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Offline trilobitepicturesTopic starter

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« on: May 17, 2009, 04:37:20 PM »
I have an until-recently working A3000 that decided to die on me. Are there any places left that will repair these machines?
 

Offline Amiga4k

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #1 on: May 17, 2009, 05:34:01 PM »
It would help if you tell us where your located.
Won\'t hide my location.
"I know if you have been good or bad!"
 

Offline trilobitepicturesTopic starter

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2009, 06:07:25 PM »
Silly me. It would, wouldn't it?

Bristol, CT
 

Offline amigean

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2009, 06:27:40 PM »
you could have a go repairing it yourself, it could be a part that is easy to replace. What are the symptoms?
 

Offline trilobitepicturesTopic starter

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2009, 06:42:48 PM »
I'm not capable of fixing this myself.

The machine has not been turned on in maybe 15 years (give or take). Turned on just fine, ran like a charm. Looked through old college DPaint projects. Turned it off. Moved it to it's new home. Turned it on with a whiff of ozone and the hard drive light stays on and it no longer boots. I opened her up on looked about to the best of my abilities. A large blue cylinder on the mother board (capacitor? fuse?) had serious about of corrosion on it, perhaps it had even melted I can't be sure. I don't even know if that is the problem. Someone withthe proper know-how would need to get in there and check.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2009, 06:46:44 PM by trilobitepictures »
 

Offline jupo42

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #5 on: May 17, 2009, 07:04:01 PM »
Eww, sounds like the battery. With age, the style of batteries on Amigas leak and will dissolve through traces on the motherboard, potentially causing fatal damage.

Sometimes can be repaired by soldering replacement traces.
A3000 - 030/25, Toaster, ??? - rebuild in process
2x A2000 being cannibalized and rebuilt
A1000 - Rejuvinator, AGA2000, AdSPEED/IDE, 4GB CF HD, 1MB chip, 0.5MB fast, OS3.1
 

Offline Amiduffer

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #6 on: May 17, 2009, 08:55:22 PM »
Ewwww.

The dreaded battery-O-death. Post a picture if you can.
Amiga 3000D UP and running! Hear that clicking. 8)
Amiga 3000D & 4000D in storage sadly.
 

Offline trilobitepicturesTopic starter

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2009, 09:24:25 PM »
Quote from: Amiduffer;454733
Ewwww.

The dreaded battery-O-death. Post a picture if you can.



I'll try.

I assume then that this is a common problem? Is there any kind of solution, or has the 3000 gone completely Kobayashi Maru?
 

Offline Amiduffer

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2009, 09:53:11 PM »
Too common sadly. Just do a search of the other threads and you'll see other examples.

Remove the battery first. There should be icky white flakey material all over which is the battery acid, and greenish stuff coating the wires.

Folks use baking soda diluted in water with a toothbrush to give the damaged area a good scrub. Let it dry for a couple of days.
Amiga 3000D UP and running! Hear that clicking. 8)
Amiga 3000D & 4000D in storage sadly.
 

Offline jupo42

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #9 on: May 17, 2009, 10:38:41 PM »
Quote from: Amiduffer;454750
Too common sadly.


Isn't that the truth. I clipped all the batteries out of my Amigas, after witnessing the first one starting to go. I still haven't gotten around to doing the replacement coin-type battery thing, so none keep time anymore...
A3000 - 030/25, Toaster, ??? - rebuild in process
2x A2000 being cannibalized and rebuilt
A1000 - Rejuvinator, AGA2000, AdSPEED/IDE, 4GB CF HD, 1MB chip, 0.5MB fast, OS3.1
 

Offline amigean

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Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2009, 12:16:56 AM »
There's a good chance you might able to revive it yourself, even with limited/no technical knowledge. The battery in A3000s is known to leak but my (admittedly limited) experience tells me the damage caused is rarely extensive - i.e. not as bad as in A4000s - and usually not bad enough to prevent a machine from booting altogether. This probably comes down to a combination of less destructive acid on the battery itself (as opposed to the A4000) and the battery's less critical position in the motherboard. Like I said though, this only my experience (coupled with a good dose of speculation) and cannot guarantee that it holds more generally.

I think the advice given above -to remove the leaky battery with pliers *carefully* and gently wash off all the slime - is good would need to be done anyway.

For all you know the battery leak though may be unrelated. Here's a few other things you could try that require minimal intervention:

(1) Push down hard (but not 'too' hard) on all socketed chips. They have a tendency to become loose, especially if you've moved the computer about. Check that the daughtercard hasn't become unseated.

(2) remove/disconnect all peripherals - including zorro cards, accelerators etc. If that fails too, trying disconnecting the harddrive (cable and power leads).

(3) clean dust, spider cobwebs etc (not likely to be causing a problem but won't hurt) with a small brush and/or a can of compressed air.

(4) Confirm you have the amiga connected to an appropriate monitor (if using VGA, make sure the switch on the back in on the 30khz position)

If all the above fails and you have a second A3000 handy (or a friend with one) you could try swapping power supplies - another common source of failure.

I don't know of an amiga repair centre/guy in the US but in Europe there's a guy in Paris with legendary reputation. The A3000 weighs a ton though and posting it to Europe might be dear. If it turns out to be the motherboard and you're not too scared to disassemble it, shipping just that to him would be an option. I don't remember his name/alias but I'm sure someone here will fill me in.

good luck.
« Last Edit: May 18, 2009, 12:20:33 AM by amigean »
 

Offline Mark

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Re: Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #11 on: May 23, 2009, 01:37:32 AM »
Quote from: Amiduffer;454750
There should be icky white flakey material all over which is the battery acid, and greenish stuff coating the wires.


Well, no.  The leaking electrolyte is highly corrosive but it's not an acid.  It is a base.  A3000s came from the factory with nickel-cadmium batteries.  The commonly used electrolyte for NiCd batteries is potassium hydroxide.

Quote from: Amiduffer;454750
Folks use baking soda diluted in water with a toothbrush to give the damaged area a good scrub.


If you're using the baking soda to neutralize the "battery acid" then that is useless.  You would have to use a weak acid instead such as diluted vinegar.
 

Offline koaftder

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Re: Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #12 on: May 23, 2009, 01:55:10 AM »
All of my a3ks have had the battery spill problem. That sh*t is nasty and even after repair, problems will crop up later requiring more repair. Infact, if you have an a3k, you'll be repairing that sucker for the rest of your life. It's fun though, that's why we do it. An Amiga is something worth repairing.
 

Offline da9000

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Re: Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #13 on: May 23, 2009, 03:14:17 AM »
Quote from: amigean;454775
There's a good chance you might able to revive it yourself, even with limited/no technical knowledge. The battery in A3000s is known to leak but my (admittedly limited) experience tells me the damage caused is rarely extensive - i.e. not as bad as in A4000s - and usually not bad enough to prevent a machine from booting altogether. This probably comes down to a combination of less destructive acid on the battery itself (as opposed to the A4000) and the battery's less critical position in the motherboard. Like I said though, this only my experience (coupled with a good dose of speculation) and cannot guarantee that it holds more generally.


Sorry. Dead-wrong. The batteries are the same between the A3000 and A4000. The "acid" (it's actually a base, search for similar topics in the forum) is quite corrosive and it will usually do enough damage to kill the machine. It's DEADLY (to the 'migy). It's probably also poisonous, so wash well after you handle it.

@trilobyte:
What happened to your A3000 is exactly what happened to mine: after years of storage (although mine had the battery removed) it fired up and ran once, but then never booted again.

HOWEVER, since you said you moved it to another place, it might be a loose part problem. Try re-seating all cards, plugs and removable (socketed) chips. That's the first step before you start doing electronics diagnosing.
 

Offline AmiDude

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Re: Amiga 3000 repair?
« Reply #14 on: May 23, 2009, 09:23:44 AM »
Quote from: amigean;454775

(3) clean dust, spider cobwebs etc (not likely to be causing a problem but won't hurt) with a small brush and/or a can of compressed air.


"Not likely to be causing a problem..."!?
Wrong! Dust can be a serious Amiga-Killer! Dust can cause a short-circuit
between electrical components.
So keep your precious Amiga dustfree!