My A500+ sometimes doesn’t boot first time.

[Paulee_Bow]

Should I be panicking? Sometimes I’m required to flick the power brick on and off. This happens if I haven’t used the A500+ For a day or so.

It mostly will just hang on the normal grey colour it displays when booting up (I preferred Kick 2.0’s white better!) and a reboot sorts it, but today it did flash red...reboot...hang on grey...reboot...then it booted, all under 20 seconds.

I have an A500+, Kick 3.1, HC533 card with Workbench 2.1 on CF Card. I’m using a black A1200 power brick.

I did have a parallel port sampler plugged in from the previous nights music making, maybe it didn’t like that first thing in the morning.

Should I just calm down and realise these old beasts may sometimes need a little while to wake up? Thanks!

[dlfrsilver]

Machine and PSU recapped ?

[Paulee_Bow]

Originally Posted by dlfrsilver

Machine and PSU recapped ?

They’re not, should I do this? Do you think that it’s enogh of a problem at the moment, or should I wait for more signs of instability?

The battery was removed at least so there’s no problems there.

[Hewitson]

I'd be measuring the output of the power supply when the machine fails to boot. This must be done whilst connected to the computer (measuring with no load is pointless).

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by xanderbeanz

They’re not, should I do this? Do you think that it’s enogh of a problem at the moment, or should I wait for more signs of instability?

Capacitors in pre-1992 Amigas are very rarely a problem. The PSUs could use new capacitors, though.

[Paulee_Bow]

Originally Posted by idrougge

Capacitors in pre-1992 Amigas are very rarely a problem. The PSUs could use new capacitors, though.

I figure the least I could do is take one of my PSU’s to a tech.

I have an older heavy brick A500 one, which is very yellowed and that kinda made me mistrust it, so I might give him that to recap.

Especially being that I’ve heard those PSUs put out more juice, my A500+ is moderately expanded and maybe needs more than the 1200 one can give.

[idrougge]

Every PSU has its rating stamped on the backside. It is the amperes of the 5V rail that is important. It may range from 2,5 A to 4,5 A.

[Paulee_Bow]

Originally Posted by idrougge

Every PSU has its rating stamped on the backside. It is the amperes of the 5V rail that is important. It may range from 2,5 A to 4,5 A.

Thanks, the black one is 3.0A and the older one is 4.5A.

I shall get the older one recapped. I’ll Leave the guts with my tech and try to retrobright the plastic whilst he’s fixing it, I’ll then test it and get back to you.

I have heard a few people that the later black PSUs aren’t up to the job of powering anything more than a vanilla A1200.

[Photon]

Originally Posted by xanderbeanz

Should I be panicking? Sometimes I’m required to flick the power brick on and off. This happens if I haven’t used the A500+ For a day or so.

It mostly will just hang on the normal grey colour it displays when booting up (I preferred Kick 2.0’s white better!) and a reboot sorts it, but today it did flash red...reboot...hang on grey...reboot...then it booted, all under 20 seconds.

I have an A500+, Kick 3.1, HC533 card with Workbench 2.1 on CF Card. I’m using a black A1200 power brick.

I did have a parallel port sampler plugged in from the previous nights music making, maybe it didn’t like that first thing in the morning.

Should I just calm down and realise these old beasts may sometimes need a little while to wake up? Thanks!

I saw just the title and immediately thought, "PSU". If you have another PSU, you could try it, but then I read it was an A500+ and you could very well have battery acid eating traces by the Chip RAM Definitely open up and have a look inside.

And no, if they are maintained, these beast still work as new. That's the good news

[Paulee_Bow]

Originally Posted by Photon

I saw just the title and immediately thought, "PSU". If you have another PSU, you could try it, but then I read it was an A500+ and you could very well have battery acid eating traces by the Chip RAM Definitely open up and have a look inside.

And no, if they are maintained, these beast still work as new. That's the good news

Hi

By A500+ has no battery leakage. It was removed when I got it and no visible sign of anything. So I’m gonna guess PSU

[Photon]

Excellent Then I think it will work fine with a new PSU. If I see a random color on boot, but I can get it running after restart ("problem? there was no problem!"), then that is the symptom I recognize as PSU problem.

The C64 guys really teach us a good lesson. We are neglecting our Amigas a bit. Our computers deserve newly manufactured power supplies. I've started a bit, I have PicoPSUs for 2 of the 3 Amigas that I have up and running. But I should really get a few more.

[Daedalus]

Yep, expanded Amigas need more power, but at the same time, they would have to be quite heavily expanded to reach the limits of a standard power supply. The problem is that a power supply's capacity to provide smooth power deteriorates with time, primarily because of the smoothing capacitors failing. This can cause all sorts of weird behaviour as power consumption goes up because it allows more ripple into the computer with symptoms ranging from humming audio through to random crashes or refusal to boot. It can also affect any PSU, regardless of output rating, though the heavier duty units would have more overhead available which is why people often say that the weaker PSUs aren't enough for certain setups. Ultimately, even the weakest standard PSU (~23W) is more than enough to power an Amiga 1200 with an 030, mechanical hard drive and CD-ROM drive, provided it is in good shape.

Recapping these power supplies should restore them to full health, but with industrial PSU modules from the likes of Meanwell available very cheaply, I wouldn't bother with recapping a PSU except for nostalgia reasons. They're also cheaper and neater than PicoPSUs when you factor in the required power brick, unless you're specifically looking for something that size.

The C64 crowd are more concerned with PSUs for a very good reason: due to their design, when a C64 PSU fails, it often takes most of the machine with it due to allowing unregulated power into the computer. Amiga PSUs rarely do that as they are generally a more modern design, presumably because of better requirements placed on the manufacturers by Commodore.

[TjLaZer]

I have a A1200 with B1260 that fails to boot up on first power up. (A600 PS) Power LED is dim and no life. Turning off the switch and back on gets it to boot. Wonder if it’s the PS failing.