Reviving an A4000 for a noble purpose

[Flink]

Ok, I've dissasembled some of the Amiga 4000 (the Micronik board and the Retina). I can see the motherboard and what I see is not good. Take a look for yourselves:

http://formula9.net/amiga4000/
http://formula9.net/amiga4000flash/

I think it's safe to assume the WarpEngine and the Retina are in good shape (dust aside), but the motherboard has lots of damage. I have a contact cleaner spray handy, and I'll try to spray the affected mobo zones and clean it of all that green stuff and corrosion.

Any ideias?
--
Óscar

[Yoto]

Maybe its better not to apply the contact spray just yet, let some of the guys came up with ideas...

[Flink]

Ok, I cleaned up the Amiga's mobo. I used a PCB cleaning spray. Still no life in it, so I am giving up. I really don't have time now to play around with the Amiga.

Does anyone have a nice, working A4000 board to sell? Or a A4000 desktop? Or even a A4000T? I really want to put an Amiga in my learning room, and I really don't want to have the WarpEngine and the Retina gathering dust.

Yotoxionomai, if you know of some Portuguese people selling their Amigas, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Thanks a lot for all your efforts!
--
Oscar

[chiark]

The battery leak is bad and has done damage, but it could have been worse...

The PCB spray doesn't look to have done much: I'd clean it with isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush (not your own ;-) )

U177 looks damaged along with some traces around it, however that's only the clock latch so isn't absolutely needed.

U975/976 clock data in from the joystick and mouse ports, so you might have a problem with them...

The RAM socket and PCB traces are definitely in trouble, too, however you don't need 'em as you've got RAM on the WARP Engine.

See:
http://amiga.serveftp.net/index.html
particularly the battery, jumpy mouse and other bits...

Email Anthony Hoffman before giving up hope (he runs amiga.serveftp.net, email address is on there) as he offers a service to fix 4000 motherboards. I suggest dropping him a mail, pointing to your photos and asking if he might be able to fix the machine. My guess is that he likely will... His quotes are most reasonable compared to some out there!

BTW, great pictures - the *ist DS has done a great job there! Zetr0 will be excited to see 'em, and possibly even more excited at the depravity of abuse shown in 'em

[Yoto]

Sorry Flink! I wish i knew more Portuguese guys with amigas, all the ones i knew had A500´s and they sent them to the recycle center´s. The recycle centers in most countries sell cheap computer parts, but it seems that in our country they dont let anything out "easily", it also depends of the "man in charge".
Many amiga users in other countries had some sucess to find old amigas at this centers.
You can try it though, i found old simm´s a portable pc plasma screen and HardDrives in one of this centers, but to get them it wasnt easy, you may have to prove your not an inspector!
There´s a recycle center near by in Tondela just 60 km away!!!
It´s a shame to see all those LCD´s and Plasma TV´s hit the blender only because they fell on transport and its cheaper to recycle them than hire someone to test them and see if they still work...
The world we live in hummm....

[alewis]

Flink - could always send it me and I'll have a gander at it, not the entire system just the motherboard, PSU, cards and floppy disk. If I can't get owt out of it, will ship it back.

[Flink]

Thanks! I'd actually already fond Anthony's site, but I didn't think of contacting him. He replied quickly to my request, and seems to be the man for the job. Thanks again for the input.

As for the Pentax *ist DS: although a great little camera with a proper pentaprism viewfinder (waiting patiently to be replaced by a K20D), it's been aided by some of the greatest glass of all time (Pentax's 50mm F/1.4, 31mm F/1.8 Limited, and a manual Mamiya Sekor 50mm on a Vivitar 1:1 helicoidal x2 Macro adapter). When I got the DS, there really was no rival on the Canikon crowd (at that price point), and no lenses to match the amazing Pentax Limiteds on digital (I have the 31mm and the 77mm). Still, I advise everyone to steer clear of them; they're small, light, fast, elegant, all-metal, optically near-perfect little beasts, and considered addictive. You've been warned.

Back on topic, I think I'm going the repair route with Anthony, I just have to raise some money because I recently got an iMac G4 (the sunflower/iLamp) to use as a server on one of my projects.
--
Oscar