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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Cyberus on October 31, 2003, 10:29:03 PM
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I am about to go on a journey, one that will probably last several months.... I would like it very much if you would accompany me
I recently acquired an A4000. Happy as I am with my new toy - oh how I dreamed of getting one back in 1993 when they cost a cool 1000 UKP! - I need some serious help, as my experience of Amigas is limited to the A500 (which I had all those years ago) and the A1200 (which I bought as a returning user at the beginning of this year).
So you will have to be gentle....
It boots fine, although the PSU fan sure is noisy!
I opened it up today. It absolutely reeks of stale smoke - so I guess the last owner liked a chuff on the old cancer sticks. There's loads of fluff on the mobo - I will see if I can pick up some compressed air over the weekend.
It is an 040 model, and as far as I can gather it has the rev 09 buster. There seems to be a wire between two of the pins of the chip. What is this for?
There is a c.245MB (can't be arsed to go and check the actual size!) Seagate IDE drive in there. There is a NiCd battery on the mobo, which has furred ever so slightly around the pins that hold it - i.e. not on the actual mobo itself thankfully. There are also three 72 pin SIMMS in there.
So the questions....
1) I assume I can just chuck another IDE drive in the cradle on top of the one already there and connect it to the second IDE connector that is currently not in use?
2) Is there any limitation to configurations of SIMMS on the mobo - I have some SIMMS lying around. Do I need to alter jumper settings to do this?
3) Aside from removing the battery, is there anything in particular I should be aware of?
Many thanks guys and gals, I really appreciate it!
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I own an Amiga1200 but I know that A4000 simm socket can use only simm from 1mb ram to 4mb and not over this size.
And i know also that there are 2 different simm socket in the A4000;the first is used to expand "Chip-Memory" and the other for "Fast-Memory"...(perhaps for Chip-Mem,You can use only 2 simm of 1mb ram).(I think 1socket for Chip and 2 socket for Fast)
In my opinion you have to change your HD to another more bigger and faster...for example a standard 40gb,is not expensive and i'ts also faster than an old HD.tTo use HD bigger than 2gb (or 4gb..i'dont remember)you mustr use OS3.5 or 3.9.You can change battery but be shure to buy a new one of the same kind.
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Answers to your questions.
1) There is only 1 motherboard IDE connector (PRIMARY port). You can connect up to two devices (MASTER and SLAVE). I'd advise on getting a bigger hard drive (for the MASTER) and a CD-RW (for the SLAVE). This way you can run OS3.9 and also do backups of your system through the CD-RW drive.
2) The motherboard memory slots can be used with up to 16MB of memory. You can either use 4x4MBs or 2x8MBs, although I'm not sure how to set jumpers in the case of 2x8MBs. Maybe there's an option to even use 1MB simms for a total of 2 or 4MB of RAM, but who needs THAT little memory anyway? :-)
3) Remove the battery by desoldering the legs from the other side of the motherboard. Of course for that you'd need to get it out of the A4000D case first. Once you unscrew it/get it out, use compressed air spray to get off the large chunks of dirt first, then use a PCB cleaning spray and spray the dirty/dusty motherboard good. Afterwards, leave the motherboard to dry for 30 minutes or so. Once it's dry, spray it with compressed air again to get off any dust leftovers that the PCB cleanser separated from the "glued to the motherboard" state. :-) If you can, get a direct barrel shaped Ni-mH replacement battery and solder it back in place of the old one. This type doesn't leak when old and you will be good for clock time for probably about next 5 years. ;-)
Hope this helps.
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there should only be two jumper settings for the desktop A4000 memory.
pins 1-2 is for simms of 1 or 2Mb and pins 2-3 is for simms of 4 or 8Mb.
4-8Mb ram with 4x 1Mb or 4x 2Mb simms
16Mb ram with 4x 4Mb or 2x 8mb simms.
with the 8Mb simms, leave one simm slot between each simm (pretend it takes up two slots as this is what it does in the addressing)
there should be a 2Mb simm in the chipram slot. this is NOT upgradable to 8Mb. the A4000 doesn't contain the logic to handle more than 2Mb chip ram. (and its not just a case of soldering a line between some chips to make it work.) some of the latest desktop A4000's came with the chip ram soldered directly onto the mainboard - so the only simm slots you had are for fast ram. (4 simm slots as opposed to 5)
as for the hard disk, the seagate 250Mb drive is about as usefull as an ugly paperweight. get a modern drive. it'll be able 5 times faster (2.5Mb/s a sec as opposed to 500K/s). 20Gb drives can be had for 35 UKP these days.
and yes, you can have more than one drive on the IDE bus.
i have a little device that i used to use to double the number of IDE devices (2 to 4). had two hard drives, IDE CD, and IDE ZIP drives. slow. but worked.
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Cyberus wrote:
It boots fine, although the PSU fan sure is noisy!
I still remember some phrases I've read in a polish magazine called Commodore&Amiga back in 1993:
"You can't miss that power supply - it's big and twice as noisy (Commodore's "domain") as PC ones."
"After turning on the power two diesel engines inside the power supply and hard drive inform us that there's certainly something going on."
"Two LEDs are placed on the front panel telling us that the computer is on (needless anyway - it can be heared at your neighbours')."
:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:
And hell - that's true! You can't sleep in the room where the mighty A4000 is intact ;-).
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And hell - that's true! You can't sleep in the room where the mighty A4000 is intact
LOL. =)
In fact, there are several makes of A4000 PSUs. My old one ran rather silent. It's a shame I forgot it in Japan.
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Take care with the ram slots as they can break very easily on some desktop models the dodgy one i have has all sockets damaged. :-)
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Iggy_Drougge wrote:
LOL. =)
In fact, there are several makes of A4000 PSUs. My old one ran rather silent. It's a shame I forgot it in Japan.
Actually it's a matter of PSU fan, not the PSU itself (obviously). We tried to lower the RPM level and it worked... for some time. Some day later the PSU began to cut off power so we had to set it to original voltage. Pity...
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first thing to do is cut some holes to allow the PSU better air flow. this will cut down the amount of noise from the fan quite alot, plus aid in system cooling. quite a few machines went out with slot type vents in the back instead of a fan grill. this is pretty much stiffling your fan and i seem to remember quite a few publications "back in the day" recommending cutting these vent slots open a little more to allow decent cooling and reduced noise.
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More questions:
If I fit a Mediator in there, will the various bits and bobs leech too much power from the PSU?
If I fit a Zorro SCSI controller, will it be possible to route the cables to the 3.5" bays at the back of the machine?
The case is yellow as anything - I know this is quite drastic, but what do you think to the idea of painting it white - or near to the original colour at least.....
edit: oh, and are better replacement PSUs available, or would I have to hack a PC one?
Cheers
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Replace the PSU fan immediately. Don't even bother cleaning it since it will give more problems in just a short amount of time. Better to be safe and sorry.
Replace the battery immediately. Clean any acid-infected surface with isopropyl alcohol only! Then rinse it with 50/50 alcohol & water. Use a brush for annoying areas and use eyewear protection to avoid getting the stuff sprayed into your eyes.
:-)
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Ok about the PSU A4000 PSU's are rock solid..
mine lasts since 1994. But I changed the FAN with a silent one and modified the grill.
about the cabling with SCSI I can take some nude pictures of my miggy for you. :-)
Let me know
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@ Duesi
That would be really helpful, thanks
P.S. I was wondering where you were!
Anyone have any thoughts about painting :-o the case white again?
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@Cyberus
I got the digicam from my boss... I will take the pictures and then let you know where they are..
just hold on a bit...
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Thanks!
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Ok two pics for you online...
Please download them they're hosted on my PC
Pictures (http://duesi.kicks-ass.net/cyberus.htm)
For the PSU-Fan I recomend Verax PRO
Verax (http://www.verax.de)
If you need more information or the pics are to bad
let me know :-)
Cheers duesi
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Thanks very much!
I have downloaded the whole page and I will have a look at the pictures tomorrow. I appreciate your help!
Regards,
Cyberus
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duesi wrote:
Ok about the PSU A4000 PSU's are rock solid..
mine lasts since 1994.
I don't know it's rock solid but they sure rock! Especially that power switch push rod - even today it's hi-tech design makes me laugh like this :roflmao:
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I must admit, when I first opened up my A4000 and saw that, I did wonder for a few moments if it was meant to be like that...
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A picky point, but concerning DanDude
Clean any acid-infected surface with isopropyl alcohol only!
It's _alkali_ not acid. NiCds leak alkali (still corrosive though) Redrumloa has ebay auctions where he sells NiMH batteries that are the same size and voltage and solder right in place of the old ones. Maybe you can do a deal directly with him for less? Tell him I sent you. (like that will help any :-) )
One other thing, a number of the A4000s were made with a 3.0 kickstart, you'll want to make sure that you get a 3.1 kickstart.
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aardvark wrote:
One other thing, a number of the A4000s were made with a 3.0 kickstart, you'll want to make sure that you get a 3.1 kickstart.
Rather a BIG number... My A4000 is dated January 14th 1994 (almost end of production) and it has 3.0 Kick.
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Was there ever a C= Amiga that was shipped with 3.1 roms? AFAIR, only Escom/Amiga Technologies models were. Not 100% sure though.
I think that C= only sold 3.1 upgrade kits (roms + OS3.1 disks).
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And new, those upgrade kits were incredibly expensive