Resurrecting an old A600? - Page 2

rampartsagain · 29 May 2012, 04:23

i mean cirurgy

alenppc · 29 May 2012, 04:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by kipper2k

CIA chip is soldered back on again, i elected to go with direct solder to the motherboard. Boots up fine, loaded The Addams Family from floppy and it boots fine. Hopefully its time to clean up and package up, i'll leave it in demo mode on a game all night and see if it behaves

edit; mouse/joystick functions are ok on both ports

Wow, well done! You're on fire tonight.

Any chance you could test parallel or serial ports? I believe the original CIA got damaged through the parallel port. I wonder if it damaged anything else in the process.

kipper2k · 29 May 2012, 05:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by alenppc

Wow, well done! You're on fire tonight.

Any chance you could test parallel or serial ports? I believe the original CIA got damaged through the parallel port. I wonder if it damaged anything else in the process.

Hi,

According to the following page...

http://www.amiga-stuff.com/hardware/8520.html

U8 (CIA-B) controls the printer I/O. THis is the same CIA that i replaced so i am cautiously optimistic that the parallel/floppy and the basic serial I/O functions are working again. If you still have the printer that caused the failure of this CIA then dont plug it in again. CIA chips are very susceptible to static and surges and don't like being plugged in when the Amiga is on. I don't have any parallel or serial devices to physically test the Amiga with

alenppc · 29 May 2012, 15:40

Oh no that printer is long gone lol! We are talking about 15 years or so ago. If I could have, I would have given it the treatment the copier from Office Space gets. I never connected peripherals while the amiga was on, it was just the printer circuit board that failed.

Anyways, thanks for all the help.

alenppc · 30 June 2012, 05:26

Ok, so I am in the process of restoring my #1 A600 to its former glory, the one that got me hooked to the Amiga.

Since kipper2k was so kind to replace the caps and the CIA on my board, I have a great starting base.

So here's a pic showing the new CIA chip and some of the work performed by kipper2k, with the board back in its cradle.

Now, I have upgraded the ROM to 3.1, added a 2 MB Chip ram expansion and a PCMCIA 4 MB SRAM card configured at 100 ns access (+30% system speedup, according to SysInfo).

The floppy drive is back. I think this was a PC drive that I modded but it so happens to be almost the same exact model that came with my A600 originally. Authenticity!

I cleaned the outer case, now it looks almost new.
The 3-led block was missing its wires, long lost in space and time, so I cut off a floppy power connector from an old AT PSU and soldered the wires back onto the led block. Some resistors on the led board were loose so they were not lighting up but now I've fixed them. LED block works!

Now all I am missing is the keyboard. I still have its original keyboard in a very decent shape except that the blue membrane is dead. Dammit.
Found one on Amibay and promptly bought it. But... the parcel never arrived

Whoever stole my parcel, I hope they are having a blast with it. But they should also be shot..uhm I mean fined

for depriving the world of another rare A600 blue membrane.

So I bought another A600 keyboard on EBay. This one is sadly green membrane. No authenticity here. And to be honest quite disgustingly yellow.

So I took it apart and put the keys into the dishwasher and set it to "Pots and pans"

Voilà! All the grease was off, but still disgustingly yellow.

Now I bought some 9% peroxide blue cream (the strongest I could find over here), soaked the keys, and they are baking in the sun for the next few days. They are already getting better, but I am not sure if I will be able to un-yellow them, or how much. We will see.

I am still on the lookout for a blue membrane, however. I'd like to be able to use my original keys as well.

To be continued...

rampartsagain · 30 June 2012, 05:36

that is a great amiga 600 although 9 percent peroxide will take you too many time depending on the yellowing ,if i was on where is wally i would say where is the rf unit ?

alenppc · 30 June 2012, 05:46

Kipper removed the RF unit for me! Which is great, in case I get enough $$$ to put in Indivision ECS.

Although I have to figure out how to secure the VGA in its place (it has no mounting holes).

9% peroxide is the strongest they sell here (well there is 12% but it comes in very small bottles and costs a lot more, it would cost a fortune to use that). I will let it soak for 5-6 days, let's see.

I got a CF adapter from China and some 44 pin IDE cables as well.

rampartsagain · 30 June 2012, 08:01

in my amigas i bought 4 bottles of 30 percent peroxide for 20 euros more or less but was well worth it,for the vga have to find some sort of mod for fixing it

alenppc · 01 July 2012, 04:41

I think such a high grade peroxide is banned here or something for safety reasons... a 500ml bottle of 9% costs $3.50. 250ml 12% costs $5.50...

However the 9% is doing a fine job!

the keys are whitening! 1 more day should do it I think...

rampartsagain · 01 July 2012, 05:32

that is excellent news ,you are in whitening process i already did onmine and now i am cracking my head studying amiga clock circuitry and clock port

alenppc · 03 July 2012, 06:10

The peroxide has done wonders. It's a shame I didn't take a pic of the keyboard before treatment - but it was as yellow as corn...

So here's the 600 keyboard reassembled after the treatment, in comparison to a BRAND NEW A1200 keyboard from Amigakit:

It seems that the dark keys have whitened a bit more than intended, but they still look nice.

So here's the final A600, reassembled; I have also replaced the panasonic PC drive eject button with an Amiga button, presumably from my original drive. Good thing that I kept it for all this time. Now it matches the form and shape of the A600 case.

The keys are now whiter than the case. I guess that, too, could use some peroxide.

But I think that I will keep it as is for now, it's not too bad.

And finally a close up of the keys:

The guy who came up with a peroxide idea should be given a Nobel peace prize.

Installed OS 3.1 on 512mb CF card. It seems that the A600 is the most compatible with compact flash cards. The transcend cards do not work on A4000, do not work with PCMCIA adapters, but they work as internal HDDs on A600. Still, I think it's better to buy Sandisk or US modular brands. I have found those to work with everything.

rampartsagain · 03 July 2012, 06:35

mine was from ebay and was yellow as hes after some months it needs another treatment on low light looks like it needs another dose of peroxide

TjLaZer · 07 July 2012, 21:04

great save! I ended up buying a replacement PAL 600 motherboard for one of my dead and not recoverable NTSC A600's... (DaBone gave it a stab and it was not saveable)

30 June 2012, 05:26	#25
alenppc Registered User Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Canada Age: 44 Posts: 910	Ok, so I am in the process of restoring my #1 A600 to its former glory, the one that got me hooked to the Amiga. Since kipper2k was so kind to replace the caps and the CIA on my board, I have a great starting base. So here's a pic showing the new CIA chip and some of the work performed by kipper2k, with the board back in its cradle. Now, I have upgraded the ROM to 3.1, added a 2 MB Chip ram expansion and a PCMCIA 4 MB SRAM card configured at 100 ns access (+30% system speedup, according to SysInfo). The floppy drive is back. I think this was a PC drive that I modded but it so happens to be almost the same exact model that came with my A600 originally. Authenticity! I cleaned the outer case, now it looks almost new. The 3-led block was missing its wires, long lost in space and time, so I cut off a floppy power connector from an old AT PSU and soldered the wires back onto the led block. Some resistors on the led board were loose so they were not lighting up but now I've fixed them. LED block works! Now all I am missing is the keyboard. I still have its original keyboard in a very decent shape except that the blue membrane is dead. Dammit. Found one on Amibay and promptly bought it. But... the parcel never arrived Whoever stole my parcel, I hope they are having a blast with it. But they should also be shot..uhm I mean fined for depriving the world of another rare A600 blue membrane. So I bought another A600 keyboard on EBay. This one is sadly green membrane. No authenticity here. And to be honest quite disgustingly yellow. So I took it apart and put the keys into the dishwasher and set it to "Pots and pans" Voilà! All the grease was off, but still disgustingly yellow. Now I bought some 9% peroxide blue cream (the strongest I could find over here), soaked the keys, and they are baking in the sun for the next few days. They are already getting better, but I am not sure if I will be able to un-yellow them, or how much. We will see. I am still on the lookout for a blue membrane, however. I'd like to be able to use my original keys as well. To be continued... Last edited by alenppc; 30 June 2012 at 05:42.

03 July 2012, 06:10	#31
alenppc Registered User Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Canada Age: 44 Posts: 910	The peroxide has done wonders. It's a shame I didn't take a pic of the keyboard before treatment - but it was as yellow as corn... So here's the 600 keyboard reassembled after the treatment, in comparison to a BRAND NEW A1200 keyboard from Amigakit: It seems that the dark keys have whitened a bit more than intended, but they still look nice. So here's the final A600, reassembled; I have also replaced the panasonic PC drive eject button with an Amiga button, presumably from my original drive. Good thing that I kept it for all this time. Now it matches the form and shape of the A600 case. The keys are now whiter than the case. I guess that, too, could use some peroxide. But I think that I will keep it as is for now, it's not too bad. And finally a close up of the keys: The guy who came up with a peroxide idea should be given a Nobel peace prize. Installed OS 3.1 on 512mb CF card. It seems that the A600 is the most compatible with compact flash cards. The transcend cards do not work on A4000, do not work with PCMCIA adapters, but they work as internal HDDs on A600. Still, I think it's better to buy Sandisk or US modular brands. I have found those to work with everything. Last edited by alenppc; 03 July 2012 at 06:15.

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29 May 2012, 04:23	#21
rampartsagain Registered User Join Date: May 2012 Location: Porto/Portugal Posts: 385	i mean cirurgy

29 May 2012, 15:40	#24
alenppc Registered User Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Canada Age: 44 Posts: 910	Oh no that printer is long gone lol! We are talking about 15 years or so ago. If I could have, I would have given it the treatment the copier from Office Space gets. I never connected peripherals while the amiga was on, it was just the printer circuit board that failed. Anyways, thanks for all the help.

30 June 2012, 05:36	#26
rampartsagain Registered User Join Date: May 2012 Location: Porto/Portugal Posts: 385	that is a great amiga 600 although 9 percent peroxide will take you too many time depending on the yellowing ,if i was on where is wally i would say where is the rf unit ?

30 June 2012, 05:46	#27
alenppc Registered User Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Canada Age: 44 Posts: 910	Kipper removed the RF unit for me! Which is great, in case I get enough $$$ to put in Indivision ECS. Although I have to figure out how to secure the VGA in its place (it has no mounting holes). 9% peroxide is the strongest they sell here (well there is 12% but it comes in very small bottles and costs a lot more, it would cost a fortune to use that). I will let it soak for 5-6 days, let's see. I got a CF adapter from China and some 44 pin IDE cables as well.

30 June 2012, 08:01	#28
rampartsagain Registered User Join Date: May 2012 Location: Porto/Portugal Posts: 385	in my amigas i bought 4 bottles of 30 percent peroxide for 20 euros more or less but was well worth it,for the vga have to find some sort of mod for fixing it

01 July 2012, 04:41	#29
alenppc Registered User Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Canada Age: 44 Posts: 910	I think such a high grade peroxide is banned here or something for safety reasons... a 500ml bottle of 9% costs $3.50. 250ml 12% costs $5.50... However the 9% is doing a fine job! the keys are whitening! 1 more day should do it I think...

01 July 2012, 05:32	#30
rampartsagain Registered User Join Date: May 2012 Location: Porto/Portugal Posts: 385	that is excellent news ,you are in whitening process i already did onmine and now i am cracking my head studying amiga clock circuitry and clock port

03 July 2012, 06:35	#32
rampartsagain Registered User Join Date: May 2012 Location: Porto/Portugal Posts: 385	mine was from ebay and was yellow as hes after some months it needs another treatment on low light looks like it needs another dose of peroxide

07 July 2012, 21:04	#33
TjLaZer Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Tacoma, WA USA Age: 52 Posts: 1,927	great save! I ended up buying a replacement PAL 600 motherboard for one of my dead and not recoverable NTSC A600's... (DaBone gave it a stab and it was not saveable)

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