Just got an A4000 desktop/aftermarket tower from a family member.

[Comfysofa]

As above - its been sat in a loft for 25+ years. Highly specced for the time. 68060/PPC accelerator in there as well, Picasso card, Ariadne network card, maxxed out on memory, a sprinkling of scsi drives and a could of ide's. Sounds great doesnt it....but, its very dusty, there is some battery leakage, and surface corrosion so whether it powers up after a good clean is another thing!

Ive always kept an eye on the amiga scene in the background so while i know in a roundabout kinda way whats out there im still way behind so currently assembling a shopping list of stuff to get it working and bring it in to present day...i did just throw up some pics on the amiga sub reddit if you want to see it.....

Its currently in a rickey old faded full tower case. My plan is to get in one of the aftermarket desktop cases on here - i think the OEM cases are now literally non existant (id love one if there was one out there) but i think thats just a dream now.

The other priority is a HDMI out....ive got prescious little room as it is! and the other is flash storage as it come on over the years a hundred fold....i pretty sure i can get everything thats been recovered from the loft all on one sd card!

Its nice to be here for once with a reason and not just as a viewer...!

Edit: OK...well, sorry to kick off my joining of the forum today with messing everyone around....best to delete this and ill relist once ive got the board running!

Edit: Got a bit more done on it last night....motherboard is out. Damage not as bad as i thought, but, that being said i think there might be some dissolved battery tracks in there...the single memory simm is the one that was in the corroded socket which has cleaned up quite well. I used a bit of iso propol and a soft brush initially but done no more than that...

Edit: Actually im posting here...is there a place to continue this thread. Im guessing people would want to see the work being carried out gradually?

 

[HomeLate]

I think I saw your post on Facebook. Start with the basics, switch it on with no add-on cards or anything else installed. Just the bare minimum, with chipmem and additional mem sticks installed.
I saw the picture with the battery corrosion and it's not that bad. But it might have troubles detecting all of the installed fastmem. I recently repaired a 4000 with similar battery corrosion damage. Usually U981, U177, U976 and U975 are affected and need to be removed and replaced. Next, you want to desolder the memory sockets because the traces and vias beneath the memory sockets might be affected.
You'll find a good replacement kit for the affected chips here on Amibay. Mouser and/or Digikey still sell the memory sockets if you need replacements.
Good luck!

 

[Comfysofa]

Hi there. Yeah i stuck the pics on the amiga reddit forum. Im ok with removing caps, battery etc etc...not sure about whole memory sockets though....! (depends how well the old solder comes away i suppose)!

Its gonna be a steep learning curve....my knowledge of a4000's/amiga's is stuck and also 25 years ago since ive done anything on them....

 

[HomeLate]

Refresh the solder of the memory sockets a bit and you'll need a good desoldering gun to remove the solder.

If you're not sure, there are a few guys in the UK who service Amiga's. They can do the job for you.

 

[Comfysofa]

Yeah - i just reached out to the pure amiga guys....ill be very honest soldering goes either really well or really bad for me...one day i can get a good result (and say replace the usb socket on a nintendo swtich) and then another literally soldering a couple of wires together and burn everything..!

Its something rather not take any risks with...!

 

[fitzsteve]

Highly recommend you keep hold of that stock CPU board for now, it'll be invaluable when it comes to testing/repairing the motherboard, you'll want to do that with as little going on as possible, I.e without the CSPPC which could throw up additional faults or difficulties as it requires advanced setup.

Good luck with getting everything restored and up and running, an A4000 tower is a fun project indeed.

 

[Comfysofa]

Thanks very much...i must confess i didnt think of that!....years ago when it got powered off for the last time i did see it working!

 

[Comfysofa]

OK...well, sorry to kick off my joining of the forum today with messing everyone around....best to delete this and ill relist once ive got the board running!

Edit - apologies - thought i was still in the for sale thread! but yeah - it got removed.!

 

[Comfysofa]

Got a bit more done on it last night....motherboard is out. Damage not as bad as i thought, but, that being said i think there might be some dissolved battery leakage related tracks in there...the single memory simm is the one that was in the corroded socket which has cleaned up quite well. I used a bit of iso propol and a soft brush initially but done no more than that...

 

[Comfysofa]

Actually im posting here...is there a place to continue this thread. Im guessing people would want to see the work being carried out gradually?

 

[fitzsteve]

Actually im posting here...is there a place to continue this thread. Im guessing people would want to see the work being carried out gradually?

There's a photobooth forum section where people post their projects, that's the best place for it.

 

[Comfysofa]

Great - thanks very much ill stick'em all up there.