Amiga Tower out the attic

techn1um · 13 August 2010, 20:07

Hi

Ive got an old Amiga Tower out of the attic that I brought a good few years ago but am having a few problems.

First off the Amiga has 2 vga inputs one which works on my 15" monitor and is connected I think to the amiga motherboard via a ribbon cable. The 2nd connection is a 3dfx card which I cant get to work on the 15" monitor as it just says "video out of range"

Also theres loads of stuff inside this tower and I want to find out the spec of it, I know on Windows you can right click "my computer" and get the spec of the pc but how do you find out the spec of an Amiga??

Also I am unable to hold the 2 mouse buttons together at boot up to get the boot options screen as again it doesnt seem to show it on the monitor.

Any help appreciated.

thanks

fitzsteve · 13 August 2010, 20:12

If you've got a 3DFX card, you must have a mediator PCI busboard.

You'll need to setup the screen modes in workbench with a video driver called Picasso 96.

Take some pictures of it, inside and out and we'll let you know what you've got there.

It does sound like a very high end Amiga

If it boots into a workbench then you can get some info by going to your system drive and then 'tools' and then 'show config'

Steve.

Peter · 13 August 2010, 20:24

Good idea Steve - get as many pictures as you can and post them here or give us a link to them - that way we get to see it all as well!!!

ck1200 · 13 August 2010, 20:29

Welcome to the forum and look forward to the pics

techn1um · 13 August 2010, 21:18

yep got a 3dfx card and wintv card and network card all connected to a mediator pci thing which has lots of pci slots.

When photographing the expansion card a piece of the memory broke so now when booting it says not enough ram for everything LOL so need to buy a new memory chip so next question is what is the maximum the Amiga supports and I can buy it from ebay what kind of ram do I need? should be cheap enough as its probably old ram now.

Starting to upload pics to web so will post pics in abit.

thanks

fitzsteve · 13 August 2010, 21:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by techn1um

yep got a 3dfx card and wintv card and network card all connected to a mediator pci thing which has lots of pci slots.

When photographing the expansion card a piece of the memory broke so now when booting it says not enough ram for everything LOL so need to buy a new memory chip so next question is what is the maximum the Amiga supports and I can buy it from ebay what kind of ram do I need? should be cheap enough as its probably old ram now.

Starting to upload pics to web so will post pics in abit.

thanks

I'm sorry you broke something, hopefully we can tall from the pics what is broken. The Ram its self id cheap (ish) but the expansion cards are not! So it depends on what you've broken.

Regarding the amount of Ram, that will depend on what expansion card you have.

Steve/

prowler · 13 August 2010, 21:23

Hi techn1um, and welcome to EAB!

Wow! Certainly looking forward to seeing pictures of this monster Amiga Tower system of yours!

techn1um · 13 August 2010, 21:30

This pic is of the expansion card and also the 3dfx card, If you look at the expansion card below the big chip theres a weird thing connected to the pins which has a metal tag sticking out, no idea what it is or what for but seems to work. Theres also a fan stuck to the chip but I took it off to remove it from the Amiga as the fan is hard wired into the molex connector. Also the the next photo is of the same but the other sides.

This pic of of the inside of the tower, You can see the mediator but I took out the 3dfx card to photo it better as its quite big.

OK then think thats it, let me know what you think. As I say I brought it a good few years ago and then we moved so it was basically put in the loft until now.

thanks again.

techn1um · 13 August 2010, 21:43

Forgot to say, the bit of memory I broke was definately the memory chip you clip in and out of the expansion card so not fatal, easily replaced, just need to know what type to buy.

fitzsteve · 13 August 2010, 21:53

Firstly thats an Awesome Amiga you have there, very high end spec

Ok, what I can see there:

This Tower is based on the Amiga 1200 (the Motherboard is taken from the A1200 and fitted to a tower so there is more room for expansions, such as your PCI busboard)

Accelerator Card - Apollo 1260

The card with the Ram is also the CPU , that card is an Apollo 1260 and can hold up to 32mb Ram or 64mb (2x 32mb if you have a 2nd Simm socket fitted)

Whats broken with it? Looks ok in the picture, perhaps the Ram chip isn't seated proerly?

I suggest getting the battery removed as they leak and destroy the card, is there any green signs of leakage by the battery? (the round white plastic thing)

As far as Accelerator cards for Amiga's go this is a high end card capable of running some of the most demanding apps for the Amiga.

Mediator Board

Looks like a Mediator 1200SX this has all the PCI slots for your upgrades.

GFX Card - Voodoo 5 5500

As above, this looks like a Voodoo 5 5500 this card has 64mb Ram, pretty much one of the best PCI Graphics cards ever made.

DCE Ficker Fixer/Scan Doubler

I can see behind the Mediator you have a flicker fixer or scan doubler, this is what is giving you the extra VGA socket and this is for displaying the Amiga's native screen modes on a VGA monitor.

4 Way Buffered IDE

This is what connects up all your HDD/CD drives to the Amiga's onboard IDE.

Other cards

I can see you have a LAN Network card and TV Tuner card, the LAN Card is probably a Realtec 8139

Overall

This is a very inpressive amiga setup indeed.

To setup the video card screen modes you'll need to install Picasso 96, do you have the CDRom for the Mediator? (MMCD) its should be a yellow CD and this has a full guide to setting up the Voodoo.

techn1um · 13 August 2010, 22:07

OK thanks for all that, you guys really know your stuff

The expansion card has a slot for the memory, on the memory chip theres two tiny little things soldered so it and one of them snapped off, after that it now says not enough ram so guess that tiny thing was important but at least its replaceable. It had a 32 mb of ram on it so thats what I need to buy but theres loads of different types of ram on ebay so need to know the specific type like, dim, sim, edo etc etc so a point would be appreciated.

The wife wants to watch a film so will be a delay in me replying but will check back through the evening to check on replies.

Glad its a high end one, just need to get it working correctly but will start with the ram for expansion slot first.

Also the white part on the expansion card is perfect, no sign of battery wear.

thanks again for your help so far.

fitzsteve · 13 August 2010, 22:16

I'm glad the battery hasn't leaked yet, however it will in some time to come, could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be next year but it will so I suggest having someone remove it

You can use the card without the battery, the clock just wont keep time or you can replace with a coin battery.

The Simms are quite easy to get hold of, I probably have a spare one that I could sell you for a few quid +P&P

All the best.

Steve.

techn1um · 13 August 2010, 22:20

ok cool so how easy is it to remove the battery?

Steve how much you want for the Simm? do you take paypal?

As were watching a film I had to put it all away but will double check the simm again tomorrow just incase its not seated properly but think its definately due to the tiny chip thing breaking off. Its only about 3mm long by 1mm wide but obviously made a difference.

I forgot to say also in the loft I have a A1200 with HD fitted and have roughly 2-3 thousand floppy disks which are from the old pirate days of the Amiga plus ive got a couple of original things but we can discuss all that stuff another time after ive got the machine working.

thanks again.

fitzsteve · 13 August 2010, 22:27

Sounds like you've got a great collection there

A Fiver will cover the Simm & P&P, I've got paypal - I'll PM you the details.

I have an Apollo 1240 here so I'll just test the Simm in that before I send you my details.

Steve.

fitzsteve · 13 August 2010, 23:22

For some reason I cannot send a PM to techn1um, any idea why Mods?

By the way my spare 32mb Simm is working fine with the Apollo 1240 so it will be fine with your 1260

Steve.

prowler · 13 August 2010, 23:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by fitzsteve

For some reason I cannot send a PM to techn1um, any idea why Mods?

It worked for me. I selected 'Contact Info' from his profile page, and then 'Send a private message to techn1um'.

techn1um · 13 August 2010, 23:37

Thanks Steve, PM me the details and I will send it over.

Prowler got the PM thanks.

Thanks again guys, this forum is so friendly. really appreciate it!!

techn1um · 13 August 2010, 23:59

Sorry Steve my fault realised I had pms selected from Mods only but changed it now.

fitzsteve · 13 August 2010, 23:59

I get a screen saying 'techn1um has chosen not to accept Private Messages'

Maybe you can because you're a Mod Prowler?

Edit.

Coolio, PM on the way =)

Peter · 14 August 2010, 00:05

@techn1um - I wouldn't try and remove that battery yourself... it may be best to let someone take a look at it.. so long as there is no "green" around it there is no immediate danger - it's just something that will need dong soon...

13 August 2010, 20:07	#1
techn1um Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Dorset Posts: 48	Amiga Tower out the attic Hi Ive got an old Amiga Tower out of the attic that I brought a good few years ago but am having a few problems. First off the Amiga has 2 vga inputs one which works on my 15" monitor and is connected I think to the amiga motherboard via a ribbon cable. The 2nd connection is a 3dfx card which I cant get to work on the 15" monitor as it just says "video out of range" Also theres loads of stuff inside this tower and I want to find out the spec of it, I know on Windows you can right click "my computer" and get the spec of the pc but how do you find out the spec of an Amiga?? Also I am unable to hold the 2 mouse buttons together at boot up to get the boot options screen as again it doesnt seem to show it on the monitor. Any help appreciated. thanks

13 August 2010, 21:53	#10
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,685	Firstly thats an Awesome Amiga you have there, very high end spec Ok, what I can see there: This Tower is based on the Amiga 1200 (the Motherboard is taken from the A1200 and fitted to a tower so there is more room for expansions, such as your PCI busboard) Accelerator Card - Apollo 1260 The card with the Ram is also the CPU , that card is an Apollo 1260 and can hold up to 32mb Ram or 64mb (2x 32mb if you have a 2nd Simm socket fitted) Whats broken with it? Looks ok in the picture, perhaps the Ram chip isn't seated proerly? I suggest getting the battery removed as they leak and destroy the card, is there any green signs of leakage by the battery? (the round white plastic thing) As far as Accelerator cards for Amiga's go this is a high end card capable of running some of the most demanding apps for the Amiga. Mediator Board Looks like a Mediator 1200SX this has all the PCI slots for your upgrades. GFX Card - Voodoo 5 5500 As above, this looks like a Voodoo 5 5500 this card has 64mb Ram, pretty much one of the best PCI Graphics cards ever made. DCE Ficker Fixer/Scan Doubler I can see behind the Mediator you have a flicker fixer or scan doubler, this is what is giving you the extra VGA socket and this is for displaying the Amiga's native screen modes on a VGA monitor. 4 Way Buffered IDE This is what connects up all your HDD/CD drives to the Amiga's onboard IDE. Other cards I can see you have a LAN Network card and TV Tuner card, the LAN Card is probably a Realtec 8139 Overall This is a very inpressive amiga setup indeed. To setup the video card screen modes you'll need to install Picasso 96, do you have the CDRom for the Mediator? (MMCD) its should be a yellow CD and this has a full guide to setting up the Voodoo. Last edited by fitzsteve; 13 August 2010 at 22:11.

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13 August 2010, 20:12	#2
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,685	If you've got a 3DFX card, you must have a mediator PCI busboard. You'll need to setup the screen modes in workbench with a video driver called Picasso 96. Take some pictures of it, inside and out and we'll let you know what you've got there. It does sound like a very high end Amiga If it boots into a workbench then you can get some info by going to your system drive and then 'tools' and then 'show config' Steve.

13 August 2010, 20:24	#3
Peter Still an Amiga user Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Kent Age: 55 Posts: 2,715	Good idea Steve - get as many pictures as you can and post them here or give us a link to them - that way we get to see it all as well!!!

13 August 2010, 20:29	#4
ck1200 CBM & Retro Mad Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: North Wales/Wirral Uk Age: 42 Posts: 611	Welcome to the forum and look forward to the pics

13 August 2010, 21:18	#5
techn1um Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Dorset Posts: 48	yep got a 3dfx card and wintv card and network card all connected to a mediator pci thing which has lots of pci slots. When photographing the expansion card a piece of the memory broke so now when booting it says not enough ram for everything LOL so need to buy a new memory chip so next question is what is the maximum the Amiga supports and I can buy it from ebay what kind of ram do I need? should be cheap enough as its probably old ram now. Starting to upload pics to web so will post pics in abit. thanks

13 August 2010, 21:23	#7
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Hi techn1um, and welcome to EAB! Wow! Certainly looking forward to seeing pictures of this monster Amiga Tower system of yours!

13 August 2010, 21:30	#8
techn1um Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Dorset Posts: 48	This pic is of the expansion card and also the 3dfx card, If you look at the expansion card below the big chip theres a weird thing connected to the pins which has a metal tag sticking out, no idea what it is or what for but seems to work. Theres also a fan stuck to the chip but I took it off to remove it from the Amiga as the fan is hard wired into the molex connector. Also the the next photo is of the same but the other sides. This pic of of the inside of the tower, You can see the mediator but I took out the 3dfx card to photo it better as its quite big. OK then think thats it, let me know what you think. As I say I brought it a good few years ago and then we moved so it was basically put in the loft until now. thanks again.

13 August 2010, 21:43	#9
techn1um Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Dorset Posts: 48	Forgot to say, the bit of memory I broke was definately the memory chip you clip in and out of the expansion card so not fatal, easily replaced, just need to know what type to buy.

13 August 2010, 22:07	#11
techn1um Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Dorset Posts: 48	OK thanks for all that, you guys really know your stuff The expansion card has a slot for the memory, on the memory chip theres two tiny little things soldered so it and one of them snapped off, after that it now says not enough ram so guess that tiny thing was important but at least its replaceable. It had a 32 mb of ram on it so thats what I need to buy but theres loads of different types of ram on ebay so need to know the specific type like, dim, sim, edo etc etc so a point would be appreciated. The wife wants to watch a film so will be a delay in me replying but will check back through the evening to check on replies. Glad its a high end one, just need to get it working correctly but will start with the ram for expansion slot first. Also the white part on the expansion card is perfect, no sign of battery wear. thanks again for your help so far.

13 August 2010, 22:16	#12
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,685	I'm glad the battery hasn't leaked yet, however it will in some time to come, could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be next year but it will so I suggest having someone remove it You can use the card without the battery, the clock just wont keep time or you can replace with a coin battery. The Simms are quite easy to get hold of, I probably have a spare one that I could sell you for a few quid +P&P All the best. Steve.

13 August 2010, 22:20	#13
techn1um Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Dorset Posts: 48	ok cool so how easy is it to remove the battery? Steve how much you want for the Simm? do you take paypal? As were watching a film I had to put it all away but will double check the simm again tomorrow just incase its not seated properly but think its definately due to the tiny chip thing breaking off. Its only about 3mm long by 1mm wide but obviously made a difference. I forgot to say also in the loft I have a A1200 with HD fitted and have roughly 2-3 thousand floppy disks which are from the old pirate days of the Amiga plus ive got a couple of original things but we can discuss all that stuff another time after ive got the machine working. thanks again.

13 August 2010, 22:27	#14
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,685	Sounds like you've got a great collection there A Fiver will cover the Simm & P&P, I've got paypal - I'll PM you the details. I have an Apollo 1240 here so I'll just test the Simm in that before I send you my details. Steve.

13 August 2010, 23:22	#15
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,685	For some reason I cannot send a PM to techn1um, any idea why Mods? By the way my spare 32mb Simm is working fine with the Apollo 1240 so it will be fine with your 1260 Steve.

13 August 2010, 23:37	#17
techn1um Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Dorset Posts: 48	Thanks Steve, PM me the details and I will send it over. Prowler got the PM thanks. Thanks again guys, this forum is so friendly. really appreciate it!!

13 August 2010, 23:59	#18
techn1um Registered User Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Dorset Posts: 48	Sorry Steve my fault realised I had pms selected from Mods only but changed it now.

14 August 2010, 00:05	#20
Peter Still an Amiga user Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Kent Age: 55 Posts: 2,715	@techn1um - I wouldn't try and remove that battery yourself... it may be best to let someone take a look at it.. so long as there is no "green" around it there is no immediate danger - it's just something that will need dong soon...

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