Seeking some advice - Easiest solution for a 4000 tower?

[samaron]

Greetings!

I'll start with a prologue.

After having attended a couple of Amiga Ireland events, I have slowly gotten back into Amiga. At the last event, I saw a towerized Amiga with a main board that has ATX layout. I found this very interesting and have since found a lot of interesting homebrew projects have appeared the last decade. I decided to build this board, and quickly got into action when I arrived home. A year later, I still haven't gotten it working properly. I have a thread over on eab about the issue. It has turned into very advanced diagnostics territory, and without proper documentation, it is difficult to proceed.

Now over to the topic.

Because it has taken a very long time, and no light at the end of the tunnel currently, I have been recommended to just get an official 4000 to save myself a lot of headache. However, I really would like to have a towerized system. I know an official tower version exist, but they appear to be uncommon.
I'm not concerned about it looking original. I just want the main board to be official. My thought was perhaps a tower converted desktop model is something I can get quickly. Regular 4000 computers are common. I see Elbox sells bus boards for desktop converted tower systems, but no cases. They only offer a couple of cases for A1200. Not that I would want one like that, as I do not like the window trend. Are there anyone else that offer tower cases for a 4000D mainboard?

Another option I have available is a 4000T main board without the case. My understanding is that this fits a regular old fashioned AT case? How hard is it to come by a case like this?

Any recommedations for the best approach to a 4000 tower is greatly apprechiated.

 

[Boing-ball]

Hi,

Interesting read through from your post.

So in a nutshell, this case is now becoming a realisation with the case being considered for a4000D boards:

A4000T Replica

I'm interested in a full case and front bezel for a4000d this thread is for 4000T ?

www.amibay.com

I feel your frustration on the whole A4000D into a tower scenario.

The only tower case solutions currently available are ones from the past. I have been lucky to get hold of a Micronik tower case. But these cases need the Micronik tower Daughterboard so that the slots will align with the card slots.

If you want to use latter Elbox Mediator Daughterboard for towers, then you need to look for something like the older Elbox tower case. Or look to getting hold of a an old ATX tower case but then you will have to modify it.

I currently have a wanted thread for one of these for my Mediator MKIV:

Wanted - A4000 Elbox MK1 or Mirage 4000D Pro Tower case for A4000 Desktop Board

As per subject. Looking to buy a Elbox MK1 Tower case to fit a A4000D Motherboard into. Not bothered if it comes with a PSU. basically one of these: http://www.elbox.com/products/e_box_4000.html Or one of these: Cheers!

www.amibay.com

 

[samaron]

Thank you for your reply, Boing-ball.

Sounds like a tower converted desktop model is more or less a no go. At least since cases appear to be very hard to obtain. My goal was something I can buy straight away and actually use and enjoy the computer. Not interested in something that will take months or years to realize.

The replica 4000T case is also somewhat a no go, but at the same time the best sounding option. I am also dependant on the case having all the bits and pieces like the front cover, buttons and such. I only have the option to get the main board, nothing else.

I am a bit sceptical with the 4000T approach. Have heard these are plagued with compatibility problems due to the different design like on-board SCSI. Are these really problematic in practice?

 

[Boing-ball]

Thank you for your reply, Boing-ball.

Sounds like a tower converted desktop model is more or less a no go. At least since cases appear to be very hard to obtain. My goal was something I can buy straight away and actually use and enjoy the computer. Not interested in something that will take months or years to realize.

The replica 4000T case is also somewhat a no go, but at the same time the best sounding option. I am also dependant on the case having all the bits and pieces like the front cover, buttons and such. I only have the option to get the main board, nothing else.

I am a bit sceptical with the 4000T approach. Have heard these are plagued with compatibility problems due to the different design like on-board SCSI. Are these really problematic in practice?

No worries. Unfortunately it is challenging at the moment. I’m guessing it is down to space. The same guy who is putting together the A4000T case also now produces and sells a 1:1 new A4000 desktop case. I bought one of these first batches that he released which are fantastic.

I have heard that the new recreated A4000T motherboards or also known as re-Amiga boards which can be purchased have quirks. That I cannot contest about as I do not own such as board.

I do own the new ACILL Rev 1 and the Saft6luck rev 2.2 Amiga A4000D re-Amiga boards. The former is great whilst the latter has a few more features such as built in fast Clockport, up to 112MB Fast RAM on the main board etc.. There will be a rev 2.4 coming soon with built in SCSI.

Where to find more Information on the Amiga 4000 Board acill Upgraded by Saft6luck rev2.2

I bought one of these on here and interested in finding more information about this board and any upgrades. Had a search on the old Google search engine but couldn’t find anything 🤷🏻‍♂️ This board has a lot on upgrades over the original ACIL board. For example a Clockport header. Does this give...

www.amibay.com

 

[fgh]

I sold my old homebrew tower that 4play and Dura modded back when to someone in Bergen. If you find a regular 4000D I’m sure he’ll swap

Edit: A friend also has a 3000D in huge (RBM towerhawk?) tower. (made for 3000D, no modding). He’d be happy to trade for a regular 3000D.

 

[samaron]

Boing-ball:
Not sure if I'm interested in recreated main boards at the moment. I see the custom chipset prices alone have gone up around five times the past year. At least compared to what I paid for it. The CPU connector was probably the biggest problem to find. Eventhough a board is supposedly 1:1, is it really 1:1? I'd like to avoid any potential signal integrity issues.

I certainly want to find out what's wrong with my current A4000 board, but it will be a tough one to find out. There's nothing physically wrong with it, and the issue is not detected by tools like DiagROM or AmigaTestKit. That's why I for now want a proper official board that I know will work as intended. I want to use and enjoy the computer now.

My concern with a 4000T board is that I have been told it even had problems with official Commodore expansions. I understand that most expansions are with the 4000D in mind. Not much point in going with this option if I still end up with problems.

fgh:
Interesting suggestion. The tower does look a bit unpractical with the cards facing down. Would be much nicer with the Elbox bus board that at least face them outwards.
The 3000 is not for me. I'm an AGA person. My 2000 covers any OCS needs.

 

[Watson]

@samaron have you considered sending your board for diagnosis? A fresh pair of eyes might just pick up on the issue. There's a few reputable members in the community who could look at it.

 

[Boing-ball]

@samaron have you considered sending your board for diagnosis? A fresh pair of eyes might just pick up on the issue. There's a few reputable members in the community who could look at it.

Agreed. @hese is one of those who is pretty much local to you. He advertises on here, and I sent my Cyberstorm PPC board to fix. Which he did

 

[samaron]

I need to think about the options. Sending it away to someone is probably just as good of an option right now. I would like to avoid waiting several weeks or months to have a fully working computer. Yet any possible option results in a potentially long wait regardless.

The conclusion so far:
- 4000D tower conversion bus boards are available.
- Modern 4000D tower conversion cases are not available. Vintage are rare and essentially unobtainable.
- 4000T replica case is in the works, but no ETA. Most likely several months still.

 

[samaron]

Have given it some thought. Since there are no fast or easy solution to achieve a towerized 4000, I have decided to try a few more things before sending the board off for someone else to look at it. I'll seek out a skilled individual if I'm completely stuck after my next troubleshooting steps.

Everyone, I greatly appreciate your feedback. Not the answers I wanted, but there are still some options and hope. Especially if more time is allowed.

 

[cloverskull]

@samaron try reaching out to user @Reynolds either here or on EAB. I have a tower case conversion he made for me which is excellent and I highly recommend his work. I have a towerized A4000D with a PCI busboard.

 

[Xanxi]

If you want an A4000 tower, avoid at all cost the Ateo one. Terrible design with the original daughterboard mounted horizontaly with expansion cards facing down. I would prefer to service the original case only with my teeth than to use the Ateo tower with my hands. I think i have one deeply buried into my storage room, it doesn't deserve to see daylight again.

I second the fact that if you have a damaged A4000 @hese will most likely fix it perfectly. The man is the best.