Amiga 3000 Resurrection

[gdonner]

Thanks! I'll run Scout tonight and see what it says; definitely worth a try..!

[brett71]

Several years ago, I had an A3000 that had the old barrel-type battery that had leaked very little (incredibly) but I replaced the NiCad with a modern Lithium-Ion battery in the same form factor, so it was a drop-in replacement. (I'd read somewhere that the barrel batteries and the CR2032 coin-style batteries did not provide the exact same wattage/amperage or something like that, so opted to go with the drop-in replacement.)

The weird thing that I always had with the RTC, both before and after the battery swap, was that I'd have to set the clock when I booted the machine and it would run fine and keep time while the machine was on, but for a period of time while the machine was off, the clock would keep time, but then just stop. It was like it stopped ticking, but was able to remember the time when the ticking stopped, just like an old-fashioned wind-up clock. I never could figure out what the magic amount of time was when the clock would stop ticking. Sometimes it was an hour, sometimes it was less. It was just odd to come back to the machine, power it up, check the clock and see that the clock was off but not totally reset back to some default date in 1970 or something like that...

[Hewitson]

Wow. The amount of knowledge in this thread is simply amazing.

For interests sake, what is the best method of repairing battery-acid damaged vias?

[obitus1990]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

Wow. The amount of knowledge in this thread is simply amazing.

For interests sake, what is the best method of repairing battery-acid damaged vias?

For vias that are not connected to internal layers of the board... 30 gauge kynar wire from one side of the board, threaded through the via, and connected to the other side of the board. Expose some of the trace on both sides of the board that attach to the via, and solder. Cover the repair with a UV cured solder mask repair material.

If you're talking about plated through holes that ICs and such go into, the same can be done, but, if you want stability, it's best to drill the PCB using proper kit, and swage in a new eyelet. The reconnect to the traces with solder.

[Hewitson]

I was actually talking about vias that are connected to internal layers of the board

[RDP]

I'm back with some updates:

1. Most importantly I have found a hero in Tokyo willing to work on my Amiga, and he is already a user here, so glad I signed up to this forum.... I will try to setup a meeting with him in a few weeks (have a bit of a busy time at work right now). I am going to ask him to bring one of his mouse so we can get that super simple test of of the way......

2. Lemon Juice: Am I a fool for letting it wait two weeks or so until I can get the professional to look at it? I have never done anything with liquid on a populated board before (or any for that matter...) and am wanting to do it right. Can anyone recommend a verified Youtub video? Honestly, I would prefer to wait.

3. Jim Drew: Wow, I had so many of your products, starting with Sybil (where did I put that!?!?!?!) ..... Emplant (still have it), Fusion.....

4. I re-seated Denise as someone suggested for a short-term fix, but almost broke one of the legs putting it back in, my, I have to be more careful. And, take note, some IC extractors are made better than others; mine sucks. While the first tests after showed the mouse having the same issues, today I am doing much better.... no idea why.....

5. I went ahead an ordered a Noctua 80mm fan for the power supply.

6. Really confused over best solution to replace my rotating media. SCSI2SD V5 might not be as fast as it could be, and V6 might have issues running on the WarpEngine SCSI? I can get an ACard 7722 LVD adapater locally for a reasonable price, but get the feeling some people note it should only be used for Optical drives, and it might have WarpEngine issues as well? Would be grateful for any suggestions to go with the WarpEngine SCSI controller.

7. To make things interesting I now have a new problem, which I might have had before, but didn't notice until now as my graphics were on the CyberVision64 via Picasso6, but to troubleshoot I removed all the expansion cards so now running the monitor via Amber and friends, but I certainly do have the issue now: It seems to be graphics corruption; it seems to be maybe highlights that should be white, go green? The normal grey background can go green as well, and highlight graphics in games, maybe associated with copper effects can corrupt? I think I might need to make a video of this one..... more to follow..... Are there any good graphics diagnostics tools in software?

***UPDATE: Mouse is working today, so far,..... it's incredible...

thanks as always everyone,
RDP

[trixster]

Scsi2sd v5 manages about 1.something mb/s. V6 works fine too although can be funny about updating firmware and can be picky to get working without throwing errors. There’s a thread on here somewhere about it

[obitus1990]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

I was actually talking about vias that are connected to internal layers of the board

In that case, you'd have to determine what exactly the via connects to internally -- ground, power, signal line -- via schematics. You can then run a jumper wire to an accessible spot on the board that corresponds to the type of line it connects to (power or ground). For example, if the via drops into an internal ground plane, find the nearest GND spot and connect the jumper to it. If it's a signal line, then, view the schematics to deduce where it emerges back onto the top of the board and to which component it connects to, and jumper appropriately.

Otherwise, you'll be doing a complicated procedure that involves milling the holes to expose the inner layers...risky.

Like this:

http://www.circuitrework.com/guides/5-3.html

[gdonner]

@ Brett71: That sounds a lot like my system--good to know it's not unusual!

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by RDP

I'm back with some updates:

....<snip>....

2. Lemon Juice: Am I a fool for letting it wait two weeks or so until I can get the professional to look at it? I have never done anything with liquid on a populated board before (or any for that matter...) and am wanting to do it right. Can anyone recommend a verified Youtub video? Honestly, I would prefer to wait.

....<snip>....

RDP

The residue from a leaking battery deposits an Alkaline on surrounding components. Usually seen as a white or green-blue fur.

Lemon Juice or White Vinegar are Mild Acids & destroy these Alkaline deposits, so they can't go eating their way through the layers of your Motherboard tracks & their deep rooted VIA's

[ Show youtube player ]

You still sat here.....?

[whaka]

Originally Posted by brett71

Several years ago, I had an A3000 that had the old barrel-type battery that had leaked very little (incredibly) but I replaced the NiCad with a modern Lithium-Ion battery in the same form factor, so it was a drop-in replacement. (I'd read somewhere that the barrel batteries and the CR2032 coin-style batteries did not provide the exact same wattage/amperage or something like that, so opted to go with the drop-in replacement.)

i'm not sure NiCd can be "drop in" replaced with a Li-ion battery.
lithium ion need a specific charging control, and are intolerent to things a NiCd/Mh can tolerate.
so, is the replacement battery embbed such electronic ?
if not, be careful...

CR2032 don't provide the same voltage as the original.
original battery is 3,6V and 3V for the 2032.

[jbenam]

Originally Posted by whaka

i'm not sure NiCd can be "drop in" replaced with a Li-ion battery.
lithium ion need a specific charging control, and are intolerent to things a NiCd/Mh can tolerate.
so, is the replacement battery embbed such electronic ?
if not, be careful...

CR2032 don't provide the same voltage as the original.
original battery is 3,6V and 3V for the 2032.

You just need a diode in place to stop the CR2032 from charging and you should be golden I've got one of these mods on my A4000 with great success.

They also sell small PCBs with a SMD sized diode on it if you want something smarter-looking.

[DofD]

AmigaKit and other places sell the coin cell battery replacement module. I've found they work really well.

[whaka]

Originally Posted by jbenam

You just need a diode in place to stop the CR2032 from charging and you should be golden I've got one of these mods on my A4000 with great success.

They also sell small PCBs with a SMD sized diode on it if you want something smarter-looking.

sure, for a simple CR2032 putting a diode is perfectly fine

but i mean for the Li-ion battery (indeed, rechargable), it's a bit more complicated, as as they can't be charged as NiCd/Mh can.
they need a particular charge control, and if the replacement don't embbed the "smart" electronic for this, i doubt it last very long, and can seriously be destroyed.

[RDP]

Hello all, I'm back after a hectic business trip, and have a few updates:

1. Amiga output graphics shimmering (not Cybervision 64): Needed to adjust Amber trimpot. Fixed. doh!

2. Amiga output (not Cybervision 64) occasional graphics corruption. See next point.

3. Mouse issues (basically the start of this whole thread). Well....... it's not the mouse, it's a connection somewhere, because the fix to it, and to point 2 as well, though both symptoms don't necessarily happen simultaneously, is to apply torque to the A3000 chassis. I find one hand on the area around the front of the chassis about where the daugthercard is, and then the back of the chassis, at the back of the daugthercard will remedy the problem, until it comes back again. Definitely needs this fixed, but happy I now know it's a connection issue, nothing else.

4. Replacement for what I believe might be the worlds loudest 3.5" SCSI drive, the Seagate Hawk ST32151N: I bought a used Acard 7720U w/OS 3.75 on it, and have it running of a Seagate ST320014A. This thing is whisper quiet, until I figure out what I will do for non-rotational storage. However, as usual I have issues (please see below):


Acard 7720U w/OS 3.75: This is running off my WarpEngine, the drive is 20gb large, and I have two partitions on it, the first is 903mb using FFS, the second is also 903mb, using PFS. Sysinfo shows the drive reading around 7.5mb a second, so I am happy with the performace, but I have a test that will usually give a Read Block error or two, which clicking Retry will remedy, but the problem is a concern, and I am stumped at what it might be. My DH0: is 23megs full, with around 2300 files. The command is:

copy dh0:#? ram: all clone quiet

Sometimes I can get through this without a Read Block error, but most times I will get one, or two errors. I have pulled my hair out over term and term power settings, LUN, TID, Reselection, and the what, but cannot figure out what might be the issue, the blocks that have errors are never the same, different every time. According to my WarpEngine Checkdrives program, the mask and maxtransfer seems to be good, and from what I read the Acard actually makes it so I don't have to care about IDE parameters, but now, I'm perplexed. Currently I have term power enabled on the WarpEngine, and try many combinations with the term and term power on the Acard (the only device in the chain), but surprisingly changing the term and term power do not display a measurable difference in the frequency of obtaining the read errors. I'm stumped! And, I'm rambling....

Thanks all,
RDP

[kinmami]

The machine was not so bad, to be honest. Indeed, A3000 is marvellous!

We replaced all electrolytic capacitors on mainboard and daughterboard with hybrid polymer type (Panasonic).
Audio circuit improved with Nichicon non-polarized capacitors.
Contacts, header pins and connectors cleaned with flux removal.
We sterilised the area surrounding the VARTA battery with isopropyl alcohol to neutralise the effect of corrosion.

The power supply was about to blow up (horrible smelling and poor regulation), and we replaced the SMPS board with a stronger Thermaltake model equipped with a low noise fan.
It required an easy re-wiring job with the addition of a dummy load of 700mA on 3.3V(internal) and a supplementary circuit for the -5V DC (L7905 with 1N4001).
Now it runs quiet and cool.

Some cosmetic work here and there.
Few days of troubleshooting needed.

It was a pleasure and a great honour to fix this masterpiece! @RDP

"We had the tools, and we had the talent! It's Miller Time."

[whaka]

be carful with low noise fan. this is the only for cooling the wohle machine.
and this machine is a bit stuffed, so... check the debit against the original "airplane noise" fan

the original fan is given for 32 cfm and 28 db at 2450 rpm.
personnaly, i replace them with the noctua nf-r8 redux 1800 rpm.
they give 31 cfm for 17,1 db.

it's not silence, but it far less louder

[RDP]

My (better later than never) update:

Over a period of around two months Kinmami and I discussed him taking a look at my system. Before our meeting he had me do some shopping for the items that would be required for the resurrection. Based on photos of the motherboard we exchanged (the same photos that are on this thread), it was decided that he would recap the machine, and then give his opinion then on what might be further required.

It took me longer than expected to get everything ready, but just in time on the agreed upon day we met and I took him to my place to examine the system. He didn't even bother to turn it on (I guess an Amiga is an Amiga!), and just went straight to work recapping and cleaning (you can read his comments two messages back for the details), but I can tell you right now, this is a focused man; once he sat down he didn't even move until the job was done. He is incredibly dedicated to quality work, and absolutely impressed me with his talent. He further went on to order a 500w powersupply to be delivered the next day, took my old powersupply and cage (the one that was boiling acid, really about to start smoking at any moment!) home with the newly obtained fan (Noctua NF-R8 Redux 1800) I had previously bought for it, and the very next day had built that as well! A 500w in my original cage, with original wiring, very nice indeed (he did the -5V DC mod as well). Amazing!

Once I picked up the powersupply from him it was on to testing the machine, which initially didn't not want to boot. In an attempt to attend to the basics I decided to re-seat my Rom Tower. Bad decision, as when I extracted it I bent some of the legs on it, and when trying to straighten then broke one off. Is this a problem? Not for Mr. Kinmami, within a day of me delivering it to him he had addressed the problem, and every leg on the tower had been made as straight as possible.

However, back home with the tower back in place the system was still not starting up. Mostly just a pure black screen, no LED activity, occasional (but rare) red or yellow screens (as I would be prodding and pushing things to ensure proper seating), and other times cycling LED flashes; something was wrong. After some head scratching, and mostly just to say we tried it, I moved back J350 to the position it was before changing to the ATX style powersupply. Everything worked from then onwards. I can only guess that for some unknown reason the system was already obtaining tick clock from the board, and not the power supply, so when the jumper was switched to prepare to receive the ATX style power supply, it was set to obtain to source from the power supply, which prevented the boot.

With that all done now I am in the process of cleaning up the case and the keyboard, and thinking about adding a 68060@80 into my Warpengine. The addiction returns.... *sigh*

In summary, Kinmami is a genius (well, to me at least!), and on top of that, a gentleman. I would recommend that anyone trust him with their equipment, and take any comments, notes, or other wisdom on the topic of electronics he might impart, to heart.

thanks all,
RDP

Note to userid: whaka - Yes, that exact fan! I picked that recommendation up off another thread, it might have been your recommendation!

[Kin Hell]

Nice write up RDP.

Glad to hear the Old Girl still Live's!

[whaka]

Originally Posted by rdp

(noctua nf-r8 redux 1800)

yeah