What symptoms would a flat mobo battery cause on an A500+?

[Merlin]

Hi

I have got hold of a basket case A500+ from Fleabay, if nothing else I thought it would be useful for the chips on board to upgrade another A500 I have, it came with no floppy drive. I have opened the case to examine it and it's obvious that the onboard battery has leaked as some of the tracks are corroded.

Plugging the unit in gives a green screen, I am aware this could mean duff RAM, could the dead battery also cause this symptom?

:help

Merlin

[keropi]

yes, if the tracks that have corrosion are related to onboard ram...
leakage can kill vital parts of an amiga :(
I have an example of an A4000D , that the battery leaked and after no fastram was recognised in any of the 4 SIMM slots...

[Merlin]

I've looked closer at the board, the Gary socket is badly corroded and will need to be replaced along with the two 74LS244N's, to sort it all out is going to be in the region of 15 to 20 GBP including replacing all the custom chipset IC sockets, I reckon I will have a go at fixing it.

Fortunately all of the custom IC's are not damaged, the pins on the Gary will clean up OK.

Merlin

[alexh]

Bummer, my A500+ is in a box at the bottom of a pile of other boxes... I really should get the battery off... I've known about the problem for many years but been too lazy to do anything about it. I only have myself to blame. I kept telling myself if it ends up broken I still have my A600.

Before replacing sockets etc. BUZZ out the connections with a multi-meter. Perhaps you can find just one that needs a "jumper wire" replacement.

[Merlin]

@ Alexh

I can see missing legs on the Gary socket and the 74SL244N's due to corrosion caused by the leaking electrolyte, I am not spoiling the ship for a half penn'orth of tar, I could solder the chips direct but Maplin do socket strip at a reasonable price, so that's the way I am going.

Besides, it's a challenge...

Merlin

[pmc]

I've got an A500+ and didn't know about this problem. I'd like to open it up and remove the battery before any bad things happen - are there any good resources around with an idiots guide to getting one open and finding the right bit to remove?

[keropi]

DJBASE sells some small pcbs that have a small lithium coin battery, and have 3 legs too, total and compltete replacement, unsolder old battery, solder new pcb... they rock!

see it HERE (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290103622920&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=019) suits almost all amigas !!!

[pmc]

Took the plunge and opened up my A500+. I've never opened it before so I was a bit wary but I found the battery - it had started to leak but no lasting damage done - and removed it.

That should keep her going for a while!

[amigarobbo]

The 500+ had a battery?

Well, live and learn. Although it was about 10 years ago I got rid of mine, I'm sure I had to set the time..