Amiga A4000/30

[willbloke]

Someone I know got wind that I was playing with Amigas and said , "I've got a 4000 "

Went to look at it today and it's an A4000/30 .
The battery is leaking but it still boots !
But it only has 2 Meg Fast and no chip ( is that the right way round , never can remember !)

Now there are 3 or 4 SIMs in slots at the front side of the MoBo , is this the chip ?
Is it a symptom that the battery is eating the MoBo ?
Anything else to try , maybe reseat the SIMs ?

I think it's a SCSI HD , didn't have much time TBH , what are the chances of getting data off it ?
PARNET ?
Try and find a compatible PC SCSI card and read off with WinUAE ?
He has some work saved from years ago that he would like to keep .

Should I just snip the battery off before it does (more) damage ?

If I get the data off he might sell it , is it worth much ?

Cheers .

[fitzsteve]

Hi!

Yes, get the battery off ASAP! You can either snip the legs or rock it gently back and forth till they break.

Then I suggest stripping down the A4000 and removing the Motherboard.

The next step it to pour some lemon juice (or deistilled vinegar) on the affected area and leave it to work at the green goo for about 5-10mins.

Come back armed with a toothbrush, electric is better if you have one! Give it a good clean and remove as much of the green from the chips/tracks as possible, it might have eaten some underneath too so clean there as well.

Once thats done rinse with tap water and clean again with IPA (isopropyl alcohol)

Now leave it to dry before testing, upside down in the Airing Cupboard overnight is the best place for it!

The bad news is if the Fast Ram isn't showing up I doubt the clean up would have fixed that but at least now it can't get any worse.

There is chap over at Amibay called Hikey who is somewhat of an expert at repairing A4000 Motherboards, I suggest geting in touch and seeing if you can send the board to him. Hopefully he can repair the damage.

Of course you can sell as is, but its going to be worth a lot less faulty.

All the best.

Steve.

[willbloke]

Cheers Steve .
So the leaking battery is the cause of the lack of FAST RAM ?

So it's a bit knackered then !

Oh well , I'll get it off him and see what I can do .
Cheers mate !

[fitzsteve]

Originally Posted by willbloke

Cheers Steve .
So the leaking battery is the cause of the lack of FAST RAM ?

So it's a bit knackered then !

Oh well , I'll get it off him and see what I can do .
Cheers mate !

Yeah the leak will have damaged the latching chips by the batter and/or the tracks leading to the Fast Ram Simm Sockets.

It should be repairable.

As for value, depends on the condition. A Minty A4000 with no damage could be worth up to £300, in its current state depending on condition of the case it could be worth £100?

Also if it has any expansion (Zorro) cards these can add value.

All the best,

Steve.

[duga]

Take a photo and show us.

[willbloke]

TBH Steve , it's scruffy as hell , it's been very well used , but I reckon/hope I can have it for nothing if I can get the data off .
The guy has some animations on it from a film he did years ago that won't open because the lack of RAM .

It's become a bit of a challenge now , I've got an old PC fired up with WinUAE , now if I can find a compatible SCSI card/cable ( pretty sure it's SCSI?! ) and get the data off !

Bloody computers , what did we do before them ?

[willbloke]

Originally Posted by duga

Take a photo and show us.

The streams crossed as I was posting !!! I didn't get the chance earlier, I took the cover off and had a quick look , I'll try and get over there again tomorrow . Cheers .