Desktop 1200 PPC Upgrades, a picture story.

Yep and for more than 4 minutes. ;) No sound at the moment though. I'm trying to track down the 1d4 schematics so I can check the traces and connections.
I'm going to be replacing all the capacitors anyway shortly, I think there has been some leakage around various ones.

I've been doing some checks about the audio failure, and the voltages are good around the c303 and c304 capacitors.
However, apparently the r302 resistor feeds the audio amplifier and I'm only getting 2.4v instead of 12v.
It could be a red herring, obviously, which is why I'm after the schematics so I can check the traces.

---------- Post added 15th November 2011 at 00:31 ---------- Previous post was 14th November 2011 at 23:15 ----------

.....LOL! Love it!

Am I the only one thinking of Red Dwarf at this point?
(Can't remember which episode - maybe Tikka to Ride? Lister opens Kryten's head and uses a prop very much like this!)

You discovered my inspiration! :)
Mentioning Red Dwarf, they are filming a new 6 part series, and have only recently sorted out an audience. We've missed the chance now, but it would have been great to go along and see it live. Although I'm not that huge a fan of the show after the 6th series.
Anyway, I digress....
 
Its good you are changing the caps regardless Phil, even if it doesn't cure the problem it will help generally with stability in the long run. Marios had problems with caps after he'd modded up then had to dismantle it all :( You might get away with not doing the timing fix (removing E123C and E125C) As some folks have had their Blizzards working ok, Its more for Apollos I think. I've heared of some where they do the fix and the system goes loopy, so id say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. If your system is running fine without the fix then leave it.

As for 1D4 Schematics, I couldn't find one myself, does one exist? I used 1D schematics to get pinouts of chips, but i've not had to do a repair as of yet so not 100% sure its exact. The one I used is here on Steadys page: -

http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/schematics/schematics.html
 
Thanks for the schematic buddy, that was quite useful.
the timing fix had absolutely no affect on the performance at all, and the system is fine with those bits removed.
I finished off the cap replacement earlier today and have spent most of the evening testing her out.
The caps were all in a very bad way, so it was a good thing I actually got motivated to do this. One even blew whilst I was heating it, luckily it didn't damage anything or take a track out!
It was cap c459, you can see the black residue on the board from when it tried to take my eye out!

capreplacement1.jpg


That all cleaned up nicely and there was no damage at all in that area. My main focus though, was trying to diagnose what had happened to my audio. I had already replaced the 2 caps by the audio sockets themselves with non-polarised alternatives, and all the resistors and smd caps adjacent checked out when I tested them.
I had to have a look at the audio filter circuit. This is the collection of components just to the south of the keyboard socket and to the right of Paula. I could see some discolouration of the feet of the caps themselves, and they gave off a strong odour as they came off. Totally knackered.
Checking out the continuities, I noticed that the pad for c303 would not buzz out with the small ring to it's north as it was coated in some residue. A bit of gentle cleaning, and I could get a nice contact.

capreplacement2.jpg


capreplacement3.jpg


You can see the discoloured track point quite clearly on the underside of the board here.
I followed the track all around until it came over the top again, and saw where it connected to resistor R34 (bottom left of the first photo above)
Various continuity tests proved that cap c303 and resistor r34 should be connected, but weren't. That small amount of contamination, once cleaned off completely proved to be the point of failure for my audio!

I finished off replacing the rest of the caps and gave her a good clean.

capreplacement4.jpg


The sharp eyed amongst you may have noticed that I lay down a couple of caps on the right hand side adjacent to the floppy power connection. This is purely because the bvision would not fit otherwise.

capreplacement5.jpg


capreplacement7.jpg


Time then to test her out and re-assemble her. I'm glad to say that she performed very well. Sound is back and nice and crisp again and Quake II ran smoothly with no problems for a good 15 minutes before I was happy she was working fine. :D

capreplacement6.jpg


Naturally, it can't all be just Win. I fired up a game of Deluxe Galaga to check the Indivision, and was gratified to see that the gods of hackery had rewarded their faithful peon with a lovely blue tinge to the VGA output. :Doh:
At least she's keeping me busy. :censored:
 
Great stuff Phil!! :D Well done !

Check the wires connected to the Indivision. It looks like you soldered them to the board like mine. I had this problem once and found one of the solder tracks had broken a little, from what I remember the pads on the Indivision are terribly fragile and one of them was hanging on by the thread of the thin track. I glued the pad down, scratched away a bit of the thin track it was joined to and carefully soldered the ribbon wire that had sat on it across both the track and the pad to join them up.

But it can tend to be one thing after another some days! Keep up the good work though mate! (y)
 
Just discovered your thread... It's a great adventure you've been through ! (y)

I love the transparent exhibition of the Amiga guts (and would have recommended nice LED light to enhance, lol), but to me the perfect MOD is the one that sits in the original desktop with a little inpact to the original design as possible.

I love it and will continue to follow-up your thread, looking for my own inspiration.

:bowdown:
 
Hey,

installed a BVision, Blizzard PPC 603e/68060, 192 MB RAM and a 20 GB SSD into my Amiga 1200. The BVision got an extra fan installed.

I got the problem that the Amiga 1200 cant boot completely cause of power shortage. Neither the original A1200 power supply, nor the A1200 power supply, nor the bequiet SFXPower 300 ATX 300 Watt power supply (soldering the according pins to the Amiga 1200 power cable), nor the Yuan-Kee YK-063 ATX 150 Watt power supply (soldering the according pins to the Amiga 1200 power cable) cant boot the Amiga 1200 completely.

But ....

a stone old IBM API 3186S 100W AT Power Supply (soldering the according pins to the Amiga 1200 power cable) boots the Amiga 1200 perfectly and it runs using the BVision for hours w/o any hang or crash at all. But I like to put the power supply into the A1200 power supply housing, so that it looks like the original A1200 power supply.

I read here that anyone uses the PicoPSU internally and its getting its 12 V external from some PC Notebook power supply.

So my 3 questions are:

- Which PicoPSU exactly are you using (there are a lot of different models out there) ?
- Which external 12 V power supply are you using for the PicoPSU?
- And finally: Is there anything i still could check with my existing power supplies (the bequiet SFX 300 and the YK-063)? I also tried to build up some power usage at the 12V rail by connecting some 20 W bulb to it, cause It thought that the Amiga draws to less power from thos "intelligent" ATX power supplies. But the Amiga 1200 still havent booted.

BTW When I power the Amiga using this 2 ATX power supplies I first got a grey screen, then the screen goes black. And all the time the Amiga 1200 Power LED lights green, but I cant turn on the Caps Lock LED at all (which is absolutely possible using the AT power supply from the first second on).

Thanks a lot in advance for any useful hints or information.
 
ATX PSU's are stabilizing 3,3V line where old AT stabilizing 5V line.
That is why you are successful with AT PSU.
But pico PSU are also ok if used inside A1200 case.
 
Hey stachu, so could this mean that i built up some power usage at 3.3 volt and the power supply would work fine?

And I thought about adding the PicoPSU inside the Amiga power supply case. But you mentioned I should place the PicoPSU inside the Amiga casing. Is there any advantage of placing it near the power consuming parts?

Thx for your help.
 
The pico-PSU comes in at least three "flavours": 60, 90 & 120W.

All rails are regulated but the 12V, which is passed through and must be provided with from the external power source (with loads of Àmperes, where "loads" means more than 15).

Remember the external 12V source must provide it regulated and stabilized, too.
 
Hey stachu, so could this mean that i built up some power usage at 3.3 volt and the power supply would work fine?
Good idea. Adding an external load of 0,5 - 1 Ohm and connect all 3,3V lines together (one of them is 3,3V sensing line) should be fine.

Is there any advantage of placing it near the power consuming parts?
Yes: shorter cables and lack of power plug in between (lower resistance).
 
Good idea. Adding an external load of 0,5 - 1 Ohm and connect all 3,3V lines together (one of them is 3,3V sensing line) should be fine.?

K, thx. Will try that next week.

Yes: shorter cables and lack of power plug in between (lower resistance).

K, but the power cable isnt that large and the plug itself shouldnt be much of a resistor. I like to try it outside the A1200 first cause of the thermal problems which would be connected with the CorePSU (there is already the BVision and the BPPC board as some huge thermal source inside my Amiga :) ). If it wont work stable, then I install it internal.

---------- Post added at 09:54 ---------- Previous post was at 09:51 ----------

The pico-PSU comes in at least three "flavours": 60, 90 & 120W.

All rails are regulated but the 12V, which is passed through and must be provided with from the external power source (with loads of Àmperes, where "loads" means more than 15).

Remember the external 12V source must provide it regulated and stabilized, too.

Hey rkauer,

there are some PicoPSU with 125 W and 150 W. But I should use the one with 120 W i presume?

And thx for the help with the external PSU. I will get one with 12 V and at least 15 Ampere (if I cant solve the problem with the existing PSUs)
 
but the power cable isnt that large and the plug itself shouldnt be much of a resistor.
U=I*R
Assuming that A1200+BPPC+BVPPC+some other stuff inside consumes about 7A peak and resistance of cable+plug+cooper tracks from power plug to BPPC is just 0,1Ohm the result is stunning...
 
I need to revive my own system!

I need to revive my own system!

that is what I need to do to my very basic A1200D!

 
What an incredible thread, kudos to the OP and his mates helping along the way. I know this is an "old" thread, but its new to me :) Love all the photos!

My journey so far with my 2 A1200's have had similarities...recapping (the smell from leaked caps - ewwww), playing with the Blizzard PPC card.....that frustrating BVision card, and its burning hot chips (some people report no heat on them....not mine! simple heatsink isnt enough to keep the heat to a reasonable level). The new Indivision MkII CR just squeezes in with the BVPPC without modification, and the new EZKey also works with the Indi CR without modification.

My case modification has been limited to squeezing 1 A1200 into a desktop Digital PC case (we all should remember that brand!)...and the other A1200 original desktop bodging the hole for the CF card above the PCMCIA slot. Im waiting on OS4.x to give that a run soon :)

Some great ideas for locating various connectors inside the original case, some good cooling ideas, some impressive new and old casework too!

I know its been a long while since it started, has the OP persisted with the project or moved on?
 
Hi mate!

very nice Work! I want do build something like this. But the very important question is: which pico-psu did you used, and how you connected it. Have you some hints for me please ? :)
 
Man thats lovely.
I never knew that the ppc accel cards were a thing.
now I want one!
 
Man thats lovely.
I never knew that the ppc accel cards were a thing.
now I want one!

Yes and there is a new type of PPC available for the Amiga 3000/4000 with Mediator/Prometheus PCI Busboards which use a PCIPPC Card allowing for faster PowerPC processors to be used, sadly not yet and may not be achievable on the Amiga 1200 so the BPPC is still only the way to get PPC power on a A1200.

@stachu100 Sometimes sell them on here, he also repairs/upgrades both the BPPC & CSPPC too
 
So, yeah, what is the final PSU solution then, sorry - I have lost the track :(
Was that mini ATX or Pico-atx?
Could someone pls specify exact model please
 
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