I want to resurrect my dead A1200

[soldeed]

Back in the 20th century, I was a passionate Amiga user. I loved my 1200! It was only the second computer I owned (after my old C64). I had a Dataflyer XDS external hard drive enclosure (with the ribbon cable) and a cat who loves to chew on things. One day, I switched on the power, and......   nothing. no lights, no sound, no sign of life at all. I then noticed the suspicious holes in the ribbon cable. 2+2=dead.  ANGER! GRIEF! DENIAL! And the worst part, no internet! This all happened during the great amiga ownership upheavals, and I had to decide what to do about a new computer, and no new Amigas were available.  As you could not PAY me to use a windoze Pee Cee, and the Amiga seemed to sadly not have much future left, I chose Mac.   I sadly packed my Amiga away (could not bear to throw it away) and picked up an el cheapo used 9500. Today I am the proud owner of a graphite special edition ibook, a 1.25 gig 17"G4 imac (so cool!) an airport extreme and an ipod.  I am as passionate in my Mac advocacy as I was about the Amiga. (I never miss a Steve Jobs keynote.) But...  I miss my Amiga! I have no illusions about the Amiga making any sort of comeback. The window of opportunity for that closed tight shut during the interminable Commodore bankruptcy fiasco. Nonetheless, I would like to have my Amiga again.  Today, I pulled it out of the closet and  took it apart. I closely examined the motherboard with a magnifying glass and could see no burn marks. It looks okay, but that may mean nothing. I also have lost all my software including my system disks. I think my ex landlord threw out the box. And what of my hard drive?  Well, first things first, and the first thing is finding someplace to send my motherboard for diagnosis. Is there still someone out there who does Amiga repairs? And if my motherboard is indeed toast, what are the prospects for aquiring a replacement, and for what cost?  What sort of accelerator cards are available today? Can the Amiga be rigged for wireless via my airport? I have been out of the loop for a while and have no idea the state of the community. And whats up with Amiga inc? Does'nt seem to be much going on at the website.  If anyone has the answers I need, Its you guys. I will venerate to the Gods the names of those who can help!

[Effy]

Let´s start with the beginning. whether your motherboard still works or not. Try to lay your hands on an A500 powersupply, try to get the real heavy ones as they allow you to expand your A1200 much more than the standard A1200 powersupply !!! If you don´t find any then try to convert a PC powersupply to use it on your A1200 using your own chewed-on powersupply plug. You can find documented details on Aminet about this.
As far as expansions for the A1200, let´s say that this is the least of your problems  :lol: Just visit Elbox to get an idea what may be possible for a start  :lol:

[soldeed]

I think you misunderstood. It was not the power supply cable that was chewed on, but the IDE ribbon cable that ran to my external hard drive. I frankly don't know what exactly is wrong with it, but now that you mention it I should have the power supply checked as well.  Off to bed with me now, its very late here in Chicago, back in the morning. zzzzzz...

[Daedalus]

Hmmm... Well, it's possible that the ribbon cable could have shorted out and taken the power supply with it, or one of the motherboard components, or one of the motherboard traces. That's in order of preference, the power supply is the easiest to sort out. If this is the case though, it doesn't take all that much current to do that type of damage, and so there may not be any signs of burning or anything. This would be most likely to happen if it's the power lines that were chewed on, they're the last 4 pins (41-44) on the ribbon cable - though if you've an external PSU for the drive it could be a different problem entirely...