My 500+ Project

[djos]

Yeah I saw that but frankly I've already spent triple what my 500+ cost me and the wife will get suspicious if the CC doesnt start going down RSN! :eek:

PS, I so want the ACA500* + ACA1220, what a sweet sweet combo!!!  :afro:

*Only thing I dont like is the 2mb Ram, really should be 8mb!

[scuzzb494]

Seems like you are enjoying yourself with the Plus. Here are some images from my collection showing the Checkmate, Cards, Sidecars and a problem battery I had with a machine I repaired. Happens a lot sadly, many forget the Plus had the battery.

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz86.htm

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz382.htm

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz48.htm

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz493.htm

Anyway, well done bringing the Miggy back to life. Always very rewarding.

[djos]

It not quite back from the dead yet but it will be shortly

Nice collection of miggy's tho!

[Pentad]

It not quite back from the dead yet but it will be shortly

Nice collection of miggy's tho!

Hey, I just wanted to tell you how impressed I have been reading through this thread.  I hope you get the 500+ working!  You have put in some really hard work and deserve a working machine!


Cheers!!
-P

[djos]

Hey, I just wanted to tell you how impressed I have been reading through this thread.  I hope you get the 500+ working!  You have put in some really hard work and deserve a working machine!


Cheers!!
-P

Cheers, been a fun project so far and gave me a chance to dust off my soldering skills and diagnostic after not having used them properly for a long time (my c64 restoration project was much simpler as it was 95% replacing socketed chips).

[djos]

Are you wanting to sell the faulty 500 plus board? You can take all the chips etc out, just needing the component above the denise chip. Will take a photo and up it a little later.

Although my soldering skills suck ;-)

Lurch, I've started salvaging the mobo for parts, which one exactly do you want?

[djos]

DOH, working from home today (little daughter is sick and wife has no carers leave left) and get an email from the work mail room that I have a delivery and now I have to wait till tomorrow to find out what it is - it's either my rev6a mobo has finally show up or my rom switcher has arrived!

Thankfully tomorrow is Friday so I dont have to wait the whole weekend to find out what it is!

[djos]

Wooo Hoo, It was my Rev6a Mobo that arrived, Tonight my Miggy will LIVE!!!!!


:biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh: :biglaugh:


So once I get it up and running im going to see if I can get and IDE CD or DVD-ROM drive to work at the same time as my CF-IDE module, If I can Im going to look for an old External drive enclosure to build an ATX PSU into it to power it and the Miggy instead of my little 25watt unit. :cool:

[djos]

Wooo Hooo, it's alive!!!!

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-20%2019.31.59.jpg

and now with extra Bits:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-20%2020.42.09.jpg

Only issues I have now is my Floppy Drive sounds like a tractor (clean and lube hopefully will fix), the 512k expansion board I have gives me the green screen of death (might try the chip-ram mod before I write it off completely) and the 3.1 Rom I got is DOA! :p

On the Plus Side, my Agnus 8372AB works perfectly and so do my Super Denise and 68010 chips mounted on Tomthul's 8mb ram + Mika's IDE68k v402 (need a 3.1 rom and some soldering to test 100% tho).

[AmmoJammo]

the 3.1 Rom I got is DOA! :p

try cleaning the pins, or plugging and unplugging it a few times.

Mine didn't work at first either, removed and replaced, and it worked, the next day it didn't work again... did the same thing, and its worked ever since.

[djos]

Ok, I might give them a light fine sanding. It's weird tho as my 1.3 and 2.04 Roms work perfectly.

Btw, is yours a ceramic EEPROM?

EDIT: nup, shined those pins up perfectly and tried several insertions and totally dead, I get no signal into my GBS at all.

[AmmoJammo]

how was it actually packed? from what you've said, I take it the foam was wrapped in foil first? but it had gotten mashed in transit?

mine was just stuck in a block of foam, but fortunately worked.

[djos]

To be honest im struggling to remember exactly how it was packed as i received so many chips and bits in the last few weeks - not a big deal tho as the seller has been awesome and is sending me a new one and im only paying the $5 postage. :cool:

[Lurch]

Lurch, I've started salvaging the mobo for parts, which one exactly do you want?

I'm all sorted djos, thanks though. My 500+ lives, managed to source a board which had little battery damage. Cleaned it up removed the battery and it's working (touch wood).

Going to attempt soldering a replacement battery on and then tackle the 402 mod :-)

Have been watching your thread though as I've been taking a similar path.

[djos]

I'm all sorted djos, thanks though. My 500+ lives, managed to source a board which had little battery damage. Cleaned it up removed the battery and it's working (touch wood).

Going to attempt soldering a replacement battery on and then tackle the 402 mod :-)

Have been watching your thread though as I've been taking a similar path.

No Worries, glad you found a 500+ board, I gave up looking and pimped out a Rev6a to the same Spec (minus on-board 1MB Chip Ram - did the mod to make my 512k trapdoor chip-ram).

Good Luck.

[djos]

Well folks I've had a bloody good day working on my Miggy Today, got most things working and learned a few things along the way.

First up I soldered on some wiring for the IDE68k v402 (salvaged from an old PC):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.12.10.jpg

Then I took my floppy drive apart and gave it a clean and lube and it's working perfectly now and no longer sounds like a tractor. I also did the chip-ram mod to make the trapdoor ram useful (see the extra graphics ram in WB):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.13.34.jpg

Then I fired up Tomthul's boot disk to see if my 8MB Fast Ram was there (happy days, it works):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.19.26.jpg

and then for today's biggest surprise, for the sheer hell of it I dropped my KS3.1 ROM back in the damn thing worked! :eek: Im blaming a static build-up, due to poor packaging from the seller, dissipating for its miraculous revival and Im not telling him to keep the replacement (serve him right for not packing it right + I had to pay $5 shipping):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/71121999/Amiga/2012-07-21%2018.24.37.jpg

I also managed to get WB 3.1 to recognise my 4GB CF card however it didnt play entirely nicely in HD Toolbox so im re-formatting it in UAE to see if that works better and then I'll do the HD Install on my 500+. I had attempted to boot off it (worked in UAE) earlier but it didnt work for whatever reason.

As for a couple of the lessons I learned Today:

1/ My Agnus 8372AB Chip doesnt like my 512k Trapdoor board and gives me alternating Yellow / Green screens (works fine with it removed) and the chip-ram mod didnt make any difference. 512k Trapdoor board works fine with my 8372A - I wonder if the 8372AB doesnt like the 80ns (slower than onboard 70ns ram) ram and wants uniform speeds. either that or it will only work with a 1mb (or 2mb?) trapdoor ram board.

2/ 24 year old Floppy Disk drives and their media are a little finicky - im just glad I backed up my workbench and fast-ram disks onto other floppies cause I've managed to invoke read errors already on one disk (re-copied it and it now works again).

3/ not having 2 floppy drives sucks balls for copying!!!


Project Stage 2 (after I get the software side of my 500+ up and running):

I dug up and old LG CD-Burner Today from the Shed and im hunting for an old really cheap largish External 5.25" scsi CD-ROM style enclosure with PSU (no drive) - PSU & electronics can be faulty or missing (cause they're coming out any way) so I can build in an ATX PSU and install my CF-IDE and CD-ROM into (PM me if you have something you want to sell).