Amiga 500 not booting, but power light is on, need help

[MigaTech]

Thank you Amifan23 I appreciate your kind comments. Akira and I shall always be able to put aside any differences. It was just a slight misunderstanding, nothing more. Perhaps I should of worded things a little differently. Sorry for any confusion and or misunderstanding.

Anyways, What Akira was explaining is also correct. It is possible to use just one lead made up from connectors. You do need to know how to do this and it isn't hard to do, just difficult to explain.

Akira was stating he has this lead in his possession already made up and would be willing to send it to you, which is very kind of him. It would solve your issue and save anyone trying to explain how to make one up. Making one from 2 ready made up leads seemed like the easiest option to me, for you. Before Akira mentioned he already had a lead made up. Which is even better.

I am not fully sure what you want to do? You stated that it would be easier to search for the cables where you live. Does this mean you do not want Akira to send you the lead he has? It should solve this issue and it is good of him to offer to do this for you. If you do not want Akira to send you the lead and prefer to build your own. Then you could continue with the method I was explaining. It shall still do the job, only we need to source the parts for you.

I shall continue to explain for now so you can then decide further what you would like to do.

The leads I mentioned are used in PC computers too. Only the older type, todays modern systems hardly use FDD and Molex connectors as they changed to later specifications in connectors and/or drives. Although there are many Intel systems from not so long ago that still use these connectors and drives. So you should be able to find these leads as they are still readily available. Basically, they are known as Y splitter power cables and their original purpose was to offer extra power connectors on ATX PSUs, that didn't have enough to begin with. Molex is the same in Spanish so they should understand you when requesting.

The connectors are called Molex and the FDD connectors are standard type for 3.5" FDD drives. The only reason I suggested making up a cable from the 2, was for simplest solution for you. I wasn't sure if you are confident enough to make a single cable up form wire and connectors. So explains the using of 2 cables already made up, to form one.

I wasn't aware you had difficulty getting stuff shipped in, on account that some sellers do not offer shipping to you location. I could try to search eBay for you and see if I can find a better solution? Maybe also a seller who is willing to ship, to your location. Perhaps this would help?

In the meantime I shall keep searching for further solutions and maybe other member's could offer further help too.

[Amifan23]

@MigaTech

Hi again, thanks for your reply - After a more careful look at what you wrote about making one power cable using the two ones that you suggested I should buy, I understand that the male Molex connector from the cable used for the FDD, can be connected to one of the females Molex of the second cable which will be used for the HDD, and then I have to connect one of the spare Molex connectors ( of second cable ), I suppose the male one ?, to the HDD, then I should have both the FDD and the HDD powered by the FDD connection input, right ?

I took a look at the HDD and found it has only one Molex input which I suppose is female, but is covered by the soldering, so I do not know if it can be still usable, unless the soldering can be removed - Am I right about the HDD Molex input ?

From what I saw looking in the web in my country, the second cable ( 2 female + 1 male Molex ) is available to buy here, but the first one which has two 5.25 little connectors for the FDD seems not easy to be found, as these FDD are not used anymore in modern intel PCs.

On the other hand, I guess the HDD ( Hard disk ) is broken and not working, because I made the loose cables touch completely the soldering and make contact, and the HDD never responds. So I think spending on cables would not fix the issue.

Don’t know if Akira could send me his cable to test ? Anyway how can I connect it to the HDD when the Molex input is full of soldering ?

The best idea would be removing the HDD and buy a new one of those that can be directly attached to the side of the Amiga 500 ( the Amiga 500 has a left side expansion port for it ), I saw it in Amiga magazines - I don’t know the price but maybe it would be expensive ? -

In that case I would have to format the HDD and configurate so as the Amiga first boots through the HDD, and honestly, I do not know anything about this, never did it, but I know it is time consuming ( unless they come pre-formatted ).

For the moment, as I have this Amiga for fun, I think then it will be better to leave it as is, till I make a decision about buying a new HDD as said above. I don’t need the Amiga for work, as I use an Intel PC - For more professional use I would need at least an Amiga 1200 with HDD and accelerator. And I have also WinUAE for this, not the same but an emulator.

By the way I tried using CTRL + A + A ( A = Amiga key ) and the Amiga resets, so I can boot a new floppy without the need of turning off the power supply !

What do you think about all these ?

[MigaTech]

The Molex connector on the HDD is male and from what you are stating, they must of soldered directly to this, rather than using a connector. Which isn't the correct way to do it.

The Y splitter for FDD has x2 standard 3.5 FDD power connectors and x1 Molex male connector. This is the one you are having trouble acquiring, correct?

The Molex connectors are distinguished by the pins not the plastic cover. It is easy to mistake a male Molex for female because of this. Just look at the pins to realise which is which, rather than the plastic covers. (Some users may disagree with this information.)

Image below shows a female Molex connector on a cable connected to a SATA connector. The actual real name of the Molex connectors are MATE-N-LOK. They are mislabelled Molex connectors by most nowadays, as they have often been associated with Molex connection. More information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molex_connector#MINI-FIT




As for the HDD male Molex connector pins, you could remove the excess solder using a soldering iron and clean the pins up. So you could still have a chance at getting it to work. Although if you are not skilled with soldering iron and/or do not own one, then this is not an option. Also you have connected 2 wires together and probably shorted it out, this is now possibly rendered the HDD, non functioning.

There are still many options you can do to get this Amiga back up and running. You can use a CF HD with a later version of OS but it would mean replacing the ROM chip to a 2.0. You could also use the 3.0 / 3.1 OS HDD's but again this would require 3.0 or 3.1 ROM. As you have NO Fast Ram and Chip Ram @ 512K with 501 / 512K slow Ram, WHDLoad would be unusable, so you would have to use HD game installers instead.

Maybe if you asked Akira to send you his cable you could still have a go at trying your old HDD? Although the pins would have to be cleaned up first.

The side Zorro expansion could be used with an ACA500 or older sidecar HDD. If you have to change it, probably consider a kipper2k IDE504/508 or even one of these: https://www.amedia-computer.com/en/a...ator-card.html

This type of adapter is probably your overall best bet, if you have to change your set-up. It offers faster 68K @ 50Mhz and 8MB Fast Ram, so your WHDLoad worries are over. It also has Flash Rom function, which is very useful. Although again you would have to buy a CF with OS pre installed with software. You would possibly still have to change your ROM chip too. Depending on software etc. Check links below for other options on this type of upgrade.

More information on HC 508 here: http://amigaprj.blogspot.co.uk/2015/...00-50-mhz.html
Here is another possible option for you: http://amigastore.eu/en/597-wicher-5...celerator.html
Once again another option here: https://sordan.ie/product/583/turbo-...ide-amiga-500/

All this can be done, with many different options, it is still possible to use your current IDE adapter, so consider this too. Whichever you decide, just let us know and I am sure that other EAB members and I, shall help you sort it out.

[Amifan23]

@MigaTech

Hi - Yes, the cable that was more difficult to find here was the Y splitter for FDD which had 2 standard 3.5 FDD power connectors and x1 Molex male connector.

The other solutions you suggested were excellent for expanding the Amiga, I liked specially the HC 508 accelerator with card, the problem is that I can´t spend that much at this time -

On second thoughts, as I received a very good offer for my old Amiga 500 here, I decided to sell it and in the future I will decide if I will buy a second hand Amiga 1200 with accelerator and HDD or just stick with the PC and use WinUAE to run Amiga software.

So, for the moment my problem is sorted, and I am very grateful to you for all your help in this, I even learned a lot of things that didn´t know before about hardware and if it wasn´t for you, I would never have dare opening the Amiga and that shielding that covers the motherboard ! If I have any other issue I will not hesitate to contact you - regards !

[MigaTech]

Thank you Amifan23 it is good to know you have come to a decision and feel these issues require no further attention. Maybe you shall return to original Amiga hardware again someday, as you stated.

As for help yes you can ask me directly or in a thread anytime you like. Although please remember there are many very competent EAB members who could also help you. Some of them also have much more knowledge then me, so always accept their help, should they offer it.

Yes the HC 508 is a good card, only like most Amiga hardware, it is expensive but for obvious reasons. That stated, you do get bags of power for your money with this one!