Dim Drive Light

[Super TWiT]

I tested again and this time there was a louder noise than before. I KNOW nothing shorted this tims because I had some help holding the connector this time. I noticed a volt reading didn't register but that might be because it was only on a fraction of a second. So, maybe its time for the local electronics repair guy to take a look at this. There is a shop down the street. Where you serious about not plugging it into the amiga or was that where the lmao comes into play, because that would validate basic psu function.

[Super TWiT]

Maybe its not my fault then. The first time, maybe it shorted but I didn't think so. The second time definitely not. There's an electronic repair shop down the street. Maybe I should have the look at it.

[Super TWiT]

There is an electronics shop down the street. They look like they repair pretty much anything. Should I take the psu down to him and have him look at it. I really feel like I shouldn't look inside a psu without knowing anything. I am a software guy!

[Super TWiT]

I will go down there soon, and report back my findings. And to think I almost didn't say anything about the light! I don't know how much they charge. I only paid 35 bucks for the 500 and the psu together so... Also, how hard is the at power supply hack?

[Super TWiT]

I wish I was competent enough to do this all myself. Sounds like I might be in for a pretty penny....

[Super TWiT]

Hey, I don't know if this means anything, but when I turn on the power supply with nothing connected, there is no noise.

[Super TWiT]

Good news! It turns out that I wasn't really testing it properly because I put the test probes against the pins not on the pins. Because of that I was getting the humming noise. I got good voltages (I will post) but I have one more to check: the negative 12 volt lead. Is it okay to use my meter's positive lead to check the negative 12 volt lead? It should be right? Because even though the positive lead is called positive, it actually excepts any voltage.

[Super TWiT]

Okay, how do these voltages sound:

Pin 1 (+5 volts): 5.16 volts
Pin 3 (+12 volts): 12.19 volts
Pin 5: (-12 volts): -11.97 volts

All of these voltages sound good except Pin 5 seems a bit low.

No humming either! Before I must have shorted the pins against the ground container shield. Hmm.. sounds like a great way to mess up my psu. I know a little more than before as I have been reading up.

[Super TWiT]

I did say it was humming, but that turned out to be because of the way I was testing it (laying probes against pins instead of on top of I think I made contact with the grounded shield.) I guess I'll just have to open up the amiga and snoop around in there. I'll do some continuity checks. That audible buzzer is a really nice thing to have. My multimeter doesn't do amperage so I can't check that.

[Super TWiT]

By the way, I can't fry a circuit or something with the continuity check can I? It uses a marginal amount of voltage but still, I want to be careful. Because well checking around some resistors, I heard the continuity buzzer (buzzes when there is continuity or a lack of resistance) go off and then slowly die out. I have some compressed air. I'll try that in the disk drive.

EDIT: Nope no dust in the floppy drive

[Super TWiT]

I can't test the cables too much, because I found out my test probes are too large to fit in the pin holes:angry: I guess I'll go down to radioshack and see if they can help me....

[Super TWiT]

Yeah, I know. I have the amiga unplugged. I just wondered if the voltage used for the continuity check could damage anything. You can't test anything resistance related with power going to the circuit.

[Super TWiT]

I can't seem to find any smaller test probes. The ends of them are just too big to fit in the pin slots. Do they sell smaller ones?

EDIT: Can I use electrical tape and tape like needles or something to the ends of the probes?

[Super TWiT]

Well, I tested my floppy power cable and no shorts as confirmed by a continuity test. After that, I thought maybe the cables were just loose before so I should try plugging everything back in before checking anything else. Now, the drive light is on the second I power on the machine, and it stays on. I get to a workbench disk request screen, but when I put the disk in the screen stays white, the drive led remains on, and the floppy drive does not spin up. I know the cables aren't backwards because they are keyed, and I took pictures before unplugging them so I could observe polarity. The pictures match too. Do I have a bum drive or cable?

[Super TWiT]

Great news everybody! The drive isn't dead, the data cable was just loose on the motherboard. And no more dim drive light! Thanks everybody for helping me out. I learned a lot.