argh. to repair or part out?

So I broke my 1200 tonight. My vision is not what it used to be, apparently, because I didn't notice that one of the pins on the IDE header was out of alignment and completely crushed it. Repairing the board is beyond me; I'm just giving it away... (needless to say I'm fairly bummed out over the whole thing)

the question is, do I part out the machine or replace the mainboard? I have an mbx 1200z with 4mb simm and 50MHz 68882, a brand new us layout keyboard from amigakit, and a dataflyer 1200 scsi+ that I am sure the ide pass-through on works, but as far as the scsi I was never able to get it to work with my cd-rom drive. there's also a conner cp2064 hard disk, the internal (commodore not escom) floppy and the case itself plus the power supply. i'm not really sure it's worth spending the ~$100 it will cost me to get a new motherboard - if I do that, I'll have spent roughly the cost of one of that flock of a4000 systems that were up on ebay last week. otoh, i doubt i would ever get enough for the parts to make it worth selling.

what do you guys think?

[TjLaZer]

IMHO I would just keep it and try and find a good used A1200 Mobo...  I have seen them for $60+.  Then get a A4000 for the time being...

[Damion]

Couple of ideas:

Scout ebay for a few months (or ask around here), and see about getting another motherboard.

Second option would be to have the IDE header replaced on your current board. Any competent solderer with the right tools should be able to repair it for a reasonable amount.

Definitely worth fixing, IMHO.

[amigadave]

I agree, FIX it and you will be happier.  It should not cost too much if you find the right person.

well, if i come across one used it would certainly make the decision easier. right now my best option for one would be vesalia.de for 60 euro but then i have to pay ridiculous shipping and hope customs doesn't mangle the thing. softhut wants $129 for one, which just seems way too steep.

this is the funny part: I should have just bought an a4000 in the first place, because I'm now trying to build not one but two amigas, the first an a3000d and the other an a4000t. neither of which I have any way to get a proper case for, and both of which i'm waiting on parts for that are in the mail. the whole idea is, i think, clear evidence that I have lost my mind, because I think I could have outright bought a new old stock a4000t for what I've spent to have 0 working systems...  :madashell:

the only person I knwo of around here who fixes amigas is _doomy_. i just moved to oregon last year, and I don't know a single soul who knows how to solder... i haven't done it myself since about 1995, and even then i was more fond of wire-wrapping. besides, i need to get rid of the board; i'm extremely upset over breaking it. not so much because it's broken, but because it's literally symptomatic of me slowly losing the ability to focus on anything smaller than several millimeters in size. I didn't even realize how bad it was until I looked at the pins on the header tonight (after the damage was done) and I could not for the life of me make my eyes tell one pin from the next.

[mfletcher]

You could try Amiga Center France; I know they do A4000 repairs - you could always email and ask if they do A1200's too.

[mbrantley]

AmigaKit has refurbished 1200 motherboards listed for about $66 and "new old stock" ones for about twice that. I got a refurbished one from them recently, and it looked absolutely perfect to me and functions that way, too.

If it was me, I'd either buy the refurb motherboard or find somebody to solder a new IDE header on.

[JKD]

Ask and ye shall receive.....have a pefectly good working A1200 that I'd happily part with for $60 + shipping.

It's missing screws and the floppy died a while ago..but as you want it for the motherboard..this shouldn't be a problem

I do not know anything about revisions though :-/

[mbrantley]

Hey, you can't beat that deal!

cool, man, very cool. I don't even know what revision I have here... i think only the rom version really matters (and that not much as I don't own 3.5 or 3.9). pm me and we'll work out the details..

[amigadave]

pkillo wrote:
well, if i come across one used it would certainly make the decision easier. right now my best option for one would be vesalia.de for 60 euro but then i have to pay ridiculous shipping and hope customs doesn't mangle the thing. softhut wants $129 for one, which just seems way too steep.

this is the funny part: I should have just bought an a4000 in the first place, because I'm now trying to build not one but two amigas, the first an a3000d and the other an a4000t. neither of which I have any way to get a proper case for, and both of which i'm waiting on parts for that are in the mail. the whole idea is, i think, clear evidence that I have lost my mind, because I think I could have outright bought a new old stock a4000t for what I've spent to have 0 working systems...  :madashell:

Ouch!  That is a nasty reality to be facing, but try not to look at it that way.  If I added up all the money on all of my massive Amiga collection that I started in 1989 with an A1000 system that I spent a total of probably almost $3,000 dollars on including original used cost, Spirit Insider memory board, DKB KwikStart ROM board 1.3 KS ROM, AdIDE plus ShuffleBoard to install an internal 105mb hdd and move DF0: to the first external floppy drive.  It was a small fortune just to have an auto-booting 1.3 A1000, but I loved that machine and what I learned from it.  Also had a great time playing all those early games.

I could probably count into several thousands of dollars more for the rest of my collection, but looking at the cost does not make sense, so if you want a "new old stock", or "refurbished" A4000T and have the money to buy it, get one and start enjoying it right now.  Then you can either give up on your other projects and sell the parts, or you can complete them at your leisure while you are enjoying the use of that A4000T.

But then, do you really want to take advice from a confessed Amiga adict? :lol:

Edit: You got many better offers while I was typing.  I can also relate to the vision problem.  I ran over my prescription reading glasses 6 months ago and have been shuffling back and forth between 5 different pairs of drug store reading glasses for computer work, reading and for the real close work, I have a couple of magnifying glasses around here.  It is just something we all have to face sooner or later.  Get used to it!  We are all getting older.

@amigadave: I suppose you're right. After all, this way I have a chance to end up with three good systems instead of one. I'd really like to buy one of those 4000t's but I'm starting grad school in the fall so I think I will probably miss the window of opportunity, although I might be able to get one when my financial aid comes through.

amigadave wrote:
But then, do you really want to take advice from a confessed Amiga adict? :lol:

Absolutely.

[tiffers]

How much does a new old stock a4000t cost these days?? And you say 'one of those...' are there more than one?

tiffers

[delshay]

**you don`t have to changed the whole IDE header if one, two or even three pins are broken**.

(1)you can desolder just the single broken pin by heating it up with a soldering iron,then push on the pin itself while the is still in contact with the soldering iron.

(2)you can also pull the broken pin out with a pair of pliers while the soldering iron is still heating the pin.

use the above 1 or 2 to desolder a new pin.

**anyone** with soldering skills can do this.

the size of the pin can be found many places & don`t rule out devices like old broken 2.5 inch hardisk,just make sure the pin is long enough. test before soldering in new pin.

if you use a old hardisk you will have to flatten the pin before soldering.

be sure it`s long enough before soldering.