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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Drummerboy on November 14, 2009, 01:51:27 AM
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Hello,
For all us are know about the Barrel Batterys inside our A2000/A4000/A3000, in this years many are leaking!.
Are big nightmare if you discover that late!, becouse maybe your Motherboard be seriusly damage, and died.
But we know too thats can be avoid, changing the battery, for a brand new, or putting a coin battery, this is a much better option.
But, a few week ago, i discover in any A2000 of mine, not have Battery!!.. yes.. not Barrel battery, not coin battery, just the place without nothing, only the printed graphic in the motherboard. The A2000, work fine. ITs a REV 6.3 MotherBoard
Then here born my question.
I read sometime if you remove the Barrel Battery, the Amiga not work, but when i see this, i m not sure if that are true, becouse thi A2000 not has and work fine (Yes, there not keeps the Date), but in this case i dont care.
Yes..question..
Its possible remove the batterys and not replace with other?.
I launch this question, becouse i dont know if maybe this A2000 came without battery from tha factory-
Comments.. are welcome
regards!
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A battery is only required for keeping date and time on your Amiga computer. To remove it has no other effect, AFAIK.
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humm.. then if you want avoid the Motherboard Damage, just are necesary remove the Barrel Battery, and the Amiga still working, just not Keep the date, thats right?!.
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humm.. then if you want avoid the Motherboard Damage, just are necesary remove the Barrel Battery, and the Amiga still working, just not Keep the date, thats right?!.
Exactly.
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I have an A2000 without battery and it works fine.
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It's the Nicd type barrel batteries that produce problems. If you replace them with an NiMh type barrel then this will not cause any problems in the future.
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It's the Nicd type barrel batteries that produce problems. If you replace them with an NiMh type barrel then this will not cause any problems in the future.
Don't feel too safe - NiMH can also leak when in use for a decade or more...
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Never EVER replace the battery with another NiCad / NiMh battery. It's cheap and easy to go for a coin type and is also so much safer. My A4k was bought with it removed though I havn't got round to fitting a replacement as of yet.
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Ok, i going to remove a Barrel Battery in Any A2000 if mine, i know there has yet..
The time is Gold!!.. tomorow can be late!!
I will update after operation!--
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Ok guys,
The Barrel battery removed was succesfull Done!.
The A2000 work fine without Barrel battery.
I think, was a good moment for remove the battery becouse i sew little signs of leaks started!
anyway.. if you have any A2000/A3000/A4000, i suggest to you minimal remove the barrel battery.
One more time, the Amiga Preservation Win! over the Time Signals!..
Regards!
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The A3000 will lose it's battmem settings for SCSI when you remove the battery.
Often this is not a problem, the machine will boot up and work. However if you have a HD that requires battmem to be set in a certain way for maximum performance, you will take an io penalty.
I just take any old 3.6V NiMH battery and replace it. The last few I did were cordless phone batteries that I just affixed to the motherboard somewhere.
I like real time clocks. It's so stupid to have all your files dated 1978.
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I like real time clocks. It's so stupid to have all your files dated 1978.
Ack. However, if you're just playing games it doesn't make much of a difference.
A good alternative to using a coin type battery is placing a rechargeable one away from the mainboard where it can't do any harm.
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All amigas run fine with the batteries removed. I took them all out long ago. Just remember to set time and date when they start up or you end up with wacky timestamped files
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I like real time clocks. It's so stupid to have all your files dated 1978.
Maybe thats right if you have only 1 Amiga and this uses for all things, but if you have more Amigas (Like me!) and you know wich kind of uses give to those Amigas then, not problem if a couple of Amigas not have a Battery. If its much problem, you can write a Script in the Startup for Set the Date and Hour and Done!. How much time you spend setting a date?.. 10 - 15 seconds?..come on!-
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My A4000 never worked again after desoldering the battery. I had to get a new motherboard on eBay.
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Maybe thats right if you have only 1 Amiga and this uses for all things, but if you have more Amigas (Like me!) and you know wich kind of uses give to those Amigas then, not problem if a couple of Amigas not have a Battery.
All the Amigas I have boot to a workbench when I turn them on. If I create any file, be it a disk image or anything, it's going to have a wonky timestamp unless I set the time manually, if the battery is missing..
If its much problem, you can write a Script in the Startup for Set the Date and Hour and Done!. How much time you spend setting a date?.. 10 - 15 seconds?..come on!-
No, I won't come on. :-D Why should I do it manually when I can just replace the leaky battery?
Even then I'd rather set up my tcp/ip-stack to get the new date via ntp than typing it in myself.
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Dont't forget the humble A500 Plus. That too has a RTC battery and that too can suffer battery leaks. I have 3 of them and all needed the battery removed, one of them actually died because of very severe leaking.
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I read sometime if you remove the Barrel Battery, the Amiga not work, but i m not sure if that are true
It is not true, only the A3000 suffers from having no battery but it still works, you just need to use some software to set BATMEM settings from hard drive. (Assuming you're unhappy with the defaults)
My A4000 never worked again after desoldering the battery. I had to get a new motherboard on eBay.
What on earth did you do to the poor thing?
Was the death as a result of a lack of skills desoldering the battery OR the amount of damage that had been done before it was attempted? It certainly wasn't the removing the battery. Hundreds of A4000D owners have removed and not replaced their battery.
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I had removed the battery on my A4000 before it had any leakage whatsover. A4000 works perfectly.
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My 4000D has an "adapter" in the battery place with 3 legs where you can land a barrel type. Shame is, it's so high that you can't fit the last Zorro slot without removing the battery. I never had the patience to try to lower it by cutting the legs a bit...
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My A4000 never worked again after desoldering the battery. I had to get a new motherboard on eBay.
Yeah.. thats the reason of this post.. becouse i hear that happen, in both Amigas (A2000 / A4000), if you remove the battery and not replace with other (Coin or Barrel) not work again.
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Yeah.. thats the reason of this post.. becouse i hear that happen, in both Amigas (A2000 / A4000), if you remove the battery and not replace with other (Coin or Barrel) not work again.
Then they destroyed something while removing it.. The only Amiga that has potential to stop booting without a battery is the twice-mentioned A3000.
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The only Amiga that has potential to stop booting without a battery is the twice-mentioned A3000.
... which can easily worked around by hitting the three finger salute after the drive has spun up. ;)
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... which can easily worked around by hitting the three finger salute after the drive has spun up. ;)
It all depends on what battmem bits your SCSI chain expects you to have set. :-)
I have yet to have an A3000 not boot after amnesia (I have owned three), so with any "modern" (made after '95 or so) drive and correct termination, I'd say you don't need to worry about the battmem..
The potential exists, however. People get hand-me-down computers that are in the same configuration as after they were set up in 1991, and they can contain anything. So make note of the battmem contents before you remove the battery. It's not hard, it will save you a lot of hassle, in the end you probably will end up not needing the settings anyway. But if you do, you'll pat yourself on the back for it.
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Very good advice indeed. It's always better to be safe than sorry later.
BTW, my 1993 Toshiba HDD happens to take too long spinning up every so often - with growing age -, forcing me to reboot. No reason to set the extended timeout though since that takes ages on every boot. Actually it's had two predecessors of same type that died on me under warranty, but this specimen is still surprisingly healthy.
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My A4000 never worked again after desoldering the battery. I had to get a new motherboard on eBay.
What the hell did you do?
[EDIT] I see alexh already asked the same question.
Still if you find yourself that any Amiga that isn't bootable with the battery removed you must have done something stupid if you ask me.
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I've never de-soldered a battery from an amiga.. I find that gently rocking the battery for about 5 mins will break the legs just above the motherboard.. If you do this though, be careful not to use too much force or you may rip other stuff out with it!
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I have yet to have an A3000 not boot after amnesia (I have owned three), so with any "modern" (made after '95 or so) drive and correct termination, I'd say you don't need to worry about the battmem..
Finally got around to buying a barrel battery for the latest A3000 I've acquired.
In Amnesia mode, SCSI throughput was around 2MB/s.. Now that I have a working battery and properly configured (basically just set sync=1) battmem, transfers go at 6MB/s..
I'm very happy that I replaced mine. Everyone else's mileage may vary.
(880th post, yay.)
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Finally got around to buying a barrel battery for the latest A3000 I've acquired.
In Amnesia mode, SCSI throughput was around 2MB/s.. Now that I have a working battery and properly configured (basically just set sync=1) battmem, transfers go at 6MB/s..
I'm very happy that I replaced mine. Everyone else's mileage may vary.
Many thanks, being somewhat unfamiliar with the A3K I thought the SCSI was simply dog slow (also around 2MB/s here)... had no idea it was capable of that. :D