Faulty Apollo 1240 25MHz Accelerator card

[wullief]

Good evening everyone.

I few years back my accelerator card went faulty due to leaking battery. I sent it away to a gent in France to repair the card which was carried out. Since then due to family and work my Amiga has lain dormant. I went to fire it up the other night and got a grey screen on boot up. Removal of the card brought the amiga back to life meaning the card is faulty although the motor on the 68040 chip is running. Is there any places that would be able to fix it?

I have attached the repaired area but there is what looks like a cracked surface mount resistor/capacitor next to the mach131 chip.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[wullief]

And surface mount component

[Pat the Cat]

If that's one of their "successful" fixes, I dread to think what their failures look like.

Looks to me, they didn't even clean the whole board to begin with. Or afterwards either, to help future repairs. How can you solder to a dirty board, ever? They both look screwed to me. Fixable but fiddly work.

Be aware, there are some fixes required for A1200s for accelerator usage. Maybe "required" is wrong word, but they do help a lot with accelerators on that machine and are generally a BLOODY GOOD IDEA. Thank you again Mr Stedman.

http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/amiga_hacks/A1200_Mobo_fix/a1200_mobo_fix.html

I have so got to get into repair service for Amigas. Got nearly all the skills, and quite frankly, the competition ain't that great, at least this side of the pond. They don't use bots to position tools for sure. Neither do I yet, but I'm working on that.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

If that's one of their "successful" fixes, I dread to think what their failures look like.

+1

Dear god, man!  

Maybe toss it to Acill, in this forum?  Although he seems pretty busy lately, but I guess that's a good thing!

[wullief]

That's good to know it could be sorted. I'll contact Acill and see what the possibilities are. Where is he based?

With regards to timing issues that's the first I have heard of it. Is it desolder and remove components? If so, that is something I would get someone to do.

[Rob]

Is Stachu still about?  Pretty sure he's based in Europe and if he fixes the board he should be able to upgrade it to an 060 while he's at it, providing you can find a genuine 68060 for a decent price.

[darkage]

Previous work doesn`t look pretty.  

Would be best if you can find someone close to you in europe,  best person I would know of is stachu100 off Amibay.com.  If the Mach chip is still okay and multilayered pcb tracks okay Im pretty sure he can fix anything.

Amibay profile - http://www.amibay.com/member.php?1445-stachu100

If its just replacing the smd components at this stage and board cleanup / tidy up previous messy work why not try a local electronics repair shop ?    (no guarantees)

If you are really stuck I could helpout with simple replacing components and making it neater but I wouldnt be able to fix any advance issues like logic problems.  (no guarantees) but Im probably too far away in Australia where 2x postage insured would not be worth it.

[Pat the Cat]

If you are looking for a more local fixer than Acii (USA) then you might find somebody willing to help at one of these.

https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Scotland

Plenty people with skills and time on their hands sometimes, it's a question of getting access to tools to do the work. (Or having them.)

Even simple things like flux, flux cleaner, board cleaners. Makes a big difference to the quality of work. Right temperature, right solder (lead based/silver based, got to know both).

EDIT: Notice the EPROM chip with the sticker is kind of transparent? That might be root cause - your EPROM has got some erased bits in it from daylight maybe. If you look closely, you can see the round window underneath, the chip die, everything. Not a nice way to treat Mr EPROM chip. He is shy and likes to be covered up.

[darkage]

also if you have the Mach 131 chip onboard then its  possible to upgrade it to a 060.  

heres someone in the UK that had provided the service in the past (not sure if they do anymore)    http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?33966-Apollo-68040-to-68060-upgrade-service

So would recommend to get someone who has done the upgrade before to look and fix the board in 040 configuration.  Once confirmed working then you might have the additional choice of upgrading while your at it to a 060

[Pat the Cat]

The Fixes are ugly, but might be good enough to be operational anyway if just a partially blanked EPROM.

That might certainly cause a grey screen, if the EPROM code doesn't ever finish executing. New copy of Mach 1.31 or Magnum or whatever might just fire the thing up.

Full upgrade to an 060 might be tempting, they do run a lot cooler and faster. Maybe long term. Phone Amikit, they're in the UK, they might be able to sort you something suitable sir.

[paul1981]

That's good to know it could be sorted. I'll contact Acill and see what the possibilities are. Where is he based?

With regards to timing issues that's the first I have heard of it. Is it desolder and remove components? If so, that is something I would get someone to do.

Check your A1200 motherboard revision level before assuming it needs any modification. Also, you can just break those components off neatly with precision pliers - no desoldering needed. A couple of tiny components on the back of the motherboard is all it is.

[utri007]

Check your A1200 motherboard revision level before assuming it needs any modification. Also, you can just break those components off neatly with precision pliers - no desoldering needed. A couple of tiny components on the back of the motherboard is all it is.

True!

My Apollo worked with rev 1d4 board with 3.0 kickstart installed, but not with kickstart 3.1. It didn't work at all with rev 2b board. Both boards has now timing fixes installed and it works both, with kickstart 3.1

[wullief]

The last time I did anything with an EPROM was in college a long time ago. I much prefer working with HV.

I'll contact these guys to see what can be done. If I can get a hold of a 68060 I may go down that route too.

I am reluctant to do any of the motherboard mods as I am not competent for that type of work so that would be getting sent away if that is required. The motherboard is an early rev need to check which one as it has commodore written on it.

[RMK305]

I cant help fix your card unfortunately but was wondering Where in Glasgow are you? Im the south side.

[darkage]

I'll contact these guys to see what can be done. If I can get a hold of a 68060 I may go down that route too.

I am reluctant to do any of the motherboard mods as I am not competent for that type of work so that would be getting sent away if that is required. The motherboard is an early rev need to check which one as it has commodore written on it.

 

This guy on amibay just got a new shipment of 060's -  http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?83697-Motorola-68060-Rev-6-mask-71E41J

Best to confirm your card still works with a 040 first thou.

Anyone looking at your Apollo card should definitely be able to do the timing fixes to your motherboard.     Theres also the services section on amibay.com incase theres a local person that can do timing fixes   -   http://www.amibay.com/forumdisplay.php?147-Services