help me restore my newly acquired Amiga 3000

[Kremlar]

As I mentioned in another thread I am once again an Amiga owner! Now the proud owner of my previously owned Amiga 3000. I sold it to a buddy in 1992 or so when I replaced it with an Amiga 4000. A few days ago, almost 20 years later, I found that he still had the Amiga in storage.
 
 
Please forgive me because although I lurk around here to reminisce and follow the current Amiga scene, I haven't used one in probably 15-18 years.
 
 
It's an early Amiga 3000, pre-ordered and received just after release, with the Kickstart ROM tower.
 
 
I took it apart and cleaned it up to see what's going on. My main goal would be to restore it to as close to factory condition as possible, perhaps some reliability upgrades but nothing that would take it too much away from stock. Once I get it up and running it will be mostly to reminisce and perhaps play some games, nothing too crazy.
 
 
Here are some photos and questions I have:
 
 
- What can/should I do about the ROM tower? If you look at this pic, you'll see that 2 pins seem to have broken off inside the sockets (upper socket, left-most pins). If I remember correctly, one may have broken off way back when I originally owned it. The other may have broken off today when I removed the tower. However, even with 2 broken pins the machine boots and prompts for a Kickstart file. Not sure if this means it will operate fine without these broken pins or what. Even if it does, can I load Kickstart 3.1 off disk? Or should I just buy a set of ROMs? If so, what ROMs would I need?
 

 

 

 
- The battery looks in overall good condition, but there does seem to be some corrosion and leakage below it. I want to de-solder and replace this battery ASAP. Any tips? What can I replace it with? I am definitely not very good at soldering:
 

 
 
- There is a strange cable that you can also see in the above pic that's soldered to the motherboard near the flicker fixer switch. Seems to have some sort of adjustment screw on the end of it. Doesn't look very stock. Anyone know what that is? Doesn't ring a bell for me at all.
 

 

 
- The system doesn't boot with the hard drive attached, giving the error listed below. I'm suspecting a bad hard disk. What's my best bet to get this thing up and running disk-wise? I was thinking of using a CF card, but SCSI card readers seem expensive and I'm not sure how to get IDE on a 3000. I may have some SCSI hard drives kicking around the office, if I do I may go that route. I also noticed the SCSI terminator sockets are empty on the motherboard.  Do terminators need to be installed here if nothing is attached to the external SCSI port?  I'm wondering if that also could be why the hard disk is not booting.
 

 
- System came with a floppy drive installed, but it did not appear to be the stock unit. Eject button certainly doesn't match the front of the case. It's a Chinon FB-354. What's my chances of getting a replacement floppy drive with button that matches the front of the case? Once I get it running, what's the best way to get software to/from the Amiga? Ethernet? CF card? Something else?
 
- System did not have a mouse. What's my best chance of getting a fairly stock replacement? eBay? Can't do too much without that!
 
Well, I think that's it for now! Really appreciate any help anyone can offer.

[Kremlar]

Hiya.. asap remove the battery, it is leaking. If you have side cut snippers you can cut the battery front and back and physically remove it. You will then need to remove the motherboard from the case and desolder the battery legs left in the mobo.

I snipped it as best I could and cleaned it with a toothbrush + clear vinegar and distilled water, and here is what I'm left with. Am I aiming for better than this, or is the remaining rust on there as good as its going to get? Trying to not make things worse by scrubbing endlessly. I haven't removed the motherboard from the case yet. It does still boot as far as it had.
 

 
Also, here is the underside of the ROM tower.
 

 
I do believe the RAM is maxed out (I maxed it out when I owned it if I remember correctly. Here are the zips.
 

 

Any 50pin SCSI drive under 1gigabyte should work with your rom tower. Kickstart 1.3 and the onboard SCSI ship should allow the 1gigabyte drive to be formatted. If I remember correctly you should have the superkickstart roms in the rom tower, but its been a long time since I had my 3000 without 3.1ks roms in it

Less than 1GB will be a problem... probably don't have anything that small kicking around.  I'm going to see if I can fix the termination issue and perhaps that will allow this 52MB drive to boot. If that works I can test the floppy and perhaps make some disks so that when/if I replace the drive I'll have the ability to reload. I do have a set of Workbench 2.04 and 2.05 disks, plus 2.04 Kickstart, but it's hard to say what works and what doesn't at this point. The disks are obviously old.

[Kremlar]

The ROMs you have are the early softkick or SuperKickstart ROMs, if you don't intend to install a CPU card (your ROMs require the 68030 to work) you can actually get a 3.1 Kickstart file to boot from. The only pain about that is getting the hard drive partitions named and set up right for the SuperKickstart ROMs to be able to find your kickstart file.  

Thanks.. I did some googling late last night and found some threads kind of indicating the same.  Definitely don't want/need a CPU upgrade, so Kickstart files seem like the way to go at least for now.
 
Now I need to somehow find the files I need and a way to get everything insalled!

[Kremlar]

It was... and so was the 4000 I bought right after release.  I was a lucky kid at the time.  

[Kremlar]

OK, I finally have a working mouse and I've spent a few hours trying to get Amiga Explorer working.... with no luck so far.
 
Wondering if anyone might be able to help?
 
I have an older 2.x Super Kickstart disk, but with that Kickstart I only have 1 disk that will boot - an Amiga 3000 Install disk which boots to a workbench.
 
The other Workbench disks I have (2.04 and 2.05) complain that the Kickstart is too old.
 
So, my goal is to get Amiga Explorer working so I can write an ADF containing a newer Super Kickstart to floppy disk - BUT I can't get Amiga Explorer working!
 
I go through the Setup and can type the command:
Type SER: to RAM:Setup
 
...which seems to work OK.  Then it prompts me to type:
RX RAM:Setup
 
...which wasn't working OK because it was looking for a library that wasn't on the Amiga 3000 Install disk I was booting from (mathieeedoubbas.library I believe).  SO, I found that library on another disk and copied it over to my Amiga 3000 Install boot disk, and now I can type that line without error.
 
Amiga Explorer then seems to transfer another file over successfully, then opens a window on the PC that says:
 
Copying...
C:\Program Files\Cloanto\Amiga Explorer\Amiga\AExplorer
 
...which times out, and an error comes up saying:
 
Error writing to COM port.
Please make sure that Amiga Explorer 2.1 or higher is running on the Amiga...
 
The Amiga is just sitting at a CLI prompt, and there are 2 files in the RAM Disk (Setup and Setup2).
 
Not sure what's wrong or how to proceed.... or if there's another way of creating a newer Super Kickstart disk from the .adf I have.
 
I feel if I can get Amiga Explorer working to create floppies from .adfs I'm good to go and can create a new set of disks....
 
HELP!

[Kremlar]

Scratch that - tried another null modem cable and it looks like I'm in business! I have a SCSI card reader from a4000t.com on order as well since the hard drive in this system seems to be toast.

[Kremlar]

One thing I've found is that my 3000 will not boot past a white screen unless the SCSI hard drive is attached.  I even found an internal 50-pin terminator that I plugged in in place of my hard drive, and it just hangs on a white screen - even if I hold both mouse buttons on boot.
 
Any ideas on that?  Seems kind of strange...

[Kremlar]

OK... I've made tons of progress! Amiga Explorer has saved the day and now I can connect over and create floppies from ADFs.
 
So, I've been struggling with this 50MB SCSI drive to see if I can get it working while waiting for my CF card.
 
I'm able to see it with HDToolBox, partition and TRY to format it - but every time I do it gives me a "Format Failed, Error During Format" message sometime during the format. I've tried using both FFS and OFS, tried a new SCSI cable, etc., and get the same results.
 
I hooked the drive to a PC, wiped formatted, tested, and wiped it again and it seems fine. Tried again on the 3000 and have the same issues.
 
SO, I decided to bring it back to the PC and try to format and install Workbench on it using WinUAE. It was successful! Which I find odd.
 
Why can I format and install Workbench on this drive using WinUAE but NOT on my actual Amiga?

[Kremlar]

Another quick question, for anyone familiar with this old Super Kickstart from disk crap.
 
I'd like to configure this hard drive as it was originally.
 
 - I know I need a WB_2.x: partition.  Can this be the only partition, or would I simply make this a small partition and have a standard DH0: partition along with it?
 
 - Do I need a WB_1.3: partition if don't want to boot to 1.3?
 
 - I know the Super Kickstart files need to be in WB_2.x:devs/kickstart.  I assume "kickstart" needs to be a drawer containing the file?  If so, does the filename matter?  Or is the file actually called "kickstart" and located in WB_s.x:devs?

[Kremlar]

Thanks for the reply!  According to the documentation I found with the MakeSuperDisk.lha utility it has to be the device name and not the volume label:

If you hold down both mouse buttons after you switch on the A3000 you
will be prompted to choose the operating system version to use. You can
either bootstrap Kickstart 2.x and Kickstart 1.3 from hard disk or from
floppy disk. If you don't hold down any mouse buttons the boot ROMs will
bootstrap the Kickstart from hard disk, using the partition with the
highest boot priority. Normally, this is the Kickstart 2.x boot partition.
   The hard disk partitions must be named "WB_2.x" and "WB_1.3" (note:
these are devices names like "DF0", *not* volume names) and the Kickstart
files must be in "WB_2.x:devs/kickstart" and "WB_1.3:devs/kickstart". The
partitions must be formatted either in standard filing system or fast
filing system format. You *cannot* bootstrap from hard disk drives that are
formatted with the international flavours of these filing systems or with
the directory caching filing system. When you make the choice to bootstrap
the operating system from hard disk, the Kickstart bonus code will disable
the "other" boot partition, i.e. if you choose Kickstart 2.x the "WB_1.3"
partition will be made invisible (and the other way round).
   If these Kickstart files and partitions are unavailable, you will only
have the option to bootstrap from floppy disk. This is the only option you
have after you replace the original hard disk drive with a "fresh" drive.
Now comes the tricky part. If you choose to bootstrap the operating system
from disk, the Amiga will no longer boot from the "WB_2.x" or "WB_1.3"
partition until you switch off the machine. You *have to* boot the
Workbench from floppy disk.
 
I guess my last concern is paritioning.  When this was new, were their multiple partitions?  Like a small WB_2.x: and small WB_1.3: PLUS a standard DH0:, or was the drive just divided in half with a kickstart on each half?

[Kremlar]

Regarding my boot issue with no SCSI drive attached, according to one site it's a bug in my board:
 
rev 7.0
no SCSI termination is mounted on the motherboard, just sockets for three 8 pin resistor packs
cannot boot without at least one SCSI device attached
 
From here:
http://amiga.resource.cx/mod/a3000.html

[Kremlar]

So, I ended up buying an SCSI CF card reader + PCMCIA adapter + 2GB CF card, 3.1 ROMs and upgraded SCSI chip (AMD version) from www.a4000t.com (mechy on this forum).
 
- First of all, prompt and professional shipping and service.
- Second of all, great products.
- Third of all, VERY reasonable prices.
- Fourth of all, tremendously helpful - well above and beyond what I'd expect in my wildest dreams! He was shooting emails back and forth with me in the late hours trying to help me get up and running. Can't say enough, highly recommended.
 
The 3.1 ROMs I got were ROM replacement chips - it turns out they would not work in those 2 open ROM sockets next to my ROM tower. I ended up using a steel wire (twist tie with the plastic removed) plus my soldering iron to heat/melt the pins stuck in those sockets and remove whatever I could. Once I did that I got the new 3.1 ROMs in there and was free of the ROM tower!
 

 

 
I also had to make some repairs to the LED board which seems to get damaged when the case is closed and bumps into it. I'm not very good at soldering at all, so this was a task. The traces on the board looked damaged, probably from too many amateur soldering attempts, so I ended up soldering wires from the motherboard connector coming into the board directly to the LEDs. I also am keeping the screw a bit loose so the board will wiggle a bit when the case is slid against it, hopefully preventing future damage. So far as good!
 
I also cleaned up the battery corrosion as best I could (vinegar, baking soda, toothbrush, alcohol, and clear nail varnish), then installed a coin battery (with diode) I had purchased on eBay.
 

 
Finally, I did my best to resolder the flicker fixer adjustment back onto the motherboard. Again, well beyond my soldering skills but it seems to be working OK after a lot of messing with it. I dropped some hot glue on it as well to help keep it in place. I've given it the wiggle test with my finger and it seems solid!
 

 
 
Here is my new SCSI chip:
 

 
 
I took the SCSI terminating resistors from the old hard drive I replaced and installed them on the 3000's motherboard.
 
I installed the CF card reader from Mechy in the 2nd floppy bay since I felt it was too crammed in the hard drive bay, if I could have gotten it to fit at all. I used velcro to secure it to the bay since the screw holes did not align.
 
One catch was that AmigaOS 3.1's HDToolbox would not correctly identify the 2GB CF card I got from Mechy or a 512MB one I had kicking around when inserted directly into the CF card slot. When trying to read information it errored out like this and saw it as a 20MB drive:
 

 
I had to install it in the card reader's PCMCIA slot with the PCMCIA converter that I also got from Mechy, and could then partition and format it properly. I then installed AmigaOS 3.1, then moved it back into the normal CF card slot and it seems to be working fine. The PCMCIA adapter juts out quite a bit from the CF card reader, and would not fit entirely inside the case, so I'm glad I was able to eliminate it after partitioning and formatting.
 
So, I now have my Amiga 3000 pretty much up and running! I'm awaing a 3000 floppy eject button that I ordered from here:
 
http://www.shapeways.com/model/310385/amiga_3000_disk_drive_eject_button.html?gid=ug96598
 
Other than that I hope to do a bit of retrobrighting and the system will be complete!
 
On a side note, are there any advantages to using AmigaOS 3.5 or 3.9 on this Amiga as-is? Any downsides to it?

[Kremlar]

Here is the system as it stands now:

[Kremlar]

Wow, your system sounds great!  More than I intend to do with mine (for now).  I'm keeping my eyes open for a 4000 however.  Though this 3000 has sentimental value to me, the 4000 was the last Amiga I owned and I'd like to own another.

[Kremlar]

Wanted to update this thread a bit.  I ended up getting a fantastic deal on a 4000T, which I detailed in another thread, so decided to move this CF card reader to that machine.  Instead I ended up moving the 1.2GB Quantum SCSI drive out of the 4000T and put it in this 3000.
 
After replacing the battery I found it only lasted a couple of days.  Checked the voltage and it was very low (~1.5v I believe).  I assumed it was simply a bum battery and replaced, but sure enough the new battery only lasted a couple of days as well.
 
I did some searching and found a user with a similar issue from way back in 2006 and he said his problem ended up being a diode on his 3000, D191.  I did have a lot of battery corrosion around D190 and D191, so I took a shot and replaced both diodes (1N4148).  It seems to have cured the issue, no battery loss in about a week!
 
I also added a HD floppy drive from a flakey 3000T I ended up acquiring.
 
While doing final assembly on this 3000 I made a big mistake - I offset the SCSI cable to the right by 1 set of pins and did not notice until I tried to power it on.  I then started experiencing flakey SCSI & boot issues.  With the help of Mech (www.a4000t.com) over IRC he helped me determine I had no termination power (check SCSI cable pin 26 for 5V).  This lead to a possible bad diode at D800, which just happened to be the same type of diode I had just replaced so had extras!  I replaced the diode, which he informed me was actually backwards on my board, and everything was good to go.  Crisis averted.
 
Anyway, this 3000 is now closed up and I hope to start using it soon.  Just wanted to cap off this thread (for now!).