After last Saturday's TOGA meeting, during my talk with repair tech Duncan M., he asked about whether I had any more Amigas for him to repair. I guess he wants finish the last bunch after years of my bringing him Amigas. Well, I have an A500 which isn't outputting any sound, but he really wants to get to the big-box Amigas. That means one more A2000 and an A3000 (not a machine he likes to work on). Eventually, I will bring him the last ones.
Not counting the A2000 Video Toaster nor the A4000 Video Toaster waiting to be upgraded,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
Quote from: me on March 19, 2013, 08:01:16 PM...I have an A500 which isn't outputting any sound, but he really wants to get to the big-box Amigas. That means one more A2000 and an A3000 (not a machine he likes to work on).
The A500 and the A2000 went to Duncan a few months ago. He repaired both, the A500 being donated to him to give to a friend and the A2000 going for the upcoming CommVEx raffle. The A3000 went to him a few weeks ago when I gave to him at the Maker Faire weekend. He looked at it immediately, and though it booted up, there was battery corrosion damage which was the worst he had ever seen.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 27-28 Commodore Vegas Expo v9 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
Quote from: me on June 05, 2013, 05:52:40 AMThe A3000 went to him a few weeks ago when I gave to him at the Maker Faire weekend. He looked at it immediately, and though it booted up, there was battery corrosion damage which was the worst he had ever seen.
I visited him today, and surprisingly, the A3000 was all done! The corrosion was cleaned up, and although a corrosion "crater" had eaten into the motherboard, the machine still worked! Duncan worked his magic by installing OS 3.1, replacing the small, slow-to-boot hard drive with a 4 gig drive, and installing his usual "profile" of games and demos for this relatively standard machine (except for the SCSI driver which was different), a profile which he also uses on standard A2000's. Interestingly, he told me that there was a high-density floppy drive -- marked as "prototype -- in the computer, something which was uncommon in A3000's. To top it off, he gave me an external SCSI CD burner to go along with the machine.
Now I just need the CD burning software,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 27-28 Commodore Vegas Expo v9 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
Ack! I discovered that an A2000 which was repaired a few years ago had gone down. At boot-up, it would show alternating, different shades of gray on the screen, and after many minutes it would finally go to the insert Workbench disk screen. My diagnosis - the hard drive had gone bad.
Today I brought the A2000 to Duncan of TOGA. He immediately opened it up and looked it over. The 1 gig SCSI drive would have to replaced. OS 1.3 will be replaced by OS 3.1, and a 68010 will replace the 68000. The old printer interface card broke off in his hands, and that won't be replaced (it's not a priority). The computer already had 8 megs of RAM, so no problem there.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://home.comcast.net/~togausergroup/index.html
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
For the A2000, I'm also going to try to implement the 14 MHz. SCSI mod found here -
http://www.amibay.com/showthread.php?t=14706
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
Quote from: me on January 08, 2014, 09:38:38 PMI discovered that an A2000 which was repaired a few years ago had gone down.
Drats! At today's FCUG meeting another A2000 went down. It powered at first correctly, but upon subsequent resets and power cyclings, sometimes it would come up, more often it wouldn't. Just a blinking red hard drive activity light or a blinking green hard drive light. :( I blame the 2 gig SCSI hard drive. However, something else might be awry. If the A2000 did start up in subsequent tries, the color of the screen would be light green, except for the upper 5% of the screen. That upper part would show the correct color.
If Duncan is agreeable, this machine would go to him for repair.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://home.comcast.net/~togausergroup/index.html
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
Oh, no! At yesterday's FCUG meeting the A600 wouldn't boot up this time. There was no hard drive activity from its 2 gig mechanical IDE hard drive. :( Another one to repair... perhaps this time with something more solid-state.
Like a CF card,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
Quote from: me on January 08, 2014, 09:38:38 PMToday I brought the A2000 to Duncan of TOGA. He immediately opened it up and looked it over. The 1 gig SCSI drive would have to replaced. OS 1.3 will be replaced by OS 3.1, and a 68010 will replace the 68000.
For the A2000, I'm also going to try to implement the 14 MHz. SCSI mod...
I picked up the A2000 today. All repaired, except for the SCSI mod because Duncan didn't get the chip required for it. No worries... it was not really necessary.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://home.comcast.net/~togausergroup/index.html
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
Quote from: me on February 16, 2014, 11:01:06 PM...another A2000 went down. It powered at first correctly, but upon subsequent resets and power cyclings, sometimes it would come up, more often it wouldn't. Just a blinking red hard drive activity light or a blinking green hard drive light. :( I blame the 2 gig SCSI hard drive. However, something else might be awry. If the A2000 did start up in subsequent tries, the color of the screen would be light green, except for the upper 5% of the screen. That upper part would show the correct color.
At today's meeting with Duncan, I also brought him this malfunctioning A2000. After several power cycles and Control-Amiga-Amiga resets, he was not able to replicate the boot-up problem, i.e., it booted up every time. However, he was able to see that the screen colors were all wrong. After a short search on the Internet, he tried the first troubleshooting tip -- replace the Denise chip. Well, actually, this A2000 had a Super Denise. Not having a Super Denise handy, he put in a regular Denise. Upon power-up, the A2000 displayed its screen correctly! Problem solved!
Perhaps I'll buy another Super Denise, just because it doesn't seem right to have that regular Denise in there. :)
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://home.comcast.net/~togausergroup/index.html
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
Quote from: me on March 17, 2014, 06:54:59 PMAt yesterday's FCUG meeting the A600 wouldn't boot up this time. There was no hard drive activity from its 2 gig mechanical IDE hard drive.
Unfortunately, at today's meeting with Duncan, he could not easily solve the A600's problems. The A600 wouldn't boot, because the modded PC power supply that Duncan built had failed. When he built that p.s., he had even put a new power board inside the p.s's casing, but still it had failed. It would show power to the computer, but it wouldn't do anything else for the computer. With a known-working p.s., the A600 had no problem starting up.
Just like the A2000 which had the color problem, the A600 was displaying wrong screen color, too. However, if it's another Denise chip problem, it's not easily replaced due to chip being soldered to the board. Duncan had another theory; when he earlier replaced most of the capacitors on the board, there may have been a bad one (or several) in the bunch. He will have to check all the caps now.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://home.comcast.net/~togausergroup/index.html
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
Quote from: me on March 22, 2014, 07:57:53 PM...the A600 was displaying wrong screen color...
Duncan has gotten the A600 fixed. He's not sure what the problem was. He took it completely apart, put it back together, and the problem disappeared. His best guess was that it was a short of some kind.
Now all I have to do is pick up the computer. However, I won't have time to go to the East Bay and pick it up, because soon I will be leaving for my European adventures.
To visit Commodorians and Amigans over there,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 26-27 Commodore Vegas Expo v10 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
Quote from: me on May 24, 2014, 01:37:02 PMNow all I have to do is pick up the computer. However, I won't have time to go to the East Bay and pick it up, because soon I will be leaving for my European adventures.
Before I left California, I found another A2000 that needs refurbishing. When will they ever stop appearing?! ;)
Leaving England for Switzerland,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://videocam.net.au/fcug
July 26-27 Commodore Vegas Expo v10 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
Rats! At last month's SCCAN meeting, I brought my A4000 desktop, and SCCAN member Richard G. brought his PLCC puller. He and the other members dissassembled the A4000 and pulled the old Super Buster chip. I put in the latest Super Buster chip which I had bought from AmigaKit.com Then we tried to boot the machine. No hard drive activity! After doing a bit of Google searching, I found that another component on the computer's board may have to be replaced in order to get the Super Buster working with the machine.
When the machine is fully working with the new Super Buster, the goal is to install the ZorRAM 256 meg. board into the A4000.
It was simpler to put the ZorRAM into my A3000,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
Quote from: RobertB on May 24, 2014, 01:37:02 PMDuncan has gotten the A600 fixed. He's not sure what the problem was. He took it completely apart, put it back together, and the problem disappeared. His best guess was that it was a short of some kind.
Now all I have to do is pick up the computer.
At the December TOGA meeting, Duncan handed back the now-fixed A600, this time with a power supply modded from an Atari power supply. (All the labels were gone from the p.s., and when I got it back home, I put an Amiga Boing Ball sticker on it.)
Duncan also returned an A1200 I gave to him; instead of keeping the A1200, he preferred to work on an A4000 he had. Well, the A1200 has Duncan's upgrades - a PC power supply modded to be an external Amiga p.s., OS 3.9, and 128 meg RAM on the Blizzard '060 and another 128 meg RAM on the Blizzard's SCSI board. This A1200 now has more Fast RAM than any of my other A1200 desktops and tower (the tower having 128 on its Blizzard '060 and 64 meg on its SCSI board). I'll have to ask him who his RAM seller is so I can buy more RAM to max out the other A1200's.
Once again the A2000 from my other FCUG member has gone down. (How many times has that A2000 had problems?!) Its old SCSI drive died. At the TOGA meeting, I tried to give it to Duncan for repair, but he had no room in his workshop. I will try to give to him another time.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://home.comcast.net/~togausergroup/index.html
Quote from: me on December 30, 2014, 11:43:44 PMHow many times has that A2000 had problems?!) Its old SCSI drive died. At the TOGA meeting, I tried to give it to Duncan for repair, but he had no room in his workshop. I will try to give to him another time.
I was able to visit Duncan on Friday, and he took a look at the A2000. Memory test good, SCSI hard drive questionable. He is all out of old SCSI mechs, and his advice is to use the solid state solution at
http://www.artmix.com/CF_AztecMonster.html
or at
http://shop.codesrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=50
Both products have proven track records, and both seem to be the solution. However, the FCUG member does not want the added speed and reliability of SS drives! He wants the old "feel" of a mechanical SCSI mechanism. Ah, well, since he does not want to spend the $75 to $120 for one of these solutions, the A2000 will go back into storage.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://home.comcast.net/~togausergroup/index.html
Quote from: me on December 30, 2014, 11:43:44 PMI'll have to ask him who his RAM seller is so I can buy more RAM to max out the other A1200's.
He gave me the link to his seller. However, because of other January costs, I might have to delay the RAM purchases until February.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
The Other Group of Amigoids
http://home.comcast.net/~togausergroup/index.html
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network
http://www.sccaners.org
Quote from: me on December 30, 2014, 11:43:44 PMAt the December TOGA meeting, Duncan handed back the now-fixed A600...
The A600 is giving problems again. The video colors are all wrong with what looks to be interference across the screen. Duncan thinks that the internal video connections need resoldering. However, because he has 2 jobs now, he has no more time for any repairs. So, any more of his Amiga repairs have been postponed indefinitely.
Though Ray Carlsen is not an Amiga repairperson, when I see him in the summer, I'll try to convince him to repair an Amiga 1000 keyboard from a SCCAN member. From what I know, to repair the keyboard is a time-consuming, detailed process of desoldering and cleaning each keyswitch.
FCUG celebrating 33 years,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
July 18-19 Commodore Vegas Expo v11 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
Quote from: me on January 03, 2015, 10:19:29 PMI'll have to ask him who his RAM seller is so I can buy more RAM to max out the other A1200's.
I bought two sticks of RAM, but when I opened the package, I found out it had the thicker RAM chips and not the thinner ones. So, these RAM sticks would not fit the Blizzard '060's with the slot that lays flat next to the O60. Not all is lost... perhaps I can get them to fit in the slot for the Blizzard SCSI board.
Need to take apart the A1200's for that,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
July 18-19 Commodore Vegas Expo v11 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
Quote from: me on May 01, 2015, 01:32:16 AMThe A600 is giving problems again.
Because Duncan has no time for repairs and because I'm going to England on June 17, I was thinking that I should bring the A600 in my suitcase and then mail it to AmigaKit when I get over there. They could repair it for me, and when Matthew Leaman of AmigaKit comes for the Amiwest Show in October, he could return it to me.
FCUG celebrating 33 years,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
July 18-19 Commodore Vegas Expo v11 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
I arrived in England on Thursday, but at the AmigaKit website, it says that Chris the repairperson won't return until Monday. So, on Monday I will call AmigaKit.
Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
July 18-19 Commodore Vegas Expo v11 2015 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
I've been back from Europe since July 1. Just before I left, I posted the A600 to AmigaKit for repair. No word back from them since then, but I hope they are working on it.
Prepping for CommVEx,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
July 18-19 Commodore Vegas Expo v11 2015 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex
A few months ago at a SCCAN meeting, I brought in the A2000 Video Toaster system that was first worked on by Duncan M. perhaps some 10 years ago. Unfortunately, it would not boot up! Why does it always happen at a meeting? :) Well, we non-repairpersons tried to reseat the boards and tap the primary, 4 gig. hard drive back to life but no go. We thought the old SCSI hard drive had frozen.
Yesterday I brought the A2000 VT to Duncan, and he reacquainted himself with the system - VT board, TBC board, a Personal Animation Recorder board with secondary SCSI drive, a Commodore 2065 Ethernet board, a SCSI board with 8 megs of RAM, a PP&S '040 board with 32 megs of RAM, and a MegaChip giving 2 megs of Chip RAM. A nice system... when working. Without even connecting the A2000 to a monitor, he powered the system on and off while observing the drive activity lights in front of the Amiga box. After cycling the system several times, he figured out the non-boot problem! It was the PP&S '040 board! That is diagnosing! :) There seemed to be corrosion on the teeth of the board. However, we didn't have time to fix the board. The goal was to get the A2000 running again.
Fortunately, I brought along the Blizzard 2060 50 MHz. board that I bought at the Amiwest Show a few years ago. He plugged that into the system's CPU slot, and the Amiga booted up normally! Hurrah! He connected the system to a monitor, and we looked at the screen. With all the Fast RAM slots on the Blizzard filled up and fully-populated SCSI board, the Fast RAM total showed to be 134 megs! Sweet! Also the Chip RAM was up at 1.9 megs. The only thing that bothered Duncan was that it was still running OS 2.x. Also the primary hard drive was going through the SCSI board instead of the faster SCSI on-board the Blizzard.
He got down to work. He redid the SCSI cabling and connected the primary drive to the Blizzard. He put the PAR hard drive on its own board. He rewired the LED lights to the front panel of the box. He stuck in a 3.1 ROM, replacing the 2.0 ROM. He installed OS 3.1 on the primary drive. Taking time for lunch, dinner, and searching for parts at HSC Electronics, 10 hours later he was finished for the time being. Whew!
The system still isn't perfect. The newest CD-ROM driver needs to be installed for the CD drive he had put in the box 10 years ago. The old WHDLoad has to be replaced with the newest version. More games and productivity apps have to be added, especially the latest Video Toaster 4.3. The Blizzard needs some more tweaking with the latest '060 drivers. And as soon as the CD drive is functioning correctly again, perhaps OS 3.9 can be installed. We joked that he could be updating the system during the May Maker Faire (the A2000 is planned to be part of the Classic Computers exhibit at Maker Faire).
Why can't I play on the Amiga? Because it is being updated... ;)
Robert Bernardo
June 10-11 Pacific Commodore Expo NW -
http://www.portcommodore.com/pacommex
July 29-30 Commodore Vegas Expo v13 -
http://www.portcommodore.com/commvex