Individual Computers - New accelerator cards for A600 & A1200 - Page 142

demolition · 17 January 2013, 09:47

I had a PC motherboard once that only managed to last 2 years and a couple of months (which means no warranty). It was due to the infamous cheap chinese electrolytic caps they used back then which were bulging heavily after just two years. People may be complaining about the caps in the 600's and 1200's, but as they have shown to last around 15 years before becoming a problem, it's not really that bad in my opinion.

Lord Aga · 17 January 2013, 10:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

If the caps on the mainboard are not 100% OK, you'll experience blinking of the caps lock LED every now and then, keyboard won't work, or the computer will only start properly after a warmup-phase of a few minutes (black screen before that).

It's almost a miracle that our computers still work today. Electrolytic caps are the main reason why electronic devices only barely make it through the warranty period these days.

Jens

This is why we eagerly await (FPGA-based?) replacement MoBos from Individual Computers

neozeed · 17 January 2013, 19:05

I promise to not flog the dead horse, but while I was out today, I found an "Amiga 300" power supply for £5 !! So hooking it up to my "bad" amiga 600, with the dead RGB port, and it reads the CF just fine, added in the 620, and It has been playing frontier for 90 minutes now... so yeah... power problems for sure.. .

thanks again Jens!

18 January 2013, 21:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

In that case, you'd probably have the same experience when installing the ACA620. All my new accelerators (ACA1220, ACA1232, ACA620) have large ceramic capacitors added to the VCC rail in order to be compatible with "slightly weak" capacitors on the mainboard. However, you can only do so much in that spot.

If the caps on the mainboard are not 100% OK, you'll experience blinking of the caps lock LED every now and then, keyboard won't work, or the computer will only start properly after a warmup-phase of a few minutes (black screen before that).

It's almost a miracle that our computers still work today. Electrolytic caps are the main reason why electronic devices only barely make it through the warranty period these days.

Jens

No, I have my ACA620 in an entirely different A600. I'd never install an expensive or rare card into a flaky A600.

Also which I forgot to mention, that flaky A600 also had a problem with video whereby the colour would intermittently flicker into black & white and sometimes other weird colours like purple and green etc....and the Kipper2k 4MB memory expansion fixed that as well as the instability.

spajdr · 20 January 2013, 19:49

I wonder, why you cant buy anymore first version of Indivision AGA 1200?
No demand? since everytime someone offering it to sell, its sold in minutes.

Mr B · 21 January 2013, 02:10

More then likely it's a matter of production run sizing, securing parts, and, looking at the development of the TV / monitor for the next foreseeable future, securing means of use in the future. VGA connectors wont be available on the new screens for ever. It's sad that it's taking so long to get the MKII working properly, but once done it should provide a means of hooking your Amiga 1200 to a screen for the next 10 years at least.

alenppc · 22 January 2013, 02:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Let us know when it gets there!

Jens

Well, the card has arrived. It took about a week. Thanks.

Ironically, I got an email from Canada Post informing me that as of February they will start offering cheaper international tracked mailing options, not just starting at $80+ postage options... about time!

Edit: tested the card. It works great now. All WHDLoad games that crashed before now work fine. Very happy with the result!

amigasith · 22 January 2013, 22:15

Cheers, my fellow Amigans!

This is my first post to this forum, so don't hit me right away please =:-) After being Amiga-abstinent for almost 20 years, I got an A1200 recently. After doing all kinds of things with it for a while (boy what a great computer), I decided to get myself a nice ACA-1231/42.

Unfortunately, my board rev. turned out to be 2B and I also suffered from those dreaded freezes, random gurus, you name it. Then I found this forum and applied Stedy's fix (http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/am..._mobo_fix.html). I know, there are more recent versions of the fix, but I did not experience any graphics corruptions, and so I decided to apply just this "old" fix. The only things I did not apply were the first 2 wire mods - I'm pretty sure that those were only required for the one particular board where the fix got originally applied (must have been some broken wires on this board).

What can I say - up to now, everything runs fine. Phew. Certain games now finally run okay, one demo that I found comes across a point where it used to hang, etc. However, I would like to run a real "stress test" for a couple of hours / overnight, just to make absolutely sure that everything is okay now. I was thinking of maybe a game that has a "demo" mode or similar or a heavy demo that can be run in "loop" mode. All the demos I found don't have a "loop" mode - they simply get stuck in the credits forever.

Does anyone have a good suggestion? Any tip is greatly appreciated!

NovaCoder · 23 January 2013, 01:15

[ Show youtube player ]

luy32 · 23 January 2013, 01:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by NovaCoder

[ Show youtube player ]

kipper2k · 23 January 2013, 01:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by alenppc

Well, the card has arrived. It took about a week. Thanks.

Ironically, I got an email from Canada Post informing me that as of February they will start offering cheaper international tracked mailing options, not just starting at $80+ postage options... about time!

Edit: tested the card. It works great now. All WHDLoad games that crashed before now work fine. Very happy with the result!

I noticed Canada post has increased the cost of Small packet and from what i seen on their webpage have removed insurance options. i never seen anything on tracking options with exception of express post which we all know is not cheap. Do you have a link ?

edit: i did find the new "tracked packet" option. cost = $39.81 for up to 250 gram... there goes that option

alenppc · 23 January 2013, 04:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by kipper2k

I noticed Canada post has increased the cost of Small packet and from what i seen on their webpage have removed insurance options. i never seen anything on tracking options with exception of express post which we all know is not cheap. Do you have a link ?

edit: i did find the new "tracked packet" option. cost = $39.81 for up to 250 gram... there goes that option

Ouch... when they said "lower cost" that's not exactly what I had in mind... :/

Anyway, all you have to do is log into your ebay account and check announcements. You will find the notice there. The new tariffs are supposed to go live in February only...

ImmortalA1000 · 08 February 2013, 05:46

I have a bit of a dilemma, I always wanted a Blizzard (?) 1220 card which was a 28mhz 020 plus a bit of 32bit fast ram (4mb I think) as it was cheap and well basically a 28mhz 020 and 28mhz 030 really don't affect the things I will use and work the same speed more or less.

Now there is the ACA 1220 and it looks like a great deal EXCEPT I may plug it in and it may not even work. I am not going to take a soldering iron to my 1200s though and risk destroying yet more of my collection so what to do?

Both my machines are C= units and one is even a UK launch day purchase. The other was in the Computer Combat pack which I just picked up and is split mint totally unyellowed. And yet despite this I have no easy way of knowing if these good value ACA 1220 25mhz units will work on them gahhh!!!

demolition · 08 February 2013, 11:59

Not sure that even a Blizzard card will always work without modifications?

Either live with your plain A1200 or send the Amiga to be fixed e.g. at AmigaKit in case its unstable with the ACA. You might get lucky and it works fine without any mods though.

Turran · 08 February 2013, 12:20

I have 4 Amiga 1200, they've all worked fine with the ACA cards.

Mr B · 08 February 2013, 13:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by ImmortalA1000

And yet despite this I have no easy way of knowing if these good value ACA 1220 25mhz units will work on them gahhh!!!

That IS the bottom line. There is no way of knowing, but trying. I've been told there is a rare chance that the Blizzard will need similar fixes, but it's almost unheard of. On the other hand, the ACA lineup is as far as i know, competitive in it's pricing, comes with a warranty, and the mods are, lets face it, real simple. Anyone who installed a modchip in a console will be able to do the fix.

ImmortalA1000 · 08 February 2013, 14:08

Yes but I won't break the seals on brand new looking A1200s if they still work well enough to run Super Stardust AGA so that's the problem really. I know I could get them opened up and fixed but they are just too nice to break the seal and devalue them.

I do understand any accelerator might not work on our Amigas today, it's not a criticism directed at Jens products, the latest one being what I have been asking for since the first ACA 50mhz came out (which also was a great price).

Lord Aga · 08 February 2013, 14:51

If you are referring to Petro's NOS Amigas, I think they already have their seals broken.
So that's one less worry off your back

demolition · 08 February 2013, 15:41

A few posts back he wrote that he bought them on the UK launch day, so they would have intact seals.

Lord Aga · 08 February 2013, 15:49

Oh sorry.
Well... if they lasted this long it would be a shame to break them

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17 January 2013, 09:47	#2821
demolition Unregistered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Copenhagen / DK Age: 43 Posts: 4,190	I had a PC motherboard once that only managed to last 2 years and a couple of months (which means no warranty). It was due to the infamous cheap chinese electrolytic caps they used back then which were bulging heavily after just two years. People may be complaining about the caps in the 600's and 1200's, but as they have shown to last around 15 years before becoming a problem, it's not really that bad in my opinion.

17 January 2013, 19:05	#2823
neozeed Registered User Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Hong Kong, SAR Posts: 28	I promise to not flog the dead horse, but while I was out today, I found an "Amiga 300" power supply for £5 !! So hooking it up to my "bad" amiga 600, with the dead RGB port, and it reads the CF just fine, added in the 620, and It has been playing frontier for 90 minutes now... so yeah... power problems for sure.. . thanks again Jens!

20 January 2013, 19:49	#2825
spajdr Old fart Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Ostrava/Czech Republic Age: 46 Posts: 315	I wonder, why you cant buy anymore first version of Indivision AGA 1200? No demand? since everytime someone offering it to sell, its sold in minutes.

21 January 2013, 02:10	#2826
Mr B Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Sweden Posts: 749	More then likely it's a matter of production run sizing, securing parts, and, looking at the development of the TV / monitor for the next foreseeable future, securing means of use in the future. VGA connectors wont be available on the new screens for ever. It's sad that it's taking so long to get the MKII working properly, but once done it should provide a means of hooking your Amiga 1200 to a screen for the next 10 years at least.

22 January 2013, 22:15	#2828
amigasith Registered User Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Wild South / Germany Age: 48 Posts: 271	Cheers, my fellow Amigans! This is my first post to this forum, so don't hit me right away please =:-) After being Amiga-abstinent for almost 20 years, I got an A1200 recently. After doing all kinds of things with it for a while (boy what a great computer), I decided to get myself a nice ACA-1231/42. Unfortunately, my board rev. turned out to be 2B and I also suffered from those dreaded freezes, random gurus, you name it. Then I found this forum and applied Stedy's fix (http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/am..._mobo_fix.html). I know, there are more recent versions of the fix, but I did not experience any graphics corruptions, and so I decided to apply just this "old" fix. The only things I did not apply were the first 2 wire mods - I'm pretty sure that those were only required for the one particular board where the fix got originally applied (must have been some broken wires on this board). What can I say - up to now, everything runs fine. Phew. Certain games now finally run okay, one demo that I found comes across a point where it used to hang, etc. However, I would like to run a real "stress test" for a couple of hours / overnight, just to make absolutely sure that everything is okay now. I was thinking of maybe a game that has a "demo" mode or similar or a heavy demo that can be run in "loop" mode. All the demos I found don't have a "loop" mode - they simply get stuck in the credits forever. Does anyone have a good suggestion? Any tip is greatly appreciated!

23 January 2013, 01:15	#2829
NovaCoder Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Melbourne/Australia Posts: 4,400	[ Show youtube player ]

08 February 2013, 05:46	#2833
ImmortalA1000 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: london/england Posts: 1,347	I have a bit of a dilemma, I always wanted a Blizzard (?) 1220 card which was a 28mhz 020 plus a bit of 32bit fast ram (4mb I think) as it was cheap and well basically a 28mhz 020 and 28mhz 030 really don't affect the things I will use and work the same speed more or less. Now there is the ACA 1220 and it looks like a great deal EXCEPT I may plug it in and it may not even work. I am not going to take a soldering iron to my 1200s though and risk destroying yet more of my collection so what to do? Both my machines are C= units and one is even a UK launch day purchase. The other was in the Computer Combat pack which I just picked up and is split mint totally unyellowed. And yet despite this I have no easy way of knowing if these good value ACA 1220 25mhz units will work on them gahhh!!!

08 February 2013, 11:59	#2834
demolition Unregistered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Copenhagen / DK Age: 43 Posts: 4,190	Not sure that even a Blizzard card will always work without modifications? Either live with your plain A1200 or send the Amiga to be fixed e.g. at AmigaKit in case its unstable with the ACA. You might get lucky and it works fine without any mods though.

08 February 2013, 12:20	#2835
Turran Moderator Join Date: May 2012 Location: Stockholm / Sweden Age: 49 Posts: 1,571	I have 4 Amiga 1200, they've all worked fine with the ACA cards.

08 February 2013, 14:08	#2837
ImmortalA1000 Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: london/england Posts: 1,347	Yes but I won't break the seals on brand new looking A1200s if they still work well enough to run Super Stardust AGA so that's the problem really. I know I could get them opened up and fixed but they are just too nice to break the seal and devalue them. I do understand any accelerator might not work on our Amigas today, it's not a criticism directed at Jens products, the latest one being what I have been asking for since the first ACA 50mhz came out (which also was a great price).

08 February 2013, 14:51	#2838
Lord Aga MI clan prevails Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Belgrade, Serbia Posts: 1,443	If you are referring to Petro's NOS Amigas, I think they already have their seals broken. So that's one less worry off your back

08 February 2013, 15:41	#2839
demolition Unregistered User Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Copenhagen / DK Age: 43 Posts: 4,190	A few posts back he wrote that he bought them on the UK launch day, so they would have intact seals.

08 February 2013, 15:49	#2840
Lord Aga MI clan prevails Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Belgrade, Serbia Posts: 1,443	Oh sorry. Well... if they lasted this long it would be a shame to break them

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