A1200 2B mobo..? Confused.

[Charlie]

I've had a bit of bad luck - my ongoing 'So how much cr*p CAN you plug into an A1200 while keeping the desktop case' project has hit a glitch - mobo gone bye-bye.
(BTW: catchy title for a project, eh?)

I have another A1200 that's supposed to be a 'pimp my miggy' project. So for the mo' that'll have to go further on the back burner while I 'borrow' its mobo.
(Hmm, I think I'll try to sell that concept to some telly company or other)

Ah, a snag: It's a 2B mobo - no chance that'll boot under the weight of all the goodies...
...but no! All my goodies plugged / soldered to it with no hassles at all!!!

The plot thickens:
It's in a C= case, not an Escom one.
It's got a Chinnon FDD, not a Panasonic one.
There are NO mods or patches applied / repaired...
...therefore not just a stable 2B mobo, but a C= one!
So?
Well, my understanding is as follows:
-The last C= mobo was the 1D4.
-Escom knocked out butchered 1D4s & 2Bs to allow those Panasonic drives to work in a vaguely Amiga-like way.
-From the point of stability the 2B is by far the cr*pest revision.
->None of that applies to this particular A1200...

...have I just butchered some kind of rarity, or am I thoroughly mistaken..?
(or have I found another ostrich?)

To sum up:
The Bad:
My major project miggy is dead!
I've had to butcher my other project to resurrect it.
(The world may never see my tour-de-force in tastelessness)
The Good:
The borrowed mobo works far better than expected.
I may have learned something...

Thoughts?

[TheCorfiot]

@Charlie

Not knowing the history of the A1200 in question, does the serial no on the Mobo match up the serial no on the case bottom.
If so then I understand your confusion, I too thought all C= A1200's were 1D4 at least & the Escom's a mix of 1D4 & 2B
Bear in mind my restored A1200 has a 1D2 Mobo which shouldn't even exist
Interesting find indeed

Sorry to hear about your Mobo failing like that, In what way is it gone mate do you think we can repair it?
But the good news is that your 2B is stable with all the addons....

Regarding stability against Mobo revision, my other A1200 is a 1D4 running an Apollo 1240 & it is rock stable, I think there is an element of luck regarding timing & component tolerances involved with the 2B & 1D4 (and possibly the other revs too) and can probably find equally good & bad examples of both.

Best Regards

TC

[Charlie]

Hello TC,

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who believes C= mobo revisions stopped with the 1D4...
...still, there's no doubting it, I have (um, had) a genuine C= 2B A1200 complete with Chinnon drive & no signs of the hackery that Escom perpetrated to get those Panasonic drives to work, the serial No's do indeed match - it's an original...

...now if I've gone & butchered a bit of history all I can say is 'oops'.

The mobo is now inside my main project A1200 (and there it will stay).
The case of the 'C= 2B' has had the 'pimp' treatment:
-Metallic black underside.
-Gold on top.
-With a (fake) pink snake-skin keyboard.
(how's that for tastelessness?)

On the subject of is the original mobo repairable?
I hope so (down an A1200) but it's beyond me.

The 'dead' mobo was a C= 1D4 that had been 'fixed', I believe, but not by the standard method. Some other form of butchery had gone on prior to my getting it - I've always assumed to get it stable with the '060 it came with...
...so as it was dead anyway I set to applying the 'standard fix' just in case.
Sadly, doing this changed it from constant re-rebooting to dead as a door-nail so I reversed said 'fix' only to find it still quite buggered - funny, the caps I removed / replaced looked like replacements themselves so I've no idea what had gone on in the past.

Not wishing to put you on the spot...
...further 'repairs' are going to be beyond me - would you consider having a go?

[TheCorfiot]

@Charlie.

Pleasure my friend, I can compare it with my 1D4 and take it from there for you, we have to try and revive it & not scrap it. If I can get it working with my A1240 your 060 should be fine.
We'll confirm by PM & make arrangements.

BTW bit OT but regarding the Mouse Adapter, I agree with Dimlow get a magnifier on the USB conn & check the resistance.

Speak Soon

TC

[DJBase]

Commodore uses all revisions up to 2B, Escom only 1D.4 and 2B.

[Charlie]

Thanks chaps.

@TC:
Very kind - too much booze, musht sleeep, will PM you tomorrow...

[alphonsus]

I definately have a C= 2B motherboard, bought the machine in 1992, just beore they went bust.