My new-old AMIGA 3000UX

hi everyone!

after many months of searching for a "local" A3000 i finally purchased one from the "otherBay" :)

right now she's not much to look at but i promised myself to bring her back to as best as possible condition.

to be honest i dont know much about the A3000's i always owned the A500, the A2000 (i wish i never sold it!) and the A1200...but i always had a soft spot for the 3000! :)

so, the plan:

1. resolve some mechanical issues
(its not loading up from the original HDD or the FDD)
a. replace or repair the main FDD (incliding the eject button)
b. source and install secondary FDD
c. replace or repair the original HDD
d. repair or replace the faulty keyboard (some buttons not responding)
e. improve the noise level from the original PSU
f. improve internal cooling for future installation of accelerator cards and other enchancements

2. restore the look of the internals and externals
a. clean and reseat the motherboard and other components (reseat any chips that are not soldered on)
b. "retrobright" the keyboard and the front facia of the case
c. preserve the rear "description and manufacturers" stickers

3. acquire addidional hardware
a. original "pregnant" mouse
b. accelerator card
c. extra RAM
d. LCD monitor compatible with the AMIGA
e. modem compatible with the AMIGA in order to access cable internet

4. anything else i forgot?? ;)

all the best ladies and gents,
Marcin

(pictures to follow...)

congrats on your new baby:D

thanks mate ;)

Hi, Congratulations. :)

Just to help... Maybe you're interested in...

http://amibay.com/showthread.php?t=8737&page=4

http://amibay.com/showthread.php?t=8588 I don't remember if CSMK-II works on A3000, maybe exists a special edition?

http://amibay.com/showthread.php?t=9444&page=2

Look more, sure you find good HW for your new baby.... :thumbsup:

here are some photos i took this afternoon

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0006.jpg http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0007.jpg http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0008.jpg http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0010.jpg http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0011.jpg http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0014.jpg http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0015.jpg http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0017.jpg http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0019.jpg
the battery damage :(

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0035.jpg

loading with a different HDD (i purchased it from Poland few months ago, it states its a 60MB with WB2.1)

http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0040.jpg

the different HDD only loads up to this point\display, the mouse cursor is visible and movable but nothing else :(

---------- Post added at 20:56 ---------- Previous post was at 20:41 ----------

also here is a short description from the previous owner (seller)

"...Ok, this has had battery leakage onto the motherboard - as soon as I noticed I removed the battery and fully cleaned the motherboard. From what I can tell through my tests it hasn't affected the computer from working properly, although the acid marks are visible. Sound, graphics and so on, all appear to work fine.

A couple of things worth noting though. The floppy disk drive detects disks fine, but doesn't seem to want to read them. I got around this to be able to test further by temporarily connecting another floppy drive to boot to workbench and ran some tests. I reconnected the original floppy and the problem re-appeared. So, the floppy drive needs attention/cleaning.

Also, the system doesn't boot from the hard drive as is. This is due to some kind of termination setting I suspect. I say this because when I tested this roughly 3 months ago, I was able to get the system to boot from the hard drive fine by connecting an external SCSI CD drive to the A3000's SCSI port. As soon as I disconnected the CD drive, the system didn't boot from the hard drive. So, some kind of termination setting needs to be played with.

Also, some of the keys on the keyboard do not work. But, when I connected one of my spare keyboards, all the keys responded fine. So, the keyboard needs work/repair.
The specs are 68030, 2mb CHIP, 8mb FAST, Kickstart 3.1. Not sure of the included hard drive size. There is lots of software installed on the hard drive..."



---------- Post added at 21:17 ---------- Previous post was at 20:56 ----------

Quote:

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Originally Posted by merlinkv

Hi, Congratulations. :)

Just to help... Maybe you're interested in...

http://amibay.com/showthread.php?t=8737&page=4

Look more, sure you find good HW for your new baby.... :thumbsup:

---

thanks mate, i will definiately look into getting couple of these FDD's :)

Dear PO15KA,

thats a mighty fine machine ;)
Sounds like you removed battery just in time.
Wiki tells me the UX version only boots Amigakickstart IF YOU PRESS RIGHT MOUSE AT STARTUP, otherwise it tries to load unix (if installed).
If you need a scsi 50 pin HD (2.1gb) tested and installed with wb3.1 send me pm.
This desktop should give you lotsa fun, maybe even more than your old 2000 ;)

Grtz, Pymerone.

You're damn lucky! 3000 batteries seem particularly nasty :(

Lovely machine, I really like 3000s for no adequately explainable reason: it feels like the only truly professional Amiga, plus it is built to withstand pain.

If you don't get it going and want a 2000 back, I'll swap :D ;)

thanks everyone :D

so i tested the Amiga with few HDD and FDD combinations = no luck :(

1. original HDD and FDD connected - i can hear the FDD clicking and the HDD's heads moving (reading) but no luck, after few seconds the monitor shows the 3.1 boot screen
http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...oot_screen.png
2. the FDD disconnected - as above, HDD reads but does not load WB or UNIX
3. the HDD disconnected, FDD connected and working copy of a game inserted - as above, FDD light on but cant hear the FDD head move\read
4. HDD and FDD connected, right mouse button pressed - HDD can be heard reading but again loads the 3.1 boot screen :(
5. connected the "other" HDD with WB 2.1 installed - HDD reads and loads to this screen
http://i1238.photobucket.com/albums/...h_IMG_0040.jpg
i can see the mouse cursor and i can move it around the screen but nothing else :(

its almost midnight here in Sydney, i will try new approach tomorrow morning with a few parts from my Amiga 500, a mouse and an FDD

if this fails i will start the "restoration" process by dismantling the A3000, inspecting the mobo for any further damage or missing components, reseating chips and cleaning.

will keep you updated...

have a good day,
Marcin

Grab the HD and look into the termination jumper (if the HD is a SCSI-2 unit) or if it is the old-school SCSI if the termination packs are there. Check if the termination packs are in the A3000 motherboard, too.

I never see an UX Amiga in the flesh, so It's better follow PymerOne advice on the right button mouse trick.

But if the machine is only a re-badged A3000D with no other modification, I strongly advice you to grab some external SCSI device or even an ordinary external terminator (a passive one) and hook it to the external port.

Using any Amiga floppy you have at hand will let you to boot from A3000's install disk and set the SCSI settings on the NVRAM to allow direct boot from HD and not from an external device as the A3000UX may want to.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chiark

You're damn lucky! 3000 batteries seem particularly nasty :(

Lovely machine, I really like 3000s for no adequately explainable reason: it feels like the only truly professional Amiga, plus it is built to withstand pain.

If you don't get it going and want a 2000 back, I'll swap :D ;)

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I'm with Chiark on this. I do love the A3000. It's such a beautiful little machine. I picked one up myself recently, it had been through the wars. There's a thread on it here: /showthread.php?t=7572

Usual trick if it's playing up is to lift out the custom chips and give 'em a good cleaning with some lemon juice, to remove any residual battery crap. You might want to consider replacing the sockets, too. It did my A3000 the world of good!

Best of luck with the old girl, I'm sure you'll have plenty of fun bringing her back to her original glory! :-)