Dreaded A500+ battery leak - what now with my hardware?

[portal]

So, it's confirmed.  My A500+ is dead, due to serious board damage following a battery leak.

There are too many tracks gone to attempt a jumpered repair.

So, what now.... I see A500+ Mobo's are pretty rare (everyone's gone in a similar way I guess).  Unless anyone knows of a cheap supply?  Almost seems cheaper to buy a "new" machine.

Not keen on downgrading to a base A500 (less RAM?), so should I look at an A600/A1200 from ebay or similar?

Do any parts of my old A500+ have any value?  Keyboard, PSU, A520, floppy drive etc.

[Ruud]

Sorry to hear about your loss  :cry:
But it does give you an excuse to buy the much better A1200.  You can even buy a new old stock one from Amigakit.com.  Plenty of used ones for sale on ebay and the like if you need to keep cost low.  Only consider an A600 if either you want something small or you find one much cheaper than an A1200.
The parts you mention all have some value, I'd be interested in the keyboard myself if it's not too yellowed.

[chiark]

Drop ebay member airey36 a message through ebay (he's currently selling 500 motherboards at £1.99 plus postage)

I bought a 500+ motherboard from him for a fiver plus postage.  Good condition...  He's not listing any 500+ items at the moment, but it's worth contacting him.

Good luck!

[SamuraiCrow]

Look into the MiniMig if all you want is to play games.  You'll still need an old Amiga to convert all of the disks to a format that the MiniMig can use.

Otherwise an A1200 is a worthwhile addition to your collection since you can typically run most of the old games using WHDLoad to install them to a hard drive.

[portal]

Guys

Not sure about a Minimig.  I like all the old Amiga demos, MOD composers etc.

I'd love a more powerful A1200, opening up lots more customisation project potential - but am concerned about compatibility with A500 basic stuff and games.  Is this a big deal?

Do you know of anyone who buys Hardware/Games to resell or similar?  I have a shed-load of boxed "big-box" games.

Could just fund a replacement mobo or whole machine....

Mark

[SamuraiCrow]

It sounds like you need to visit the WHDLoad website and see what their system has to offer.  It not only installs old floppy-based games to the hard drive, it also is able to patch many of them for AGA chipset compatibility.

You might check with AmigaKit to see if they have any A1200s in stock.  They're a good reseller.

[portal]

Well, after much brain scratching, checking of hardware forums/images etc, I've decided that repairing her is beyond me.

As you can see, outside she's beautiful.  Shown against a yellowed mouse to show the great condition.

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/5905/img3428pe6.jpg

2 pics of inside confirm the damage!

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/8220/img3425mz0.jpg
http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/433/img3427lt1.jpg

Is there any residual value here?  Can I sell her on to someone more capable?

[straycat]

Hi portal, Like chiark I had the same problem with an A500+ and bought a replacement motherboard from airey36 on fleabay. Didn't take too long to swap the boards over - it came complete with all the chips. Well worth it if you value your A500+ outers.

[gertsy]

It’s a sorry sight.  Bad luck on that one. The A500+ is a rare beast. :-o

It’s hard to tell from the 1 good pic the extent of the damage.  I guess there are tracks eroded away and looking at the pic there are 7 tracks in close proximity on the MB surface in the damaged area so it would be a doozie to repair. But not impossibly with a good rig and an experienced tech. (If the surface tracks are the only damage!!)
I think the A500 is only a surface and solder side MB. I’m sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

You might be able to sell it off to someone willing to attempt a repair or as a parts spare for someone with an A500+.  Because of the rarity it might get a good price even with the battery damage.

If you want to sell the working bits you might get something for them too.
You might expect to get $5-$15US for some of the key components.
Working Keyboard (If not yellowed)$10
8375 Agnus $10
680000 CPU $5
PWR Supply $10
CIAs, Paula, Denise, and Gary $15
Working A500 Floppy $10
These are just conservative guesses from what I have seen on ebay.
Who knows what the case is worth for someone with an A500+ scratched or broken case they might be willing to pay a bit.  I guess it’s probably best to try and sell it as a spare damaged unit.

Gertsy.