A501 installed but not recognized

Greetings,

I've done quite a bit of searching on this and can't find any help.

I acquired an A501 and installed it in my Amiga 500 with rev.5 motherboard. Booting up I see no additional RAM. The board looks perfect. I can't see any imperfections or problems with it physically. However, after installing I have no extra RAM, and in the CLI typing AVAIL I see Maximum chip 515864, fast 0, total 515864. There are no bent pins.

Do I need to do something other than just install the board? It didn't come with a battery, but I believe it will work fine without one.

Thanks for any help!

- TommyROM

[Loedown]

I had a similar issue with mine, bend one row of pins on the connector very slightly, like about 0.5 of a degree and this then makes sure that connections are sound.

Some isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush are also good.

[Jope]

If this doesn't work, consult your schematics and find out which pins / trace on the motherboard is _EXRAM. Use your multimeter to do a continuity check between the _EXRAM pin on the trapdoor slot and the _EXRAM pin on the Gary chip.

If the continuity checks out ok, try it with a known working Gary.

If this doesn't work, try it with a known working trapdoor expansion / try your trapdoor expansion in another A500.

And if these are not a possibility to you, send the device to someone who performs repairs or just get a new set from a car boot sale for next to nothing.

Loedown, when you said "one row of pins" that got me thinking. I only remembered seeing just one row. So I too a look and sure enough, there are two rows of pins. I'd installed the board using only one row. Once I positioned it so that BOTH rows of pins entered the connector, all the expected RAM showed up.

Man, I'm getting old. Walking away in shame now. Sorry guys. I should've known better.

Thanks.

- TommyROM

[Jope]

Good to hear you got it working. I've done that a few times too, such a stupid moment when you realise what it was.