Guidance on selling a A4000 and A3000

[SACC-guy]

I don't know WinUAE. And I have never tried setting up a drive in a pc.
I prefer to just use amiga.

But I have Amiga Forever, it uses WinUAE but with custom setting for various Amigas. Great package! Recommeded!

So many questions...Does the 4000 have a battery? It's just by the simm sockets on the motherboard, big cylinder thingy!

Can you attach a pic?

[MarkMaker2]

I don't know if it has a battery. If a stock 4000 has a battery then it does as I never removed it.

I'll take pictures tonight. Amigas at home.

[SACC-guy]

If you are the first owner and never removed it...GET IT OUT NOW.
If it didn't leak before, when you started powering it up again, it will leak!

[SnkBitten]

If I can use WinUAE to make a working IDE drive and then just drop it into the 4000 that would be perfect. I've never used WinUAE though so it would be a learning experience.

 
This is exactly what I had to do.  I had a blank IDE HD, no 15Khz monitor and a bad 3.1 Install floppy.  I purchased a cheap IDE/SATA to USB cable with power supply that allowed me to plug in the IDE drive to a USB port on my primary PC (no IDE, it's all SATA internally).   Configured a WinUAE setup to emulate a basic A4000 (but with JIT and Fastest possible checked) and added the HD "Add Hard Drive" and configured it as A4000 IDE unit 0.  Got 3.1 installed, IDEfix97 for my CDrom and then installed OS 3.9.

I keep that configuration around as I've done a few things that screwed up the boot and had to move the drive back from my A4000 to WinUAE to make corrections.  Relying on DblNTSC/PAL or Multiscan is a pain if the boot doesn't go smoothly as you see no error messages, requestors, etc...to know what's going on.

[spaceman88]

The battery should be a blue or red cylinder right on the edge of the board by the RAM connectors. If it's a A4000CR, it would have a "coin type" battery. Less chance of a leak from these.

[MarkMaker2]

Ok so I assume this is the battery?

https://i.imgur.com/A8q8qzd.jpg

it appears to be ok for now.

Some additional pictures

https://i.imgur.com/urfCUSR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Zi3ijSb.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/X473IT2.jpg

the 3000

https://i.imgur.com/tT2Td1L.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uBrbP5E.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/W6aQ9yq.jpg

I found a copy of Marauder II and Project D on floppy which I knew both of these would boot if the disk was good -- the Project D came back with a error but Marauder booted on the second try.

Here are some pictures of the screen shots.

https://i.imgur.com/MsLqIaa.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/E9jCkvU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cmpChkS.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NMxFDz1.jpg

I'm not sure if I can do anything from the command prompt that Marauder offers. Basically if there is any way to use this command to make physical disks out of ADFs.

So it seems that the 3000 is fine except for the drive. I can't figure out what is holding the hard drive in place. I can't pull it out as something is holding it but it also move with a lot of freedom so not screwed in. Seems to be held by some cable from under. I haven't pulled yet just because I don't want to damage anything.

The goal for today is to attempt SnkBitten drive creation. I have an old computer with two IDE drives. It had previously been used as one end of a site-to-site VPN but it got replaced with something faster and now is just acting as a Windows XP machine with a fax modem for people who still demand sending faxes. I know both drives work so goal will be to make one into an Amiga bootable HD for the 4000.

[MarkMaker2]

Found my original Workbench 2.1 disks. First try got a read error but on a second try success

https://i.imgur.com/HZG3JO5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YGcSlMl.jpg

That changes the goal for today to finding a SCSI drive. I think I might have one somewhere.

Does anyone know what is holding the drive in place? It seems to not be anchored to either wall but rather something flexible is holding it from the bottom front. There is no way to see under and I have never seen a drive held in place this way. Don't want to rip it out if there is a proper way to remove it.

[SACC-guy]

On 3000D hard drive.
It should be attached to a plate, which is supposed to be held in place by on screw on the inside corner.
Further then, the tray has flanges that slid in place and yes, there is the data and power cables which restrict movement.

The easy way to remove. Remove the screw. Slide the tray forward a little, pull the cables and let them just hang. Pull the tray forward the rest of the way and you should be holding a hard drive with tray attached. Turn it over, remove the four screws and reverse the process to install a new drive.

BTW, the 3000D also has a battery, under the zorro boards...pull it out!!

[SACC-guy]

On the 4000 battery, even though the picture is not the cleanest...

I can clearly see battery salt.... it has started leaking!!!

This is not the right way...but At the very least, just rock the battery back and forth.
the three solder points should break and the battery is out!

BTW, Blow out the cat hair!

[SACC-guy]

We see so many dead and un-repairable 3000 and 4000 motherboards due to those damm batteries!!!

[SACC-guy]

Found my original Workbench 2.1 disks. First try got a read error but on a second try success

https://i.imgur.com/HZG3JO5.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YGcSlMl.jpg

That changes the goal for today to finding a SCSI drive. I think I might have one somewhere.

Does anyone know what is holding the drive in place? It seems to not be anchored to either wall but rather something flexible is holding it from the bottom front. There is no way to see under and I have never seen a drive held in place this way. Don't want to rip it out if there is a proper way to remove it.

on the floppy errors..

It's very likely the fuzz and hair. Blow out the mess.

[MarkMaker2]

I had a can of compressed air that I forgot at the office. Will be blowing everything out tonight.

The 3000's HD is definitely not attached with any screws -- the entire drive is movable but not removable because something unseen is holding it from under closer to the front of the Amiga (so basically not the power or SCSI cable which are at the back and clearly visible). Removing the whole drive tray might work or at least give me a better view.



So I can just snap off the battery when I get home tonight?  It has no impact on the computer's functioning?

Does the 3000 have a better I should be looking for?

[SACC-guy]

Wait, the hard drive and floppy drives are mounted on their own mini trays that slide into slots/holes on the large tray covering the motherboard.

Yes, the battery is really only for the keeping the clock time.

Yes, the 3000 also has a battery, under the zorro cards, just pull the card out.
Makes it easier to clean.

[MarkMaker2]

Thank you. I'll check for the 3000 battery tonight.

I had just figured out the drive mounting on the 3000 before checking in. When I did I saw that the drive was not connected to the computer. Plugged it in and now it works.

There is nothing on the computer except for Workbench 2.1 and the PhonePak software. I'd like to test the Ethernet card. Can't see how I'd test PhonePak without a landline.

[SACC-guy]

The only way I can think of to see if the 2065 card is "good" is just hold down the two mouse buttons on power up and check on the cards, if it says working, it's okay (I think)

If you have a au to rj-45 converter... you can hook it up to a router (if you have one)

BTW, the card check will confirm the gvp PhonePak "working" card as well.

[SACC-guy]

double post---sorry