the owner ended up migrating what he could over to a repro motherboard...so at least that is one option today if the motherboard is destroyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+chue Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 7 hours ago, CPUWIZ said: No, I didn't, I was worried that breaking the service seal would reduce it's value. No? An exploded battery will do far worse in reducing the value than breaking the seal. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 @CPUWIZ if you end up opening it use plenty of isopropyl as it neutralizes the acidity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalus2097 Posted June 24 Share Posted June 24 (edited) Yeah, the A3000's battery is right amongst the custom chips. A lot of critical circuits are in the area so often it's a huge amount of work to repair. The only reason to never open a machine like that is if you only intend it to be a static display, stuffed and mounted in a museum, never to be used again. If you want it to work for the foreseeable future, that battery has to come out now. Not next week, now. If it has leaked (and chances are it has), you need to neutralise it with acid before washing the area with IPA as mentioned above. Lemon juice will do if necessary, or distilled vinegar (proper vinegar, not the cheap imitation you can sometimes find in supermarkets). You'll see it fizzing as you work it into the board with a soft toothbrush. Repeat until it doesn't fizz any more, then wash *all* the acid off the board with IPA or distilled water. Don't leave any on the board or that will cause its own problems later. And make sure the board is thoroughly dry before powering it up again. Fitting batteries like that was perfectly normal - as was said, these machines were expected to have a limited lifespan. Any decent computer company making cheap consumer products is going to plan on selling any owner a replacement model a few years down the line.Those batteries are rated for a 10-year life - from a design standpoint that's a perfectly fine decision to make. Not one of the engineers involved was thinking that there would be users holding these machines as precious possessions more than a third of a century later, just like no designer in Acer realistically thinks their next laptop will have a cult following and will still be in use in the year 2058. It was a rechargeable battery, so unlike a CR2032, it was intended to last the lifetime of the computer without needing to be replaced. Having said that though, towards the end of Amiga, the A4000T was actually switched to using CR2032s too. Edited June 24 by Daedalus2097 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted June 24 Author Share Posted June 24 2 hours ago, phoenixdownita said: @CPUWIZ if you end up opening it use plenty of isopropyl as it neutralizes the acidity. Well, it is actually lemon juice or white vinegar that will neutralize the acid. Then clean that off with isopropyl. And if you really want to get nuts you can use a fiberglass pen and get all of the screen stuff completely off and then apply new mask. But I have always just neutralized and cleaned and that seemed to be enough...even going back to batteries I have removed in other things years ago no further damage is present. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 Ok, preparing operation table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted June 25 Author Share Posted June 25 1 hour ago, CPUWIZ said: Ok, preparing operation table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 Behold, not only did it not leak, the chips are socketed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 Actually worse than I thought. 😭 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalus2097 Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 (edited) That has leaked and spread quite far. It might not be as bad as some photos, but that machine is on borrowed time. You can see it around the battery terminal, on the U480 and U477 chips, and various passives in the area too. There are also a couple of vias that seem to be corroded, and it's hard to be sure, but it looks like it's spread to at least one of the legs of the Paula custom chip (in the socket nearest the camera) and the RTC chip (in the socket the other side of the screw). To repair that properly, the affected parts need to be removed, then it all needs to be neutralised, the soldermask stripped back (because the leakage can crawl along the copper beneath it even after neutralising the surface corrosion), and any damaged traces or vias repaired. It's normal for those chips to be socketed. The leakage can destroy the socket contacts, and even the chips themselves if it's allowed to spread enough. Edit: Ah, you've seen it too from that second photo, Paula is definitely affected, and U195 has caught some too. It's worth checking Denise too, it might have some on the nearest pins. Edited June 25 by Daedalus2097 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 Thank goodness I live in Cali and can just go outside for a lemon. 🤣 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 Thread now fully hijacked, still not sure if I want to disassemble the whole thing. 🤣 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted June 25 Author Share Posted June 25 (edited) I would snip that Varta battery out right away. Those DAMN batteries.... The board will need to be taken out I hate to say. The underside of that board will be bad too... Amazing how much damage can be caused by one little barrel battery. EDIT: Nevermind, I see that little Varta bastard next to your lemon Edited June 25 by eightbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+chue Posted June 25 Share Posted June 25 8 hours ago, CPUWIZ said: Thread now fully hijacked Um, anyone know a good moderator 🙂 Sorry to see your A3000 like that, hopefully it can get cleaned up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted June 26 Share Posted June 26 Kind of feel like doing this with it, unless I can work out a deal. LOL 48h_2c6ef022-40b8-417a-b43f-5cf93ed3e6d3.MP4 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted June 26 Author Share Posted June 26 (edited) I am guessing either it is not powering on or is and no image or a solid color screen? And, I just noticed you put your face on the Office Space character. That's awesome! Edited June 26 by eightbit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted June 26 Author Share Posted June 26 On a more cheerful note, my childhood Amiga is just about done. Just waiting for the KS 3.2.2 ROM I had ordered to arrive and I will swap out the 3.1 ROM that is in here. Cloanto license number blocked I had another RAM card and swapped the battery damaged one. The battery damaged one works, but I don't like it..lol. No clock on this one either, but it's in nice shape. Next up is to work a bit on the Rev 5 Amiga 500 I have (actually, work has already started). That is the one I had purchased a few months ago that was in like-new condition from a guy who used to work for Psygnosis. It is a REV 5 board. I was going to leave it as is, but I already had to crack the seal in order to repair a broken key plunger. Now that it's open I have some different plans for that one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted June 26 Author Share Posted June 26 (edited) Here's a sneak peak at the other A500 and what has been done thus far. Thanks to Jens at https://icomp.de/ for the very very VERY fast service and shipping of the ACE2B. Literally get packages faster from Germany to the USA than from inside of the USA! I also have to give a shout out to tinkerBOY for the most badass DF0/DF1 selector I have ever used: https://www.ebay.com/itm/304056913254 Switchless. You just hold CTRL-Amiga-Amiga for four seconds and it flips between DF0 and DF1. Not so special you say? Well it is the first one I ever used that actually remembers the switch until you do it again (surviving power off..so it is actually storing the setting) AND it allows use of both drives. It just makes DF0 to DF1 and DF1 to DF0. So you can use them both and use something like X-Copy to copy a mounted ADF in a Gotek to a real floppy disk in the drive. Amazing. Edited June 26 by eightbit 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted June 27 Share Posted June 27 7 hours ago, eightbit said: I am guessing either it is not powering on or is and no image or a solid color screen? And, I just noticed you put your face on the Office Space character. That's awesome! No, I just wouldn't power it on in this state, a cap and a diode need to be replaced first. Al is the one pulling me back. LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted July 9 Author Share Posted July 9 (edited) Well, the childhood Amiga 500 has undergone some changes. The plan initially was to leave it the way it was with the TF536 and then do something different with the other A500 I have. The other A500 is a Rev 5 and I wanted to add 2MB of chip to it so I had previously added the ACE2B. Then the plan for me was to add a Vampire V2 (Igor still sells these!), but when it arrived as I expected there are clearance issues with using it with the ACE2B. When pin extensions are added the Vampire does not work reliably. Not to mention it doesn't fit with the keyboard on and the case closed. Sooo... The childhood Amiga 500 got the vampire treatment and the TF536 is going into the rev 5 A500. Got a nice 3D printed sidecar adapter that houses the HDMI and the network adapter as well: And heck yeah does it work great! If anyone is interested in the 3D print for this, it is located here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4830638 Here's the HDMI extension I used (I tried a few, this one was the only one where the holes lined up!): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CG3FBNS5 Here is the network adapter that works with the V2+ (you need rev 2.2 of the board that has the ethernet header): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WX1NRO0 And finally the type of cable you need with 2.54mm pitch to connect the ethernet to the Vampire: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JNFF7MH Hope that helps someone out there Edited July 9 by eightbit 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eightbit Posted July 25 Author Share Posted July 25 (edited) Here's an update on the "Psygnosis Amiga". I call it this because it came from the loft of an ex Psygnosis programmer. I had purchased this months before my childhood Amiga came into my life. I probably would not have purchased it if the childhood Amiga came earlier to be honest, but I'm glad to have it. It's super clean and was actually factory sealed when I had received it. But, a key on the keyboard was broken hence I had to break the seal in order to repair it. Anyway, this board is a Rev 5, which is not nearly as easy to get expanded with additional chip memory or even KS 3.1. But, I did it without any motherboard modifications with the right parts Parts list: 1. ACE2B from Individual computers 2. TerribleFire TF536 3. GGLabs custom flashed Kickstart 3.1 ROM (customized to work in Rev 5 boards with no modification) 4. Tinkerboy DF0/DF1 floppy switcher (in order to use a Gotek externally) The machine now boasts a 68030 running at 50MHz, 64MB of Fast RAM, 2MB of Chip RAM, a 32GB CF card divided into four partitions with everything you can imagine, and a completely switchless way of swapping DF0: and DF1: with BOTH usable at once by holding CRTL-Amiga-Amiga for four seconds...and it remembers the setting until you change it again. Still think that is the best switcher ever made. The only thing it is lacking is a clock battery. I can add a RAM board with a clock battery and the system will use the clock (but not the RAM). But that means I have to buy one and I am broke now As zero hardware modifications were performed on this system to get it to this state (which I find amazing) it can easily to brought right back to stock. Edited July 25 by eightbit 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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