New products for C64 and Amiga from Individual Computers

[Amiga1992]

I'm having all sorts of trouble with my ACA620, design-related.
The card will snap out of the CPU with the slightest bang or vibration to the computer. I know this changes from A600 to A600 but it is a little bit annoying. I am afraid of screwing it in place, as no instructions for this are provided officially (specially in terms of what we're supposed to buy) and my fear of the card bending if it still snaps out of the CPU while screwed onto the HD enclosure holes. (ideas?)

The card is also prone to overheating on really hot conditions (ie: usually not in Europe :P). A room temperature of ~30 degrees will bring problems after a while.

Love the unit and the cheap price, but unfortunately it has turned my A600 in an unreliable machine I can't trust when I am on the road playing gigs.

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by Akira

I'm having all sorts of trouble with my ACA620, design-related.
The card will snap out of the CPU with the slightest bang or vibration to the computer. I know this changes from A600 to A600 but it is a little bit annoying. I am afraid of screwing it in place, as no instructions for this are provided officially (specially in terms of what we're supposed to buy) and my fear of the card bending if it still snaps out of the CPU while screwed onto the HD enclosure holes. (ideas?)

Push harder on the card. The socket is made with the tooling that I had made for making these "upside down" sockets - you may have seen the video that someone posted of me lifting up an A1200 board with a flickerfixer snapped on.

The ACA620 will not hold that strong because it has fewer pins, but it will not jump off like you describe. As mentioned in the manual: You may need your whole body weight to push the card on, then it will not snap off.

Originally Posted by Akira

The card is also prone to overheating on really hot conditions (ie: usually not in Europe :P). A room temperature of ~30 degrees will bring problems after a while.

That's not overheating - the card was developed as a 25MHz card, meaning the temperature tests were done at 30MHz CPU speed and 60MHz memory clock. I can take a few pictures with the Infrared camera of that setup if you like.

What you may be observing is contact problems (since you're describing "jumping off", which it doesn't do after proper installation), or grounding problems. The latter can be solved with the screw set that I've included with the ACA630. Before I send one of these to you, please try to push the card all the way down on the A600's CPU.

Jens

[lukassid]

I had problems with Vampire and ACA630 ( when not fixed with screws and spacers) but ACA620 sits lovely in the socket. Do what Jens said and fit it properly.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by Akira

The card will snap out of the CPU with the slightest bang or vibration to the computer. I know this changes from A600 to A600 but it is a little bit annoying.
The card is also prone to overheating on really hot conditions (ie: usually not in Europe :P). A room temperature of ~30 degrees will bring problems after a while.

I had the same problems in the beginning as the ACA would not stay firmly on the CPU, however I found that cleaning off the CPU pins thoroughly has improved this issue quite a lot. I used IPA and a toothbrush and then finished off with IPA on a cotton bud. After a couple of these treatments, it feels much more 'right' when it is attached and you're not in doubt that it is installed. There is no way mine is going to fall off in transport unless you drop the Amiga on the ground.
Overheating is not an issue I would think. None of the chips get hot enough so that it should cause problems, so I think that is also connection problems. When things heat up, things expand and if you have a few insecure connections, this expansion could be enough to drop that connection.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Push harder on the card. The socket is made with the tooling that I had made for making these "upside down" sockets - you may have seen the video that someone posted of me lifting up an A1200 board with a flickerfixer snapped on.

The ACA620 will not hold that strong because it has fewer pins, but it will not jump off like you describe. As mentioned in the manual: You may need your whole body weight to push the card on, then it will not snap off.

I have pushed hard, real hard, as far as I think it goes. I also don't want to break the CPU. The card stays well on as long as I don't bump it or something. I cannot do the "pull the computer with the card" thing at all though.

Moving the computer in a suitcase (repeated banging) and stage audio vibration has made the accelerator snap off. Granted, these are not common uses for Amigas, so, what can I say...

If you tell me what screw set the ACA630 used I can look it up on eBay or something. This has happened already twice, and last weekend when the machine suddenly screwed up (keyboard stopped responding randomly), the only solution was to take the ACA620 out, which was quite hot to touch (a bunch of PAR lights not far from the Amiga were aimed towards the machines. It was really fucking hot).

Suffice to say this isn't normal operation conditions and whenever the card is at home, it never snaps off the socket or gives any troubles. Nobody is going to be facing these problems because nobody is using the machine the way I do. If you want to give it a try, throw your A600 with ACA620 in a checked luggage on a plane and see if it comes out of it when you open the bag up on destination, that's the only test I can provide! Or if not flying, just put it in a suitcase with wheels and move it around quite a bit. I'm not even carrying it unpadded, but the repeated rumble from a road or stuff like that is enough to make it snap out of the socket.

(I guess another test could be putting the machine on top of a woofer and set the woofer to play a low hertz signal, anything 50hz or the like)

[kipper2k]

Try these, it's what i use for the Vampire, i think its the same height as the ACA 630. When you use them, you do not need to overtighten, just tighten them so that the head of the screw sits flush with the card...


http://www.ebay.ca/itm/2mm-x-13mm-Se...d885a61&_uhb=1


Also, check inside the cpu socket on the card, make sure there is no bumps or plastic risers that haven't been removed completely as the CPU needs to sit right against the bottom of the socket or it will keep popping off

Originally Posted by Akira

I have pushed hard, real hard, as far as I think it goes. I also don't want to break the CPU. The card stays well on as long as I don't bump it or something. I cannot do the "pull the computer with the card" thing at all though.

Moving the computer in a suitcase (repeated banging) and stage audio vibration has made the accelerator snap off. Granted, these are not common uses for Amigas, so, what can I say...

If you tell me what screw set the ACA630 used I can look it up on eBay or something. This has happened already twice, and last weekend when the machine suddenly screwed up (keyboard stopped responding randomly), the only solution was to take the ACA620 out, which was quite hot to touch (a bunch of PAR lights not far from the Amiga were aimed towards the machines. It was really fucking hot).

Suffice to say this isn't normal operation conditions and whenever the card is at home, it never snaps off the socket or gives any troubles. Nobody is going to be facing these problems because nobody is using the machine the way I do. If you want to give it a try, throw your A600 with ACA620 in a checked luggage on a plane and see if it comes out of it when you open the bag up on destination, that's the only test I can provide! Or if not flying, just put it in a suitcase with wheels and move it around quite a bit. I'm not even carrying it unpadded, but the repeated rumble from a road or stuff like that is enough to make it snap out of the socket.

(I guess another test could be putting the machine on top of a woofer and set the woofer to play a low hertz signal, anything 50hz or the like)

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by Akira

If you tell me what screw set the ACA630 used I can look it up on eBay or something.

Kipper2k's eBay link is not entirely correct; it's 2.2mmx13 screws (stainless), not 2mm.

Please open a ticket on icomp.de, I'll mail out the screws and the required plastic part that keeps the card from bending (one required for the far side).

Jens

[Amiga1992]

Oh that's great Jens, I really appreciate that.
Hopefully this will get rid of the problem.

Originally Posted by kipper2k

Also, check inside the cpu socket on the card, make sure there is no bumps or plastic risers that haven't been removed completely as the CPU needs to sit right against the bottom of the socket or it will keep popping off

The socket goes all the way down to 1mm or less distance of the board before pressing it in, so I am supposing it's fine.Sits correctly after pressing it into place.

Hi,
I know it is not the ACA500 support forum but does anyone know how can I access the configuration menu once I have saved config in expert mode? Now every time when I turn on the Amiga it unpacks the kickstart and boots immediately. I cannot go back to the configuration menu anymore.
icomp wiki doesn't have documents on ACA500 at all and the quick guide doesn't mention it.
I have tried F1 keys when I turn machine on or reset but no help.
Thanks

[BarryB]

Any thoughts on making a replacement PSU for the C64/1541?

[Photon]

Originally Posted by ishe

Hi,
I know it is not the ACA500 support forum but does anyone know how can I access the configuration menu once I have saved config in expert mode? Now every time when I turn on the Amiga it unpacks the kickstart and boots immediately. I cannot go back to the configuration menu anymore.
icomp wiki doesn't have documents on ACA500 at all and the quick guide doesn't mention it.
I have tried F1 keys when I turn machine on or reset but no help.
Thanks

Hold left mouse button on boot.

I guess it could be considered an omission, but in my defense the menu is shown every time you boot until you explicitly set it to only show on left mouse button press in the expert menu.

[duga]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Any thoughts on making a replacement PSU for the C64/1541?

Or the A500/600/1200.

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by duga

Or the A500/600/1200.

Think the those PSU's are more reliable than the C64 and don't use 9VAC

Originally Posted by Photon

Hold left mouse button on boot.

I guess it could be considered an omission, but in my defense the menu is shown every time you boot until you explicitly set it to only show on left mouse button press in the expert menu.

Thanks! It works now!
I have tried everything but this...

[Schoenfeld]

Originally Posted by BarryB

Any thoughts on making a replacement PSU for the C64/1541?

Not for the 1541, but C64-wise, I have something in the works. Not just PSU. I did mention that the C64 has a significant birthday this year, didn't I? That would be 0x20 ;-)

Jens

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by Schoenfeld

Not for the 1541, but C64-wise, I have something in the works. Not just PSU. I did mention that the C64 has a significant birthday this year, didn't I? That would be 0x20 ;-)

Jens

Actually I can use my CD32 PSU for the 1541-II I have but would be interested in a PSU for the C64 and whatever surprises you're going to reveal

[johnim]

hi would a c128 psu be in the works

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by johnim

hi would a c128 psu be in the works

Might be better to have one PSU but with both C64 and C128 connectors?

[Lord Aga]

A quality PSU for wedge Amigas is long overdue.

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by Lord Aga

A quality PSU for wedge Amigas is long overdue.

Think they're called ATX nowadays