Getting back into Amiga - What way to go?

[crazyc]

There is a lip that goes vertically down over the connector and looks like it should just be ok, but I have had this issue personally and seen quite a few others with it. Eventually if you add enough stuff you will just bin the top shield completely but for now unless you want to keep it pristine you could bend that lip back up under the shield.


Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[NovaCoder]

Yep best place for the top shield is the nearest bin

[rabidgerry]

Ok so I looked to see if the shield was touching and from what I can tell it's no where bear touching. I may have also had in the wrong way where it may have actually been touching the keyboard, but alas, after trying to re-insert a different way where the solder joints would be well clear of the back of the keyboard the ACA1233 is still not allowing my Amiga to even get to the rom screens. It's just a dark grey screen.

see some pics

first photo shows the lip which I think you guys are talking about



the next photo shows how I had it in before, with the individual logo of the card on the other side of the guide rail (for lack of a better description)



So I figured this was wrong and placed it in where the card would rest on that plastic guide rail I was talking about. I had it the other way about because it naturally went under this when I first inserted the card.

[crazyc]

Yes that's the lip I was talking about, and if I remember correctly the connector has a slit so it should only go on one way.

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by crazyc

Yes that's the lip I was talking about, and if I remember correctly the connector has a slit so it should only go on one way.

looks like I'm going to have to contact Individual support.

Having said that I have read a few other support threads on their website and it looks like they get you to go through capacitors and everything so it might be a while before I'm posting it back to them.

[NovaCoder]

Seriously, you really don't the top metal shield, it was only put on there to keep some pen pushers happy nearly 3 decades ago...

[crazyc]

Hi mate, remind me as I am out of the country and only on tapatalk, did you have the timing fixes done on your a1200?
Aca cards tend to need them whereas blizzards dont generally.
That may or may not be your issue.

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by crazyc

Hi mate, remind me as I am out of the country and only on tapatalk, did you have the timing fixes done on your a1200?
Aca cards tend to need them whereas blizzards dont generally.
That may or may not be your issue.

Jeez man I dunno, I just bought it second hand of ebay so I dunno what's been done. Anyways I can tell if the caps have been replaced already? From what I saw they looked almost like new so I am wondering had someone before me ever had it recapped?? The unit has had someone in there before me for sure. I can just tell (missing screws and tabs broken on the shield). Do I need timing fixes then? Thought it said something on the individual website that timing fixes were no longer an issue. I may have imagined this though.

@NovaCoder
Oh I will take it off man, but I was easier to leave it on for what I was attempting the other day. Perhaps when I get to recapping (if I can establish I need to) I will remove it permanently then.

Also I still need to sort out my CF cards. Trying the blank adf in winuae didn't work so I got real blank disks to finish part 3 of 16BitBazs tutorial. Although I still think it's not going work correctly for some reason.

[crazyc]

Yeah I seem to remember that the newer aca cards may have become more tolerant of the timing issues.

If you want to keep the board etc for a while then recapping will be something you need to consider. If the previous owner had it done then he would have pretty much said unless it was being sold from a house clearance or on behalf of the original owner who is not around.

[crazyc]

I know it seems to feel like three steps forward two steps back, but keep persevering, it's part of the amiga experience.

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by crazyc

I know it seems to feel like three steps forward two steps back, but keep persevering, it's part of the amiga experience.

hahaha ok ok I will take your word for it. But I just worry in case I Got a dodgy card, it was more expensive the dam computer. Perhaps I will need to recap.

I aint never soldered surface mount stuff before only the through hole kind but I'm sure I will cope. I wonder does my Amiga have those two useless caps also that can be removed? I must check for this.

[rabidgerry]

Ok so no joy with the ACA but on a better note, I realised the other night that I was trying to install Classic Workbench 3.1.4 Full on my stock machine and stuff wasn't working or loading right as my machine is still stock and I don't have the ram for that OS. So I attempted LITE and it never even made it to the real Amiga since it wouldn't let me copy the system onto the card. So today I tried the 68K version and I was able to load the card, update the file system and do all that fun stuff. Finally formatted the partitions on the real amiga using an install disk I created as outlined in the tutorial and so far so good. I gotta get this accelerator going!!

[crazyc]

It's all good learning mate. I would suggest having a number of cf cards around that work on ide, and keeping various backup images as I said.
I also recommend keeping notes of what worked and what didnt..
I wish I had done that a couple of years ago.
What size cf cards are you using?

[rabidgerry]

Originally Posted by crazyc

It's all good learning mate. I would suggest having a number of cf cards around that work on ide, and keeping various backup images as I said.
I also recommend keeping notes of what worked and what didnt..
I wish I had done that a couple of years ago.
What size cf cards are you using?

Hi mate,

I messed around initially with a 60gb sd card then I had a Kingston 8gb CF card knocking about that I originally had the operating system of a multitrack recording unit installed on it, so I wiped that and started on that one for the amiga. Then ordered another Transcend 8gb of ebay. Wasn't brand new but doesn't look like it's seen a lot of action. Might stock pile a few more. Same fella has more transcend 8gb cards.

Last but not least I ordered a no namer 16gb card of amazon and it still has not arrived yet. Never had anything ever take that long to come from China. Jeez I even got my upscaler quicker than that card.

So I might stick with the 8gb ers. But I will receive that 16gb er at some point. Says I'm gonna get it before Saturday. Not hoklding my breath!

Not really sure what to do about the ACA. I'll be away for a week starting on Monday and I dunno if I should start messing about with re-capping or not. Not that I actually think that is the issue with the card. In the mean time I'm trying to snag an 8gb module from somewhere. Have my eye on a few and a wanted add up on amibay Not very patient me

[crazyc]

Being patient is one of the hardest bits of this hobby.

I use transcend 8gb Cf cards as standard. Be careful of dodgy cards as not all cf cards are equal, I bought a couple off ebay once that should have been identical but clearly weren't when in use....

[rabidgerry]

I have saw people using the no name brand I ordered from Amazon in many tutorials etc and also pre loaded on ebay. Despite me calling it no name I believe the brand is "Sodial". Have you ever had to restore everything from one of your backups?

I'll probably just buy a few transcends, stock pile them.

i had a few of them no-name cards, they work ok, but dunno about longevity with them.

I also ordered 1 of them from China, and after 5 weeks I got a refund from the seller, then 3 days after getting the refund the card turned up after almost 6 weeks, so I sold it on eBay lol.
Currently on a 16gb Transcend CF now, altho seems little to no speed differences between the cards I've used.
Just backup the card on your PC now and then and you should be fine, exciting stuff all this upgrading, is very addictive.

You can also buy Pre-loaded CF cards on ebay with workbench/apps/games all ready to go if you cant be bothered to install it all yourself.

[crazyc]

Yes I have restored images before onto cf cards as I have stuffed them up in the past and had to....

[crazyc]

Personally I would not bother with the preloaded ones from ebay, although I say that with hindsight as that is how many of us started off.

[rabidgerry]

Well, like a dog with the bone I just can't let go of things once I get going. So this evening after work I decided to play about with the A1200 again and stick the ACA1233N-40 in the trapdoor again. Nothing. But then after fiddling with the power supply lead I noticed I still had a bit more to push in. I managed to boot using a workbench disk which didn't happen before. Then I reset and held the two mouse buttons in for boot menu to see if it recognised the card. I noticed the card was being picked up. So reset a couple of times and nothing, just the old grey/black screen. But I let it sit for a while, and then the insert disk screen finally came up. I thought that was interesting as it felt like some kind of progress (even though before I hadn't left sitting anywhere near as long so that probably was going to happen anyways). So then I put in the CF card that I had installed using the netti gaming youtube channel tutorial. I reset again and at this point I still had the trap door open as I was planning on wiggling it inwards or outwards on various attempts and I also had the amiga on it's front side as I held it upright. I saw a flashing red LED flickering as though it was doing something with the CF card. I waited, waited...…………..BAM! It booted with the ACA installed and with the card all the way in. So I could not believe this. So I went straight to sysinfo and checked. Looked like I was getting 9023 drystones and the ram was all there and everything else! So unlike before when I tried running that card on the stock ram I was actually able to open applications and run them. And since I had WHD load already installed on that card I tried some games! Hell yeah we are rock n and rollin' now!!! So relieved the ACA isn't a dud too!

Time for more games to download now since I got shit loads of space and I must try out file transfer from my pcmcia adapter I got (do I need drivers for this?). Anyone know where I can get the most complete WHD game pack?