Help required with A1500

04 August 2008, 20:15

I decided to use my Amiga 1500 today, for the first time in 15 years!! It had been in the loft room and worked when put there.

It is a standard A1500, but fitted with a Nexus SCSI board with a 20Mb Quantum drive and 8 Mb RAM.

When starting the Amiga, the power light comes on with the power supply fan working. I can hear the SCSI drive spin up, but that is all.

The HD LED does not come on, and no output on the monitor. After all this time, I forget what should happen.

I opened up the case and tried putting in a floppy of Workbench, but both floppy drives fail to react with no light showing on these drives.

I removed the SCSI card to see if I could boot from the floppy, but again there was no video output.

I then took everything apart to see if there was a component failure evident. The only thing i could find was the back-up battery which had leaked onto the motherboard. Although there was some corrosion, the printed circuits appear intact.

Can anyone offer any suggestions, or is it destined for the council tip?

rkauer · 04 August 2008, 22:18

Fist, welcome to EAB!

Leaked batteries are a major plague on Amigas. My advice is carefully take the expansion boards and socketed chips out then try to clean the mess with some iso alcohol.

After, use a soft brush with a bit of lemon juice or other light acid to neutralize the corrosion. After, measure the traces in the corroded area to check if everything is OK.

Common defects are in near the CPU socket, stopping the Amiga to boot at all. Look the traces with a magnifying glass and multimeter.

After, re-mount the chips and floppies (no boards or HD at this time) and try to boot. Pressing the chips to make them fully inserted on the sockets is always good, too.

Post the updates here for further advices.

04 August 2008, 23:16

Hi, Thanks for the reply.

The battery only leaked to just below where it is fixed. Do I need to replace the battery, if so how?

There appears to be some tracks of the printed circuit that run under this battery. So to check and clean this area I think that I need to remove the battery.

The only thing that I can think might be a problem after such a long time is that some of the capacitors on the board have broken down.

The sad thing is that I wanted to use the Amiga one last time before I tried to sell it on eBay.

rkauer · 04 August 2008, 23:36

No need to. Only if you want accurate date/time when the Amiga starts.

There is a hack on Aminet to use a coin-shape battery instead the original NiCd one. And people here found a NiMH direct replacement (no need for diodes nor battery sockets).

BTW: remove the battery ASAP! It will only leak more and more until it destroy the Amiga.

davideo · 05 August 2008, 00:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkauer

And people here found a NiMH direct replacement (no need for diodes nor battery sockets).

BTW: remove the battery ASAP! It will only leak more and more until it destroy the Amiga.

The battery reffered to above is on this link http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=35291

and I agree - get rid of the leaky thing before it destroys your Miggy

Dave G

Fingerlickin_B · 05 August 2008, 15:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hoops

There appears to be some tracks of the printed circuit that run under this battery. So to check and clean this area I think that I need to remove the battery.

Yep, only two if I recall correctly...remove the battery & check right now

Plus, don't sell it unless you are 100% sure & own other Amigas you can keep!

PZ.

05 August 2008, 20:11

So to remove this battery, do I need to unsolder the thing?

Even if I check the board for possible damage in this area, can anyone suggest what else might stop it starting up?

As I mentioned, even putting a floppy in either of the two drives, nothing happens. There is not any activity from the drives.

davideo · 05 August 2008, 20:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hoops

So to remove this battery, do I need to unsolder the thing?

Even if I check the board for possible damage in this area, can anyone suggest what else might stop it starting up?

As I mentioned, even putting a floppy in either of the two drives, nothing happens. There is not any activity from the drives.

Unsoldering would be the best solution but for now you can remove it by cutting off the legs - very carefully and remove it that way.

While you've got it in bits doing that you can make sure that all the chips are pushed in fully and all cables etc are connected.

Dave G

04 August 2008, 20:15	#1
Hoops Posts: n/a	Help required with A1500 I decided to use my Amiga 1500 today, for the first time in 15 years!! It had been in the loft room and worked when put there. It is a standard A1500, but fitted with a Nexus SCSI board with a 20Mb Quantum drive and 8 Mb RAM. When starting the Amiga, the power light comes on with the power supply fan working. I can hear the SCSI drive spin up, but that is all. The HD LED does not come on, and no output on the monitor. After all this time, I forget what should happen. I opened up the case and tried putting in a floppy of Workbench, but both floppy drives fail to react with no light showing on these drives. I removed the SCSI card to see if I could boot from the floppy, but again there was no video output. I then took everything apart to see if there was a component failure evident. The only thing i could find was the back-up battery which had leaked onto the motherboard. Although there was some corrosion, the printed circuits appear intact. Can anyone offer any suggestions, or is it destined for the council tip?

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04 August 2008, 22:18	#2
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	Fist, welcome to EAB! Leaked batteries are a major plague on Amigas. My advice is carefully take the expansion boards and socketed chips out then try to clean the mess with some iso alcohol. After, use a soft brush with a bit of lemon juice or other light acid to neutralize the corrosion. After, measure the traces in the corroded area to check if everything is OK. Common defects are in near the CPU socket, stopping the Amiga to boot at all. Look the traces with a magnifying glass and multimeter. After, re-mount the chips and floppies (no boards or HD at this time) and try to boot. Pressing the chips to make them fully inserted on the sockets is always good, too. Post the updates here for further advices.

04 August 2008, 23:16	#3
Hoops Posts: n/a	Hi, Thanks for the reply. The battery only leaked to just below where it is fixed. Do I need to replace the battery, if so how? There appears to be some tracks of the printed circuit that run under this battery. So to check and clean this area I think that I need to remove the battery. The only thing that I can think might be a problem after such a long time is that some of the capacitors on the board have broken down. The sad thing is that I wanted to use the Amiga one last time before I tried to sell it on eBay.

04 August 2008, 23:36	#4
rkauer I hate potatos and shirts Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sao Leopoldo / Brazil Age: 58 Posts: 3,482	No need to. Only if you want accurate date/time when the Amiga starts. There is a hack on Aminet to use a coin-shape battery instead the original NiCd one. And people here found a NiMH direct replacement (no need for diodes nor battery sockets). BTW: remove the battery ASAP! It will only leak more and more until it destroy the Amiga.

05 August 2008, 20:11	#7
Hoops Posts: n/a	So to remove this battery, do I need to unsolder the thing? Even if I check the board for possible damage in this area, can anyone suggest what else might stop it starting up? As I mentioned, even putting a floppy in either of the two drives, nothing happens. There is not any activity from the drives.

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