Can someone please help me

[music_liker]

I just purchased an Amiga 500 plus for cheap with heaps of extras and the 1084 s monitor.
I  am keen to get some music tracking going but I'm having major issues setting the  computer up with the monitor, I connect the monitor but no signal. The  screeen is whitey/grey when turned on and remains that way when the A500  is turned on. The end of the cable which connects to the monitor is  missing pins so this could be the issue but I have tried connecting the  monitor via the monochrome output and still  no joy. There is a chance i  connected the mono output wrong? what should the configuration be to  set this up properly? I have also tried using an rca to connect the monochrome output to the standard video input on the AV in of a TV, the TV recognised something was happening but nothing displayed.
 I really hope the problem is more monitor than it  is console.
Any help would be appreciated  big time.
I should also mention that when i turn the power on the power LED lights  up but the disk light is not on or flashing? not sure if this is  normal?

[music_liker]

Thanks heaps for the quick response, when i turn it on, the disk drive (or maybe harddrive) clicks once and the caps lock key flashes but no more clicking after that? oh maaaan, so I probably have a dud?

[music_liker]

thanks b41d3r, I tried holding the 2 mouse buttons on startup but no  love. I noticed your problem was with an A1200 Is there perhaps a  different method to access the A500 setup menu? I've also noticed that  the monitor flashes when the commodore is turned on so they are talking  to each other in some way.

gertsy, the caps lock key flashes once, I assume this is a good thing, signs of life even?

@bloodline, yea woops harddrive was a bit of a rookie call by me. Yeah I've tried putting a disk in, but again, no love.

[music_liker]

Hmmm, I didn't notice any fuzz when pressing keys or clicking the mouse, I just tried booting with another random disk and I could hear the disk drive reading it? it almost sounded like the drive did something else when i clicked the mouse but maybe I'm being too optimistic.

[music_liker]

I tried connecting the A500 to a TV via the mono output and the video in (RCA) but nothing, although, I know my TV recognised some type of signal because the green AV logo on the TV screen faded when I turned the A500 on, and returned when the A500 was switched off. It does this with DVD players etc, the only difference is I can SEE the signal from DVD players. I just wanna see this bad-boy work .

[music_liker]

I tried the mouse trick with a connection to the TV, i used two different mice which came in the bundle but no result.

[music_liker]

Just to make sure; I'm supposed to hold the two buttons down before I switch the power on then switch the power on while I'm still holding them down? is this right?

[music_liker]

Sorry, what do you mean by 'shorting out'. If by that you mean are any pins touching,then no, but there are a lot of missing pins. Just tried connecting to the TV with the monitor cable unplugged but same result. I'm not atually sure about the PAL or NTSC thing, how do I determine whether the A500 is PAL or NTSC? Thanks so much for your help, its like 2.30 in the morning where I am and all I wanna do is make music on my new toy.

[music_liker]

I think even if the Computer is the wrong signal type (NTSC or PAL), it should still give some kind of image on a TV...

The single RCA video output is a Composite output, make sure the TV can take that type of signal.

Okay thanks, I'll do some research on my T.V. it's not particularly common but i guess you can find out about anything on the interwebs.

[music_liker]

Okay, shorting out basically means pins touching, and sometimes wires can fray internally and touch. This can prevent an Amiga from booting, or cause other issues like disabling the video output. But if you've tried it without that then that's not the issue. Yeah, maybe you should get an image if it's the wrong type, but some LCDs will just refuse to sync and therefore show nothing. I don't know an easy way of telling whether an Amiga is NTSC or PAL without looking at its output... I'm not sure where you are in the world, but I'm gonna guess Australia / New Zealand? It should be a PAL one to work with your TV system.

Was this machine sold to you as working? When was it last used? Does the A500+ have an on-board battery which might be leaking, or was it just the A500?

Yup, I'm in New Zealand so hopefully my Amiga output is PAL? I admit that I bought the Amiga as is. I think it was their old family computer and he had no idea how to set it up or test it. It is an A500+, so maybe it has a leaking battery? I certainly hope not, how do I find out?
Perhaps my eagerness to get involved with Amiga's has caused me to spend 70 bucks on a dud but I really really don't wanna give up on this.

[music_liker]

I think my TV does support composite input, it's the standard yellow connection for video and red/white connection for audio setup. I believe that's usually for receiving composite signal from the likes of DVD players etc?

[music_liker]

No I haven't tried that but I definitely will, I'm all for straw clutching. I was just reading about the a500+ battery and now I'm really nervous about it having eaten away at the mobo.

[music_liker]

Dang! I fell asleep, How do I go about popping the hood on this thing and what sorta things am I looking out for? I can't believe I crashed out, it was about four in the morning though ha.

[music_liker]

So I opened the computer up today and looked round, all the chips/ram seem to be in place. I removed the battery as it had started to leak, there was a bit of blue crust around where the battery was. I have taken a few (not very good) photos of the slight corrosion crust on the mobo which I will upload soon. Other than that I don't know what to look for