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Offline Alley_Cat_JackTopic starter

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Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« on: July 26, 2016, 02:57:41 AM »
Hey everyone. This thread will be dedicated to restoration of an Amiga 1000 that I have rescued from a leaky barn. Some of you may have already seen my post in the software section about my troubles getting it to boot to Workbench, but I have since managed to get that far, so I will continue the updates here of the project.




Here is the Amiga 1000 as it was after pulled out of the barn. Notice the boing ball logo instead of the Amiga check.




Under the memory expansion cover is a module that is not identified and pretty rusty looking.




The disk that was in the drive. It seems to indicate a boot disk of some sort, but would it be the kickstart disk or the workbench disk?




Testing the Amiga without disk to see if it will even power on. To my excitement it does power on and am greeted with the insert kickstart disk screen.




Starting up with the disk in drive, I see this. Somewhat odd boot screen, it says Kickstart + Workbench 1.2.




After a few seconds, I get halted at this screen. Uh oh, there is a problem with the boot disk, the drive, or it is looking for possibly an external drive containing a file that isn't available. I will have to find another kick start and workbench disk to try that.




Meanwhile, lets take a look at the keyboard that was with it. It also has the boing ball logo on it. It is so dirty... ick.




The inside actually looks worse than the outside, believe it or not...




I desoldered all of the switches to remove the PCB for cleaning. All of the switches need cleaning and work since they are either frozen or don't activate properly.




One of the very bad switches from around the middle of the keyboard.




Inside the switch. Notice the small piece of spring sitting in the bottom that has rusted off. These switches are going to be a large task to repair.




Returning to the barn, I found a lot of disks. Among them I found these that may help me to get the Amiga to boot. Half of them seem to work, however the problem now is that the disk detection doesn't seem to work properly. After the kickstart disk loads and I need to insert the workbench disk, it goes no further. I may need to finally open the Amiga to see what is going on in there.




The bottom of the Amiga, showing the serial number.




Under the hood, she looks a bit rusty on top.




The power supply was produced in October of 1985.




A little deeper into the system. I am relieved that the inside is much cleaner than I expected, and not like the keyboard.




The three girls. Denis is R5 rather than R6 so it is indeed an early American release without EHB support.




Some of the other ICs. I don't know if any of these are different on the early models, but they are here to look at if you know more about them.




On to the disk drive. The eject button doesn't seem to line up where it should. Maybe this is not the original drive.




New holes were drilled in order to fit this other drive into place.




The side of the Mitsubishi disk drive that was in the system. This is likely the problem why it is not detecting when I insert the workbench disk, and why it had a Kickstart + Workbench disk in the drive when found.




I had a clean and functioning Samsung SFD-321D that could be modded to work with Amiga systems. Here is the drive with the modifications done. Information found here on how to mod it. https://translate.google.com/translate?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.ca&sl=de&u=http://honi.hucki.net/samsung.html




Success! The new drive detects when I insert the Workbench disk and starts up. 954376 free memory? Hmm, another mystery.




Here is the memory expansion cover before cleaning.




The memory expansion cover and keyboard case after cleaning. The plastics are cleaning well.


I will continue adding more to the project as I go along. If you have comments, questions or suggestions about any of it, feel free to make a post. This is my first Amiga, and I have wanted one for a long time, but don't know all the ins and outs.

Currently I am trying to test to see if the keyboard's PCB is actually functional. I am having my doubts, as I have booted to Workbench and tried to jumper arrow keys and enter key to see if anything changes on screen, but so far nothing. If anyone can tell me what keys will produce a visual response after booting to Workbench 1.2, that would be very helpful. The keyboard is being connected to the Amiga using the cord from a phone that connects the receiver to the base. I fear that the custom IC may be dead.

Also I have not yet located the original mouse. Can anyone tell me what other mice may be compatible?
 

Offline mindprober

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Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2016, 03:53:10 AM »
Off to a good start!
 

Offline kreciu

Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2016, 03:57:11 AM »
Attempted Repair by Unauthorized Persons Voids Warranty - now this A1000 is for SURE out of warranty ;)
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Offline klx300r

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Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2016, 04:13:32 AM »
WoW! MB still looks in great condition so congrats on the find!

I don't see any RAm expansion on the board but yet your screenshot tells a different story ???
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Offline Alley_Cat_JackTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2016, 05:04:43 AM »
Quote from: klx300r;811649
WoW! MB still looks in great condition so congrats on the find!

I don't see any RAm expansion on the board but yet your screenshot tells a different story ???
Yeah, I have no idea what is going on there. I am not aware of any expansions for the front memory expansion to take it over 512kb. I haven't taken a good look inside it since that screenshot though, so I'm guessing there is something in there to explain for the extra memory.
 

Offline tonyvdb

Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2016, 02:56:28 PM »
Yuck!, that keyboard is a mess. how long do you figure that Amiga sat in the barn?
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Offline mindprober

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Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2016, 03:00:40 PM »
Once the initial surface cleaning is done, I wonder how well this old A1000 plastic would handle a Retr0Bright application.  :D
 

Offline Khyron

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Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2016, 03:20:09 PM »
Quote from: Alley_Cat_Jack;811651
Yeah, I have no idea what is going on there. I am not aware of any expansions for the front memory expansion to take it over 512kb. I haven't taken a good look inside it since that screenshot though, so I'm guessing there is something in there to explain for the extra memory.

There were a couple front memory expansions that added 512K.. but in this case, You can see the wires from the piggybacked expansion done on the motherboard in the pics (under the daughter board)
 

Offline Ilwrath

Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2016, 03:24:29 PM »
Heh... Nice find.  I'm always curious what a machine found like that was used for.  It seems like it had some strange purpose to have somehow ended up where it was.

Having a kick/boot disk with Comm on it (and I see another VT100 disk) seems like they were using at least sometimes as some type of terminal...  But to what?  And to what end?

Also, having a Supra boot, seems like it had a HD controller in it at some point in time.

As for your question about compatible mice...  Any Amiga mouse.  (And only Amiga mice, or mice with a specific Amiga adaptor.)
 

Offline blakespot

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Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2016, 04:10:58 PM »
What is the story on the boing ball mouse and keyboard? I've not seen any US or Euro Amiga 1000's with those badges. I know Miner in crew disliked the double check, preferring the ball logo, but as far as I know the double check was there every time (and the Commodore label lower for Euro units).

Hmmm...


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Offline spudje

Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #10 on: July 26, 2016, 05:27:26 PM »
 

Offline JamesG

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Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #11 on: July 27, 2016, 02:34:32 AM »
Neat. Regarding the case, first thing I would do is clean the dirt with Formula 409 or something similar. Then I'd get into the Magic Eraser (cut them into cubes) and using soapy water scrub that case good. The Magic Eraser really gets some of the harder stuff like stains or adhesives.

If it's faded, you can buy this stuff off Amazon called Salon 40 volume creme. It's basically RetroBrite. Soak the plastic in this stuff out in the sun inside of a clear plastic bin (with clear lid) or bag.

Good luck and be sure to post the results!
 

Offline klx300r

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Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #12 on: July 27, 2016, 02:44:01 AM »
Quote from: JamesG;811706
....If it's faded, you can buy this stuff off Amazon called Salon 40 volume creme. It's basically RetroBrite. Soak the plastic in this stuff out in the sun inside of a clear plastic bin (with clear lid) or bag.
..

great tip :hammer: (though cheaper to make it yourself this is the less hassle option for sure)
« Last Edit: July 27, 2016, 02:48:03 AM by klx300r »
____________________________________________________________________
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! My Master Miggies-Amiga 1000 & AmigaOne X1000 !
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Offline Alley_Cat_JackTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #13 on: July 28, 2016, 08:31:01 PM »
Sorry I have been quite for a few days on this. I have been a little busy, but now I shall answer your questions.

Quote from: tonyvdb;811664
Yuck!, that keyboard is a mess. how long do you figure that Amiga sat in the barn?

This Amiga 1000 was in the barn for a minimum of 8 years. Likely much more though.

Quote from: Khyron;811666
There were a couple front memory expansions that  added 512K.. but in this case, You can see the wires from the  piggybacked expansion done on the motherboard in the pics (under the  daughter board)

Yeah, I saw those, and they are the reason I haven't dissembled further yet as I want to make sure not to pull any wires.

Quote from: Ilwrath;811667
Heh... Nice find.  I'm always curious what a  machine found like that was used for.  It seems like it had some strange  purpose to have somehow ended up where it was.

Having a kick/boot disk with Comm on it (and I see another VT100 disk)  seems like they were using at least sometimes as some type of  terminal...  But to what?  And to what end?

Also, having a Supra boot, seems like it had a HD controller in it at some point in time.

As for your question about compatible mice...  Any Amiga mouse.  (And  only Amiga mice, or mice with a specific Amiga adaptor.)

I am not sure what the machine was used for, but likely business purposes. There are a lot of other computers and parts stored in the barn, he seemed to use it for storage of his obsolete equipment. I have no idea what Comm or VT100 are, as I'm still new to Amiga.

I did forget to mention in this post that I found a SupraDrive 4x4 SCSI controller in another box, however the hard drive portion is still missing. I hope to find it as well. There was also a modem found next to the Amiga. Weather or not it was used with the Amiga is unknown to me at this point as there are modems scattered around everywhere since the previous owner used to run some kind of communications business.



The SupraDrive 4x4 SCSI controller.




The modem found next to the Amiga 1000.


Quote from: blakespot;811668
What is the story on the boing ball mouse and  keyboard? I've not seen any US or Euro Amiga 1000's with those badges. I  know Miner in crew disliked the double check, preferring the ball logo,  but as far as I know the double check was there every time (and the  Commodore label lower for Euro units).

Hmmm...


bp

As far as I can tell, the boing ball logo on the system and keyboard were on the first run of Amiga 1000s in America.

Quote from: JamesG;811706
Neat. Regarding the case, first thing I would do is  clean the dirt with Formula 409 or something similar. Then I'd get into  the Magic Eraser (cut them into cubes) and using soapy water scrub that  case good. The Magic Eraser really gets some of the harder stuff like  stains or adhesives.

If it's faded, you can buy this stuff off Amazon called Salon 40 volume  creme. It's basically RetroBrite. Soak the plastic in this stuff out in  the sun inside of a clear plastic bin (with clear lid) or bag.

Good luck and be sure to post the results!

Soapy water and a soft toothbrush have been working well for the most part, and I have used magic eraser on a few things that wouldn't come off with the soap, but I prefer to use them sparingly as they are an abrasive and can diminish texture on things that aren't smooth, but only by a little. Just don't go overboard when you use them.

As for retrobrite, I haven't used the stuff yet but have been aware of it for some time. I may try it on some of my old console controllers as a test run before using it on the rare Amiga 1000.


As for today, I may work on the keyboard switches some more and finish cleaning that out. I have a feeling that the PCB is dead though. Can anyone tell me what keys can be pressed in Workbench 1.2 that would show a visual response so I can at least see if it still works?
 

Offline Alley_Cat_JackTopic starter

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Re: Amiga 1000 Barn Rescue
« Reply #14 on: July 28, 2016, 08:38:39 PM »
I just found this http://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/Using_the_keyboard_to_control_Workbench
I should be able to test if the keyboard is working with these keyboard shortcuts.