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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: ebauman on January 13, 2024, 12:53:18 AM

Title: Amiga 500 repair question
Post by: ebauman on January 13, 2024, 12:53:18 AM
Hi. I recently found an Amiga 500 and have been trying to get it running. Does anyone recognize those vertical black lines and know what that means? It asks for the Workbench disk but won't boot if those lines are displayed, and just returns to asking for the disk again. The one time that they didn't appear it booted normally, so it appears that the computer does work. I'm new to the Amiga and have no clue. Thanks.
Title: Re: Amiga 500 repair question
Post by: Boing-ball on January 13, 2024, 01:56:03 AM
That’s not normal. Looks like you have something failing on the mainboard. You mention A500. Is it a A500 or a A500+ ? If the latter, they had Varta Batteries that would leak out battery acid whic in time causes trace failures and green gunk.


Title: Re: Amiga 500 repair question
Post by: ebauman on January 13, 2024, 04:06:36 AM
It's just a regular A500, Rev 5 motherboard. I don't see any blown caps, but I'm no expert. I tried replacing the Denise chip. It worked normally one time, then went back to displaying the black lines and wouldn't boot. I'm afraid I just blew the replacement chip.
Title: Re: Amiga 500 repair question
Post by: F0LLETT on January 13, 2024, 08:44:42 AM
It's just a regular A500, Rev 5 motherboard. I don't see any blown caps, but I'm no expert. I tried replacing the Denise chip. It worked normally one time, then went back to displaying the black lines and wouldn't boot. I'm afraid I just blew the replacement chip.

I never see any A500 faulty, only even seen dodgy connections. Try reseating all chips.
I see really wierd stuff, if the CPU connections are poor.
Title: Re: Amiga 500 repair question
Post by: ebauman on January 13, 2024, 05:56:03 PM
Hey thanks, that worked! I re-seated the chips one by one and it turned out to be the PAULA chip. It now boots fine.
Title: Re: Amiga 500 repair question
Post by: ebauman on January 13, 2024, 06:02:56 PM
But... one more issue. Some of the keys don't work. It's not random, but in vertical columns. For example the number 1 doesn't work or any of the keys beneath it (Q, A Z). Nor does 2, W, S, X. Some columns work fine though, as does the numeric keypad. Does that make sense to anyone?
Title: Re: Amiga 500 repair question
Post by: Boing-ball on January 13, 2024, 07:51:42 PM
But... one more issue. Some of the keys don't work. It's not random, but in vertical columns. For example the number 1 doesn't work or any of the keys beneath it (Q, A Z). Nor does 2, W, S, X. Some columns work fine though, as does the numeric keypad. Does that make sense to anyone?

That sounds like the Keyboard membrane. Might need to buy a replacement.
Title: Re: Amiga 500 repair question
Post by: hd74ami on February 06, 2024, 08:59:54 PM
The keyboard membrane traces might be possible to repair with silver glue, but it's difficult. You can use a multimeter to measure the resistance between the membrane pads and the connector to the little circuit board on the keyboard frame.
Title: Re: Amiga 500 repair question
Post by: Boing-ball on February 06, 2024, 09:21:25 PM
The only other thing I can think of, is the Graphite of the key plunger maybe failing. You can clean these by rubbing a bit of plain paper. Either all, it will mean keyboard disassembly.
Title: Re: Amiga 500 repair question
Post by: F0LLETT on February 07, 2024, 09:00:51 AM
The keyboard membrane traces might be possible to repair with silver glue, but it's difficult. You can use a multimeter to measure the resistance between the membrane pads and the connector to the little circuit board on the keyboard frame.

The keyboard membrane traces might be possible to repair with silver glue, but it's difficult. You can use a multimeter to measure the resistance between the membrane pads and the connector to the little circuit board on the keyboard frame.

Your forgetting something. This is an A500. Completely different to A600 / A1200. Keyboard chip is on keyboard. So its more than likely an issue there, as apposed to membrane itself.